Special Correspondent, TITUS OISE, takes a look at the defectors from PDP to APC, seen to have interest in Edo State governorship election next year.
Since the declaration of Muhammadu Buhari as the winner of the March 28 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), his platform, the All Progressives Congress (APC), has become a destination point for politicians from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State. The defecting politicians see the party as a viable platform to actualise their governorship ambitions.
Some of the defectors are known to have governorship ambition or must have contested the office at one time or another while they were in PDP. Even in their current organisation, their interest in the plum job still looms large. Factors that go for them are their deep pockets and network of contacts. But even at that, there are still fears that the coast may not be clear for them, given the internal politics of APC. But they are unrelenting, or so it seems. They include:
Chris Ogiewonyi
For several years, Chris Ogiemwonyi an engineer, was Group Executive Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). He had also served as Minister of State for Works between 2010 and 2011 under President Goodluck Jonathan.
Ogiemwonyi defected from the PDP to APC in November 2014. He is quietly building structure that will position him for the APC ticket in 2016, keen observers say.
Not overtly explaining his decision to defect to the APC on getting its governorship ticket, the former minister stated that his move was rather informed by the need to align with the party to attract more development to the state. He was formally received into APC by the national chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun.
His official reception to the party was graced by Buhari, Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo, APC national leader, Bola Tinubu, and other senior members of the party.
His defection, he said, was motivated by the performance of the APC and the state governor in the transformation of Edo, expressing displeasure at the 10-year leadership of the PDP in the state, which he said was disastrous for the people of the state.
Analysts argue that his defection from PDP to APC is likely to make contest for the party’s governorship ticket in next year’s election tight. Unconfirmed sources claim that Ogiemwonyi, who is from Edo South Senatorial District, is highly favoured in the Benin palace.
Charles Airhiavbere
The retired Army General was the national coordinator of the Goodluck2Goodluck Organisation prior to the 2015 general election, a platform charged with the responsibility of canvassing support for President Goodluck Jonathan’s second term.
Airhiavbere is not a stranger to Edo politics. He ran for the governorship in 2012 on the platform of PDP against Oshiomhole, who was then going for re-election. He however lost the election with a wide margin.
Despite the outcome of the 2012 governorship election, Airhiavbere, it was learnt, had continued to deploy his resources to keep the PDP in the state afloat, with the possibility of seeking its ticket in 2016. The party, which had paraded such names as Tony Anenih, its recently resigned Board of Trustees (BoT) Chairman; Minister of Works, Mike Onolemenmen; Hosa Okunbor and Osagie Ize-Iyamu had before the 2015 election boasted that the APC would go into oblivion.
But shortly after the results of the presidential elections were announced, Airhiavbere, who still nurses the ambition of contesting the 2016 governorship election in the state, declared for APC at a public event in Benin.
He had, during his defection, declared: “I have decided to join the team of change that has come to the nation in the last election of March 28, 2015, so that Edo State will continue to enjoy the benefits of the party at the centre.” He enjoined any politician who meant well for Edo to ground their arms of hate and join the change train of the APC government led by Oshiomhole.
Airhiabere, who is said to have come into the 2012 governorship election with “deep pocket”, deployed his entire arsenals in the April 11, 2015 elections in Edo South senatorial district which gave APC victory in the zone.
However, the questions agitating the minds of observers in Edo is if his new-found romance with the governor will pay off during the party’s governorship primaries in 2016.
This is especially as he is from Edo South with Ogienmwonyi.
Emmanuel Arigbe-Osula
Emmanuel Arigbe-Osula, former Deputy Minority Leader in the House of Representatives, had represented Oredo Federal Constituency on the platform of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). After his four-year term in the House of Representatives, he defected to the PDP, where he was received by national leaders of the party, including Anenih.
After a while, however, he equally defected to the APC. The Edo South politician is also said to be interested in the party’s governorship ticket in 2016.
Oserheimen Osunbor
Until his defection, former Governor Oserheimen Osunbor, a professor of Law, was a major pillar of the PDP in Edo Central. He was governor of Edo State for 18 months before the emergence of Oshiomhole through a court ruling. He is said to have contributed immensely to the massive victory recorded by PDP in the March 28 presidential and National Assembly elections in the state.
Curiously, on Tuesday, April 7, he equally defected to the APC with his teeming supporters. His defection came to many as a shocker, owing to the fact that he was the national chairman of the Nigeria Law Review Commission under Jonathan’s administration. There were insinuations that he may have left PDP over alleged illegality that characterised the conduct of the party’s governorship primaries at Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in 2012 where he lost.
TheNiche gathered that since the incident, the former governor had not been at ease with the party. In apparent confirmation of his grievances with PDP, Osunbor, even before his defection, had stayed away from activities of the party, an indication that his days with it were numbered.
Osunbor, who is from Edo Central, is touted as a serious contender for the 2016 governorship election in the state. Observers suspect that he may essentially anchor his aspiration on the agitation from the people of the zone that it is their turn to produce the governor for the state. Part of the agitation was that Osunbor only served for 18 months in office between 2007 and 2008, when election tribunal declared his election invalid.
The former governor had in a previous encounter disclosed that he had been under pressure from friends and associates to contest the 2016 governorship elections. He was received into the APC by Oshiomhole.
Kenneth Imansuagbon
Kenneth Imansuagbon, a lawyer, can rightly be said to be a household name in Edo political landscape, owing to his philanthropic gestures. The less privileged in Edo, every December, look forward to his yearly free rice distribution which earned him the appellation, “The Rice Man”.
He was also doing well in the education sector before throwing his hat into the governorship ring back in 2007 on the platform of the Action Congress (AC) alongside Charles Idahosa, and Matthew Atama, as the front-liners.
He reportedly stepped down for Oshiomhole because he felt the governor had what was required to take the state to the next level.
It was also learnt that Imansuagbon, a major financier of the party, played a critical role in what has today metamorphosed into APC.
In 2012, again he ran for the governorship ticket of PDP in a primary that was reportedly skewed by party leaders in favour of Airhiavbere.
Said to have left the PDP in December 2014, over what he attributed to lack of justice, equity and fairness by leaders of the party, he was reported to have predicted a revolution that would sweep the PDP out of power in the 2015 general elections, a prediction that has come to past.
Imansuagbon, who also hails from Edo Central, is confident of clinching the APC governorship ticket in 2016. He recently told a national newspaper that PDP lost the 2015 general election due to the culture of impunity in the conduct of its affairs.
“What made them lose the election basically was because there was lack of fairness, equity and justice within the party. Whether we like it or not, any family, community, state or nation that wants to develop must imbibe these words: free, fairness and equity because nothing lasts forever.”
He stressed that his coming to the APC was not about the party but about the honesty of Buhari and his love for the country.
“I saw that Buhari will represent the interest of Nigerians better, so I supported him. Though I was outside the country then, I ordered my people to vote for APC and that was what happened. I supported APC with money, tactics and logistics and we delivered APC. I am happy to tell you that I delivered APC against the tyranny of a few,” he declared.
He also expressed confidence that the people of Afemai in Edo North and the Bini of Edo South would support his governorship ambition.
