Special Correspondent, TITUS OISE, writes on the crisis rocking Edo State chapter of APC, as members defect to the opposition PDP
Adams Oshiomhole
These are not the best of times for Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State. The reasons are not far-fetched. Recently, notable leaders of his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) defected with hundreds of their supporters to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), owing to irreconcilable differences arising from the just held ward/local government congresses in the state. Some of the party leaders, who dumped the party for the PDP, are Osagie Ize-Iyamu, former National Vice Chairman of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN); Tony Omoaghe, former State Chairman of ACN; Usman Shagadi, Edo North Senatorial leader, Isaiah Osifo, former Chief of Staff; Bright Omokhodion, former Speaker; Razak Momoh, member of the House of Representatives for Etsako Federal Constituency; Solomon Edebiri, former gubernatorial candidate; Senator Ehigie Uzamere, representing Edo South; Amos Osunbor, a top palace chief, who doubles as Edo South Senatorial leader of the APC; and Frank Erewele. They all left with their teeming supporters.
Trouble started shortly after the April 8 ward congresses held across the state. The influential Ize-Iyamu group had complained that the process was skewed in favour of the Deputy Governor, Pius Odubu, who is believed to be nursing a governorship ambition in 2016.
Having lost out in the power play, Osunbor led hundreds of party supporters, whose sympathy lies with the Ize-Iyamu group, to the Press Centre, where they addressed journalists on the way forward. They threatened to dump the crisis-ridden party, if the congresses were not cancelled. Perhaps, to show the strength and reach of the group, three notable members of the House of Assembly openly identified with it. They are Jude Ise-Idehen (Ikpoba-Okha Constituency), Patrick Osayimen (Oredo West) and Friday Ogierakhi (Orhionmwon South), the deputy governor’s constituency.
Even when the visibly worried Oshiomhole acceded to the demand of the aggrieved group by cancelling the congresses, the Ize-Iyamu group still lost woefully at the rescheduled congresses to Odubu group.
Surprisingly, on Tuesday, May 13, the Ize-Iyamu group made good its threat of dumping the party. Curiously, the aggrieved party leaders defected with hundreds of their followers to the PDP, a party they once painted in very bad light.
Omoaghe, who doubles as the spokesman of the Ize-Iyamu group said, “We have come to the inevitable conclusion that Nigeria is gradually evolving into a two-party political system. Therefore, commonsense dictates that having left the hostile environment of the APC in Edo, the only logical option is to join the PDP.”
The former APC chieftain added: “It is quite unfortunate to note that the same undemocratic tendencies which forced us to leave the PDP in 2007 to form the defunct ACN in Edo State are now being replicated by the new masters of APC in the state.”
Quite a number of the defectors resigned their political appointments with Edo State Government. Four members of the House of Assembly – Ise-Idehen, Osayimen, Ogierhiakhi and Abdulrazak Momoh (representing Etsako West Constituency) – equally defected to the PDP. With the development, the PDP, which hitherto had four members, now has eight in a 24-member House. It was reliably gathered that more APC legislators are planning to jump ship to give the PDP the needed majority in the House.
No doubt, if the PDP gets majority, then it will no longer be business-as-usual. Since the defection of the legislators, there has been tension in the House of Assembly, with armed policemen taking over the complex to prevent breakdown of law and order.
Meanwhile, the State Publicity Secretary of APC, Godwin Erhahon, has described the Ize-Iyamu group as a greedy lot. His words: “Ize-Iyamu’s faction was greedy and thought it could blackmail the governor into submission. But by the grace of God, they have failed.”
The embattled governor may have decided to fight back. Speaking at the inspection of the on-going storm water master plan project in Benin City, the state capital, Oshiomhole wished those who defected from the party “safe journey” to their new destination.
The governor said: “I am aware some people have left our party. We wish them safe journey. When I came, I was clear and I said we would work for the people of the state. I did not say I was going to work for individuals. So, if individuals feel angry that I have not helped them in what they call individual personal empowerment, I have the choice to make: work for individual or work for the people. I choose to work for the people.”
It was reliably learnt that arrangements have been concluded to shore up the waning popularity of the governor among the workforce of the state, especially the teachers, who, for some time now, have been having a running battle with Oshiomhole over competency test. It was further gathered that Oshiomhole may have backed down on the competency test for teachers – a development, it is said, might have prompted the organised labour in the state to recently pass a vote of confidence on him.
However, a Government House source confided in TheNiche that arrangements have been concluded by the governor to dissolve the cabinet “any moment from now to flush out loyalists of the Ize-Iyamu group”.
To him, the battle line has been drawn.
Incidentally, Dan Orbih, the State Chairman of the PDP, believes that APC is dead in Edo. His words: “The issue here is that what is left of Oshiomhole and his party are only his aides in government. What we have as members of Edo APC are only the people that are serving in the government of Adams Oshiomhole.”
Even with the troubling development in Edo APC, crisis of confidence seems to be looming in the PDP over the description of Gabriel Igbinedion, Esama of Benin as Edo South and national leader of the party, when the Ize-Iyamu group visited him in his G.R.A. residence shortly after defection.
Samuel Ogbemudia, two time-time governor of the state, who enjoys great followership, is the only known Edo South leader of the party and also a member of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT). Ogbemudia’s supporters are said to be unhappy that Igbinedion could be described as Edo South leader of the party when their man is still alive.
A school of thought thus believes that the PDP, which is the greatest beneficiary of the crisis rocking the ruling APC, may implode sooner than later, if things are not well managed by the opposition party.
