OPINION: Edo and a godfather’s dilemma

By Felix Oboagwina

Thursday, August 13 2020: Under the dying embers of a setting sun and in the solemn assembly for a burial ceremony in Ewu town, Esanland in Edo State, mourners still found room to cross swords politically.

It was the wake for the late Pa Edward Orewele Akhuetie, a nonagenarian pensioner who served the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).

A mixed multitude of family, friends and community had gathered under canopies erected outside his country-home to await the arrival of the priests and catechists billed to conduct the evening mass in honour of the Lagos-based Catholic.

As his children and relatives floated around putting final touches to arrangements for the Christian wake and simultaneously appreciating guests who had come to pay their last respects, conversation flowed lavishly under the canopies with home-based folks taking the opportunity to do catch-up with cousins, kinsmen and wellwishers from within and outside town.

Somehow, politics elbowed its way into the fellowship. In no time, two camps emerged: Loyalists to the All Progressives Congress (APC) Governorship Candidate Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu and those for the incumbent Governor Godwin Obaseki now in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Supporters on either side fiercely pushed their convictions. And soon the hush-hush whispers reserved for such a solemn gathering quickly gave way to robust and vociferous exchanges.

“Ize-Iyamu will win the elections hands down and there is nothing anybody can do about it!” belched a man in the Esan language; someone identified him as a community youth leader.

The Esan dominate Edo Central Senatorial District. Next to the majority Bini-speaking people who occupy seven out of the state’s 18 local government areas and reputedly constitute 57.14 percent of the state’s about 6 million population, Esan people make up 17.14 percent.

The pro-IzeIyamu speaker and a few men with him wore caps boldly depicting the “POI” acronym of the APC candidate.

“What rubbish is this one spewing from his mouth?” retorted a known lecturer of the Ambrose Alli University (AAU) in the nearby town of Ekpoma 13 kilometres away.

“Where will Ize-Iyamu get the votes from? I bet you, he will fail throughout Esanland!”

Both men, sitting about 10 chairs apart, quickly drowned other voices in the conversation, as they fiercely flung stones of arguments over the heads of the gathering.

“Come; let us teach you politics because you know nothing about what you are saying!” the youth leader mocked. Fuelled by the support of people around who cast spiteful glances and voices in the direction of the youth leader and his team, the lecturer sprang to his feet and advanced towards his antagonist.

“Do you know who you are talking to? You should have bothered to first ask around about the identity of the man you are arguing with,” he fired.

“Adams Oshiomhole, as Governor, abandoned AAU, starved the school of allocations and diverted the funds to Edo University, Iyamho (EUI) that he established in his hometown. And you want Esan people to vote for his man?”

His rival fired right back: “That you are working in AAU does not mean you know what is happening there!” “Have the decency to speak sense!” the lecturer said.

“I have worked in AAU for decades and I know what I am talking about!” AAU, founded in 1981, is sited in Ekpoma, part of the old Esan division in Edo State, while EUI was established in 2016 at Iyamho, Oshiomhole’s hometown in Edo North Senatorial District.

“Oshiomhole today wants to play the godfather, after showing disdain for godfathers in his own time.

Is he the first governor to rule the state? John Odigie-Oyegun, Lucky Igbinedion and Oserheimen Osunbor all ruled before him and they allowed their successors the freehand to govern without breathing down their necks.” “Bha ta ma Oshiomhole, Edo iy’Eko!” someone chipped in.

“Tell Oshiomhole, Edo is not Lagos!” That sentiment apparently goes beyond Ewu, nay beyond Edo State. Powerful forces at the APC national level are said to have sworn to ensure Oshio’s candidate lost the Edo polls as the final nail on the coffin of the supposedly oversized ego of the disgraced ex-chairman and thereby bury him politically.

Today, Oshio is weaker. Unlike he reputedly did in past elections, he no longer has the faculty to dictate to INEC and security agents, having lost the seat of APC National Chairman (Obaseki engineered his expulsion from the Iyamho APC ward; and having become a persona non grata at home he lost the national position).

“You can rant all you want, Obaseki will fall flat in this election!” the man in POI cap submitted.

Then he went on to vilify the governor for joining PDP and doling out appointments and N15 billion to his new party’s operatives (an allegation since denied by party chieftains like Chief Raymond Dokpesi).

READ ALSO: Edo 2020: Oshiomole’s former aid pledges support for Obaseki

“Did he ever patronise us with such an amount throughout his four years with APC? We will show him how to take people for granted!” The other fired back: “Why is Ize-Iyamu not projecting himself, why is Oshiomhole the one speaking at campaigns and not the candidate himself?

Oshiomhole wants a third term and when he could not get it through Obaseki, he now settled for someone who cannot stand up to him.

Quite simple, Ize-Iyanmu lacks the character for the position. Oshiomhole already destroyed him in the last election and exposed his dirty linens.”