WHO RUNS THE AFFAIRS OF EDO STATE AFTER JULY 14?
The stage is getting set as Edo State is “on the match again”. As the ‘big game’ approaches, last minute realignment, contact building and general positioning are reaching their crescendos. Come 14th July, 2012, the good people of Edo state will again decide who will be at the helms of affair for the next four years. Will Governor Adams Oshiomole be able to renew the contract of the bond he has with the good people of Edo state? Or will the comrade governor be shown the way out of the exalted office of the governor of Edo state? Only time and the good people of Edo state will decide that.
Taking a critical look at the political situation of the State and the way the players have been handling it leaves the big question of ‘is the governor not supposed to be the servant of the people?’ on the lips of many. Are these people truly interested in serving the electorate or they are bothered about enriching their pockets and that of their family and friends at the detriment of the electorate? Needless to say that the two ‘big teams’ anticipating the big game , the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) and the Action Congress of Nigeria(ACN) both lack democratic ideologies and practical efficiency to emerge victorious is worrisome, but of course there must be a winner and a loser in every game. Who then would emerge winner is the question on the mind of all concerned? Even as the ACN will stop at nothing to retain the seat, the PDP is ready to play her card so well and leave no stone unturned to ensure success.
This forthcoming election would be the first under the leadership of the new PDP national chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur. But recently, the leadership of the PDP under Tukur as national chairman and Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola as National secretary were at loggerheads over the appointment of a chief of staff who was tipped to indirectly perform the duties of Oyinlola. Can and should Edo people trust such an arrangement to produce their Next Governor? Tukur spoke of his readiness to take over Edo state at all cost when he was inaugurating the committee for the election headed by Vice President, Mallam Namadi Sambo saying he is not ready to lose his first game. But does that make the PDP candidate the most qualified at the detriment of the sitting comrade governor considering the sudden wind of change blowing in Edo state? And who says the national leadership of the ACN are ready and willing to reduce the states they control by one? I am of the strong believe that till the D- day, grenades in the form of propagandas will keep emanating from both camps.
The political terrain of Edo state is so tense that the citizens hardly sleep with their two eyes shut as no one is sure who the next target is. Just recently, the incumbent governor came under a mysterious auto crash that seems so hard to decipher whether or not, the life of the governor was the main target in the crash which three journalists lost their lives. So mysterious was yet the untimely death of the private secretary of Governor Adams Oshiomole, Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde who was killed by gun men in his private residence while the third was the death of one person in a protest march against the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, led by the Governor himself. What was the sex scandal picture of the governor aimed at achieving? To blackmail and distract him or to give him a sympathy vote of confidence. Either way, one could point fingers at both camps. But when did politics become this dirty?
The campaigns are about power, the personalisation of power, and the challenges of political existence. Loss to Governor Adams Oshiomole could be said to be the beginning of the end to his political relevance while the loss of the Edo godfather, Mr. Tony Anenih of PDP will mark the end of one or two decades old political era in Edo state. We shouldn’t also forget that the PDP under Tukur has inaugurated a committee towards the Edo election led by the Vice president. Can or will he (Sambo) afford to fail his party?
Oshiomole seems to have made a meaningful impact in terms of developmental projects as well as human capital development, which reduces the fear of the PDP taking over Edo state. But going by the fact that Professor Jega’s INEC is under the watch of the PDP led federal government, I don’t need a soothsayer or a prophet to tell me that there is fire on the mountain.
