Somewhere in GRA, Benin City on June 21, 2016, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) hosted family members, friends and supporters to express his celebratory mood. The day was his birthday and one’s birthday could really ignite euphoria. What’s more, it was also his Wife’s birthday. On the previous day, June 20, Ize-Iyamu was also announced by the PDP as the winner of Edo Governorship election primaries it conducted.
Perfect premise to light up the neighbourhood for extended celebrations!
Alas, the Pastor would not know that Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, the controversial Chairman of the Party was waiting in the wings to shatter his pride. In a jiffy, Modu-Sherrif had communicated to the public the position that the exercise which produced Ize-Iyamu as PDP Candidate for the September 10 governorship elections was unauthorised and a nullity and should be disregarded by party members and the public. He said another primaries will be conducted later.
For analysts, this development is only a culmination of the lack of internal cohesion and democratic tenets which has rendered PDP incapable of producing crisp election schedule and credible programmes that can encourage the electorate to entrust power to its aspirant or flagbearer in Edo State nay Nigeria. Just like it has mismanaged public resources since 1999, it has started to mismanage itself!
Conversely, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has found in Godwin Obaseki a disciplined, dutiful and dilligent Manager to take the Edo economy to heights of fiscal probity, agricultural re-engineering, industrialisation and youth empowerment.
APC is sure-footed and does not wobble. The party with its positive change Mantra is driven by ideology which can stand the test of time. Again, I reinterate that the apparent slow pace with which the economy is reviving is attributable to the severity of the rot it met on ground when it took over power in Abuja last year.
In Edo State where Governor Adams Oshiomhole has headed goverment for over seven years now, the people have witnessed that leadership can indeed provoke positive change wake up infrastructure and make manifestly clear moves to industrialise the state . For instance BUA and Dangote Groups in Okpella, the bringing of which APC caused, is already helping to solve unemployment. Over five thousand Edo youths have been employed. Many of us can still remember the Ehor Fruit Juice Factory in Ehor, Edo Central and the Fertilizer Company at Auchi, Edo Northern during the Era of PDP. They never worked to boost the economy but only served as conduits for misappropriation of funds under PDP.
The wisdom of the APC Delegates in conducting a rancour-free election and choosing Obaseki lies in guiding jelously the gains of Oshiomhole’s tenure and in encouraging Obaseki to tap into his experience as Head of Economic Team to take the State to the next level.
“We should not allow power to return to those who vandalised it”, Obaseki posits.
Truly, the highly sensitive people of Edo State can attest to the positive change of the APC regime, and why continuity needs to be encouraged.
This continuity, I must clarify is different from godfatherism of the past. It is simply focusing on the furtherance of the “commonsense revolution” which the APC National Leader, Chief Bola Tinubu used to describe the paty’s change mantra. Indeed, no one would entrust their treasure to those who would not manage it effectively.
My advice to Obaseki’s Co-contestants is to refrain from the temptation of allowing the outcome of the primaries affect their loyalty to the APC but to rather join forces with Godwin Obaseki’s Campain Organisation (TeamGO) to propagate the APC’s ideology and win the governorship election on September 10. I’m positive that there are better days ahead. Let “do-or-die politics not find footing in APC. It should remain where it was hatched and practiced.
Balarabe Oshiafi, a Public Affairs Analyst writes from Iyuku-Uzairue, Edo State.
