Edo: As stakeholders endorse new PDP leader.

By Remi Adelowo.

Anenih and Tukur

The massive defeat suffered by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the recently held governorship elections in Edo State has become a wake-up call for major stakeholders in the party who are desirous of charting the way forward, reports Remi Adelowo

In spite of the public show-off displayed by leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party in the run down to the last governorship election, boasting that Governor Adams Oshiomhole would be shown the exit from office, not a few of them knew that securing victory at the polls was akin to achieving almost the impossible.

But against earlier permutations that the PDP could spring surprises in the state, the party not only lost in areas believed to be stronghold of its notable leaders, it also lost in the entire 18 local government areas of the state to the rival Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

With the victor, Oshiomhole and his supporters, still savouring success, and the loser, Major Gen. Charles Airhiavbere, with his backers quietly licking their wounds, major stakeholders of the PDP, The Nation reliably gathered, have, in the last two weeks, engaged in informal discussions on the way forward for the party.

For fear of being consigned into political obscurity in the next four years and even beyond, a source disclosed that few days after the election, some leaders of the PDP in Edo State met at the Abuja residence of Chief Mike Oghiadome, the Chief of Staff to President Goodluck Jonathan, to discuss a range of issues affecting the party.

Others at the parley included elected PDP members at the state and National Assembly, most notably a former Speaker, Edo House of Assembly, now a member of the House of Representatives and an influential financier of the party, Hon. Friday Itulah, who decamped to the party a few months to the election.  

Top on the agenda at the session was an appraisal of the process leading to the choice of Airhiavbere as the party’s candidate; strategies deployed for the campaign and its shortcomings and the negative public image and roles of certain leaders which allegedly contributed to the failure of the party at the polls.

As regards the candidature of Airhiavbere, the session, according to sources privy to it, regretted that the retired Major General was no match for Oshiomhole at the polls.

According to the source, “one issue that kept cropping up was that the party’s candidate was a hard sell. There was also a unanimous opinion that the PDP primaries, which produced Airhiavbere, was not transparent enough.

“For instance, a question was asked about how long Airhiavbere has been in the party to have defeated established members like the former governor of the state, Professor Osarinheme Osunbor and Professor Julius Ihonvbere, both of whom, some party members believe, could have given Oshiomhole a good fight at the polls.”

Osunbor and Ihonvbere, it would be recalled, never hid their disenchantment of how they were ‘rigged out’ at the primaries. Ihonvbere later decamped to ACN and campaigned vigorously for Oshiomhole, while Osunbor, though still formally in PDP, tacitly endorsed the governor for a second term in office.

Another issue that engaged the attention of those at the meeting was the negative perception of the party and some of its leaders.

The source added, many leaders at the meeting were afraid to talk about this issue, but a few summoned the courage to allege that the image of the old leaders, like Chief Anthony Anenih and his contemporaries, was doing more harm than good to the party.

At the end of it all, it was resolved that there was an urgent need to rebrand the party with a new set of leaders that would be saddled with the responsibility of repositioning the party for the challenges ahead. “PDP may go into extinction in Edo State if nothing is done as quickly as possible,” a source quoted one of those at the meeting as saying.

In the interim, The Nation gathered that Oghiadome was endorsed as the new leader of the party in the state, being the most senior figure of PDP at the seat of power.

His choice, findings revealed, is seen as strategic. He not only has the ears of the president, he is also seen as an uncontroversial figure that has all it takes to pull the party together at this critical time.

Oghiadome and the president have indeed come a long way. Their closeness began when they both served as Deputy Governors of Edo and Bayelsa States respectively about ten years ago.

What remains to be seen, however, is whether Anenih, the political godfather in Edo State, will give way for younger elements clamouring for a change.