by Vincent Egunyanga
The
Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] in Edo state seems to have gone into
limbo since the last governorship election in the state where they
suffered a disastrous defeat in the hands of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole of
the Action Congress of Nigeria [ACN].
The PDP performed so poorly in the governorship election that it did not
consider challenging the election at the elections tribunal. Even when
its governorship candidate in the election Major General Charles
Airhiavbere decided on his own to contest election at the elections
tribunal to challenge Oshiomhole’s qualification to contest the election
the party disassociated itself from the petitions, preferring instead
to leave everything for God.
Besides the governorship polls the PDP
has done very badly in all other elections conducted so far in the state
including the 2011 General Elections into the state House of Assembly
and the National Assembly.
The reasons for the poor performances of
the PDP in recent elections in the state had been attributed to poor
performances of the PDP government in the state in the last eight years
administration of former governor of the state Chief Lucky Igbinedion.
Of all the four aspirants that wanted to
carry the party’s flag to contest the governorship poll odds favoured
Major General Charles Airhiavbere. There are many reasons for this.
First he recently retired from the Nigeria Army and joined partisan
politics, so he had not yet been soiled by the poor performance of
Igbinedion in office like other contestants, secondly and perhaps the
most important was that the people saw General Airhiavbere as a honest,
detribalized and an hardworking man. A personality of an impeccable
integrity. In fact during the factional crisis that engulfed the party
in the last three years General Airhiavbere was not known to belong to
any of the factions. He was at the forefront for the reconciliation of
all the different factions and groups in the state.
The PDP was polarized by internal
wrangling with two big factions emerging. One of the factions is led by
the former Chairman of the Board of Trustee of the party Chief Tony
Anenih while the other faction was led a former governor of the state Dr
Samuel Ogbemudia. It was a bitter wrangling that has also contributed
to the PDP losing all the elections conducted in the state in the last
three years.
With the coming of General Airhiavbere
into the party and his joining the governorship race, he was able to
unite all the factions of the party in the state. Now there are no
factions of PDP in Edo state as Anenih and Ogbemudia have come together
to move the party forward in the state, thanks to General Airhiavbere’s
unifying policies.
Dr Ogbemudia himself attested to the
fact that there are no more factions of PDP in the state, he told
journalists recently in Benin that the last ward and local government
elections conducted recently in the state has helped to reunite the
party once again. He said what caused the factions in the first place
was the culture of imposition, imposing candidates on the people without
given them the right to choose their leaders. He said but with the last
ward, local government and state congresses of the party in the state
the race was thrown open and people were allowed to elect their leaders
freely.
But the outcome of the last governorship
election in Edo state and the defeat of the party in the state in the
last three years is an indication that the party had been ruled and
governed by some fifth columnists, people who are in the party but are
not working for the party. The general feeling of party members in the
state was that the leadership sold out, in fact it is been circulated
that party leaders had already submitted names to Oshiomhole for
consideration as commissioners in the next dispensation. It is believed
that part of the agreements reached between the leadership of the party
in the state and Governor Oshiomhole was that the governor’s election
will not be challenged by the party as the governor was said to have
promised an all inclusive government that will accommodate PDP members.
The Publicity Secretary of the party in
the state Mathew Urhoghide denied any alliance between the party and the
governor, he said instead the party decided not to challenge
Oshiomhole’s re-election in court to avoid waste of public fund. He said
the governor will have to use public funds meant to build roads,
hospitals, schools etc for what he called unnecessary litigation.
Many are however of the opinion that the
best thing the party should have done after the July 14th governorship
election was to sack the entire state executive of the party to pave way
for the reorganization and transformation of the party in line with
Presidents Goodluck Jonathan’s transformation agenda.
By far the most popular PDP member and
leader in Edo state remains General Airhiavbere, during the primaries
and the governorship election proper he toured the entire state to
solicit for support and cooperation for the party. Even when the party
state executive refused to go to the tribunal to challenge Oshiomhole’s
re-election, party members at the grassroots and ward levels urged him
on. They told him to go ahead to challenge the election and they were
ready to rally round him, infact some party members volunteered to stand
as witnesses for him against party directive.
The general feelings of the party
members is that the new face of the PDP should be built around
Airhiavbere. One of the leaders of the party in the state Donald
Ehimekpen said Airhiavbere is the only person who can bring the party
alive once again in the state.
“Before Airhiavbere joined the party in
2011 the party was dead in the state even the support they got so far
was as a result of Airhiavbere’s dexterity and competence”, he said.
The fact that the PDP could not win one
single local government in the last governorship polls was because the
last nine years of PDP administration in the state was a complete
failure and the people were yet to forgive and forget the misrule that
characterized that period. With the bad image the PDP already acquired
in the state all the characters that played any role in the anti people
regime and who are still holding offices in the party should be forced
to step down to pave way for a successful rebuilding of the party ahead
of 2015 general elections and 2016 governorship election when incumbent
governor Oshiomhole would have served out his two terms.
General Airhiavbere had said during the
governorship campaigns that he decided to join the race in order to
correct the wrongs done by the PDP when the party was in power in the
state stressing that he voluntarily retired from the army to serve his
people.
While appealing to aspirants to discuss
issues during the campaigns rather than abusing fellow aspirants, he
asserted that “the state government should stop this continuous campaign
that the PDP destroyed the state for ten years. I believe that
government should concentrate on how to fix our roads, prioritize
projects rather than the window dressing we see every day in the state.
On the future of the PDP in the state a
national leader of the party in the state and one time governor old
Bendel state Dr Sam Ogbemudia said ‘the future is promising and glaring
if the old problems are solved. One of these problems borders on
injustice. Injustice produces state of disaffection, inequality,
oppression and victimization etc. All these combined weaken the party
and could not subsequently be able to provide an effective bulwark to
either stem, prevent and weaken any opposition. Once these problems are
solved the party will bounce back’.
Dr Ogbemudia however advised that the party must put its house in order.
SundayTrust
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