How evil people purged from PDP took over Edo ACN – Owie

PIONEER Chief Whip of the fourth republic Senate, Senator Rowland Stephen Owie, has been a recurring factor in the politics of Edo State since creation. Arguably Nigeria’s leading proverbial political pundit, Senator Owie distinguished himself for his politics of rebellion against the establishment both in the Senate and even outside. Following his exit from the PDP he trudged many political paths eventually becoming a foundation member of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN in Edo State. After a long period of muttering arising from internal dissensions in the ACN, Owie last year resigned his membership of the party. Last weekend he came back home to the PDP at a reception organized for him in Benin. Hours before the reception he spoke to Vanguard  and narrated his political odyssey. Excerpts:
BY SIMON EBEGBULEM
How we formed PDP.
I was a founding   member of the PDP. When we founded the PDP, my brother Chief Igbinedion was in the APP. Igbinedion came in very late into the PDP when I was already gunning for the governorship on the ticket of the PDP. So along the line, Dr Ogbemudia came as leader of the Binis in the PDP, when Lucky Igbinedion came in to express interest in the governorship. The Binis met and selected one person so that one person will face Azeez Garuba who was running from the North.
The mini primary was held in the home of the Iyase of Benin between myself, Lucky Igbinedion, Dr Ehigiamoso, Capt.Okhomina, Dr Micheal Asemota. At the end they said Lucky won, defeated me with four votes. I went home, all of them including Dr Ogbemudia came to me the next day begging that I should not rock the boat. I said no I will not do that and they now said okay, I should go to the senate without primary.
I told them that I don’t want to be taken again to another bazaar as they did in the governorship and I said they should write and sign it that I will go to the senate without primary. They wrote and signed and Rev. Egharevba you see today is a decent young man.
A man with a lion heart. He told me to take the agreement to the court so that it can be actionable in court if they fail to honour the agreement. But surprisingly, only a week to the primary, I saw on the television Idada campaigning for senate. I went to Chief Igbinedion to find out what was happening, he said it was not his fault, that Ogbemudia is asking him to support Gen. Idada, while some people were asking him to support Jim Adun.
That he won’t forget what I did for his son in the governorship primary by not rebelling against the party. He said he will deal with the matter. I went to Dr Ogbemudia. He said Rowland are you sure that those who signed that document still believe in it. I said Daddy what is wrong, if you feel they don’t believe in it call a meeting so that we can discuss it. He agreed and he told Egharevba to call a meeting in his house.

Senator Rowland Stephen Owie,

On that day, the chairman of Egor said they have agreed that Senator Owie should go to the senate without primary. A lot of them concurred with him. The logical conclusion one should have expected from our leader Ogbemudia was to appeal to Gen. Idada and Adun to step down. But instead Dr Ogbemudia said he cannot stop any body. He directed that the primary should be conducted in his house. Solomon Aguele came to conduct the primary himself. That was the greatest shock of my life. I went into the primary and I must say today, I thank the Binis who defied all the inducement and went ahead and voted for me in that primary. And as soon as I was nominated, Igbinedion, Dr Ogbemudia all of them disappeared.
I never saw them in my campaign, Lucky was already governor. He was the only one that called us to his guest house and gave N150,000 to each of us. In that my election, only Chief Anenih gave me N200,000. He gave the money through Rev. Egharevba, I received no other support apart from any other one apart from the ordinary Binis who are not politicians. I won the election to the senate and started campaigning for the position of the pioneer Chief Whip of the senate.
But leaders of Binis in the PDP were now afraid that if I become the chief whip of the senate, I will become too powerful and will now come to contest the governorship. Before I knew it they ganged up against me. But fortunately I won the election and from that point it was one problem to another from home. I was very close to Governors like Alamieyeseigha, Ibori these people will always visit me in my quarters but my own governor never came because he was being told to avoid Rowland Owie, he wants to take over your job. By nature of heart, I don’t see Lucky as a wicked person but the gang up was too much. When I found I could not cope any longer, a party that we formed before they came in, I decided to leave the party on the 15th of August 2002 and declared for the ANPP.
While Nigerians are known for leaving the opposition party for government party, I was the first Nigerian to leave government party at the federal and state and local government level to a party in opposition at the Federal, state and Local Government levels. Because I knew that with Christ in me I can do any thing. And I thank God that between August 15, 2002- December 2002, every corner of Edo state has turned into ANPP with a sitting government of PDP. We went into the election in April, history is there that I won that election but it was rigged. Those who did it confessed and we have forgiven ourselves.
How we formed ACN in Edo
Having fought this battle in the ANPP, and the senate, we started the present ACN in Edo state as Akugboehin. From there we went to the MRD, from MRDD to ACD. We left ACD and moved to Edo United. That was the time those who were de-registered in the PDP, members of the Grace Group now joined us. And a responsible clergyman brought Lucky Igbinedion to my house that we should work together. I was skeptical but what do I do? Politics is like a church, you cannot stop any body from entering. That name Edo United was suggested by Charles Idahosa and supported by one other person.
From Edo United we moved in to Action Congress. At this stage we shared positions. PDP brought the state chairman and brought the women leader while the ANPP wing that I brought in, brought the state secretary and Publicity Secretary. Our plan was to bring a Bini man for governorship, some body who will do what our son (Lucky Igbinedion) could not do, to prove that the Binis are good administrators.
Within that period of sourcing for a Governor, one morning Pastor Ize-Iyamu and Lawrence Orka came here to see me. Ize-Iyamu who was SSG then said, sir I will be resigning as SSG on Monday to contest for governorship. I said on which party platform, he said Action Congress. He said I should talk to Lucky Igbinedion on his behalf but I said Lucky is the one to tell me that he wants him since both of them have been working together. But when they were about leaving I told Ize-Iyamu that he should have known that he cannot win governorship because of what happened in Igbinedion’s government.
That was the singular offence the boy said I committed against him. That I did not support his ambition. As soon as that was done, I called a meeting of Edo South, we adopted Charles Idahosa as the Bini candidate that will now compete with other candidates from other zones. It was announced and there was tension. I was now hearing that Charles Idahosa was too pompous, that he will not be accepted by the Binis . And I told them that the only problem Charles has is that he is too close to Chief Igbinedion. No other thing, he is a patriot of the Binis. And that was how Comrade Oshiomhole came about.
Though, before all this while, I had called him the previous year to come and run governorship. I knew him when I was in the senate and UPN with his late brother Tom Osu. After we had done the Charles Idahosa thing, Lucky Igbinedion and Co said no, they are not accepting Charles. We said no too, that we are not accepting Ize-Iyamu. We had a meeting in Sam Iredia’s house; I told them that since Adams has been the chosen one whom I know, we will accept him. We finished the meeting and Oshiomhole won the election through the tribunal at the end of the day.
How the cabal hijacked Oshiomhole
Immediately after the tribunal that we won, again blackmail came up. Oh Rowland Owie did not work. Crisis came up but I kept quiet. This is because I don’t follow them to Government House to do sycophancy and drinking together. But to be honest with Oshiomhole, I can give him credit. At this initial stage, he stood firm. He was not ready to be used against any body, every attempt that was made by the cabal to rubbish me, he resisted.
But unfortunately along the line he caved in. But you can not blame him because every day they go to Government House to give negative report about Owie. They hijacked him, and used him to hijack the party. People who want to declare for the party will go to Government House to declare. Before we knew it the party had lost its image, Airport Road office became deserted. I kept warning that it was not right until we got to the stage we are now. We tried to be managing ourselves and at this stage of my life politically, I no longer lead, my supporters do the leading.
So each time I wanted to vibrate, my junior brother Charles Idahosa and my wife will ask me to relax. If I want to take action, Charles will say leader relax it will be well. Along the line Igbafe joined the party from the PDP and in the presence of the state Woman Leader, Modino Emovon, a London trained secretary, well educated, Igbafe was appointed Director of Poverty Alleviation to the detriment of the old members of the party. I kept quiet. The next was Herbettar Okonofua, she came from PDP, she was named Director of MDG. Meanwhile we have a lot of women that are educated, that have suffered in this party. Things started happening showing that no regards for old members of the party and even leadership?
On appointment of his son as Chairman of Board of Internal Revenue
Yes he appointed my son and I thanked him for that but I never begged for it. I was going on Pilgrimage and I visited Comrade and in the process he asked me, that was the first and the last time he asked me about my view on any appointment. He asked me what I think about the appointment of chairman of Board of Internal Revenue. I said Comrade Governor, that is a very strategic area that I will recommend Useni Ellamah since he has worked as chairman of Labour Pension Board.
The following day I went on Pilgrimage. I was in Rome when my son sent me a text that he has been appointed as Chairman of the Board. I sent Comrade a text and thanked him. Do you know, I gave him credit because as soon as my son was announced, the same people that held this state ransom for eight years, put pressure on Comrade not to swear in this boy. I tell you a very weak person would have caved in to their pressure.
He went ahead to swear in this boy. That tells you what I went through in the hands of these vampires. During the one year anniversary, Charles Idahosa was appointed chairman of the one year anniversary but only a few days later, he was removed and replaced by Pastor Ize_Iyamu.
A lot of things started happening. When I made some of these observations to the Governor the last time we met in my house few weeks ago, he said but I have been with these people in the same party. I told him yes, that I knew that these very people were cancer but I thought that cancer will not grow because you as the Chief Executive will come and be a check to stop the cancer not to grow. I don’t think that I was at that Government House more than five times since Comrade became a Governor. I have told him before that Comrade Governor be careful because 50 per cent of the vote we got in 2007 election were votes for you as a person and for other members of the party who worked while the other 50 per cent were votes against the immediate past administration. So I said he should be careful. I said further that I praised his efforts on how he has been able to keep the goat and the lion in one room but I don’t know how long he will do that.
Why I am dumping the ACN for the PDP
Then we started the move to form a mega party. I told them in one of our meetings in Lagos, Atiku and others were there I stressed the need for us to have a formidable opposition because if the formation of a mega party fails, the opposition should forget about power in Nigeria . I told them what happened in the second republic. An alliance we wanted to form of UPN, NPP, GNPP and PRP. But the personal ambition of our leaders ruined the move. I think after that Buhari left to form his own party, Atiku returned to PDP. Some of our people failed to remember that in the First Republic Action Group ended up in Ondo.
May be they forgot that in the Second Republic UPN ended up in Ondo. AD ended up in Ondo, ACN will end up in Ondo and nothing will stop it. It cannot grow. In putting all these things together, from the month of June 2010, my spirit in the ACN left. I stopped attending any meeting of the party and called Charles Idahosa, and I told him that please your father was my father and I am your father, please attend meetings on our behalf.
If you have any thing to ask me come and ask me. I am tired of these people they cannot change. The primaries came, wards that the cabal cannot win, what they did was either they cancel or they ask for harmonization. I told them, you don’t harmonize after election, you harmonize before primaries. After primaries let those who win go. Because they were not on the ground they were canceling right and left. Because many of my followers were in the system, I still advise them.
Omoaghe the former state chairman of the party could not run for re-election because he could not buy form. I was told that the cabal said he will not return, Retti Uzzi will not return and Amegor. I thought they were joking. I called these people and asked them to go and take form. They said they could not find form to take. The state primary they said was going to take place at Oba Akenzua at 9am, they did not start until around 4am when they read out the list of nominees the next day.
They dropped Amegor and put Osaro Idah who as at the time he was named Secretary of the party, he was not a member of the party. Dropped Retti Uzzi, who was a graduate of Yaba Technical College and former Editor of Observer, as Publicity Secretary, and put my in-law Dan Uwegie whose highest qualification is that he was a Catechist in the Catholic Church. Can you imagine? In a party that I was the co founder. Then the worst of all, they dropped Prince Eweka, who was South South Vice Chairman and put Pastor Ize_Iyamu, SSG during Igbinedion’s government. Find out what is the meaning of Ihogbe family in Benin.
You don’t buy into it you are born into it! As a product of Ihogbe, I cannot pretend that all is well, that I don’t know what is happening in Benin Kingdom. The band that you play for the royal majesty, you don’t play that band for any body in Benin Kingdom. I am a politician quite alright, I come from a family and I come from a home, but I have a boundary that I draw. Above all, after all these various changes that did not go on well, with me and my followers, they went on to mess up the primaries.
What we do before is that if you want some candidates to emerge you discuss with the people involved and ask those concerned who want to run not to run for the election.
The party will promise them some thing and they will step down, but you don’t do it with impunity as it was done in the case of my brother Senator Uzamere over Urhohide. Such matters are discussed and you now tell them the reason why you want a particular candidate. Not after the thing has been done, it is done before it is pronounced. So what they did both in the appointment of party officials and the selection of candidates for the election was abominable. And no party that believes in one man one vote should be involved in such nonsense. And for me, if I don’t say what is annoying me, I became sick and that was why I decided to call it quits with ACN.
Similarities between PDP and ACN
The truth is that I was a founding member of the PDP. I did not leave the PDP in joy I left in pain because I wanted to make a point. I knew they were going to rig me out in the 2003 governorship election with Obasanjo at the helm of affairs.
But I wanted to prove a point that the owner of the land is God and the people. And each time I see Adams Oshiomhole, I see a fulfillment of my own personal rebellion against the PDP because he emerged from the ashes of our own party, the ANPP. The only thing that we did not have was the financial muscle, we had the people. The PDP in 2003-2007 here, was no longer commanding any respect because of the way the government dealt with the people.
So the grassroot remained the ANPP, because we did not have the financial muscle those that joined us from the PDP had the financial muscle that I must say. And this game, while you have the popularity on the ground, you must also have the financial muscle. Yes when I left the PDP, I said it was an assembly of the ungodly. I borrowed that word from my late mentor, SB Awoniyi. Now, the late Chuba Okadigbo was leader of our wing in the National Assembly. All of them Senator Gbenga Aluko and some of us left PDP for the ANPP.
You know late Chuba was the Vice_Presidential candidate to Buhari in that election. My friends kept telling me after the whole battle to come over to the PDP, I said no, I want to make my point. The truth is all other parties in Nigeria as at today are mushrooms, the ACN remains a Yoruba party. After my decision to quit ACN I had two options.
I have decided and I have no apology at all, I am returning to the PDP because one major attraction for going back, apart from being a home that I co-founded, is that Jonathan is our son and this is the first time that our son, from the South South is running for Presidency on a platform that is viable. Like I said in one of my interviews, Jonathan is the gold for the South South and all responsible South Southerners must go for the gold and that is one of my attractions for returning to PDP.
And besides, I want to take part in reforming the PDP.
I agree there were problems there but the same problem crept into the ACN.  And I can tell you clearly, before I made up my mind to leave the ACN, one of the first persons I consulted was Ibrahim Babangida. He told me that Rowland, you know I don’t control the political party of my friends. My friends are in all the parties, but if I were you I will return to the PDP. You have been a national figure what ever is the problem there, you stay and sort it out.
I met Chief Anenih and we sorted ourselves, I was the chairman of PDM in Edo State and we know ourselves. In fairness, Anenih is one man that if you agree on any political terms, he will not turn back. Politics is a game of planning and agreeing on equitable distribution of issues. When you agree with him, he will keep his own bargain.  And I told him that I want the second phase of the Benin outer Ring Road to be done and he agreed with me that after the elections, our National Assembly members will work towards that.
So I can assure you that by the grace of God all will be well. My appeal to my supporters, the good work that they did in installing Comrade Oshiomhole, those who are yet to reap the reward, God will bless them. Whatever sacrifice they made, God will use it as reparation for their sins. But they should please not lose hope. As we move back to the PDP, let them pray for God’s protection and goodness.
Because what has happened to the ACN today, PDP has been purged of all the evil people and they emptied themselves into the ACN. What happened to the evil spirit that Jesus Christ exorcised from the demonic man in Luke Chapter 8 VS 260-39, exactly what happened to the pigs is what is happening to the ACN so the last may suffer it.
Vanguard