Edo state will be going to the polls come September 21 to elect the person that will pilot the affairs of the state for the next four years.
The elected person will be taking over from Governor Godwin Obaseki who would have completed an 8 years tenure.
There are three frontline candidates angling for the position to occupy the seat of power at Osadebe House.
We shall try to dissect the three candidates without recourse to any form of bias as we remain apolitical as a group.
ASUERIMEN IGHODALO.
A very influential personality especially in the corporate sector where he has held top positions, even rising to become a director in the National Economic Sovereign Commission.
He is a successful lawyer with vast experience in corporate law.
He is a friend of the high and mighty especially on the country’s economic community. The likes of Aliko Dangote, Tony Elumelu, Femi Otedola are his friends. He has the garb and speaks the English language fluently.
He has appeared on national television stations to marshal out his plans for Edo state if elected.
However, his drawbacks are his closeness to the incumbent, Obaseki, who many of his party members accused of foisting him on the party without recourse to carrying party members along. Obaseki has successfully fragmented the ruling PDP in the state by taking over the party at the detriment of founding fathers who labelled themselves, the “Legacy Group”.
The state party chairman, Chief Dan Obih who leads the legacy group is not on good terms with Obaseki and his anointed successor. It is foolhardy therefore for Obaseki to continue to play the ostrich thinking he can do it alone without first reconciling the aggrieved party members.
This may count against Ighodalo on the D day.
APC clinching the Senatorial seat in the last general elections in Edo Central Senatorial District, a traditional PDP stronghold since 1999, is a testimony to what extent the PDP has lost face in it’s traditional catchment area. Protest votes and in house fighting within the PDP gifted APC the seat.
There is also the rumour making the rounds that Obaseki is not on cosy terms with the reverred Benin monarch, Oba Akenzua 11. It must be noted that wherever the oba goes, his dominant Bini ethnic group follows and they represent over 52 percent of the voting population in the entire state.
Also, people are quick to point out that Asue Ighodalo is of the aristocratic class that does not relate very well with the grassroot, having grown up in the south west where he had his elementary education in Ibadan and Lagos before jetting out to the UK for his higher education. He is seen by his opponents as a stranger in his native Edo state, unable to even communicate in his native Esan dialect.
So much baggage for a man considered to have been loved mostly by outsiders than the people at home.
MONDAY (AKPAKOMIZA) OKPEBHOLO.
If there is a politician in the Edo political sphere that came to the scene like a whirlwind and established himself as the man to beat at the polls, that man is Monday Okpebholo.
He is the candidate of the APC and serving Senator of the Federal Republic.
He was not a known name until he clinched his party’s nomination to represent it at the Red Chambers during the 2023 general elections.
He emerged victorious and the rest is history.
When it was time for the gubernatorial race, it was in whispers that people started banding his name as a likely contestant.
During the APC’s primaries to elect their candidate, the defacto godfather of Edo APC, former governor of the State, Senator Adams Oshiomhole threw his weight behind a serving member in the House of Representatives, Hon. Denis Idahosa, a man from Edo South to the consternation of people of Edo Central who felt it was their right to produce the next governor. They felt they have been marginalized by the South and North Senatorial Districts who have had their shots and governed the state since 1999. Except for the brief interlude in 2007 when Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor of the then PDP was governor for just 18 months before the courts sacked him. Since then, Esan people have not had the privilege to govern the state.
At the APC primary elections, OSHIOMHOLE’s faction of the party produced Denis Idahosa as the winner while another faction declared Monday Okpebholo as the winner.
It took the intervention of President Tinubu who waded into the matter and ordered for a re-run that finally produced Okpebholo as the authentic winner and therefore became the candidate of the APC.
Oshiomhole had no choice but to align with the party by supporting the party’s choice. However, this is after he had foisted his preferred candidate, Idahosa on Okpebholo as his running mate.
It is worthy of note that the campaign by the APC has been very intense since INEC lifted the ban on campaign activities.
Oshiomhole has led the way by being in the forefront for the party’s campaigns through the length and breadth of the state, taking the shine from the candidate.
This has set tongues wagging as to the eloquence of candidate Okpebholo. He hardly speak at rallies and the few times he spoke, his lack of knowledge of English language has been laid bare.
Matters were made worse when Okpebholo refused to engage the press in interviews to marshal out his plans when he wins the election.
However, party faithful have always alluded to the fact that the man is more of a believer in actions than talks.
It must be given to the man that he is more of a grassroots man than his opponents from the other parties. He relates well with people at the grassroots who coincidentally are the real voters. He has shown to the world some projects he has executed especially in his Senatorial District.
His detractors are quick to point out that he may be an embarrassment to the state at public fora if given the opportunity to present his position on topical issues if elected.
Another sore point being bandied by his Esan kinsmen is the fact that no known politician of substance of Esan extraction has been seen on his electoral train since the campaign began.
Rather, it has always been people from Edo North Senatorial District that have followed him around. Unfortunately, this same persons did not in one way or the other support his candidacy from the onsets. Oshiomhole had a different candidate, Philip Shuaibu left the PDP because the party refused to give him the ticket to run for governor, even when he knew it was the turn of Esan Central to produce the next governor. The current party Chairman, Emperor Jarret Tenebe is of the same ethnic group like the aforementioned persons that is the stronghold of APC in the state.
BARRISTER OLUMIDE AKPATA.
Olumide Akpata is the candidate of the Labour party. He is a new entrant to partisan politics in the country.
He was a one time President of the Nigeria Bar Association, NBA,.
He is reputed to have the financial wherewithal to run a successful campaign.
If it must be said, Edo state was the unofficial headquarters of labour party when Peter Obi ran for last year’s presidency.
The support given to the party saw Obi running away with a wide margin over his opponents from both the PDP and APC. The party even went ahead to produce a Senator who represents Edo South in the Red Chambers.
However, Akpata’s albatross may be the LP’s refusal to respect the gentlemanly agreement that it was the turn of Edo Central to produce the next governor.
This does not foreclose the fact that he stands a chance of springing a surprise at the polls come September 21.
There is a popular saying that when two brothers fight to death over inheritance, a stranger inherits their father’s property. This may play out if the APC and PDP, whose candidates are both Esan men, continue their ‘roforofo’ fight and the more populous Binis decide to cash in on it and vote in, one of their own, Akpata may carry the day due to protest votes.
This election will definitely go down in history as one to remember for a long time to come.
What in the South South Media Professionals rofessionals Forum are clamouring for, is to allow the election to be free, fair and credible and allow the true winner to carry the day.
There should be no interference from powers that be. We frown at thuggery and any form of violence during and after the election.
On this we stand.
