By Jorome Omonogbe Tadefua

“Let no man panic or be anxious. Edo is a PDP state and September will really be a good time to properly establish that”
– Harrison Omagbon, Edo State PDP Deputy Chairman

While Nigerians were enjoying the extended Eid el Fitr holiday on Thursday, a fear-induced, jaundiced and reckless analysis of the three leading candidates and their political parties in the September governorship election in the state was released online.

Titled, ‘How Edo election candidates and parties stand after primaries’, the so-called analysis is nothing other than a failed and miserable attempt to paint the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Asue Ighodalo, who has emerged as the clear front runner and the obvious darling of the people, as unpopular.

Ighodalo’s soaring influence and acceptance in the last four months across the state has been like wild harmattan fire. He has become the talking point, the issue and the symbol of the election. Expectedly, this has ignited considerable levels of anxiety, confusion and sadness in the camp of the opposition in Edo State.

It is this fear induced and unsettled mind that made the author, who unabashedly wrote in support of opposition, to devote a whopping 783 out of 2,200 words and over, discussing Ighodalo, while allotting a paltry 292 words to Monday Okpebholo, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC). That speaks volumes. That is more than one-third, or about 35 per cent of the analysis was devoted to the only person worth talking about as far as the election is concerned. What this simply means is that Ighodalo is the focal point of the election and nobody else, no matter how much they pretend, is deserving of a mention.

Ordinarily, we would have overlooked this mumbo-jumbo of fallacy and sophistry for the wailers to continue to wail in their self-imposed excruciating hysteria, but because of their premeditated intentions to misinform, deceive and spread alternative narratives about the coming election to the unsuspecting public, we owe it a duty to advise Edolites to be wary of those who are working to prevent them from choosing the solid gold, which Ighodalo represents. Any other alternative to him is to settle for a grotesque, inelegant mound of clay. Edo State deserves the best and Ighodalo is it.

We are happy that the APC knows, and the generality of Edolites know that in every material particular, Ighodalo towers far above any other candidate. Whether in terms of competence, capacity, compassion, character, pedigree, connection and contact, vision and passion for the state, no one else comes close to the boardroom guru.

And, sincerely speaking, we find it difficult to explain why APC is crying more than the bereaved. If there are unresolved crises in PDP, how is that your headache? Wouldn’t you rather be happy? In what ways will it pay you if they are resolved? Why must the fear of Ighodalo drive you insane? How is the choice of a new Deputy Governor by the PDP your headache? Why are you so panicky and jittery that you have to resort to instigating and inciting the public against Ighodalo and the PDP?

Only political neophytes and amateur analysts would describe an election that is still clearly more than five months away in September as a run-in by mid-April. People must learn to come to terms with the saying that in politics, “the more you look, the less you see”. And the more instructive one, “24 hours is too long a time in politics for things to change”.

We, therefore, owe it as an obligation to correct the following erroneous impressions created by the fallacious analysis here and now.

First, Okpebholo was a beneficiary of a protest vote by Edo Central Senatorial District in 2023. So, the narrative that he upstaged and defeated a sitting Senator with so much ease doesn’t arise. Let those whose palm kernels were cracked for them by a benevolent spirit not forget to be humble. It was not as if he was the best option. But the result of that gambit today is a single bill sponsored so far on the floor of the Senate – ‘Agriculture Research Council of Nigeria Act (Amendment) Bill 2023’ – on Wednesday, 18th October 2023. And nothing has been done on it till date after the first reading. Meanwhile, another senator from Ekiti Central, Opeyemi Bamidele, Senate Majority Leader, has sponsored 19 bills out of the total 251 bills so far sponsored from June 2023 to February 2024 in the Senate. So, Edo Central’s contribution to a total of 251 bills was just one. What an achievement by the APC senator!

Second, the choice of Engr. Omobayo Marvelous Godwins as Deputy Governor remains a masterstroke by Governor Godwin Obaseki. Little wonder the opposition is in pain. Omobayo’s choice doesn’t mean members of PDP have been disrespected or dumped. It was a strategic move that effectively took the wind out of the sail of the opposition and promises to completely neutralise them in Edo North. Like the popular folk song, ‘As e dey sweet us, e dey pain dem; as e dey pain dem, omo e dey sweet us.’

Third, we are aware that there is a desperate and grand design to orchestrate a face-off between the palace and the PDP governorship candidate. But we know they will fail because Ighodalo has the highest regard and respect for the palace and nothing said or published by the opposition will change it.

Fourth, who said Ighodalo has been inaccessible? That is another fallacy and sophistry. Ighodalo doesn’t suffer from lack of self-confidence. He mixes freely with the young, not-too-young and the old. We recommend that those who are scared of facing people because they are not sure of themselves to go for remedial courses in “Social Interaction and Communication”. That is not a problem with Ighodalo. He’s at home with the young, the old, men and women, rich or not too rich, educated or not too educated.

Fifth, constitutionally, the governor is at liberty to direct the Deputy Governor to do this or that from time to time. If Obaseki so pleases to direct Godwins to campaign for Ighodalo, the most any opposition member will do is to grumble and we have no apologies for that.

Lastly, it is absurd and sad that people who make a living from speaking and writing good English like the author of this analysis under reference, are the same people arguing that “the next governor of Edo State will not be determined by who speaks the best English”. Do you want an Edo Governor who will attend the Council of State meeting just to mark the register and come out without any meaningful contribution because he doesn’t know what to say or how to say it? Edo State? Habaaaa!

It is, therefore, utterly wicked, criminal and dangerous to ask Edo people to commit their state and future into the hands of a man who lacks the competencies, capacity and sophistication to preside over the affairs of a state. And that is what the reckless analysis under reference is urging Edo people to do. Hell no! It won’t happen.

Edo no dey carry last!!!

Tadefua, National Coordinator of Asue Ighodalo Vanguard, writes from Benin City, Edo State.