28th September, 2023
By Jethro Ibileke
Though the governorship election in Edo State is still about a year away, the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is already in crisis as a group within the party (Legacy Group), has vowed to work against any candidate backed by Governor Godwin Obaseki.
The State Secretary of the party, Mr Hilary Otsu, who gave the hint in an interview in Benin, the state capital, disclosed that members of the Chief Dan Orbih, the party’s South-South national zonal Vice Chairman-led Legacy Group, will never support the Governor’s anointed candidate.
It would be recalled that the same group worked against all candidates supported by Obaseki during this year’s general elections, which eventually led to the unprecedented defeat of the PDP in parts of Edo Central and South.
Otsu said that the purported endorsement by Obaseki of a Lagos-based lawyer [Asue Ighodalo], as his choice for the PDP governorship candidate in next year’s election will not fly.
He added that the people of Edo State will never accept another Lagos-based “stranger” to pilot the affairs of the state after (he) Obaseki, who was similarly plucked from Lagos by the immediate past governor, Senator Adams Oshiomhole.
The Edo PDP Scribe who predicted that the party will emerge stronger, insisted that the Legacy Group will nominate the governorship and deputy governorship candidate of the PDP for the 2024 election.
He said: “Most of Governor Obaseki’s closest political allies have echoed it that Edo State will never accept another stranger to govern its people. If the person you mentioned now is the same person I have heard from some sources, then it’s dead on arrival.
“Governor Obaseki does not have the kind of goodwill needed to promote an unknown stranger in Edo State. When Oshiomole did it with him, Oshiomole had optimal goodwill and acceptance.
“If Edo people are given a choice today, they will vote against any candidate that Governor Obaseki supports. I am sure you can see it’s a bit of a dicey situation. We have exactly one year to the election, time to get serious.”
Otsu alleged that it was common knowledge that during the just concluded election, some members of the National Working Committee (NWC) were compromised in the processes that threw up the candidates Obaseki supported.
Otsu remarked that all the candidates fielded by Obaseki during the last polls were unpopular because of the illegal processes which brought them.
According to him, “That’s why you see that in many places they gave support to All Progressives Congress (APC) candidates and in some, to Labour Party candidates, leading to unprecedented victories for those parties.
“For example, PDP has never lost Edo Central and South Senatorial seats before, while a Labour candidate swept the Edo South Senate seat, after leaving PDP for Labour just a few months before the election.
“I believe there was an uncoordinated conspiracy by all to prove to the world that Obaseki wasn’t a popular governor. Many of us were pleased that the national body has come to realize that without the Legacy PDP, Obaseki cannot win Edo State for PDP. And so for the first time in history, PDP also lost Edo in a Presidential election and did not win a single National Assembly seat.
“Compare that with previous years when we had no Obaseki in our party when Chief Dan Orbih was leading PDP as a strong opposition party, we always won at least two Senate seats and a minimum of four or five House of Representatives seats,” he added.