Oshiomhole:What a political tragedy

By Boma Nwuke

Phone Number: 2348033125640

The axiom, what goes around comes around is indeed worth internalising as it has proven to be food for thought any day.

That is the picture currently making the rounds not only in Edo State but across the country.

Twenty four hours ago, the people of Edo trooped to their polling units to cast their votes for their preferred candidates in a contest that was mainly between two political parties, the All Progressives Congress APC and the Peoples Democratic party PDP.

The APC had Pastor Osagie Ize-iyamu as standard bearer while the PDP’S candidate was Godwin Obaseki, incumbent governor of Edo State.

Oshiomhole ,was a frontline kingmaker of the APC in Edo State strongly supported by APC National leader,Ahmed Bola Tinubu.The PDP had a host of governors with strong and defiant stances in accordance with the phrase” Come what May”

Among the collection are Aminu Tambuwal,Seyi Makinde, Nyesom Wike,Ifeany Okowa. The party also had strong support from former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, and former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi.

The All Progressives Election council for Edo was headed by Abdullahi Ganduje,governor of Kano State while Wike headed that of the PDP council.

All through the eve of the Edo election and the election day, the PDP officials were notorious in drawing attention to either mild or tense issues while in the camp of the campaign council of the APC there was disturbing silence save for a few statements made by Oshiomhole and others at the local levels.

The People’s Democratic party deployed strategies that diverted attention from the main reason of September 19 so that its Challenger,the APC would be merry about little breakthroughs while the PDP concentrates on the bigger picture which will usher the victory it desired

Election is about winning. It is about converting rigorous campaigns into victory. It is about strategy,it is about the views of the people,it is about the trajectory of the state and the nation,

Obaseki coasts to victory did not come to many as a surprise. It was anticipated by keen watchers of political development in the country.

He was maligned, hounded and stripped naked by an erstwhile godfather who waited patiently for party’s screening to have his pound of flesh from his straying godson.

Oshiomhole,a former Labour leader who became governor of Edo State by divine intervention in 2008 served his state for a maximum of eight years and handed over the baton to Obaseki

For a few years, the alliance was rosy and then their relationship tumbled and crumbled making reconciliation even from the highest office of the land difficult.he played god to determine the fate of Obaseki by ousting him from the APC from where the PDP picked him up, seeing he would be the needed breakthrough to their hold on Edo and thus extending their grip on the entire South South.

That was not only a clever move by the PDP, it was a major breakthrough.

A few hours to the election, the Edo APC had boasted of sending Obaseki home from government house but from what the results have shown, those were mere rantings and aptly captured ” pride goes before a fall in Onuora Nzekwu’s “Eze goes to school a literary work that shaped the faculties of thinking and reasoning and expression of young students of literature

The election according to observers were marred with irregularities such as vote buying, pockets of violence and ballot box snatching.

The APC had complained that the PDP had launched a website where it sent humongous results it doctored to the public.The party had also said that it would not accept the outcome of the result which it reportedly claimed to be in its favour.

From the total results declared by INEC, Obaseki won 14 local government areas of the state with 307955, votes to beat his closest opponent Ize-iyamu of the APC who polled 223,619.

By this declaration, the requiem of Oshiomhole’s political journey has just been held.

It is a tragedy for the Edo born politician, former National Chairman of the APC,author and orator who did not see anything wrong in shoving his kinsman,Odigie Oyegun aside to build an infamous party hierarchy which led to the demise of APC strongholds in about seven states.

Oshiomhole wrongly did not realize that politics is about numbers and any decision taken to malign and sideline a person or state can be counterproductive.

With Edo in the fame and hold of the opposition PDP, it is glaring that the number of states controlled by the APC has dwindled once again.

The Edo election has permuted the political order of the South South geopolitical zone which had all but Edo under the PDP’S control before the PDP’S romance with Obaseki began in June following Obaseki’s disqualification by the APC screening commitee set up by Oshiomhole.

With Obaseki declared re-elected to govern Edo State for another four years, the question is what will be the fate of Oshiomhole in the next four years? What will be the fate of his supporters in the years ahead?

This kind of tragic fall in the political domain was not contemplated by the APC but it was predicted to go either way knowing the way the centre operates since 2015 which has become normal.

However there is dignity in winning . The PDP should be benevolent not to adopt the approach of “winner takes it all.” Great men and women in politics demonstrate magnanimity in victory because tommorow will come.

The PDP had in its campaign in Edo and Ondo States said their winning in the two states would determine the next level in the country particularly the issue of restructuring.Having won Edo, the next port for action is Ondo.

And since Obaseki is victor, where and how again would Oshiomhole redeem his wounded pride? Is it at the courts? Perhaps the APC needs a soothsayer with sound vision and mental alacrity to brief it of the working of the” New Judiciary” in the land .