It was Chinua Achebe that said in his book titled ‘Things Fall Apart’ that when things have fallen apart, the centre can no longer hold. Similarly, the Holy Bible in the book of Matthew 12 verse 25, says that a house that is divided against itself cannot stand. That is to say when a house is divided against itself, that house must fall to the ground.
Unarguably, this is the present situation in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Edo State chapter. The party for close to two years has been at war against itself. With the present situation of things, the party is likely going to be in a journey of no return.
Five personalities and an institution including Governor Godwin Obaseki, Chief Dan Orbih, PDP Vice Chairman South/South, Dr. Tony Aiziengbemi, state PDP Chairman, Dr. Iyorcha Ayu, the party’s national chairman and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), are largely responsible for the current woes that have torn the party apart.
It’s a truism that disagreements are considered a normal phenomenon in politics but that of the PDP has proved book makers and political scientists wrong. Thus more political research is required to unravel why and how the PDP question is a different ball game.
One cannot stop wondering why a political party that was out of power in the state for nearly 12 years, but providentially regained power without contesting an election, would in less than four years want to surrender such coveted governorship position and return to an opposition status. This is unimaginable and unreasonable.
For nearly two years running, the party has not known peace. The party’s predicament started shortly after winning the September 19, 2020, governorship election in the state, when Governor Obaseki who obviously was in a hurry to take over the party structures launched a serious war against the unwilling state leadership of the party.
Recall that Governor Obaseki, had made emergency landing into the PDP from his former party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). His estranged political godfather, Adams Oshiomhole had made the APC unbearable for him.
He was not only accepted into the PDP but was given a waiver to contest the 2020 governorship as a the party’s sole candidate, after allegedly parting with several billions of naira to settle the PDP leaders and some governorship aspirants.
For this reason, many PDP leaders and members, particularly those that moved with him from the APC, believed his quest to take over the party structures was his right being the party leader as the the governor of the state. At least, the party constitution decreed it so. Besides, the governor desperately needed to secure party office positions for his compatriots.
But this was not to be, as Chief Dan Orbih and all those who claimed to be the original owners of party stoutly resisted his moves and in the process, the party scattered because where two elephants fight, it’s the grass that suffers.
The party was immediately divided into two strong factions and all the efforts of well-meaning individuals and groups to amicably resolve the crisis proved abortive. Even many peace meetings sponsored by the national secretariat of the party woefully failed to achieve any positive results.
Expectedly, the Obaseki’s faction aka Emanton (Iron) and the Orbih’s Camp, popularly known as the Legacy Group and Iron Bender, held paralled party primaries to elect the PDP candidates for the forthcoming 2023 general elections.
Those actions again sparked off several court cases. Unfortunately, the national secretariat of the party helped to nail the coffin prepared by both factions when it gave recognition to the candidates elected on both sides through letters to INEC and issuance of letters of return.
As if the party was predestined for doom in the 2023 general elections, both camps made grievous errors during the conduct of their party primaries. Whereas the Orbih’s Camp had INEC monitors/observers, the Obaseki’s camp did theirs without INEC staff. On the other hands, the Obaseki’s faction had representatives of the national secretariat of the PDP to monitor their whereas such privilege was absent in the Orbih’s factional primaries.
Unfortunately for both factions, the electoral laws stipulated that both INEC staff and the representatives of national secretariat of the party must be present at the state primaries to make the outcome of such primary elections valid and legal.
Little wonder that the supreme court of Nigeria, sitting in Abuja recently washed its hands off the factions authenticity matter brought before it, refering them to their party for the resolution of the matter. Thus the two factions are back to square one.
Also, the INEC didn’t help matters. The commission is playing the ostrich by publishing names of candidates from both factions. In clear terms, how come INEC published on its list, names of candidates for the national assembly from the Orbih’s Camp while in the same vein, the commission gave recognition to the candidates contesting the state assembly election from the Obaseki’s faction.
Presently, candidates of other political parties have started campaigns and selling themselves to the electorate in the state but those in PDP are in their closets waiting for the interpretation of the supreme court ruling.
Obviously, the opportunities to peacefully resolve the PDP self inflicted crisis have been allowed to slip through the fingers of the PDP leaders. The party may remain a divided house until after the 2023 general elections. And your guess is as good as mine what will be the performance of a disunited party during election.
Besides, the wide gulf between the two factions is so wide to the extent that the disagreements between the governor of River state, Nyosom Wike and the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar over the national chairman of the party, Iyorcha Ayu, have also pitted Governor Obaseki against Chief Orbih.
Whereas Dan Orbih is a strong friend of Governor Wike, Obaseki is a staunch supporter of Atiku Abubakar. Indeed, only a miracle can bring these two leaders together.
Curiously, The RELIANCE investigations revealed that some of the PDP members, mostly from the Obaseki’s faction have since moved into the Labour Party (LP) with some of them being lucky to snatch party nomination to fly the LP banners for 2023 general elections.
People to be held responsible for the sorry state of the PDP in Edo State, are the national chairman of the party, Dr. Iyorcha Ayu, Governor Godwin Obaseki, vice chairman of PDP south/south, Chief Dan Orbih, the PDP state chairman, Dr. Tony Aiziengbemi and INEC
More details in part two of this special report on the Edo PDP.
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