All seems not to be well in the All Progressives Congress, Edo State chapter as the race to whom will succeed Governor Adams Oshiomhole may have pitted some powerful chieftains of the party against one another.
It was gathered that the leadership of the party called for a meeting in Abuja last Wednesday with the aspirants in a bid to find a common ground as it became evitable following the tension in Edo APC over who succeeds Governor Adams Oshiomhole.
Following the seeming preference for the Chairman of the state government’s Economic Team, Mr Godwin Obaseki, as the APC governorship candidate by Oshiomhole, it was learnt that some of the aspirants started mounting pressure on the National Chairman, Chief John Odigie Oyegun, to react on the issue, after they feared that the primary may be manipulated in favour of Obaseki.
At the Abuja meeting, Oyegun reportedly allayed the fear of the aspirants, assuring them that the national leadership of the party will ensure a level-playing ground for all of them.
The National Chairman is from Edo South – where all of the APC aspirants hail from apart from former Governor Osarhiemien Osunbor and Barr.Ken Imasuagbon who are both from Edo Central.
It was learnt that some Bini politicians are behind the disaffection between Oshiomhole and Oyegun which started shortly after President Muhammadu Buhari won the presidential election.
Oshiomhole was uncomfortable when he learnt that some Bini politicians attempted to join the APC through the back door, running to Oyegun on the grounds that he is one of their own. It was learnt that some even went as far as advising him to take charge of the structure of the party in Edo so that he will decide who becomes the governor of the state.
However, the former Permanent Secretary was said to have told them that he had more problems at the national level to contend withy; so they should not drag him into the politics of the state. He equally admonished them to meet with the governor or the state Chairman of the APC if they had any issue on the running of the party or joining the party.
According to reports, when Oshiomhole and Oyegun met to resolve Edo issues, the former reminded latter that the same Bini politicians hovering around him were the same people fighting him a week to the presidential election, adding that if former President Jonathan had won, they would not have remembered that he (Oyegun) is a Bini son.
The duo agreed to be wary of such politicians who would want to hide under ethnicity to cause disaffection between the duo. It was gathered that both leaders laughed over the matter and resolved not to allow any body to come between them.
However what is going to test that agreement is the issue of who becomes the candidate of the APC at the Edo governorship poll. It is rumoured that while the Governor prefers Obaseki, Oyegun is rooting for the former Minister of State, Works, Engr.Chris Ogiemwonyi. But unlike the governor who has taken pains to explain the reason why he prefers Obaseki to others, Oyegun declared he has no preferred candidate when he met with the aspirants in Abuja last Wednesday.
Oshiomhole has been dogged in marketing Obaseki, asserting that, just like other political leaders have their preferred aspirants, he equally has the right to back his choice of aspirant, assuring however that the primary will be free and fair. And anyone who has been following Oshiomhole’s politics will believe him when he says the primary will be free and fair.
Even politicians in the state used to make it as a mockery that whoever he backs in any primary does not win. They cited his Chief of Staff, Patrick Obahiagbon who ran for the senatorial primary of the party against Samson Osagie as an example. They equally sited his Nephew Romeo who ran for the House of Assembly seat.
He rather plays politics of conviction rather than imposition which he started. But it was learnt however that some of the aspirants are still worried because the fear is that the governor must have learnt from such political lessons and may have upgraded his tactics with a view to delivering his aspirant at the primary, particularly when he is aware that he is going to face men with deep pockets at the field.
Governorship aspirants such as Gen.Charles Airhiavbere, who won the PDP ticket to face Oshiomhole in 2012 cannot be underestimated. Oshiomhole equally knows that his deputy understands the internal politics of the APC and will also be a hard nut to crack at the primaries.
Ogienwonyi is today equipped with better experiences which he is expected to unleash at the primary. Imansuagbon, the Rice Man, has been roaring to go.
But the only snag in the governor’s camp right now is the inability of some of his key foot soldiers to join him in the Obaseki project.