Three-dimensional challenges before Edo voters

By Ozioma Ubabukoh

About this time four years ago, Edo State was preparing to enter the governorship election, just as it is today. Coming barely a year after the 2019 general election, which magically brought back the then President Muhammadu Buhari for a second term in office, the Edo electorate mobilised against any form of imposition that could ensue from the notorious inconclusive verdict of the Independent National Electoral Commission.

As a result of that political consciousness, the people did not leave room for any doubt as to where their allegiance lies. It was on that premise that ‘4plus4 Ogbane’ became the rallying cry for all Edo adults of voting age. The people did not want a disruption of the quiet developmental revolution going on in their state under the watch of Governor Godwin Obaseki. They resolved that the investment banker, who deployed his expertise, pro bono, in setting up the scheme for good governance in the state, under a preceding administration, should retain the mantle. 

So, having seen what the governor was doing by way of adroit laying of sound socio-economic foundation for the state, the electorate across the three senatorial districts insisted that ‘GO’ must have the full complement of two terms of four years apiece.  

With that popular resolve, the ‘4plus4 Ogbane’ maxim was born. Of course, that central theme, which united the people of the Heartbeat of the Nation, has gone a long way to show their ability to defeat outside influence and deliver the mandate to whom it fits. Ever since, Nigerians have come to appreciate that Edo people are not only politically aware, but are also very particular about excellence, even as they preserve and project their common interest.

Like the 2020 governorship poll, the people of Edo are once more faced with the challenge of making a valid choice in the face of existential and circumstantial threats.

As far as governorship elections in Nigeria go, the first challenge voters confront as they express their freedom of choice is the menacing ‘federal might’. Next to that is the power of incumbency. Fortunately, come September 21, 2024, the contest in Edo would be devoid of any incumbent.

But given the circumstances through which the All Progressives Congress, the ruling party at the centre, lost the state to the incumbent Peoples Democratic Party, no sane analyst should be under any illusion that the APC is prepared to do all in its power to reclaim the state.

In the apparent desperation to add Edo to the number of states in its kitty, the APC would, no doubt, try its best to set up the governorship poll as a referendum on Obaseki’s record of performance in the last eight years. Although he seems to be in the class of former Enugu State governor, Sullivan Chime, who believed that it was possible for one to literally wink in the dark towards a lovely lady, any objective evaluation of his years in office would show that the governor has excelled in laying good foundation for seamless progress.

Before attempting an x-ray of the scale and scope of governance in Edo in the last eight years under Obaseki, it would be necessary to revisit the political conversations that helped him clinch a second-term mandate. After resisting the self-serving godfather schemes of his predecessor and former national chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, the governor decided to ditch the party for the PDP. As a beautiful bride with an alluring track record of excellent performance in office, the PDP was excited to welcome him.

However, the PDP attempted to attach a condition to allowing him contest the 2020 governorship on its platform: he must drop his then deputy, Philip Shaibu, for a fresh running mate. As a man of honour and integrity, Obaseki rebuffed that ungodly offer, preferring to quit the race to sacrificing his deputy.

Events of the past six months could have made the governor regret that principled stance, in the light of his former deputy’s decision to rise as a counterforce. Nonetheless, Obaseki showed that he is truly a man of his word.

One other area Obaseki demonstrated the virtues of honesty and integrity was his inflexible determination to fulfil his promise to the people of Edo Central Senatorial District, that one of them would succeed him in office. Despite all odds, especially internal conspiracies and external manipulations, Obaseki made good his promise to the traditional rulers and elders of Esan clan in Edo Central by queuing behind Asue Ighodalo, another seasoned investment banker and corporate lawyer, who aspires to govern the state.

As the Edo governorship contest gathers steam, the outgoing governor has, no doubt, earned his stripes as a trustworthy and visionary leader. Obaseki demonstrated his servant-leadership qualities and power of focus three years ago when he raised the alarm about Nigeria’s declining economy and its sloppy management under the Buhari administration. Deploying the eagle eyes of a risk manager and investment banker, Obaseki disclosed that the Buhari administration was engaging in promiscuous and wanton printing of the naira to compound the woes of the country’s currency in the international exchange market. That singular financial intelligence distinguished the outgoing Edo governor as an excellent economic manager.

In the common Edo dictum of ‘follow who know road’, Obaseki has left nobody in doubt that he knows his onions as far as governance is concerned. Former United States President Bill Clinton must have had Obaseki’s reasoning in mind when he spoke about presidential democracy, stressing that it is economy stupid!

Faced with three major contending pathways, the PDP, the APC or the Labour Party, Edo voters should, therefore, either follow a tried and tested road or navigate uncharted pavements.

Of the three frontline contestants, only PDP’s Ighodalo seems the most likely to build on the solid socio-economic foundation GO laid.

The APC struggled and sweated to pick its flagbearer, Senator Monday Okpebholo, from the same Edo Central zone that is yet to throw up a governor of the state. However, the divisions and backstabbing with the stakeholders in the state raise the possibility that governance in the hands of the APC would suffer from elite conspiracies and upheavals.

Then, for the third-row candidate, Olumide Akpata of the LP, it is left to be seen how Edo people would accommodate another four years of governorship from Edo South Senatorial District that produced Obaseki.

Having demonstrated their religious observance of equity and fairness through the 4plus4 singsong of 2020, it would be seen, come September 21, whether Edo voters would recognise and honour the promise-keeper that declared 2024 as the turn of Edo Central.

Nigerians are watching and the people of Edo cannot afford to drop the ball. They have done it before and it is left to be seen, not whether but, how they could do it again.

*Ubabukoh, Principal Consultant at Plexus Media Interlinks (Plexus), writes from Lagos.