Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State’s defection to the People’s Democratic Party bears all the markings of a Trojan horse. Despite having full cognisance of the fact that he was a sitting governor and would lend any party he belonged to the power of incumbency, the All Progressives Congress (APC) was more than willing to be rid of the governor, who was accused of polarising the party before handing in his resignation.
His party members decried his scoped knowledge of party politics, eccentric leadership skill and high-handedness, with a party chieftain, Mr Henry Idahagbon, once saying he is “the most aloof governor we have ever had in Edo State”, and noting that Mr Obaseki had blackmailed most of the people that fought to put him in power. He even added that should Mr Obaseki desire to leave the party, they would employ a musician to celebrate his exit. Barely minutes after joining the PDP, the governor was at his idiosyncratic best.
He declared: “Today is not a day I will make the speech, you will hear from me soon. Today, I am here to go through the formalities of registering as a member of this great party, I know and I understand full well the implications of these decisions, I know that upon taking up membership of this party I automatically become the leader of the party in the state.
“That is the constitution, I read it thoroughly last night, and I want to assure all of you that I am prepared to provide leadership. I am prepared to provide leadership that will lead this party to victory and I am prepared to provide leadership that will not only put PDP in office in Edo state but as the ruling party in Edo state, we will make sure that the level of progress, the level of hope and the level of participation in the political system by our party is unrivalled in this country.” So soon?
While many members of the PDP, excited to have the governor of the state in their ranks, are asleep to the full implications of his statements, some others are apprehensive. Various deals have, however, served to palliate their agitations and men who vowed previously not to step down for the governor have shown a marked disposition to eat their heads and recant or possibly justify every critical utterance they have made concerning his enthusiastic appetite for power.
Even if Mr Obaseki wins them the election in September — and there is nothing yet to indicate he would — they need to be careful how they manage his tendencies. They should, if possible, take notes from the state’s APC chapter, who were more willing to help him find the door than keep him with all his incumbency. Otherwise, Mr Obaseki may just end up being both a gift and a liability to the party. After all, what can he do in PDP that he could not do in APC?
(The Nation)
Please tell me what is party knowledge, is it sharing money as oshiomohole accused pdp of doing and turned back to force Obaseki to share state money or by the performance of the governor. I know where oshiomohole leaves ten years ago at capiona before he join politice, where is oshiomohole after ten years. The same thing he said about Esan man Aneni that he let police without anything only to join politice and start stealing public money and acting godfather.