Comrade Adams Oshiomhole…must never allow himself to be distracted or wavered from those cardinal creeds which he embraced on November 12, 2008”. Quoted in Nowinta’s book;2012: Conqueror of the Godfathers (page 87)
WHEN the Comrade Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, recently applied the big stick once against the Edo State Traffic Management Authority, EDSTMA, knocking them off their usual nefarious and very much hated business, the question that came to my mind was simply:‘ who is fooling who? Yes! Who do the Comrade-Governor think he is fooling? Does he think he is a political ‘Solomon’ wiser than the knowledgeable and sensitive people of Edo State?
If I am not wrong, I think this is the second time in the life of this administration that the Comrade-Governor would be putting the Edo State Traffic Management Authority out of circulation after they would have given us dosages of unwarranted terror. The reasons the Comrade-Governor gave for sending them packing this time around is not new to the much-oppressed people of Edo State.
The sacked EDSTMA officials were notorious for stark extortion of law-abiding and peaceful citizens of Edo State under the guise of traffic control. These EDSTMA thugs, while their evil reign lasted, operated like tin gods and inflicted untold hardship and brazen torture on the vulnerable people of Edo State.
Where was Comrade Oshiomhole when the innocent people of Edo State were brutalised, terrorised and treated like slaves by EDSTMA thugs who did not employ decent modern traffic procedures when handling the people? I think the Governor waited for too long? While the Comrade-Governor waited tactically, he simply turned the other eye to allow some useless, jobless, selfish, inhuman and greedy party stalwarts to pounce on the innocent people of Edo State using traffic control or management as a cover.
Why did the Comrade-Governor betray the people in such a fashion after what they did for him in 2007 during the governorship election and in 2012? Today, as I penned this piece, market women and ‘pure water’ hawkers in all the major markets in the state are being compelled to pay all sorts of fees /levies to some marijuana-smoking, nasty and fierce looking thugs working for ‘a band of political merchants’ that have one connection or the other to the Dennis Osadebey Avenue.
Certainly this was not the promise that Comrade Oshiomhole articulated in 2007 and in 2012. Agreed that the Comrade Governor is one of the best things that have happened to Edo State in terms of construction and rehabilitation of roads; and other laudable frantic efforts he has made in other sectors. Granted that he has indeed rubbished the nearly 10 years of gigantic misrule which the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, perfected in Edo State. But the ordinary people do not seem to have a place in his democratic agenda!
It has been a very sad story of ‘used and dumped’. Where is the Youth Employment Scheme (EDO YES) that the Governor sang and danced with in his political manifestoes? These guys are now roaming the streets aimlessly, hungry and panting for survival! What about the last local government election in the state? Was it free, fair and credible? We all saw what took place.
Today, the Comrade-Governor has turned full circle after he incredibly sent the political godfathers packing and completely out of business after his victory in the governorship elections in 2007 and 2012. The road for the race of the All Progressives Congress, APC, governorship primaries in Edo State is being dug up and covered with political land mines purchased and delivered allegedly by the foot soldiers of those who run the show because one Mr Godwin Obaseki is the alleged ‘anointed aspirant’.
Gentleman Amegor, an absolutely dedicated party man in the fold of the APC and others are being hounded and persecuted because they are demanding due process, transparency, equity and fairness in the way the party’s governorship candidate should emerge. For instance, not too long ago, Edo South Senatorial meeting allegedly called in Amegor’ s house was disrupted by those working for the ‘anointed aspirant’.
Recently, Ken Imasuagbon, a governorship aspirant in APC Edo State was allegedly locked out of Oredo Local Government party secretariat where he was to have a meeting with party faithful in the locality. Also, some commissioners, council chairmen, political appointees who were alleged to be working for other governorship aspirants in the state other than the ‘anointed man’ have been yanked off from their positions, etc.
I think it is not too late for the Comrade-Governor to retrace his steps, call his ‘warriors’ to order and ensure that a level playing field is available for all those who have indicated interest to participate in the APC governorship primaries. Who says the Comrade-Governor should not be interested in who succeeds him on November 12, 2016?
We know absolutely that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu showed interest in who he wanted to succeed him as Governor of Lagos State, but available records showed that his successors went through open and credible party primaries. I fear for the APC and the good people of Edo State should the party’s governorship primary become enmeshed in crisis, thereby spoiling the party’s visible chances of ultimately winning the governorship election when the time comes?
Who says any one cannot aspire to be a political godfather? But because of the terrible chains that became the lot of the people of Edo State before the emergence of Comrade Oshiomhole in 2007, we don’t need another godfather in Edo State.
Mr Igbotako Nowinta, an author, wrote from Benin, Edo
Edo 2016: Return of the godfather
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