Like Ortom, like Obaseki: How to defeat a godfather

BY ADAMS ABONU

In the warm up to the 2019 general election, there was a cacophony of discordant tunes from the Nigerian political space. Where, hitherto, a dance existed between governors and their self-imposed godfathers, what ensued in most instances was a macabre dance that left in its wake a severance of patronage. From Lagos, where all entreaties to assuage Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to allow Governor Akinwunmi Ambode secure a second term fell to deafening silence, to Sokoto, where Governor Aminu Tambuwal was set for an all-out war with his disenchanted political godfathers, the stage was set for a drama filled with thrilling suspense.

In Benue, there was little love lost between Governor Samuel Ortom and his overbearing political benefactor and leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state in the person of Senator George Akume. What begun as ‘’a storm in a teacup,’’ as described by a chieftain of the ruling party deteriorated into a messy affair that saw the governor leaving the folds of the APC to the warm embrace of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party. How Governor Ortom was to defy all known political odds to trounce Emmanuel Jime, his opponent and protégé of Senator Akume is an enduring lesson in political brinksmanship and sets the pace for defeating an overbearing godfather.

Employing an argument against godfatherism that resonates well with the people of Benue with a blend of tact and teamwork, the ‘’defender of the Benue valley’’ as Ortom was nicknamed in Benue, rallied majority of his kin to defeat the charge of disloyalty his traducers brought upon him. One major plank of Governor Ortom’s argument then was the agreeable fact that godfathers, with their greedy antics impede on the development aspirations of any administration and that the people were better off without servicing the ego of any. Benue people saw that the election was now between commonsense and repeating an old mistake while expecting a different result and stuck with the former option.

With his defiance and courage of conviction, the Benue governor was able to demonstrate that power really belonged to Benue people and no one person could absolutely call the shots on who becomes the helmsman of a state. While the Ortom model in defeating a godfather was still being analysed by pundits, a dark cloud gathered in Edo between the genuine aspirations of incumbent Governor Godwin Obaseki to seek the mandate of his people for a second term and the determination of Adams Oshiomhole, then national chairman of the APC and Obaseki’s immediate predecessor, to stop that aspiration at any possible cost.

At the early stage of what would later manifest as a protracted crises, various voice of reasons tried, albeit unsuccessfully to prevail on Comrade Oshiomhole to let peace reign but he was so caught up in his trickery that the voices fell to deaf ears. Matters came to a head when the governor, after being disqualified in the most bizarre manner by a screening process that bore the handwritings of the now former national chairman, left the APC and into the waiting umbrella of PDP.

Nigeria’s polity was heated up to a near crescendo when the two major political parties conducted their primaries to elect a new governor in Edo-APC fielded Oshiomhole’s protégé who was the candidate of the PDP in the 2016 election, Pastor Osaze Ize-Iyamu, while PDP gave the ticket to Governor Obaseki. An instructive pattern of the heated campaign that ensued was how Comrade Oshiomhole went around the length and breadth of Edo State to canvass for votes for a candidate whom he had derided in the past as “fraudulent and fake.’’ Edo electorate saw through the gimmick and banality but waited for the day of reckoning. Just as the earlier case of Governor Ortom in Benue, Obaseki harped his campaign on the need to break the shackles of the aspiring godfather, a campaign that gained grounds around Edo because of former Governor Oshiomhole’s arrogance and high-handedness.

While the APC campaign train captained by the disgruntled comrade roamed around the state with power and might casting aspersions on the person of the PDP candidate, Governor Obaseki took his message for a new direction to his people with obvious mien and decorum. For Edo, the consensus to do away with godfatherism that saw Governor Obaseki winning convincingly during last Saturday’s governorship election begun in earnest when former Governor Oshiomhole shoved character away and assumed the candidacy given to Pastor Ize-Iyamu, transversing the state with a campaign of calumny against Governor Obaseki. That the former governor riled against the ills of having a godfather earlier in his political trajectory made him an object of ridicule before many Nigerians. The good people of Edo state did the needful by rallying around the candidate who reflects their collective aspirations and gave their overwhelming mandate to the champion of their major interests.

What becomes of Comrade Oshiomhole, and all other existing or aspiring godfathers can best be imagined in the present circumstance. The lesson from Benue and Edo, as espoused by Governors Ortom and Obaseki is this: to defeat a godfather, all a candidate needs is to rally the sympathy of the people through appealing to their commonsense. Across Nigeria, the electorates are getting increasingly conscious of leadership selection process and the chances of overbearing godfathers gaining their ways are correspondingly becoming dim.

Abonu, a development journalist and political activist, sent this from Abuja via [email protected]