Obaseki vs Ize-Iyamu: Do we really have a contest?

BY GIDEON AZUGBENE

There are few people who will contest that one of Gowin Nogheghase Obaseki or Osagie Ize-Iyamu will win the September 19 governorship elections in Edo State. Truth is that the rest of the candidates are only there to complete the race. What is also not contestable is the striking differences in the profiles, antecedents and personalities of the two. The dissimilarity between the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) could be likened to that between day and night. They are so contrasting that people are asking if there would actually be a contest on September 19, 2020.

Indeed the contest is unusual and Edo or Nigerian voters have never been faced with such a clear distinction. This is so because traditionally, there are no ideological differences among Nigerian political parties and most of the time politicians. There are no liberal nor conservative groups; none can be said to be inherently progressive nor reactionary. There are no caucuses for the centrist as well. All the parties brandish almost identical manifestos and no clear-cut differences are observable among them.

In a matter of days, however, the Edo electorate will have the easy task of choosing between a man who has used his short political lifespan to fight for the commoners while taking the fight to the oppressors, who tested him with power and a man who since 1999 has been part of the group feeding fat on the state and underdeveloped it.

On one side are the career politicians and money bags who are desperate to seize power through the ballot box or other means in order to further line their pockets and continue their domination of the ordinary people. On the other end is one man backed by an army of artisans, market women, ordinary people, civil servants and others, who appear battle ready to defend him because he has continually stand for them in the face of the bourgeoisie.

Who is Osagie Ize-Iyamu and who is Godwin Obaseki? For the those who do not know, Osagie Ize-Iyamu has been hovering around the corridors of power in Edo State since 1999. He started as Chief of Staff to former Governor Lucky Igbinedion in 1999 and later as secretary to the state government under the same man. He led some young turks out of the PDP to then ACN and in the process installed Adams Oshiomhole as governor. He later became South South vice chairman of the ACN and headed the reelection campaign team of Adams Oshiomhole. He returned to the PDP in 2015 and effortlessly picked the party’s gubernatorial ticket. He is back again in 2020 to recontest the election he lost in 2016.

Godwin Obaseki, on the other hand, is a technocrat and investment banker, who left his enviable position in the private sector for his Edo State in order to contribute his quota to the development of the state. This, he quietly did for eight years until former Governor Adams Oshiomhole picked him out to succeed him. The former governor mistook Obaseki’s calm personality and mien as signs of weakness, hence he supported him so that he could continue to rule Edo by proxy.

Unfortunately for Oshiomhole, Obaseki has greatly disappointed him, choosing not to be a tool in his hand to milk Edo and choosing to serve the people, who voted him to office. In less than four years of Obaseki’s administration, the people are getting used to a new life, an era that was different from the corrupt and chaotic previous government.

First was the sudden disappearance of constant protest by retirees who daily protested non payment of their entitlements. Political jobbers, who hitherto thronged the Edo government house for largesse, could not hide their discontent to the new order. During the old guard, they breezed in to the government house and breeze out carrying Ghana-must-go. Under Obaseki, donation of N5 million and SUVs to defectors to APC stopped. For Obaseki, the message is simple–Edo money is for Edo people and not for the benefit of some politicians or traditional rulers. For the first time since the creation of the state, training and retraining of teachers in order to update them started. In no time, the old secretariat in Benin that had been abandoned for decades came alive as work resumed on the site. The entire project is completed today.

How do you describe the relief that came the way of shop owners and other sellers in different markets in Benin after Governor Obaseki ended the multiple taxation and levies that they had been subjected to by the previous government and their agents? How about the sanity brought to land acquisition processes in Benin and other parts of Edo State? With Obaseki as governor, the first modular refinery for petrochemicals in Nigeria is about to be commissioned in Edo. These are some of the achievements of Governor Obaseki worthy of mention that have endeared him to the Edo electorate.

Seeing Obaseki’s soaring popularity and his refusal to sacrifice Edo people for him, Oshiomhole, against all odds, has teamed up with Ize-Iyamu, a man he vilified and described undeserving and unworthy of top political office only about four years ago. The duo are now leading a group of men, whose interest is to use power for their selfish interests.

On their side are professional politicians, who are now out of cash and in need of a lifeline to relaunch their dying political lives. Just like Ize-Iyamu, these men and women have been around a long time and do not just want to be out of reckoning. A former deputy governor in the state is in this group. Not too long, a move to make him the head of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) hit the rock. With the plum job gone, he is back in the street trying to get something.

There is a former minority leader in the House of Representatives, who lost fortune in 2015 while contesting election into the Senate. A former House of Representatives member, who was Oshiomhole’s Chief of Staff less than four years ago is also among them. He has been out of office for a while and cannot wait enough to be serviced by the system.

In the northern senatorial district of the state, there is another former member of the House of Representatives. He was senatorial aspirant and candidate in the last two general elections without success. These are some of the men leading the line for Ize-Iyamu and Oshiomhole. Should these people have their way, surely the wealth of the state will suffer for it and progress made will be lost.

These politicians are ably supported and surrounded by political thugs who are always ready to do the bidding of the politicians who bankroll them. These are not just political thugs, but political thugs who have tasted power. Under Oshiomhole, these men were appropriated state power which they used to make humongous wealth before Obaseki ended their infamous reign of terror in Benin City and its metropolis. Just like their paymasters, their mutual enemy is Governor Godwin Obaseki. Edo people have watched a video where they were told that the incoming election was a war that must be fought. They were also charged to dominate the election by moving from polling units to polling units and from wards to wards.

But for the abracadabra that follows election in Nigeria, one will say that Obaseki is home and dry. Though fully aware of the popularity Governor Obaseki enjoys, they will not just give up but rather up their game plan. This is about the only factor that makes September 19 a contest–a contest between the people and the oppressors. To achieve their aim, the oppressors must bring down a wall of Edo people that stands between them and power. Will they have their way or will the people triumph?

Touched by the gang up against Governor Obaseki, former Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State shared his personal experience when he campaigned for Obaseki. He said, “I was Governor of Anambra State for eight years. I know the tribulation and campaign of calumny I had to suffer in the hands of powerful men for insisting that the resources of the state must be managed wisely for the good of all and not for servicing a few people. So when I saw Adams Oshiomole and his gang-up against you, I understand perfectly. But the good thing is that the common man know that you are one of them.”

Azugbene, a public affairs analyst, sent this piece from Benin.