By Olusegun Olanrewaju
With Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, destined for history, courtesy of the expiration of his constitutionally-limited two-term bid on November 12 next year, the ball and the beam is, once again in the ball court of the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to supervise a replacement.
And it is again becoming clearer, that despite disputations, Edo Central stands a chance to win the governorship, even though some columns are rooting that the zoning principle should be jettisoned this time around.
Though it is not clear yet at the moment whether the time-tested issue of zoning of public offices, especially as it relates to governance, will have anything to do with the shopping game of electing another helmsman for the ‘Heartbeat of the Nation’, for the next four years.
Pundits note that, of truth, zoning could still have a lot to do with the selection process of the next chief executive in Edo State.
*The zoning angle
The ball kicks off from the camp of the sitting but outgoing governor, Obaseki, who hails from the Edo South Senatorial District. The University of Ibadan (UI)-trained ‘artist governor’ sits atop a minefield of the prospects of picking his successor from another senatorial zone in the state, himself having hailed from the southern axis, and the north producing an ex-governor, Senator Adams Oshiomhole.
Obaseki, as governor, was elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He crossed over from the All Progressives Congress (APC), after a bitter war with his mentor, ex-governor, and Oshiomhole, who now represents Edo North in the National Assembly.
Meanwhile, with stalking fear that the power could get more toxic as the race wears on, Edo Central has gone on a public enlightenment campaign, asking other parties from the list of 18 to count one of his worth.
For now, observers note, all efforts will be focused on the Edo Central Senatorial District. As a prelude, the indigenes of Edo Central District, Esanland, are already angling to produce Obaseki’s successor.
The last time they produced a governor was in 1979 when the late Ambrose Alli administered for four years. The central district is made up of Esan West, Esan Central, Esan North-East, Esan South-East, and the Igueben Local Government Areas (LGAs).
In its realm, Edo South is made up of Oredo, Ikpoba-Okha, Egor, Ovia North-East, Ovia South-West, Orhionmwon, and Uhunmwonde LGAs, while the Edo North comprises Etsako West, Etsako East, Etsako Central, Akoko-Edo, Owan West and Owan East LGAs.
*Prospects
A socio-cultural organisation, Esan New Era, recently met and addressed a press conference during which it demanded that the Edo Central be allowed the governorship ticket, including drafting other parties into the ‘struggle’. Insisting that the zone has eminently qualified and experienced persons to govern the state, eminent sons and daughters of the land noted that since the creation of Edo State from the defunct Bendel State, except for the short-lived tenure of Senator Oserheimen Osunbor, who was governor for 18 months from May 29, 2007, before he was removed by the court, no other person from Edo Central has been privileged to lead the state, with Edo North and Edo South dominating the governorship.
Ahead of the last runs in the present zoning dispensation, there was a general feeling that power should rotate among the three zones in the state. It was also considered that Edo South should make the first list. This invariably produced Lucky Igbinedion, and later, Osunbor. However, the equation was interrupted with the coming into power of Oshiomhole, “which gave Edo North the complete rightful two terms of eight years,” in the words of a stakeholder.
Oshiomhole’s return of power to Edo South in 2016, instead of Edo Central, it was believed in some quarters, led to the emergence of Obaseki. The general secretary said: “We are here to remind our brothers and sisters from Edo South and Edo North that we are all children of the same parents in Edo State, with equal rights to the heritage of our parents. We are here to remind our brothers and sisters from Edo South that when their son, Chief Lucky Igbinedion, held political power in the state, the people of Edo Central lent their support.
“We are here to remind our brothers and sisters from Edo North that we, the people of Edo Central, supported their son, Adams Oshiomhole. We are here to remind Governor Godwin Obaseki that in the moment of his political turmoil, we, the people of Edo Central, accepted him as our brother, though from Edo South, to continue and complete his second term,” one of the leaders of Esan New Era, Patrick Onoye, said at the briefing.
Onoye, who is the general secretary harped on what he called the integrity, intellect, and capacity to move the state forward as governor as the basis of the clamour for Edo Central governorship quest.
It was on this premise that he harped that allowing Edo Central to produce Obaseki’s successor would be the right thing to do. This, he added, would make the spirits of their late political leaders rest in peace, with Edo State’s 18 local government areas to be moved forward while building on the legacies of Obaseki’s administration.
*Counter arguments
On the fringe, others are clamouring that the zoning principle must be jettisoned in its entirety in the election process for Edo State governor in 2024.
A chieftain of the ruling PDP in the state, Charles Idahosa, leads the pack, sort of, urging the critical stakeholders to avoid zoning to a particular district. A former Special Adviser on Political Matters to ex-governor Oshiomhole, Idahosa rejected the agitations on zoning.
According to the former Commissioner for Information and Orientation in the Igbinedion administration, those rooting for the bagging of the governorship office on the altar of zoning should be considered lazy. The best considerations for selection into the office are not tribal, religious, or whatever
Larger issues, despite the odds, indicate that zoning might still have its place. The Central zone is the factor to beat in 2024,” Jackson Eromosele, a scholar, notes. At some last count, no fewer than 37 Esan politicians from Edo Central senatorial district have tried to be interested in the 2024 Edo State governorship race.
Prominent among the frontrunners is Kenneth Imasuagbon, a politician-philanthropist, who actually will be taking another shot at the Benin Government House. Popularly referred to as ‘Riceman’ because of his philanthropic tendencies of always giving free bags of rice to Edo residents, a former member of the ruling PDP, has aspired on many occasions to become Edo governor on the platform of the party, with glitches.
The Edo-born lawyer stepped down for Obaseki ahead of the September 19, 2020 governorship election in Edo State. He is said to be angling to vie for the same office with different persuasion in mind now. He recently defected from the PDP to the Labour Party (LP), where he hopes to clinch the governorship ticket to run for the 2024 election.
Others with trending ambition to occupy the Edo Government House, from Edo North, include Asue Ighodalo, John Yakubu, Sergius Ogun, Mike Onolememen, Sam Oboh, and Gideon Obakhan, among many others.
For a closer shot, Ighodalo, an ally of Governor Obaseki, it was gathered, seems to have the backing of his friend, to contest for the party’s ticket in 2024. However, there are suggestions that Obaseki and Ighodalo will have the National Vice-Chairman of PDP (South-South), Dan Orbih, and his teeming supporters to contend with. The governor and Orbih have been daggers drawn over the control of the PDP in the state.
John Yakubu, a PDP member, is a former chairman of Esan North-East Local Government Council, and was the running mate to the PDP’s governorship candidate in 2016, Osagie Ize-Iyamu, who is now in the APC.
Sergius Ogun is also a lawyer as well as a member of the House of Representatives representing the Esan Northeast/Esan Southeast Federal Constituency on the platform of the PDP. Sources, however, insinuate that there are indications that he may defect to the LP to enable him to contest the 2024 governorship poll, following his bid for re-election as a Rep.
Former Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen, is also interested in vying for the ticket of his party, the PDP, to contest the Edo 2024 gubernatorial election. Said to be weighing other options, he is said to be unmindful of the need to reach out to his political associates on the rival platform of APC to explore his chances of running on the party’s platform.
Also eyeing the Edo governorship seat are Sam Oboh and Gideon Obakhan. Oboh is a former chairman of the Esan Northeast Local Government Council. Indications, however, are that he is undecided on the platform to realise his ambition. Obakhan, an ex-Commissioner for Education in Oshiomhole’s administration, on the other hand, is said to be vying for the APC ticket.
In Edo South, Osagie Ize-Iyamu appears once again to be getting ready to fly the APC flag in the Edo State gubernatorial race.
Dennis Idahosa, a youthful lawmaker who currently represents the Ovia Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives, is also eyeing the APC ticket for next year’s governorship in Edo State.
The Executive Director, Finance and Administration, of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Maj.-Gen. Charles Airhiavbere (retd.), according to insiders, will also be seen in the political trenches, vying for his party’s ticket to contest the Edo governorship election next year. The same with Chris Ogienmwonyi, an engineer and a former Minister of State for Works in the administration of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.
The list is exhaustive, but Dr Pius Odubu, a two-term deputy governor under the Oshiomhole administration, is in the mix. Ditto Osarodion Ogie, the only aspirant from Edo South on the platform of the PDP, Osarodion Ogie, a lawyer and the current Secretary to Edo State Government (SSG).
However, should the zoning philosophy be strictly adhered to, it is generally felt that from all indications, the odds are greatly stacked in the favour of two principal runners for ‘Edo 2024’; Imasuagbon and Ighodalo, with the former decked with the best chance of making it to the government house.
