A chieftain of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former governorship aspirant in Edo State, and a delegate in the just-concluded national convention in Abuja, Gideon Ikhine, said he did not step down for the incumbent Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, as reported in a section of the media in 2020. He also expressed optimism that he is the next Governor of Edo State, in this interview with LINUS ALEKE and BEN OGBEMUDIA

Let us start with your political aspiration before going into the special national convention of your party. You aspired to fly the flag of your party during the Edo State governorship election in 2020. What happened, have you perished that aspiration?

Well, as I had always said, I didn’t step down for Governor Godwin Obaseki, I only borrowed him my vehicle to use and at the appropriate time, I expect him to give it back to me. And if he refuses to give it to me, I will take it because it is my vehicle. Anywhere you see your product, you know it and reserves the right to take it. You are talking to the next governor of Edo State by the grace of God, come 2024.

As a National delegate, who do you think will pick your party’s ticket at the end of this exercise?

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We don’t discuss who will win, as I said earlier, every aspirant here is eminently qualified to fly the flag of our party in the coming elections and I wish all of them luck. But I am from Edo State, and our leadership has taken a position and we will not deviate from our position. As we are all aware, politics is about interest and alignment. Like I said earlier, I am a national delegate, representing my state. You should expect that we the delegates are messengers, and as messengers, we must have debated this issue in a very robust atmosphere to decide who we would vote for and that is why we are here.

Expectations are very high out there, from your party members and supporters who are not privileged to be here today. What is your party’s promise to them, you decide who flies your party’s flag in the 2023 general elections?

If you recall, we have not lost any elections in the past. The election that brought in Buhari, was just characterized by misguided sectional, religious bigotry. In that election, you will agree with me that, Atiku was not just the best candidate but he was just too outstanding. We can all see where APC has plugged us into as a country. They live a life of lies, if we look back, we can all see that Buhari was an accident that happen to this great country. I feel very sad that we have had to go through this for eight years. We, however, pray that God should give the President good health and a quiet exit for PDP to continue. Nigerians are waiting for PDP, amongst all our aspirants competing for the party’s ticket, the least amongst them will be ten times better than what APC had presented to us in the past seven years.

Nigerians have lost hope in the ability of both PDP and APC to salvage the country from its economic doldrums and other woes. How does your party intend to restore the hope of Nigerians, as well as revive the collapsed system?

If you look at our programmes, as contained in our manifesto, it is a block-building programme, not a consumption programme. APC government can best be described as desert encroachers, they took everything that PDP built, suck the sugar from the sugarcane, and are leaving the country as chaff. PDP as a party knows how to run a government. We would hit the ground running from day one. Any aspirant that emerges from this primary will be an excellent President for this country.

If your party at the end of the exercise elects a northern candidate, in the face of the agitation by the south to produce the next president after Buhari’s eight years. Don’t you think that will affect the electoral victory of your party in entire southern Nigeria?

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There are questions of sentiment and there are questions of being objective. The southerners are known for their capacity in building blocks, but the northerners don’t have that pedigree. When we look at history and add the civil and military rules together, northerners have been in power for over 80 percent of the time, but what we are trying to let Nigerians understand is to look at the democratic period. For me, on sentiment ground, I will favour a southerner as the next President of this country. But when we look at it objectively, we are not in power, so we can’t elect our flag bearer on the premise of that sentiment. We need the best field candidate, and tonight, the party will produce the best field candidate that will lead us to victory in 2023.

Do you foresee Edo delegates voting against Governor Wike of Rivers State, your fellow South-South brother because of the frosty relationship between him and your Governor?

I don’t believe that there is a frosty relationship between my Governor and the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike. The entire South-South is one big family and if you recall, Godwin Obaseki would not have been Governor without the effort of Governor Wike. Never would he have been Governor. And if you also recall, Governor Obaseki showed tremendous respect to Governor Wike and even visited him in Rivers state to thank him. So, whatever you read in the papers, these people are best of friends and I am sure that if Obaseki has his way, he will throw his weight behind Wike because it is said that it is the man who stood by you in your darkest moment that is your true friend. Obaseki is a human being with a conscience, I am sure that he will stretch out his hands of fellowship to Wike this time around. I don’t think Obaseki will leave his brother at this critical moment.

Why are your top party men abandoning the umbrella?

I know you have Peter Obi in mind when you asked that question. Of course, he is a gentleman, but we have to look at the region where he comes from. As a Governor in Anambra State he did very well, it shows that he had the pedigree to lead the country and lead it very well. But remember that there are other aspirants in the party that also have the pedigree to do well, if not even better if given the opportunity. But if in his wisdom, he realizes that he is not a competitive aspirant, that he is not competitive enough because of the strong men in the race, and decides to take an easy exit, we must respect his decision. PDP is the foremost party in the country. No party in Africa is bigger than PDP. So, PDP is not a political platform for lily-livered or for small boys. So, PDP can produce a hundred candidates that can lead this country effectively. So, his leaving is not a bad omen for the party. Rather, it just shows us that those that are left in the field are men of timber and calibre. So, we look forward to having very robust and competitive primaries. If a person of his status can decide to take an early exit, then you should know what is in the field for us tonight.

I don’t believe that there is a frosty relationship between my Governor and the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike. The entire South-South is one big family and if you recall, Godwin Obaseki would not have been Governor without the effort of Governor Wike.