Mudiaga Affe and Ben Ogbemudia
In what may seem to be a long-awaited battle, Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may have drawn the battle line over the sacking of party executives. This follows an alleged attempt by the governor, who is the leader of the party in the state, to weed out the elected executives of the party at the ward, local government and state levels.
This ostensibly is in order to have a firm grip of the party structure in the state. Obaseki defected to the PDP on June 19, 2020, following a protracted battle to secure the governorship ticket in his former party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the September 19, 2020 election. His defection to the PDP was a welcome development because the party had not been in power in the state for nearly 12 years.  The governor did not join the PDP alone, he came in with a retinue of APC members who were his core loyalists, some of whom were executive members of the APC at the ward, local government and state levels. A factional chairman of the APC, Anselm Ojezua, was among those who later joined.

While the governor got the ticket to run on the platform of the PDP with his deputy, Philip Shaibu, who defected alongside him, the state executive members of the party and others at the lower cadre were barely a few months in office before Obaseki defected. They continued in their respective positions to allow for collaboration to win the bigger prize, which was the governorship election. Having won the election against his major opponent and candidate of the APC, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, Gov. Obaseki, who was sworn in for a second term in office last November, alongside his deputy, Shaibu, only appointed the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr. Osarodion Ogie. The three were formerly of the APC.  But six months after, Obaseki and some of his loyalists are beginning to face the resistance of the core PDP members who have also been waiting to “benefit” from a government they jointly worked for. It was only a matter of time for the brewing internal conflict to become a public discussion as the center could no longer hold after an ‘emergency and expanded State Working Committee meeting’ at the instance of Obaseki at the Government House in Benin on May 8, resolved that the party’s exco be dissolved.

The meeting, which had in attendance three old members of the PDP in the state, Dr. Raymond Dokpesi, Chief Tom Ikimi, and Chief Mike Oghiadomhe, started on Saturday and ran into the early hours of May 9.
The aggrieved PDP members said convening such a meeting was aimed at ambushing the state chairman of the party, whom it was said, was constitutionally empowered to host such a meeting. They added that the dissolution of the executive committees in the state was sub-judice and would be an act of contempt of court to revisit it by the party. A letter regarding the dissolution read in part, “The genesis of this looming crisis results from the acquiescence of the National Working Committee members who negotiated Godwin Obaseki’s movement to PDP, to reach a verbal or written agreement on the integration of the new members vis-a-vis the sharing of appointments after the elections had been won.

“We, therefore, condemn Governor Obaseki’s re-appointment of his former SSG without any consideration for the legacy PDP he joined. To this end, they have consistently sung a tune of harmonisation ever since Obaseki was sworn in, knowing that he now had the ‘yam and the knife’. “We have resolved strongly, that if any harmonisation must take place, it must start from the governor’s office, where his deputy governor should resign, and a deputy nominated from the old PDP is sworn in. “This can be a springboard for broad harmonisation across the state’s party organs. “The proposed dissolution and, or harmonisation, are designed to hold Edo people and the PDP to ransom by the Obaseki-led administration. “We will not accept this. Edo people voted for PDP and Godwin Obaseki to deliver the dividends of democracy to them.” The aggrieved old PDP members, who admitted that Obaseki was being misled, specifically mentioned his deputy and the SSG, whom they said were rumored to have governorship and senatorial aspirations respectively, in 2023, as culprits.

They also accused some former APC members they regarded as godfathers and some old PDP members of influencing the governor on his planned dissolution of the state exco. “They have refused to register in their wards as PDP members while continuously attending PDP meetings under the governor’s auspices, with impunity.
“Chief Osaro Idah, Chief Charles Idahosa, Chief Henry Tenebe, Senator Ehigie Uzamere and Mr. Theo Okoh are the key culprits here,” they said. Reacting to Aziegbemi’s letter, one of the elders in the party, Chief Tom Ikimi, who also attended the expanded State Working Committee (SWC) meeting at the Government House, reaffirmed his earlier stand on dissolution and harmonisation of the executive. “The party structure should be dissolved and made open for reconstruction. The harmonisation of members of the two parties would then become a hitch-free, seamless process. Those who hold office now can still re-contest or be accommodated in other ways.
“This view I have freely expressed several times on different occasions, and I am very convinced it is the best way forward. “At the national level, the PDP today has clearly stated that no matter when you join the party, you are given equal opportunity as any other member. ‘’When leaders join, they must be accorded positions commensurate with their status.
“We cannot have in the party, for smooth running, any members recognised as former APC or former PDP existing at the different levels creating extreme division and confusion. “Therefore, it makes good sense to execute the biometric registration of all members, both new and old, so that everyone becomes an unadulterated PDP member,” Ikimi said.
Similarly, Dokpesi said he welcomed the call for biometric registration of all members of the party.
He added, “I support the biometric registration of all members, integration, and harmonisation of membership, as well as the immediate dissolution of all party structures to pave the way and enhance the required unity and progress. “This is without prejudice to finding something beneficial for those who are displaced, but are competent and capable of bringing value to the well-being of our peoples.”

However, shortly after Ikimi’s position got to the public space, the leadership of the PDP in Edo Central Senatorial District passed a vote-of-no-confidence and went ahead to suspend him from attending or performing in any capacity in the senatorial district.
They also barred him from carrying out any activity in the name of PDP in the Edo Central Senatorial District.
In the resolutions signed by Anthony Okosun and the state assistant secretary of the party, Mr. L. Ogedegbe, they passed a vote of confidence on the SEC chaired by Aziegbemi. “The senatorial district rejects any Joint Executive Meeting with the new PDP members from APC at all levels in the senatorial district.
“The LGA chairmen from the senatorial district should summon an emergency meeting with their respective ward chairmen, to ensure that the aforesaid resolutions/decisions are properly disseminated and strictly adhered to. “The senatorial district is far bigger than an individual. The senatorial district is resolute, committed, united, focused, a law-abiding district, and will continue to work hard to achieve its objectives and aspirations,” the resolution concluded.

The bigger picture was to emerge earlier on May 12 when Obaseki, who was worried by the negative reactions that greeted developments, was said to have expressed unhappiness over the position of the SWC which he said was “too hard” on him. He was said to have appealed to them that contrary to insinuations, he was not taking them for granted and that he remained grateful to the PDP for giving him the platform for his re-election after falling out with his former party, the APC.

The governor was said to have told the SWC members that he had been receiving calls from his colleague governors across the country and business associates who expressed their concern that he was falling out with the party that brought him back to power so soon. But going by the developments, there were insinuations in some quarters that the governor might still go-ahead to press for the reconstitution of the state and local executive members to accommodate some of his loyalists that defected from the APC.
However, while that is on, the governor’s delay in constituting the SEC is another issue that is eliciting other controversies within the party. It has been over three weeks since the state House of Assembly granted the proposal of the governor to appoint 15 special advisers.