Reflections On Edo Governorship Poll

By Emeka Alex Duru

The procured crowds at rallies by the two leading political parties for the Edo governorship election – the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), bring to mind a scene in a 1987 British television film, Escape from Sobibor.

Sobibor was an extermination camp built and operated by Nazi Germany as part of Operation Reinhard. It was located in the forest near the village of Sobibór in the German-occupied Poland. Sobibor existed for the sole purpose of killing the Jews, vast majority of who were gassed within few hours of their arrival.

The film is story of the mass escape from the camp by the Jews in what appeared the most successful uprising by inmates. In one of the scenes, the heartless camp commanders in obvious mockery of the inmates organised a party for them and insisted that they should dance. While the helpless Jews were forced to the dance floor, it was obvious that they did so out of compulsion and not conviction.

The good thing about the event, incidentally, was that it was in such gatherings that the inmates started incubating plots for their escape. We shall return to this later.

In Edo, while the crowds are lured and rented to appear and roar at the campaign grounds, it does not take much to understand that they are not making the appearances with their minds. On the faces of those that are daily advertised as supporters of the candidates, are evidences of trauma occasioned by years of deprivation and maladministration. From close range, they cut pictures of inmates of concentration camp tutored to put up façade of wellness in the face of obvious maltreatment. It reminds of what the legendary Afro music star, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti would sing as “suffering and smiling”.

Edo has not been lucky with people-oriented leadership. Aside the sterling performances of General Samuel Ogbemudia of the military era and Professor Ambrose Alli of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) in the Second Republic, successive governments in the state, have ended up being worse than their predecessors. Other states in this ugly league are Imo and Abia. The three are curiously among the oil-producing states, with derivation earnings.

The Lucky Igbinedion administration, which heralded Edo into the current civilian dispensation, charted the way in this journey to the infamy. Not really having any agenda for the office, Igbinedion mistook governance for bazaar and orgy. It was such a bad outing that when he was going for reelection in 2003, he was mocked as, ‘Governor Do Nothing’. Even his father, Gabriel Igbinedion, who came in to his rescue, was at a stage quoted to have pleaded that since the punishment for one who failed a promotion examination was a repeat, Lucky should be given another chance to improve on his records. It was that hilarious but ironical.

The Professor Osereihmen Osunbor administration that exhibited signs of focus and vision, was cut short by the Court judgement that upheld Adams Oshiomhole, as the duly elected governor. Coming from the background of labour unionism and brandishing flashes of welfare packages to the people, Oshiomhole readily appeared the man of the moment. When he went after the political elite and god fathers that were seen to have constituted clogs in the progress of the state, he was lionised. But over time, falling into what Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson, in their insightful book, “Why Nations Fail”, describe as iron law of oligarchy, in which new leaders overthrowing old ones with promises of radical change, end up bringing nothing significantly different, Oshiomhole became the most rapacious god father in the state. Some even say that he constitutes present danger to Edo politics.

The two leading candidates for the election; Governor Godwin Obaseki of the PDP and his APC counterpart, Osagie Ize-Iyamu, are students of the Oshiomhole school of unorthodox politics. The key strategies in marketing products from this Mill are intimidation, blackmail and falsehood. Since his arrival to the Edo politics, Oshiomhole has successfully employed these odious schemes in hoodwinking the unwary citizens of the state. As governor, he worked with Ize-Iyamu and Obaseki at various times before falling out with each at one point or another. In all, there is no genuine consideration of the people. It is all about how to convince or confuse them.

When therefore the Comrade embarks on the sheer audacity of resurrecting and rebranding Ize-Iyamu who, four years ago, he castigated as a thief not worthy to be entrusted with public office, his antics should be understood. While he rolls on the carpet in entertaining his audiences at campaign grounds or kneels before traditional rulers in show of remorse over selling Obaseki to the state four years, ago, two lessons stare in the face; it is ether he lacks a sense of history or he considers the Edo electorate bereft of intelligence; both of which constitute heinous crime against the state. Whatever is his intention this time around should be rigorously scrutinized by the people.

Leadership is not an issue of gamble. For Edo, a people whose primogenitors of the famed Benin Kingdom had by the 15thcentury mastered the art of governance to the point of having diplomatic relations with the Portuguese and other western countries to be left in the hands of minions as it is, shows the extent faulty leadership recruitment process can hold down an entity.

As the Jews in the forced party in Sobibor used the opportunity provided by the gathering to plot their escape, the September 19 governorship election, offers another chance for the Edo voters to make their choice and stand by it. It is not a even must that the winner of the poll should be Obaseki or Ize-Iyamu. In real sense, both are tainted having been adjudged unfit for the office by their god father at one point or another. There are other candidates to pick from. But if as it has come to, the choice has been narrowed to the two, the people should be allowed to have their way.

There should not be room for the so-called federal might – a euphemism for election manipulation by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other agencies of the state, in Edo. The recent elections in Osun and Kogi, have added to the suspicion on INEC as a partisan player rather than an umpire in the country’s elections. It is currently seen as an arm of the ruling party. This remains a challenge and dent on the INEC leadership. The poor conduct of Edo election will amplify the ugly impression. It will also make mockery of the pledge by the President of bequeathing a legacy of free and fair elections to Nigerians.

Duru is the Editor of The Niche Newspaper