In just six days from now, Edo people will begin to be urged to go to the polls to elect a different set of individuals as governor and deputy governor. That urge will be driven by that old lie that standing in the sun or rain for some donkey hours to ‘elect’ this fresh batch of politicians is a civic responsibility.
Prior to this election that will take place on September 21 of 2024, many politicians have to jump from one political camp to another. Both Mr. Godwin Obaseki and the Rt. Hon. Philip Shaibu were staunch members of the All-Progressives Congress, APC. But after they fell out with Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, the duo scurried back to and took refuge with the Peoples Democratic Party, the PDP, and had done everything they could to de-market and defame the other party and Adams Oshiomhole. And just a few months to the September 21, 2024 Edo governorship elections, both Mr. Obaseki and the man with whom he had piloted the affairs of governance in Edo state, the Rt. Hon. Philip Shaibu drew loaded revolvers at each other. In the ensuing stare down, the latter of the duo was impeached rather ignominiously by his boss. He therefore sought and got the old embrace of his former party and master. As things stand now, he too is presently doing everything to outflank, outmanoeuvre and outwit both Obaseki and the PDP, a party in which he was a chieftain just a few months ago.
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Let’s now visit the APC, the power at the centre, and which Nigerians hold very responsible for most of the hardship in the land. Even though every Nigerian has felt the heavy hand of the APC government, how it is felt in Edo is something else. This is because Edo politicians at the centre of Nigeria’s political calculus right from the days of Chief Tony Anenih to Adams Oshiomhole are known to be some of the most influential political heavyweights in Nigeria. But how much of that heaviness of weight and political influence and relevance have translated to the benefit of the people of Edo is another matter entirely. Edo people are the butt of jokes in Nigeria in that even with EDSOGPADEC funds, funds from the Ministry of the Niger Delta, 13% derivation monies and with the monthly federal allocation, Edo state is one with great challenges of multidimensional poverty – terrible federal roads, near-zero agricultural prowess, near-zero power supply in Edo homes and ultra-high levels of insecurity. It does seem that in spite of these big issues of multidimensional poverty, Edo movers and shakers across the political aisle prefer to play Russian roulette with the lives of Edo people.
What is now very interesting about the campaigns towards the September 21, 2024 governorship elections is that not one of these political parties, the PDP, the APC and the LP is addressing these issues. One would have thought that because of how Edo people have suffered at the hands of these politicians at the local and national scenarios, these issues – bad roads, hunger, power supply issues, health, schools, and wealth creation – would take centre-stage but no. What the politicians are talking about rather are issues that are very far from the issues. They are busy throwing shit and mud on the ceiling fan, and conducting one of the fiercest attacks on the fourth arm of governance, the family unit. Whilst the one side has been making direct references to the demerits of voting for unmarried persons, the other side is taking a swipe at barren women.
I do believe that none of the political parties has something tangible to offer Edo people. They appear more of the same class of beer parlour hombres verily separated only by the type of beer that they drink. One of the parties has a former governor who is doing almost all of the campaigning, the talking and the funding, as though he seeks the third term as governor through the backdoor. The other appears to want his protege to cover any of the tracts that he may want covered. There’s another one who does not seem to care that a huge chunk of his supporters have been alleged to being used as decoy by the other for a fee. And so in all of these, I encourage Edo people to try to sift the beans from the rice, and try not to be deceived by the yahoo pro max currently going on. There’s nothing civic and being responsible about standing in the rain or sun for hours to vote for candidates whose body language indicates that they are in this for the selfishness of their interest. If you are not convinced to vote any of these characters stay at home. After all, votes in Nigeria do not decide elections. The courts do.
