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The ruling All Progressive Congress, APC is heading towards extinction in the South -South geo-political zone of the country as the crisis in the Chapter of the party in Edo, the only state it controls got worsened.
Edo, apart from being governed by APC with Governor Godwin Obaseki in the saddle, was the only State in the South-South zone where the ruling party got 45percent votes in the 2019 presidential election.
According to results of the 2019 general election, APC lost the presidential polls in entire of the oil producing region to the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The results showed that in Akwa Ibom, APC scored 175, 429 votes, PDP got 395, 832, in Bayelsa, APC obtained 118, 821 and PDP scored 197, 933, in Cross River, APC polled 117, 303 while PDP garnered 295, 737, for Delta,
APC scored 221, 292 votes, PDP got 594, 068, and in Edo, APC obtained 267,842 whereas, PDP scored 275, 842.
Edo APC has recently been shrouded in crisis sequel to the battle royale between Adams Oshiomhole, the party’s National Chairman and Governor Obaseki with both camps making frantic efforts to exert themselves while the party continues to suffer the brunt.
There has been bad blood between Oshiomhole and his successor for sometimes but it became even more visible during the inauguration of the 7th Edo State House of Assembly when 15 out of 24 members are ‘loyal” to former governor were not inaugurated while nine said to be loyal to the incumbent governor were inaugurated.
The earlier scheduled date for the inauguration of the Assembly was June 7, but it could not hold because of the absence of Obaseki, but there was a new twist to the drama as the much-anticipated inauguration of the Assembly took place at 10 p.m. that day.
Clerk of the Assembly, Yahaya Omogbai, allegedly ushered the members-elect into the chamber and read out the letter of proclamation transmitted to his office by Governor Obaseki and the lawmakers elected Frank Okiye (Esan North-East Constituency I) as the Speaker.
Since then, the Assembly crisis has set the stage for political antagonism between Oshiomhole and Obaseki with each enlisting support at different levels -as the National Chairman is said to be responsible for action of the House of Representatives resolution to take over the State Assembly if Obsakei fails to issue fresh proclamation for inauguration of all the members.
While Oshiomhole seems to be winning the war at the national level, particularly with the clear support of the National Working Committee of the APC, Obaseki seems to be gaining the support of stakeholders and supporters on the home front with John Oyegun, also a former governor of the state and the immediate past National Chairman of the party behind him.
In fact, Oyegun has accused of Oshiomhole of been responsible for the party’s crisis and wondered why he has failed to realised that Governor Obaseki should be supported as the only APC Governor in the South-South geopolitical zone rather than vilifying and destabilising his administration.
He also expressed worry that a man who claimed to have buried godfatherism in Edo state politics could play God and become an agent of disruption in the smooth running of the state government.
“The recent outburst by Governor Obaseki and the report by the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee, indicting the current National Chairman of the APC, have confirmed my earlier claim that Oshiomhole is not only the architect but also responsible for fuelling the crisis in Edo state.
“In the face of these confirmations, I want to urge Oshiomhole to stop disgracing the ruling party and the good people of Edo state. I wonder how
he could easily forget that I never interfered or bothered about how he ran the government as the then governor of Edo state all the while I occupied the position of the party’s National Chairman
“I am yet to come to terms why it has become difficult for Oshiomhole to realise that Governor Obaseki is the only APC governor in the entire
South-south and should be allowed to concentrate in giving the people of Edo the dividend of democracy”, Oyegun noted.
As the crisis worsened to the extent that the APC Chairman in Edo State, Anselem Ojesua, has said he was incapable of brokering peace between the state governor and the national chairman of the party, the PDP which had good outing in the state in the general election is laying ambush for APC.
Dan Obih, chairman of PDP, Edo State, is reported to have described the lingering crisis in the APC in the state as an early exit warning for the party in the 2020 governorship election as according to him, a party that could not manage just 24 members of the state House of Assembly would surely not be able to manage a state.
There are already strong indications that the PDP is making overtures to Obaseki to cross over to its tent to be fielded for the next year’s governorship election in the state as the party is formidable in Edo and with a sitting governor as a candidate, it would take over the state, hence making APC extinct in the entire South-South geo-political zone.
