As eye witnessed in the past three weeks in Edo State can best be described as political abracadabra.
Obaseki has proven to be a deft political player.
Against all expectations, Obaseki muscled his way through and finally conquered by becoming the undisputed leader of PDP.
Obaseki is set to confront the APC in the coming September 19th Governorship election.
Now the series of sequences are full of coincidences and intrigues reminiscent of a well-written script.
Without prejudice to the feelings of any political party or candidate, I can boldly say the stage is set for an all-time war between Obaseki on the platform of PDP and Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu on the platform of APC.
Recently two events played out that gives credence to the innuendo that there was more to it than what was seen at the surface.
These two events both have political undertones and laced with intrigues if looked at critically.
The first incidence was the day Obaseki resigned from the APC, that was the same day the appeal court upheld the suspension of Adams Oshiomhole as the national chairman of APC.
Obaseki’s game plan was to be disqualified from the APC so he can stand a chance by law to withdraw and contest under another platform.
That was a smart move by Obaseki. If Obaseki had faced the primaries and was beaten he would have been ineligible to participate under another party for the same Governorship ticket.
Now here comes the sucker punch from Adams Oshiomhole, same day Obaseki resigned his membership from the APC the courts removed Oshiomhole as the national chairman of APC.
Obaseki immediately made spirited efforts to come back to APC ???
Now you can see the booby trap? Obaseki was lucky he saw danger ahead.
In local parlance that is what we call jump and pass.
It was a clear bait for Obaseki to come back and participate in the primaries in the absence of Adams Oshiomhole as the National Chairman.
The APC probably realized that disqualifying Obaseki was done in a haste.
Obaseki smartly crossed over to PDP after an initial agreement was allegedly reached for N8 Billion for a joint ticket with Philip Shaibu.
Obaseki with his moles still left in the APC took up the battle from there and started the call for a NEC meeting in APC after a certain Victor Giadom with questionable court papers pronounced himself as the acting national chairman of the party.
Obaseki all the while was badly scheming to influence his ticket under the platform of the PDP.
After enough exchange of money, the PDP primaries was postponed twice to accommodate Obaseki’s participation.
Over 3.5 billion was allegedly budgeted for legal fees.
Adams Oshiomhole / Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu’s camp played a smart one again.
Buhari accepted Giadom’s claims to his chairmanship of APC and agreed to attend the NEC meeting he called not knowing it was a setup to convene the NEC so as to finally nail the coffin of Victor Giadom and the retroactive forces left in the APC(the presidency claims they are the remnants of party moles loyal to former Vice-President Atiku Abubarkar).
The NEC which happens to be the highest organ of the party dissolved the NWC and affirmed Ize-Iyamu as the APC’s candidate for the Edo elections.
Could it also be a coincidence that it was the same day Obaseki was imposed as the PDP’s candidate by the NWC of the party in a sham indirect primaries?
Obaseki’s journey to getting the ticket was characterized with hire wired politicking that saw Obaseki crisscrossing the South-South States within two days.
Obaseki on the day he purchased his PDP form flew to Abuja thrice in a day.
Private jets are stationed constantly at the Benin Airport as the Governor and his emissaries are busy shuttling Abuja and the South-South States.
Multiple Hotel bookings for well wishers and praise singers are currently reserved in all the States.
Big negotiations are taking place at the top with party echelons across the country.
The bills keep rolling as the media has been fully engaged in a tough propaganda battle against perceived political foes of Obaseki.
Still, yet the party is asking for more as the 192 PDP ward chairmen are allegedly demanding the sum of 10 million naira each for mobilization.
Pictures are seen daily of old PDP politicians like Chief Tom Ikimi and his likes trooping in and out of government house Benin City.
Today PDP members in Benin City are wearing a new smile with the shouts of PDP… share the money.
There is a street slang now in Benin City called AZIEGBENI i.e na where dem dey share money.
Aziegbeni is the name of the PDP state party chairman.
His name is now the slogan for SHARE THE MONEY.
Once you hear the word Aziegbeni then it means to share the money.
Obaseki was mandated to purchase vehicles for all the 192 ward chairmen each.
In addition to the Multi-Billion naira bargain, Obaseki promised the PDP the following positions.
*Secretary to the State Government.
*SIX commissioners.
*One special adviser from all the 192 wards across the State.
As at the time of writing this report fresh information suggests the PDP are demanding a further whopping 2 Billion in order to name Philip Shaibu as the running mate to Obaseki.
According to a political pundit in the State “Obaseki has turned into PDP’s ATM.”
The sweet part now is the battle is between the incumbent Godwin Obaseki and the APC candidate Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu.
Oshiomohole has no role to play in the clash of these two Titans.
Sources :Osigwe Omo-Ikirodah writes in from Benin City./ iReporteronline
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