Even before serious campaigns and primaries begin for the highly anticipated governorship election in Edo State in July next year, the opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP) is already in tatters with members and leaders openly engaging themselves and disagreeing on internal issues of leadership, National Mirror reports.
These are not the best times for the People’s Democratic Party in Edo State with members pitted against each other over who leads the party to fight the ruling All Progressives Congress at next year’s governorship elections.
At the centre of the confusion is the allegation of corruption hanging against Edo State PDP Chairman, Chief Dan Osi Orbih, who has also been accused by some members and leaders of the party of seeking to perpetuate himself in office as Chairman beyond his second term, which expires this month of August 2015.
Orbih and many of his followers led by the party’s State Acting Publicity Secretary, Chris Nehikhare, have been arguing for his retention beyond next year’s governorship election by basing their argument on the opinion that only his continued stay in office could guarantee a successful election of whoever emerges PDP candidate for the election.
They further argued that Orbih has not only managed the finances of Edo PDP very soundly, his leadership has also constantly and successfully challenged the state ruling Action Congress of Nigeria and later All Progressives Congress-elected administration of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole on issues of governance.
But those who are opposed to the Orbih group have warned of the total destruction that Edo PDP might reap from a fraudulent rubber stamp of Orbih’s alleged self-perpetuation in power. They further warned that the party, which is presently suffering asphyxiation in Edo State directly from the loss of the Federal Government to the APC in Abuja and by extension the paucity of funds that had flowed in from Abuja before now, will not only lose thousands of members before the governorship election but could lose the election, woefully, as a result.
Notably, the strong opposition from those who do not want to see Orbih continue to hold office have recently been boosted with the sudden, unrequested support of the state ruling APC, which Publicity Secretary, Comrade Godwin Erhahon, recently lent his voice on behalf of the party to the call for either Orbih’s resignation or his immediate sack by Edo PDP members and leaders for alleged corruption.
One of the allegations aggrieved PDP members have against Orbih is that he is a habitual loser who has not really won any election for PDP in Edo State free, fairly and credibly till date. Another allegation is that he supervised the misappropriation and embezzlement of about N1.5 billion provided for the state leadership as campaign grants and proceeds of sale of forms to candidates in Edo State before the recent general election.
Yet, another allegation is that he manages the state party in a high-handed manner and serious deficits in the areas of sagacity, accountability, transparency, communication and maturity.
For example, he has also been accused of making himself a comedian that often dances to the gallery with childish pranks and unrealistic claims and lies at press conferences and other special occasions instead of confronting and challenging the ruling APC and the state government with verifiable factual issues and healthy debates.
But defending the embattled state chairman on the allegation of misappropriation, a serious issue that presently has the party split into three opposing groups in the state, Nehikhare said: “Orbih was not the chairman of the Presidential Campaign Committee in Edo State. It was Pastor Ize-Iyamu. So, if there was any fund given to PDP, they should ask Ize-Iyamu and not Orbih. These lies by the APC are coming on the heels of our call to the EFCC to probe the local government funds that accrued to Edo State, which were tampered with by the Oshiomhole administration.”
The spokesman, who would not be drawn into answering questions of what positive or negative impact his defence statement could have on the fortunes of the party’s foremost aspirant, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, further denied that N10 million released by the state party leadership for each of the 24 PDP Edo State House of Assembly election candidates was hijacked by the same party leaders.
“There is nothing like N10 million given to our House of Assembly candidates. The APC is just cooking up these lies because we called on the EFCC to probe the finances of local governments, which the APC-led government in the state misappropriated, leading to local government workers not being paid,” Nehikhare defended on the telephone.
Also speaking positively about the PDP Chairman, a social critic and party member, Ogbeide Ifaluyi-Isibor said, “I think Chief Dan Orbih has been an extraordinary party chairman. He has been very vibrant, active, agile and up to the task. He has been able to make PDP a formidable opposition in Edo State and regularly puts Governor Oshiomhole on his feet. I think that is what true opposition is about. Dan Orbih has been very good at his job.”
But the division in the party appears to be escalating such that for some weeks after inauguration of the present membership and leadership of the Edo State House of Assembly in June, the party’s position of Minority Leader could not be filled, no thanks to the opposing and conflicting letters that were presented by the three elected members of the Assembly, each of whom presented a letter signed by the three different opposition blocks within the opposition party.
The division widened last month when Edo North Senatorial District PDP leaders called for the immediate resignation of Chief Orbih while claiming to be echoing the wish and desire of the party’s leadership in all the 18 local government areas of Edo State besides Edo North, the senatorial political base of Orbih, who hails from Ogbona.
One of those members at the forefront of the ‘Orbih Must Go’ campaign is Chief Omololu Ojehomon-Ogbeni, a woman who has vocally and vigorously supported the PDP and done so much for the state party in the past.
Writing on the controversial issue last week in the social media, Mrs. Ojehomon-Ogbeni stated of the Edo PDP leadership, “The state EXCO is worthless. I think Dan Orbih will be better as the publicity secretary. He also cannot function as the treasurer, financial secretary, auditor and organizing secretary. In fact, such realities create a non-transparent environment.”
Explaining some of the issues that led to the Edo North revolt against PDP leadership, she cited “having an Edo North Senatorial woman leader, who has never come up with any agenda to move women forward in the politics; having an illiterate caucus chairman in Edo North, who cannot read the party constitution and violates it at every turn; such people cannot propose a government of the people.”
On the tacit attempt by the state party leadership to forcefully pick the 2016 PDP governorship flag bearer from Edo South, Mrs. Ogbeni maintained, “We have not agreed to the zoning formula; yet, it is being shoved down our throat. Selfish agendas have emerged that cannot in anyway promote wellness and progress among the grassroots. It is not just about winning but sincerity in one’s agenda, which must be people-oriented.”
Just as the division in PDP widens, so does Orbih’s camp intensify efforts aimed at not only bridging the gap but also finding a common ground for ensuring that he retains his position as Chairman so as to supervise PDP’s participation in Edo State governorship election of 2016.
The latest of peace moves is last week’s PDP conference organized by New Dawn, a new pressure group in the party under the leadership of Senator Roland Owie. The conference brought national leaders of the PDP to Benin City including two Board of Trustees members: Founder/Group Chairman of DAAR Communications, Chief Raymond Dokpesi and former Minister of Transport, Chief Ebenezer Babatope.
Before the conference, however, Orbih inaugurated a 17-man reconciliation committee with Dokpesi as Chairman, charged with the Herculean task of beating perceived rebels into line before next year’s election.
Incidentally, after a speech he delivered at the conference, in which he lambasted PDP leaders for exhibiting unbridled greed and selfishness and eventually paying the price with the Goodluck Jonathan Presidency, Dokpesi urged any member of the state executive officials desirous of returning to office to reapply.