After the conduct of the much anticipated Edo governorship election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Godwin Obaseki as the winner of the poll.
Before the conduct of the poll, many had thought that the election would be violent, while others believed that ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) will end up carrying the day using federal might.
However, when results started coming in late Saturday, political analysts were able to understand that power truly lies in the hands of the electorate.
Johnson Alalibo, the Chief Returning Officer of INEC in the state, while announcing the results on Sunday afternoon, said, “Godwin Obaseki of the PDP, having satisfied the requirement of the law and scored the highest number of votes, is hereby declared the winner.”
The result of the election, held in all the state’s 18 local governments, which was declared by INEC in Benin, the state capital, had Obaseki polling 307,955 votes to defeat his main rival, Pastor Osagie Ize- Iyamu of the APC), who had 223,619 votes.
Obaseki also won in 13 of the 18 local government areas and thus scored more than 25 per cent of votes cast in two-thirds of the local governments in the state to satisfy the second constitutional requirement to be declared governor.
Obaseki won his first election in 2016 as a candidate of the APC, principally supported by Adams Oshiomhole, the immediate past governor and former chairman of the APC, in which Ize-Iyamu was the candidate of the PDP.
In the course of his term as the governor, Obaseki became estranged with Oshiomhole, causing an epic political battle, this was believed to have been one of the major factors responsible for Obaseki’s victory.
The battle contributed to the fall of Oshiomhole as the chairman of the APC. But Obaseki also could not get that party’s ticket and he had to switch to the PDP with his deputy, Phillip Shaibu.
Obaseki did everything to ensure he got the APC ticket but his effort was thwarted by Oshiomhole. He made several efforts to lobby the President, Muahammdu Buhari and the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, but both of them could not help him to secure the party’s ticket. This eventually forced him to join the PDP, which gave him a waiver to contest the primary in which he got the ticket to fly the party’s flag.
Due to the ill treatment meted on Obaseki by the APC, many of the electorate in the state took the decision to cast their vote for the governor to have another term in office. For some of them, Obaseki’s performance in his first term was good enough to make him get a second term. And because others were tired of godfatherism reign. This also was part of the reason why the people of the state trooped out to cast their votes for him.
Disagreement Between Oshiomhole And Other APC Chieftains
While the feud between Oshiomhole and Obaseki continued, many APC chieftains including the former national chairman of the party, John Odigie-Oyegun decided to pitch their tent with the governor. To some of them, Oshiomhole fighting Obaseki was about selfish interest.
However, many of them decided to support Obaseki while remaining in the APC. On the election day, Obaseki won polling unit 02, ward 002 in Oredo Local Government Area, which was the polling unit of Oyegun.
In the result released by INEC, Obaseki won Oyegun’s unit convincingly by polling 109 votes to defeat Ize-Iyamu, who garnered 40 votes.
Oyegun had refused to endorse Ize-Iyamu in the buildup to the election, asking the people to vote their conscience.
“I stand with the people of Edo State and urge them to come out massively to exercise their democratic rights. They should vote for good governance, common decency, principled leadership, especially in the political arena and the protection of their democratic rights. They should by their votes make clear that it is their right to choose their governor and nobody else’s. There is no room for fence sitters,” Oyegun had said in a statement.
How Tinubu’s Interference Angered Edo’s Electorate
Days ahead of the election, APC national leader and former governor of Lagos, Bola Tinubu, had in a recorded broadcast made an “appeal” to the Edo electorate to “reject” Obaseki, whom he dismissed as having no sound democratic credentials.
Tinubu in the video said, “I, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, want to appeal as a committed democrat and leader of all democrats regardless of the political parties to our conscience and our commitment to democracy today.
“He (Obaseki) does not deserve any democratic ballot paper. Don’t vote for him, I appeal to all of you.
“I want to appeal to you to reject Godwin Obaseki in this coming election. I have suffered with many others to bring about this democratic regime that today we are enjoying in the country. Then, Godwin Obaseki didn’t participate in any aspect of the struggle to enshrine democracy in the country.
“Therefore, he could not understand the value and pains associated with this democratic struggle.”
In his response to Tinubu, which he titled: “You can’t extend your political empire to our state”, Obaseki boasted that Tinubu cannot extend his political empire to Edo State, noting that Edo people were determined to end godfatherism in the state.
According to the statement, “Our attention has been drawn to a television broadcast in which a former Lagos State Governor and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in his quest to extend his political dominance and empire to Edo State, decided to take over the role of Edo people to choose through the ballot who to govern them for the next four years.
“It has become obvious that the spirited fight which Edo people have put up against godfatherism has sent tremors beyond the shores of Edo to the likes of Tinubu, who has for years sustained a stranglehold on Lagos and other states in South-Western Nigeria, hence this desperate, last-ditch effort to rescue the unproductive political instrument, now popularly referred to as godfatherism, with which he has feathered his nest and built his political empire at the expense of the people.
“Tinubu knows clearly that come September 19, when godfatherism would have been dismantled in Edo State, the people of Lagos may just have found the recipe and formula for removing the chokehold placed on their collective destinies for decades by Tinubu, hence the inciting television broadcast.”
“We call on all Edo people, friends of Nigeria and all lovers of democracy to disregard all the comments by Tinubu, as the allegations about the Edo State House of Assembly and other claims in the broadcast are completely false,” he added.
Buhari’s Insistence On Free, Fair Election
The insistence of President Buhari on a free, fair and credible election is one of the factors that helped Obaseki to sail through.
Buhari in a statement issued few days to the election Buhari’s by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, titled “Edo election: President Buhari urges parties, candidates, security agents to behave responsibly”, advised political parties, candidates, and security agents to behave responsibly in the election.
According to the statement, “I am passionately committed to free and fair elections, but my own commitment is not enough if other actors at ground zero refuse to abide by the rules.
“I want to see democratic standards in the country raised higher at every level, but these cannot be achieved when politicians resort to do or die methods to gain power by any means or machination.
“The do-or-die mentality to politics is a threat to free and fair elections because the actors are more focused on winning than caring about a fair outcome that reflects the Will of the people.”
Obaseki won in 13 local government areas, including his home Oredo LGA, which is the largest. Ize-Iyamu, on the other hand, won the remaining five local governments, including his main backer Oshiomole’s Etsako West. He (Ize-Iyamu), however, lost his home LGA of Orhionmwmwon.
Saturday’s election was not without incidents of ballot snatching, over voting technical glitches affecting card readers, and violence reported in a few polling units by returning officers during the collation exercise.
These incidents caused the cancellation of votes in some polling units.
A total of 14 parties contested the election but PDP and APC are the main parties. The election was conducted with compliance to some COVID-19 protocol as officials were seen conducting thermal checks and requiring voters to use face masks before voting. However, there was no social distancing anywhere.
Source: Independent
Edo 2020: Why Obaseki Won
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