The ongoing war of words between Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers and his counterpart from Edo state, Godwin Obaseki has brought into retrospection what many observers predicted in the buildup to 2020 Edo state guber election.
The Edo state governorships election in 2020 come in handy for Governor Godwin Obaseki as he embattled to win re-election under the All Progressives Congress (APC). All hope to be flag bearer of the party was all gone, but succor comes his way as Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came to his rescue. Nyesom Wike is one of those in PDP that stood firmly for his emergence. The rest as they say is history, he is now serving his second term.
Obaseki’s travails in APC can be traced to a claim by him of the overbearing nature of the then National chairman of the party, Adam Oshiomole which he (Obaseki) told blatantly that he became enemy of the power-that-be because he was fighting godfatherism. To counter the claim, Oshiomole regarded the governor as a dictator who lacks discipline to obey the party’s directives.
Obaseki is only fleeing from one godfather to another. They predicated their argument on the fact that Wike, his new political benefactor at the time is an absolute; he does not allow any contraries. It is always his way or no other way. Wike combines brute with arrogance by virtue of the state resources at his disposal. An example of his absolutism was manifest in 2018 when he threatened that there would be consequences if PDP attempted moving the party’s convention away from Port Harcourt. The party leadership immediately fell in line. When he (Wike) sneezes, the party catches cold.
However, Obaseki clouded by his ambitions failed to understand this before hurriedly paying allegiance to Wike soon after it was clear that APC was not giving him the party ticket. The ominous sign of what to come was there from the onset of the alliance. Sometimes during the buildup to the election, reports has it that, Wike threatened to hold his support for Obaseki because of a publication alleging he was planning with some people to stop the aspirations of Obaseki.
Perhaps, the current face-off has only proven that all that has been said against Obaseki by Oshiomole and APC in 2020 is closer to the truth, as he has exhibited the traits that made him jump ship in 2020. However, the difference now is that, he meets his match in Wike who is unorthodox in his political approach.
Since re-election, Obaseki has abandoned governance for politics. How can one explain the continuous refusal to swear in some majority members of the state house of assembly? This has made him nothing short of a dictator. For someone that was returned elected on heels of ending godfatherism, he should focus more on quality governance.
