No less than six members of the ruling All Progressive Congress ( APC) in Edo State showed interest in the party’s ticket to governorship.
The six aspirants had filled in and submitted their nominations and expressions of interest forms before the end of June 3, the slated deadline for submitting the party’s forms, both sold for N22.5 million to each aspirant.
This pegged the total money the ruling party had generated from its form selling at N135 million.
The six aspirants who went through the party screening process included the incumbent state governor, Godwin Obaseki; former Edo government chief of staff and secretary, Osagie Ize-Iyamu; former works minister, Chris Ogiemwonyi; former deputy governor, Pius Odubu; Matthew Iduoriyekemwe and Osaro Obazee.
However, only three aspirants were deemed eligible at the end of the screening process chaired by the professor Jonathan Ayuba. The other three were disqualified based on observed ‘anomalies’ in their credentials.
The qualified ones are Messrs Ize-Iyamu, Odubu and Obazee.
As foreseen by various observers, Messrs Obaseki, Ogiemwonyi and Iduoriyekemwe were the three aspirants unable to participate in the Edo APC direct primary election scheduled for June 22 to decide the flag bearer of the party in the September 19 governorship election.
It is believed they do not enjoy any support from the national chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole, who is also a former state governor. Mr Oshimhole is currently on suspension and later Mr Obaseki defected to the PDP in opposition.
In this analysis, we are essentially exploring the political history of individual aspirants alongside the inner wrangle of the party and other factors that are peculiar to them as they contend for the ultimate ticket of the party.
Osagie Ize-Iyamu
Mr Ize-Iyamu, a former chief of staff and secretary of the Edo government, is considered one of the founding fathers of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the state, a party that has evolved into the APC.
Mr Ize-Iyamu, from Orhionmwon Local Government Area, was the candidate of the PDP in the 2016 Edo state gubernatorial election, an election he lost to the incumbent governor.
Mr Ize-Iyamu obtained 41.28 percent (253,173) of the total votes cast against the incumbent’s 52.09 percent (319,483) who contested under the ruling APC platform.
He is this time marked as the preferred candidate of Mr Oshiomhole for the party’s ticket.
His defeat back at the APC in November 2019 further exacerbated the wrangle in the party’s state branch, as it narrowed the chances of Mr Obaseki in his former party.
Seven aspirants stepped down in the midst of the jostle for the party nomination form to support Mr Ize-Iyamu as the consensus candidate for the group, an arrangement that was terminated by three of the aspirants who later advanced to acquire the party form.
“We started with the consensus candidate because we believe, with unity, we can remove the current governor, ” Mr Ogiemwonyi, told journalists as he picked up his forms.
“However, there were some indications that the consensus aspirant was inviting another person to join and because I was number two, I told him that was unacceptable to me. If at all somebody will come, I should be the person because I was number two; that was why I said it was a moral issue.”
Until the disqualification of some of the aspirants, there was speculation that the action of the three candidates in the acquisition of the forms was intended to divide the votes of Mr Ize-Iyamu in the primary.
Like the three disqualified aspirants, Mr Ize-Iyamu had some problems with his presented credentials, but was cleared by the APC screening panel on the ground that the National Population Commission (NPC) certificate had been issued, “killed the anomaly in the tendered documents which is why he cleared.”
To a large extent this decision has enhanced the chances of Mr Ize-Iyamu, the alleged preferred aspirant of Mr Oshiomhole.
Pius Odubu
Probably the most certified aspirant currently in the race, Mr Odubu served as Edo State’s Deputy Governor between 2012 and 2016 under the leadership of Mr Oshiomhole, the former governor.
He is a lawyer and a former lawmaker in the House of Representatives, representing the Uhunmwode / Orhionmwon Federal Constituency.
Ahead of the 2019 presidential election, Mr Odubu worked as the Logistics Director of the Buhari Campaign Council, a position many believe could gain some support for him in this contest.
He was recently confirmed by the Senate as the chairman of the board of President Muhammadu Buhari’s reconstituted 16-man Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
In 2016 he contested for the APC governorship ticket while acting as the incumbent deputy governor.
He came a distant second with 471 votes against the 1,618 votes won by Mr Obaseki, who was chosen as his preferred candidate by the then governor, now estrangled ‘godfather,’ Mr Oshiomhole.
A few days before the APC announced its form sales, Mr Odubu along with six aspirants announced Mr Ize-Iyamu their candidate for consensus, an agreement that crumbled.
The APC screening committee headed by Jonathan Ayuba also noted in its observations that Mr Odubu ‘s credentials were inconsistent but the “anomaly was cured in the affidavit deposed to by his father and our recommendation is that Pius Odubu is eligible to participate in the election.”
Osaro Obazee
Although Mr Ize-Iyamu ‘s staunch loyalist, Mr Obazee is the kinsman of the incumbent governor, both of whom come from the local government of Oredo.
As he was born on 23 February 1970, he is the youngest of all aspirants.
Mr Obazee, the former chairman of the Oredo Local Government Area, had announced his intention to run in the House of Representatives for the Oredo Federal Constituency but was persuaded by the party leadership to step down for the House of Assembly Majority Leader, Osaigbovo Iyoha, and then go to the House of Assembly.
Having joined six other aspirants in endorsing Mr. Ize-Iyamu as the candidate for consensus for the faction, Mr. Obazee broke the agreement when he opted for the form, a decision that was taken in due consultation with Mr. Ize-Iyamu, many believed.
He was the first aspirant to have the APC panel screened and cleared. There is a speculation that in favor of Mr Ize-Iyamu, Mr Obazee would probably opt out of the primary.
The battle for APC Edo Governorship
Just as the battle between Messrs Oshiomhole and Obaseki led factions in Edo keeps getting messier, so is the chance for the party to win the September 19 governorship elections.
The three aspirants cleared to contest for the governorship ticket of the APC are, as it stands, probably from the Oshiomhole-led faction, while the state-led Anselm Ojezua faction has ordered the embattled governor to enter another party and contest that he has since done.
Many suspect that his supporters left in the APC that further polarize the party as Mr. Oshiomhole is currently under suspension and the tussle over whom the party leads is intensifying at the national level.
Governors from the main opposition party, PDP, have already granted a waiver to Mr Obaseki to contest for the ticket to the party.
All things being equal, the ruling APC ‘s three cleared aspirants in Edo may lock horns for the party’s ticket in June 22. A source within the NWC of the party, however, said there are ongoing plans to ensure Mr Ize-Iyamu emerges as the lone aspirant.
After the expected horse trading, some analysts believe Mr Obaseki would eventually win the PDP ticket. That, by all accounts, would probably inevitably leave the contest between the two arch rivals, Messrs Ize-Iyamu and Obaseki, who have now ironically switched the parties which they had individually contested in 2016.
