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| Gov. Oshiomhole |
As a concerned Nigerian and party faithful in Edo State, I urge Gov. Adams Oshiomhole to allow a level-playing field in and during the governorship primary election for all aspirants in Edo State. Being native of Urohi, ward 8, Esan West Local government of Edo state, and member of the ruling party, and social media blogger, it is important to put things right at this stage.
The only time I was privileged to ex¬change greetings with the Governor was during the campaign period as I accompanied APC`s Edo Central Senatorial district candidate, Chief Uzoya, but the best advice comes when it is accurate, honest, unflinching and is given whether or not there’s much chance of the recipient listening.
Sometimes, hard things are best said by an outsider so that those close to you don’t have to venture it first, but can say “Well, he might have a point”. The APC`s Governorship candidate must be a popularly accepted candidate if the party wants to win the next Edo State governorship seat!
The Nigerian politics is entangled with money politics. Politics in our dear country, Nigeria, is money and a harvest time for both the electorates and party leaders. Ears are rented. They chant aloud and sing praises when they clearly can’t understand or hear the campaign speech being delivered by the candidate or never visited or read the candidate’s political manifesto.
To have imposition of an APC candidate on the electorates by selected party leaders or the Governor to impose his preferred candidate that is unpopular will be a disaster in the forthcoming Edo State Gubernatorial election. The opposition party in the state, PDP, will capture the state surprisingly if APC features an un¬popular candidate and allow disunity to envelop or engulf the party after the party primaries.
In the past, the Governor and godfathers were always right and remained the “Alfa and the Omega” of our parties. We were helpless. The body language of the Governor, Godfathers and the following phrases remained sacrosanct; “the Governor said”, “the Godfather said”, “Governor’s candidate”, “Godfather`s candidate”, “Her Excellency’s candidate”.
Upon this, the state deteriorated morally, politically, economically and environmentally, only an insignificant cabal criminally excelled in all ramifications just because they were loyal to their respective godfathers. Thank God today, you are a listening Governor and this is a history to some extent in our dear state, Edo.
Avoid dancing to the gallery as your leadership qualities already speak for you even in high places. It is not news or a surprise happening that potential aspirants by now put on sale their houses and other proper¬ties belonging to them at give-away prices in major cities. This is because of huge financial demands of political campaigns, with the voters and party delegates stretching opened hands to receive cash and other resources from competing sides during party primary elections or voting days.
This could be likened to the “game theory” in political terms where both parties aim to win by exploiting weaknesses of an opposing side. The party`s primary election dictates how much aspirants and candidates can go in the spending spree.
It is expected that there should be free level-playing ground in the governorship election. There should be no restriction, everyone who is interested in contesting the governorship election under APC should be allowed to do so and as our governor, you have the right to support any aspirant, but this must be a popular person, fit and proper to govern the affairs of the state and who will win with the highest available votes.
I therefore urge Governor Oshiom¬hole to ensure that there is no imposi¬tion of candidate, and that due process be allowed to take place in the emergence of a preferred candidate as the Edo governorship election draws near. It will be a legacy that Oshiomhole’s successor is from the party.
•Prince Kelly O. Udebhulu is a social media blogger.
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