The Purported Petition By The State Working Committee of Edo State PDP Against the Proposed ‘Dissolution of the State Executive Council of the Party’
A commentary by Paul Izekor
A set of bizarre resolutions, supposedly passed at a disputed recent expanded Working Committee meeting of Edo State PDP, was published in the various media yesterday ( May 11th) in which the factional meeting attempted to stampede and blackmail Governor Godwin Obaseki into compromising on principled organizational strategy. The resolutions which were hurriedly and surreptitiously packaged reeked of unabashed opportunism and odious blackmail with the concealed agenda to further, feed the gluttonous political appetite, of a failed aspiring godfather in Edo State PDP.
It is clear from the diabolical strategy, to engage in widespread media circulation of the spurious resolutions, that the characters behind the dubious document wanted to gain unwarranted and undue attention from the national secretariat of the PDP; their nefarious projection was to further hoodwink others who may be unfamiliar with the true situation on the ground here in Edo State.
If the intention of the cowardly masquerades maneuvering behind the publication was aimed at blemishing the efforts of Governor Obaseki in his efforts towards building, a stronger unified PDP structure between the old and new PDP members, the publication has devastatingly boomeranged against the cult-like authors of the publication .
While the published resolutions carried the signature of the PDP state party chairman, Tony Aziegbeni, the desperate voice behind the treacherous document was unambiguously that of the disastrous former state chairman of the party, Dan Orbih. An insightful reading of the resolutions exposes the fact that the document was another greedy political shopping list of Dan Orbih.
For this immediate analysis, let us reference one of the key issues contained in the alleged Working Committee resolutions. There was the illogical demand for the resignation of, Deputy Governor Philip Shaibu , to make way for a ‘’ legacy’’ PDP nominee as his replacement. Is there anyone in doubt that this is Dan Orbih selfishly questing and navigating an opportunity for self-advancement against the collective interest of the party?
As it is instructed in a Benin folklore, the slave never abandons his delusional focus of becoming the Iyase, (the second in command), until his death. It has been Dan Orbih hallucinatory inordinate ambition to serve as the Deputy to Governor Obaseki and the overfed- native doctor-like physical contraption, Dan Orbih, is obstinate about ‘’seizing’’ the position for which he is most unfit. Actually, the matter was comprehensively settled when the Governor sought the ticket of PDP in 2020 with an irreversible resolution that the Governor was jointly in the race with his first term Deputy.
It should be public knowledge that the Governor has been engaged in expansive consultation with various strata of the party since his victory with the aim of harmonizing and integrating the old and new members of the PDP and, consequently, structuring a more formidable political architecture. Unfortunately, electorally valueless party leaders like Dan Orbih have other sinister goals in mind and therefore constituting obstacles to the visionary organizational initiatives of the Governor.
I should further testify before the jury of History that, while it cannot be denied that the PDP provided an umbrella for the Governor in the rainstorms of the 2020 nomination battles, but the fact cannot also be simultaneously minimized that the Governor actually arrived at the PDP camp with a stable non-leaky tent full of his APC loyalists and the sacred covenant of the Edo electorate.
In fact, Governor Obaseki would have suffered a defeat in the 2020 Governorship election if the outcome had depended on the performance of people like Dan Orbih. With fidelity to facts, the so-called deputy national chairman ( South-South) of the PDP, Dan Orbih ,performed so abysmally and woefully at a level that wouldn’t have made him a successful Councillorship candidate in his Etsako Ward.
As a long-time PDP stakeholder, I urge Dan Orbih not to turn the rare and historic victory of our party to defeat; the coming of Governor Obaseki to the PDP has indeed been a catalyst of resurrection from the ashes of defeat for the PDP.
One hates to remind the former PDP state chairman of his lugubrious and humiliating profile of failures. Dan Orbih was at the helm of our party’s affairs when General (rtd) Airhiavbere lost irrecoverably to Oshiomhole in 2012 with lingering political disabilities till date, Dan Orbih was the Captain of our ship when we were torpedoed into shark-infested waters in 2016 with Ize-Iyamu as the PDP governorship flag bearer in addition to the acquisition of hanging EFCC criminal charges.
These milestones of gigantic failures is coupled with the fact that in almost a period of over 10 years, more than one decade, Dan Orbih NEVER delivered for us in any, a single House of Assembly or National Assembly or Senatorial election in his district. Where and how does he earn the right to model his sickly diminutive stature, lift his empty head and square his infamous shoulders?
This is a season of opportunity for the PDP, hopefully, Aziegbeni will display independent insight of leadership to seize the tides of the times for the party.
Let us urgently convene to re-strategize and give thoughtful consideration to the agenda of integration and harmonization that has been proposed by Governor Obaseki for the good of our party and in the interest of all Edo people .
