By Ehichioya Ezomon
A scene playing out in Edo State depicts the adage of “the mourner crying more than the bereaved.” It has to do with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its state chairman, Chief Dan Orbih, continuing to litigate matters against Governor Godwin Obaseki of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The electorate in Edo, the Election Petitions Tribunal, and the Appeal and Supreme Courts had respectively given Obaseki a clean bill of health as the duly elected executive to superintend the state for four years.
Commendably, the candidate of the PDP in the election, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, has accepted the choice of the Edo people, as affirmed by the courts.
According to him: “Today (July 10), the Supreme Court has, by its judgment, brought to an end our struggle for the office of the governor of Edo State, which began on 28 September, 2016.
“I accept, in good faith, this decision of the highest court of our country, which affirms Mr. Godwin Obaseki as the Governor of Edo State. I therefore congratulate Mr. Godwin Obaseki and assure him of my goodwill.”
Senator Matthew Urhoghide (PDP, Edo South), chairman, Senate Committee on Culture and Tourism and the director-general of the Osagie Ize-Iyamu Campaign Organisation, also felicitated with Obaseki, and prayed that God grants him “the enablement to lead Edo State and its people to greater heights and success.”
Similarly, Senator Clifford Akhimienmona Ordia (PDP, Edo Central), vice chairman, Senate Committee on Works, during the committee’s oversight function on federal government projects in Edo, saluted Obaseki and wished “he would take the state to an enviable height.”
So, having run the gamut of balloting, with the Judiciary weighing in to authenticate the franchise, it would be unimaginable for the PDP to continue to look for loopholes to disqualify the chosen governor.
But that’s exactly what the party and Chief Orbih are doing: Continue to litigate the matter in different courts in hope of getting victory. In other words, embarking on what lawyers call “forum shopping” – a practice adopted by litigants to get their cases heard in a particular court that is likely to provide a favourable judgment.
One aspect of the Edo issue was the election itself, which the PDP, galvanised by Orbih, Pastor Ize-Iyamu and its teeming members – as an unfettered and a viable opposition – prosecuted with a scorch-earth approach.
Having been in power in the state for about nine and half years: Chief Lucky Igbinedion’s government (1999-2007) and Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor’s administration (2007-2008), and in the opposition for eight years under the government of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole (2008-2016), the PDP was versed in the political nuances of the state.
Thus, during the electioneering, its members toured the “nooks and crannies” of Edo, and tied Mr. Obaseki to Comrade Oshiomhole, whose administration’s policies and programmes, which they dubbed anti-people and a failure, were used to whip the APC candidate, even as they claimed that voting for Obaseki and the APC was voting for an Oshiomhole “third term.”
However, the Edo people did not buy the PDP obvious antics, as attested to by the pattern of victory of the APC that culminated in the election of Governor Obaseki.
Still, as the saying goes, it’s not yet Uhuru for Obaseki, as the PDP that reportedly congratulated the governor, and its state helmsman, Chief Orbih, would not let go the failure at the poll and the Supreme Court final verdict on it.
Their case against candidate Obaseki (and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)), filed on September 1, 2016, just days before the governorship election, alleged false claims and information, on oath, about his educational qualifications submitted to the INEC.
Therefore, the party prayed a Benin City High Court for “a declaration that Obaseki’s statement that he graduated from the University of Ibadan, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Classical Studies in 1976, made under oath in INEC form CF001 at Part B, paragraph C dated 11 July 2016, is false.”
It also asked for a declaration, disqualifying Obaseki from contesting Edo State governorship election on the grounds that “he submitted false information on oath to the INEC in Form CF001.”
Thereafter, Chief Orbih said the PDP was certain, beyond doubt, that the academic qualifications attested to by Obaseki in an affidavit he swore to in June 2016 “were false.”
Besides, he said Obaseki’s failure to declare if he was a member of any secret society “disqualifies him from contesting for the office of governor of Edo State.”
Following these claims, then campaign manager to Obaseki, Mr. Osarodion Ogie, said: “We will not dignify PDP with any reply. PDP is heading towards extinction in Edo and on this matter, we will meet them in court.”
Granted that political parties own the votes in an election, and while not begrudging the PDP and Chief Orbih their “interest to contest the issues with a view to deepening our legal system and ensuring that they are brought to bear (on the election),” it’s respectfully submitted that, “there must be an end to litigation.” And as an Esan proverb says: “If it’s been long carrying a load, it should be put down.”
Since 1999, there has never been any uncontested governorship election in the courts by the losing party and its candidate. The nearly decade-long chairmanship of Chief Orbih of Edo PDP also witnessed this scenario.
Really, there’s nothing more to prove by this pre-election case other than to sustain confusion and acrimony in the political atmosphere of Edo State. And the PDP may further be alienated from the electorate if it loses, yet again, this particular matter to Governor Obaseki.
In the words of Chief Orbih, the PDP is “anxious to take over the government of Edo State in 2019 (or 2020).” In that wise, let the next political battle be reserved for those elections rather than dissipate time, energy and scarce resources on a “back-door” channel to power.
Most importantly, the PDP and Chief Orbih should respect Pastor Ize-Iyamu’s admission that the Supreme Court judgment had “brought to an end our struggle for the office of the governor of Edo State, which began on 28 September 2016.”
Devoid of other interpretations, anything outside the Ize-Iyamu proclamation is self-serving!
Mr. Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.
