CHIEF Lucky Igbinedion of Edo State still has up to three years to stay in office as the governor of Edo State but already there are plots and scheming on who takes over from him in 2007.
The battle is being fought ferociously in the South senatorial district of the state, made up of the Bini–speaking people, the Esan speaking people in the Central district and the North senatorial district, which has the Akoko Edo, Etsako and Owan people in its fold.
For now, the tension is more in the ruling PDP, where the chieftains in the three districts are positioning themselves to call the shot. National chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees and unarguably, a political godfather in the state, Chief Tony Anenih sees no reason why his Central district, which has the smallest population of 16 per cent in the “heartbeat” state, should not be allowed to produce the next governor of the state. He believes that he made it possible for the incumbent governor, Chief Igbinedion, who is from the South senatorial district to get the job for two terms (1999-2003) , (2003 up till date) and that 2007 should be pay back time.
That is exactly where the problem lies as other leaders in the North district, the second most populated district in the state with a population ratio of 26 per cent, led by Alhaji Inu Umoru do not subscribe to Anenih’s positioning of his district for 2007 and are insisting that it should come to them. They argued that the district has not been opportuned to produce a civilian governor of the state. What they had was a military governor in the person of the late Major-General Agbazika Innih and that was a military appointment in the defunct Bendel.
The problem is further compounded by what is now a clear refusal by the South district with a population of about 58 per cent and which has produced virtually all the governors that have ruled the state to part with power. While the Central can boast of having produced one civilian governor of the state, the late Prof Ambrose Alli, the South has the two-time governor of the defunct Bendel, Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and the incumbent Chief Lucky Igbinedion.
Edo South seemed not to have any objection to a power shift to either the North or Central until recent developments in the state, involving the Esangbedo, an Esan political pressure group, believed to have the backing of Chief Anenih and Otu-Edo, its Bini counterpart. The battle between the two groups soon metamorphosed to an Igbinedion/Anenih affair and since then, the politics of who takes over from Igbinedion in 2007 has continued to generate its own surprises.
Initially, it was said that the Igbinedion camp was preparing his deputy, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe from the North district to take over from him in 2007 but recent developments showed that the South district was opposed to the plan and has anointed the Secretary to the State Government, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu from the district to succeed his boss.
Ize-Iyamu is not the only Bini candidate in the race but his name is in the mouth of many PDP strategists in the district. Some ANPP members in the South are pushing forward the Deputy Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Mr. Emmanuel Arigbe-Osula. It is not known whether Senator Roland Owie who was the party’s gubernatorial candidate in the 2003 elections will take another shot at the seat, but Mr. Lucky Imasuen, a former gubernatorial aspirant of the ANPP and now in the PDP is not tired yet.
Chief Anenih, according to sources, recently summoned a meeting of his political camp and stressed the need for them to work together to ensure that the governorship seat did not elude the Central in 2007. Vanguard learnt that the Minister of Solid Minerals, Elder Odion Ugbesia is being tipped by some people in the camp but the former Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Mr. Mathew Egbadon, now the executive secretary of the Nigeria Maritime Authority was said to be in the race.
Vanguard learnt that at the said meeting, Anenih was asked to declare publicly whether he was preparing one of his sons for the Osadebey Avenue, Benin City as was being speculated but he gave a non committal answer. “He said that they should all work together and wait until they get to the bridge before they cross it”, the sources said.
The non-committal nature of Anenih on who is the Central’s candidate for now is generating its own tension in his camp for now, a situation that has made those eyeing the governorship seat in his camp to be highly suspicious of themselves. The leader knows that in terms of population, the Central cannot do it alone and he is building bridges in the North in case the South opts to give it to the North. Vanguard learnt that Senator Victor Oyofo is his anointed candidate from the North for the job in the event of the pendulum swinging against his district in 2007.
Political strategists from the South seemed to have studied Anenih’s double–prong strategy and that, it was learnt, informed their decision not to allow power-shift.
“We do not believe that the deputy governor has a very strong machinery to counter Anenih in the North and instead of allowing him to overrun us in 2007, Oghiadomhe should go to the Senate while we fight the battle ourselves”, a prominent Edo South politician revealed.
It was not known whether Oghiadomhe who has been doing some footwork since last year has been briefed on the new development but a former ANPP gubernatorial candidate from the North district, Mr. Dan Orbih, now a PDP chieftain is strongly in the race. Prof Julius Ihonvbere, a Special Adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo is also belived to be bidding for Igbinedion’s job in 2007.
What appears to be another sore point in the relationship between Governor Igbinedion and Anenih is the endorsement of the Rivers State governor, Dr. Peter Odili by Anenih for the position of Vice President in 2007. Governor Igbinedion is known to be interested in the position but Anenih is not hiding his support for Odili. It was because of this that politicians from the South district swore that it would be over their dead body to allow the Central to produce the next governor.
From indications on ground, the battle for 2007 is not going to be easy in the state. The politicians are presently sizing up themselves and a lot of persons are going to be bruised. Except there is a last minute change, the die is cast as the South district is not ready to relinquish power. Anenih as the national chairman of the party’’s Board of Trustees is rumored to be working on a plan to enforce the zoning of governorship in the state as from 2007 but even at then, the North district insists that any zoning should start from their area.
