Ross Alabo-George
Certainly, the scrimmage between the Rivers state governor and his colleague in Edo state is another political battle to watch as the curtains of 2023 gradually split from the middle. Already, major shots have been fired, and as a keen observer of political events, I can tell that this fight is just about to begin.
The following day after his former party dumped him, His Excellency, Governor Godwin Obaseki got a call from former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, urging him to immediately defect to the Peoples Democratic Party. The former vice president promised to facilitate his smooth landing into the party. But the assurances of the former VP was not enough, the governor needed to get a pass from the big masquerade of the party who was both regent and gatekeeper of the party. Governor Wike was the mobilizer Obaseki needed to rally the relevant organs and playmakers of the party into achieving his goals. Wike offered his support, and Obaseki won but the politics had just begun.
Months later, the silent battle between the two paramount forces of the PDP started. It is the battle between the PDP Engine of 2003 and the party machine of 2023.
When Gov. Obaseki called Wike a ‘’bully’’, he was echoing aloud a cliché that the Atiku camp had used in 2018 in the runup to the presidential primaries, and still continue to use in describing Gov. Wike’s very obvious opposition to a consecutive standard-bearer ticket to the former Vice President. Obaseki also attempted to cast Gov. Wike as a divisive party member who is using his state resources to fund his presidential ambition, and intimidating anyone who doesn’t agree with him.
“It clearly amounts to delusion of grandeur for one man to nurse the idea that he owns or has more stake in the PDP and everyone should pander to him.”
“While Wike is free to use his resources as he deems fit in pursuit of his ambition, he should not attempt to cow, intimidate, cajole and threaten others into doing his bidding. Edo State cannot and will not be procured for anyone’s personal ambition,” Obaseki insisted.
“Governor Wike and his collaborators, headed by Orbih in Edo will not succeed in destabilising the PDP in Edo state as they did in other states like Cross River just to secure delegates to actualise his alleged personal ambition to run for presidency in 2023.
“In Edo we don’t accept political bullies and overlords and historically, we have demonstrated our capacity to unshackle ourselves and dethrone bullies and highhanded leaders,”
These jabs hit the Rivers state governor straight in the heart. He had taken on Obaseki’s battle for second term. He had spent his time and resources and had helped deliver the newest governor, one the PDP really needed to dampen the expansion of the APC, especially in the South-South.
Coming directly from Gov. Obaseki – a ‘brutal’ signed full page letter in national dailies – everyone who knew the Rivers state governor waited for a counterattack. For many, it came faster than expected.
I listened to the Rivers state governor when he lambasted the Edo state deputy governor. He carefully walked the delicate rope completely avoiding any reference to the state governor, Godwin Obaseki. But it was clearly a tactical Red Herring to pull the governor into the ring. When I saw Gov. Obaseki’s response, I chuckled and wondered why he would have fallen so easily to Gov. Wike’s political bait.
Gov. Wike’s returned the banter in an even more savage manner. Just as Obaseki had tapped from the playbook of Wike’s political adversaries to borrow the word “Bully”, Wike drew his venom from the Benin history books of the adversaries of the Obaseki family. He labelled him as a “Betrayer and an Ungrateful man”, digging in further, he said “He has betrayal in his DNA.” For casual observers it was a simple political jab. But for people who understand Benin history it wasn’t.
The governor’s grandfather, Chief Agho Obaseki is very prominent in Benin history. He played a crucial role in the events leading to the Fall of Benin from the Punitive Expedition of 1897. He had organized a defence of Benin and accompanied Oba Ovonramwen during his escape from British rocket fire.
Oba Ovonramwen instructed Obaseki in April 1897 to survey Benin in the aftermath of the British bombardment. Obaseki was discovered by the British and was prevented from returning to Ovonramwen because the British saw him as useful for the new political order they were to impose. Alfred Turner, the British Resident, appointed Obaseki to the Council of Chiefs in September 1897.
Oba Ovonramwen stood trial in August for actions leading up to the Punitive Expedition, was found guilty by the British, deposed, and exiled to Calabar leading to a leadership vacuum that the British filled by making Obaseki the de facto head of the newly constituted Benin Native Council because of Obaseki’s administrative skills and political acumen. When the Oba Ovonramwen died in exile, his
Ovonramwen died on January 13, 1914, paving the way for Prince Aiguobasimwin (later Oba Eweka II) to become Oba. According to Igbafe Phillip in his book ‘Obaseki of Benin’, the British authorities broke with tradition by appointing Obaseki, the Iyase of Benin (Chief Adviser to the Oba) much to the dismay of the newly installed Oba Eweka II. Consequently, a power struggle ensued between Oba Eweka II and Obaseki, the new Iyase of Benin. The Iyase overshadowed the Oba under the new British political dispensation and even according to the British who backed him, was ‘certainly most dictatorial and arrogant in his behaviour’.
Some Benin elders called Iyase Obaseki a betrayer. Infact, when former governor Oshiomhole proposed the idea of an Obaseki governorship, some Benin elders still reminded him of the century old history.
In one article on Thisday newspapers titled ‘Does Obaseki want to be like his grandfather?’ published on December 15, 2019, the author wrote, “But he was warned! The elders in Benin steeped in history opposed Oshiomhole, fearing he was about to resurrect the ghost of the past, but he insisted on his friend, assuring the palace that what is in the past is the past.”
Another daring article written by Joseph Igiebor in 2019, titled ‘Edo Election: Obaseki’s grand dad betrayed Benin Kingdom, say critics,’ was just one of several such arrow cliche of ‘betrayer’ that have been fired at Governor Obaseki since he declared his ambition take over from Oshiomhole in 2016.
Gov. Wike in his response sarcastically apologized to the former APC national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, saying “You were right, we were wrong.” He also carefully wove in the governor’s fight with the Oba of Benin on where the artifacts that were stolen by the British in the 1897 punitive expedition would be located. Governor Obaseki wanted the artifacts in the state museum while the Oba wanted them in the Oba’s palace. While the governor was considering the economic benefit of showcasing such a highly priced piece of history, many in the Benin Kingdom considered his action an affront to the Oba.
This fight between two South-South governors could signal the coming ‘civil war’ in the Peoples Democratic Party. When Gov. Wike prepares for a political fight and positions his political armada in your direction, he is like Vladmir Putin. Gov. Obaseki is also not a pushover. He has won some tough political battles and has grown some thick and tough skin like Volodymyr Zelensky.
But what about their party? The PDP cannot win the presidency in 2023 without winning the South-South geopolitical zone. And like Zelensky, Gov. Obaseki should remember that the weight of the fight is on his state chapter of the party, and the longer it lasts, the bleaker their chances in 2024.
