The two main political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) continued their descent into crises and chaos ahead of the primaries for the governorship elections of Edo and Ondo States, scheduled to hold September 19 and October 10, respectively. The crisis of the ruling party, APC is manifesting on two fronts – one, the struggle for the control of the party at the national level and two, who emerges governorship candidate of the party in Edo State, where its National Chairman or its suspended National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole hails from. Before the APC primaries in Edo, the party had been enmeshed in squabbles between Adams Oshiomhole and incumbent Governor, Godwin Obaseki. It will be recalled that both men had been battling for supremacy of the State. The Governor had literally been handpicked by Oshiomhole, his predecessor to succeed him. The fight for supremacy between Oshiomhole and Obaseki broke into the open in March 2020, when Oshiomhole was suspended from the party in his Edo State Ward. The suspension temporarily forced Oshiomhole out of the party and his National Chairman position. A Federal High Court in Kano intervened to save him. This was however, only a temporary reprieve, as the Court of Appeal on June 16 affirmed his suspension, again forcing him out of his National Chairman position. Oshiomhole had however put machinery in motion to ensure that Obaseki did not emerge as governorship candidate of the APC in Edo State. The screening of the party’s aspirants for nomination as candidates resulted in Obaseki’s disqualification and ousting from the party. This has forced Obaseki to defect to the main opposition party in the State, PDP in the hope of winning the PDP’s governorship ticket for the September 19 governorship election. Meanwhile, the squabbles in the APC have created several claimants to the position of National Chairman of the party, with National Working Committee (NWC) of the party announcing former Governor of Oyo State and National Deputy Chairman (South) of the party, Senator Abiola Ajimobi as acting Chairman. Ajimobi is reportedly sick and unable to take up the position personally. Another claimant to the chairmanship position is the Deputy National Secretary of the party, Victor Giadom, who says that he is relying on a court decision to make his own claim to leadership. In the meantime, Victor Giadom has been sacked by the NWC, with his Ward announcing his suspension from the party and his replacement as National Deputy Secretary by Worgu Boms.
In the meantime, the Edo PDP governorship ticket is not a done deal for Obaseki, as some of the candidates in the party have vowed to resist any attempt to award the ticket to him. Indeed, one of the aspirants, Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama has proceeded to a High Court in Rivers State to obtain an order to stop Obaseki from participating in the PDP primaries.
It would seem with all of these happenings that Nigeria’s political parties are yet to blossom into the needed institutions of democracy that they should be. Lack of ideology, lack of programmes, lack of process, indiscipline, internal wrangling and sheer “bread and butter” politics and greed dominate their modus operandi.
- As with Edo, Ondo Booting
The upcoming election in Ondo State is not left out in the theatrics as Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Agboola Ajayi, decamped from the APC to join the major opposition, the PDP. This came a few days after Governor Obaseki of Edo State joined the PDP. Ajayi has not been in good terms with his boss, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, who is seeking re-election in the governorship election in the State scheduled for October 10. His defection to the PDP may not be unconnected to speculations of his intention to contest in the party’s primaries ahead of the governorship election. About eight aspirants have indicated interest to contest in the PDP primaries in the State, including the party’s candidate in the 2016 governorship election, Eyitayo Jegede.