By Dr. Rufus Edokpolo
Edo State is on the march again. The search for Mr Governor of the Heartbeat of the Nation has begun in earnest.
The race for Osadebey Avenue, the seat of power, is becoming fierce by the day as many aspirants jostle for their party’s ticket to contest the upcoming 2024 Governorship Election, as incumbent Governor Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki, rounds off his second term in office on 12th November.
The electoral umpire, independent Electoral Commission, INEC, has blown the whistle with the official release of the Governorship Election time table.
The D-day for eligible voters to go to the polls and cast their votes to elect a new Governor has been scheduled for 30th September.
The political space is in a frenzy with flurry of activities by contending aspirants of the three major political parties, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC and Labour Party, LP.
The fears
As we speak, the National Working Committee, NWC of PDP and APC have both issued guidelines for the conduct of primary elections, which INEC has fixed for February 2024 to nominate candidates, who will fly their party flags for the Governorship Election.
However, the question on the lips of concerned stakeholders of Labour Party in Edo State is; what preparations or modalities has the national leadership of LP under the Chairmanship of Barrister Julius Abure put in place so far, to conduct free, fair and credible primaries to pick the party’s standard bearer?
The reality on ground suggests that LP appears to be aloof with the electioneering activities going on across the length and breadth of the three senatorial districts across 192 wards spread around the 18 Local Government Areas of Edo State.
Truth is, so much apprehension has gripped the various aspirants on the field, members and supporters of the party.
According to some party faithful, they are not comfortable with the leadership style of Abure as they accused him of toying with the electoral fortune of LP as far as the Edo Governorship Election is concerned. Their contention is that the National Chairman can not be trusted as he has fallen short of integrity test in running the party affairs.
The Unfortunate
In a nutshell, Abure is being accused of high scale corruption, fraudulent practices and mismanagement of party funds for personal aggrandizement.
It is alleged that during the last Presidential and National Assembly Elections, Abure and his gang forged the party’s official and court documents in favour of some candidates who neither participated nor qualified to contest its primaries, after large sums of money running into several millions of naira exchanged hands.
Indeed, reference was made to the Edo Orhionmwon/Uhunwode Federal Constituency seat, where the name of the authentic winner of the party primaries was illegal removed from INEC list and substituted with Hon Mrs Uyinmwen Ativie, a former Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, EDHA.
It was alleged that Ativie had contested the primary elections for the same seat on the platform of the APC and lost woefully, only for her name to be fraudulently forwarded to INEC Headquarters in Abuja as the Labour Party candidate for the constituency seat when she did not participate in the primaries. Curiously, official bank teller is in the public domain showing that Ativie paid the sum of one hundred million naira to Abure’s wife account to secure the illegal ticket, which is still a matter of litigation at the law court between the genuine winner of the ticket and Ativie.
Evidence also abound that Abure has built choice houses and landed properties in Benin, his hometown Uromi, both in Edo State and Abuja, the Federal Capital Terrible, FCT. He has also acquired luxurious cars and travel overseas like no man’s business with his sudden, questionable wealth.
Abure, before assuming office as National Chairman of Labour Party was a ‘charge and bail’ Lawyer, who lived in a 3-bedroom bungalow at Aruogba Quarters in Benin City with two rickety cars.
Another grievous allegation against Abure, which puts a big question mark on his reputation was that, he used his position as National Chairman of Labour Party and deliberately held on to the Edo Central Senatorial ticket in the last election, after which it was cashed out to the highest bidder.
As it stands, Labour Party which emerged as a third force in the last general election in Nigeria, risks the chance of suffering an electoral misfortune in the forthcoming Edo gubernatorial election as witnessed recently in the off-circle election conducted by lNEC in lmo, Bayelsa and Kogi States, respectively.
Also, a strong indictment on Abure’s capacity to deliver a credible primary election is his penchant of playing the ethnic card. At the moment, he is in Edo State, visiting one ward to another and openly promoting the ‘Esan Agenda’. He hails from Edo Central and already hatched a hidden plan to foist an Esan candidate from that district as LP Governorship flag bearer.
The Plea
The voices of members of the Obedient Movement and indeed, Labour Party supporters in Edo State are clear and loud enough for all to hear.
All they are saying is that Abure and his Exco should immediately come up with guidelines and provide a level-playing to guarantee the conduct of LP Governorship primaries, like the PDP and APC have done, in line with INEC timetable.
It is obvious that the storm against Abure is raging ferociously. In other words, the trust and confidence reposed in him as the National Chairman by party members, particularly in Edo State has been grossly eroded on account of his dubious dealings in handling the affairs of LP.
There is a general consensus that there is already a disconnect between Abure, LP Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi, Obidients, members and supporters of the party.
Abure’s game-plan, it has been revealed, is to further line -up his bogus pocket by all means with the Edo Governorship Election, knowing full ware that if Labour Party eventually fails to emerge victorious(God forbid) at the polls, he has nothing to lose having amassed wealth for himself by hook or crook.
Like they say, a word is enough for the wise. It is high time Abure purged himself of his kleptomaniac tendencies in order to keep alive the vision of Labour Party as the masses choice for a better and greater Nigeria of our collective dream.
Edo people will have reasons to express apprehension and continue to doubt the ability of Abure to take Labour Party to the promise land, until he proves otherwise.
Finally, can Abure be trusted? Only time will tell.
…Edokpolo, Political Analyst, writes from Benin