When Oshiomhole Challenged The Old Order In Edo

Uchechukwu Olisah, Benin City

Oshiomhole after the tribunal’s ruling

Indications that Comrade Adams Oshiomhole was actually the toast of most eligible voters in the April 14, 2007 gubernatorial election in Edo State emerged last Thursday shortly after the Elections Petition Tribunal declared him as the duly elected governor of the state in the last election.

The tribunal ruled that Oshiomhole, a former National President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), won majority of the lawful votes cast in the disputed election. Most residents of the state, particularly in Benin City, the capital, immediately thronged the streets in jubilation.

Prior to the tribunal’s verdict, there were worries and rising tension over possible violent reactions that might follow the judgment of the tribunal, a development that necessitated security beef-up in places regarded as flashpoints in several parts of the state, particularly Benin City. But immediately the decision of the tribunal was made known, it became apparent that all the security arrangements put in place might not be necessary after all, as residents of city broke into wild jubilation.

Youths, commercial drivers as well as commercial motorcycle operators were seen with brooms (the symbol of the Action Congress, the political platform of Oshiomhole) going about the streets of Benin City, singing, drumming and dancing. Some were chanting victory songs in solidarity with Oshiomhole. Indeed, with the full headlamps of most vehicles as well as sounds of horns blaring stridently on almost every street, it was obvious even to a first time visitor to the city that something good may have happened.

A mobile police officer told some newsmen that the jubilation was better than violence, as it made the police work much easier for them, since they were only contending with containing the ecstatic crowd. Oshiomhole’s path to victory was not paved with glittering gold, however. If anything, it was rough, rusty and narrow and the journey through it long and tortuous.

When he signified his intention to contest the Edo State governorship seat on the platform of the Labour Party (LP) not a few persons took him serious then, because it was thought that the Labour Party did not have the political support base and structure in the state to confront the machinery of such contending parties as the PDP. When it was obvious that he could not achieve his ambition with the Labour Party, Oshiomhole entered into a coalition (which was soon to collapse) with the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in the state. Following the demise of the coalition, he joined the AC, on which platform he eventually contested the election.

The public jubilating

In all of these, the desire to reshape the political history of Edo State was uppermost on his mind. As a thoroughbred trade unionist, Oshiomhole was not strange to labour politics; but the real was in partisan politics, and Oshiomhole chose Edo, his home state, to launch his ambition - even when supporters and admirers had asked him to contest for the presidency of Nigeria.

Was such a mission going to be easy for Oshiomhole in Edo State, where the PDP, with its acclaimed array of powerful personalities, political machinery and support base, is undoubtedly in almost total control? Oshiomhole was not deceived by the euphoria that greeted his declaration of intention to become governor of the state at the Urhokpota Hall in Benin City late 2006. He knew the political turf was filled with mines, but he was determined to meander his way through by appealing for the active support of the people and providing repeated assurances that, this time, their votes would count.

The now declared governor-elect of Edo State has shown, since he entered the race for state’s Government House on Osadebe Avenue, GRA, Benin City that it is not going to be business as usual for those who, in his words, desecrate the sanctity of the ballot paper and ballot box. To Oshiomhole, the days of election rigging, bad governance and godfathers are over in the state. Long before now, he had warned, “Those who celebrate what they fix; we have what it takes to fix them. We shall fix the fixer. We shall fix them. We will defeat them and they will run away.”

And so, when the tribunal announced its verdict which gave victory to Oshiomhole on Thursday, the new stormy petrel in Edo politics, who is now being touted as the one to retire godfathers in Edo State from politics, declared, “It is bye-bye to bad governance…We said to you people that we would defend the votes. Today, we have defended the votes.”

Before now, Oshiomhole had not hidden his unwavering belief in the judiciary. The outcome of the judgment appears to be a manifestation of his statement at the onset of the filing and hearing of his petition.

“The good news is that we are running a system that is based on the principles of separation of powers. So, the president could use the INEC, police or even the army; but he does not have control over the judiciary - and there is enough evidence that a number of judicial pronouncements have embarrassed the federal government.

“Therefore, the new judiciary is capable of standing its ground. Tony Anenih does not have what it takes to fix the judiciary. The judiciary will do justice. We expect a level playing field at the tribunal based on facts. From the evidence we have, they are overwhelming, and I therefore have absolute confidence that the judiciary will do justice,” he had said.

With what now seems a successful challenge and defeat of the old order, Oshiomhole may have set the stage for the rise of new set of political gladiators and new ways of doing things in Edo.