The Labour Party (LP) in Edo State is, unarguably, at present, passing through the furnace. It is an experience many analysts say may make or finally mar the party in the state. It is a matter in the public domain that the LP provided the platform for the incumbent governor of the state, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, to enter into an alliance with the now Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to actualise his governorship ambition which finally became a reality with his inauguration on November 12, 2008.

The man generally reputed to have been at the centre of the political equation that brought in Oshiomhole as the candidate of the LP then to clinch the governorship ticket of the ACN ahead of the 2007 elections in the spirit of that alliance is Dr. John Ebima Ogbeide. As a result of his widely acknowledged role in that intricate political web, Ogbeide has been described as a man of distinction who gave clout to the LP in Edo State. Given his political history, which dates back to the Second Republic with the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), Ogbeide is regarded as a ‘big fish’ in politics within the state.

Ogbeide’s political sojourn has taken him since 1979 from UPN to the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), the Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN), Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1991, where he served as commissioner and member of the state executive council during the administration of Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, the first democratically-elected governor of Edo State, and then the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which, according to him, he joined with adult members of his family in September 1998.

However, it was not long before the romance between the LP and the ACN went sour. The alliance suffered a lot of strain. Ogbeide and Governor Oshiomhole felt out and cracks inevitably developed within the LP. The position of Ogbeide as LP chairman came under threat, as it was undermined by certain elements both within and outside the party. Some of these anti-Ogbeide elements were allegedly sponsored by Governor Oshiomhole. Indeed, the Edo State Government House was seen as the backer of Sam Omede as rival chairman of the LP in the state, with a view to ultimately supplanting Ogbeide. The LP and Ogbeide had, on a number of times, alleged so.

With the weakening of the party’s power, influence and support-base, Ogbeide thought it was time to leave, and he left. On Sunday, January 8, 2012, he announced his departure from LP and his return to the PDP in a resounding fashion; a return celebrated by the PDP in a remarkable manner. Ogbeide returned with over 10,000 supporters to the PDP. He was welcomed with splendour.

Among the cream of the PDP leaders, members and supporters in the state, who welcomed Ogbeide back to their fold, included the state chairman of the party, Chief Dan Orbih; the state deputy chairman, Christopher Adesotu; former Edo State deputy governor and vice chairman of the party in Edo South senatorial district, Lucky Imasuen, state publicity secretary of the party, Matthew Urhoghide, former Minister of Defence, General Godwin Abbe (rtd); Alhaji Kassim Ozeto, national executive council member of the party, Richard Arisco Osemwingie; the state woman leader, Mrs. Lucy Omagbon; governorship aspirants—Major General Charles Airhiavbere (rtd), Ken Imansuangbon and Matthew Iduoriyekemwen; former federal lawmaker and ex-commissioner, Dr. Tunde Lakoju; ex-speaker of the state House of Assembly, David Iyoha; former Commissioner of Health, Dr. Wilson Imongan; and ex-deputy speaker of the state House of Assembly, Levis Aigbogun.

Addressing the crowd of PDP leaders, members and supporters who rolled out drums in grand style to receive him and his followers back to the party, Dr. Ogbeide said, “I have come to continue from where I left and we have come to increase the brain and muscle-power of the PDP, especially in preparation and participation in future election.
Ogbeide showed off a part of his strength, saying “I have come back with a large crowd of leaders, local government area chairmen, local government council chairmanship candidates and representatives of nearly 10,000 members who have agreed to return with me.”

The Edo State chairman of the PDP, Chief Orbih, who received Ogbeide on behalf of the party and presented him with an umbrella, the symbol of the PDP, apparently with an eye on the July 14 governorship election in the state, said, “Together, we will win back Edo State.”

Orbih described the PDP in the state as a beautiful bride with many suitors and as the centre of attraction, the platform of hope, and the alternative to what he called the mismanagement of Edo State, just as he assured the returnee and the new members of the party that the decision they they have taken is wise one.

Besides, the Edo State PDP chairman called on the National Assembly to, in the event of any constitutional amendment, revisit the issue of immunity for governors, so that the federal lawmakers could see the possibility of making it constitutional for governors found wanting in the course of their tenures to be prosecuted and brought to book instead of the present law which protected some of the profligate ones in office.

Orbih expressed the resolve of the party in the state to make the leaders account for their stewardship and bring them to book even after they have left office. He advised the party members not to play the politics of the stomach, saying everybody might be hungry, but they should do well not to mortgage their future.

With this tsunami of resignation, which has hit the LP in Edo State, some political observers are wondering what will become of the party that once donated Comrade Adams Oshiomhole to the ACN in an alliance that produced Oshiomhole as governor and the ACN as the ruling party, but which has made the LP the weeping boy.

Some other keen watchers of political events in the state think that the LP is already beginning to find relevance in the unfolding political drama and intrigues ahead of the July 14, 2012 governorship election in the state. To buttress this position, they point to an alliance entered into by the LP with five other political parties under the aegis of Coalition of Progressive Political Parties (CPPP). The five-party alliance consists of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Citizens Popular Party (CPP), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and Peoples Progressive Party (PPP).

It was learnt that the LP wants to use the platform to get back at Oshiomhole by fielding a candidate on the platform who may contest the governorship election, using the ticket of the party. In pursuance of this, the coalition has already adopted the PPP governorship aspirant, Chief Solomon Edebiri, as its candidate, but it is yet to deal with the apparently more difficult task of choosing the party which ticket is to be used.

But there now appears to be spanners in the works for the alliance. A group within the Edo State CPC, led by some members of the state executive, has withdrawn the CPPP which, a fortnight ago, adopted Edebiri as its consensus candidate, a development that threatens the coalition hopes and particularly the aspiration of the LP.

According to resolutions reached at the end of its meeting recently in Benin City, the splinter group said it took the action because the aims and objectives of the CPPP run contrary to the yearnings and aspirations of the CPC in the state.

The resolutions, copies of which were signed by Comrade Tracy Agol as the State Publicity Secretary of the CPC and made available to journalists on Monday in Benin City, accused the CPPP in the state of insincerity of purpose, as well as lacking in transparency and accountability.

The CPC group alleged that the state chairman of the party, Comrade Godwin Erhahon signed a memorandum of understanding with the CPPP without obtaining the requisite legal consent of the state executive of the CPC.

They also said they withdrew from the CPPP and dissociated themselves from the “imposition of Chief Iyobosa Edebiri as the consensus gubernatorial candidate of the Coalition for Progressive Political Parties (CPPP) in Edo state for the 2012 election,” a decision, they said, was “against the interest of the Edo State chapter of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) that has her gubernatorial aspirants.”

And so how the LP will be able to surmount these challenges and come up with strong challenge in the present political equation in the state is still to be seen.