‘How Obaseki tamed Godfathers of Edo politics’

Charles Idahosa is a former Commissioner of Information in Edo State and a staunch loyalist of Governor Godwin Obaseki. Until his defection alongside Obaseki to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he was a chieftain of the APC. In this exclusive interview with MICHAEL EGBEJULE, he gave insight into the political scenes that heralded the keenly contested Edo governorship election, the outcome and the judicial fireworks that greeted the Governors re-election victory.

What is your position on the victory of the state governor at the apex court over his alleged certificate forgery by the opposition?
I want to thank the Supreme Court for standing by the people, standing for truth and standing for justice. As far as I’m concern, the judiciary is the moderator of our democratic system. So far, so good; they have been able to do the right thing.

As far as I am concern, from the beginning, I knew it was complete rubbish; they were not challenging the result, as they didn’t say Obaseki did not win.

Oshiomhole is a very big problem to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the man has not changed; I think he gave the impression that he did it for Imo State, and as such, he can do it again. But the Supreme Court showed that they really knew what they were doing.

Many politicians, especially from the APC side, came with questionable degrees; some don’t have any education. They go to remote areas, especially in the United States, and bring different certificates. But this governor said he went to the University of Ibadan (UI), a premier university. For me, slave masters have a way of keeping their people hostage.

I am a founding member of ACN, which is now APC. In the first election, you told people that you will use Federal might; 43 political appointees of governor Obaseki resigned, over 120 councillors across the state’s 192 wards resigned to the labour market, because Oshiomhole told them that he’s ‘god.’ But I thank God that the Supreme Court spoke for the people.

I congratulate Edo people; I congratulate governor Obaseki for all that has happened. There’s still a long way to go; he has to bring Edo people together. As far as I’m concerned, I warned them before that, if they drive Obaseki out of APC, APC is dead. They should wait patiently, if they are still together, to run against anybody that we (PDP) are bringing in 2024.

Several high profile persons abandoned governor Obaseki days to the election. Do you see those people coming back and do you see the governor receiving them?
If they come, the governor definitely will receive them; politics is a game of numbers. The key actors are from my local government (Uhunmwode). I talk to many of them; they are my friends. I speak for myself; if they come back, I will be very happy because we all learn. The more, the merrier. Politics is disagreeing to agree and agreeing to disagree.

There is the issue of harmonisation among those in the APC who are now in the PDP. What is the way forward in resolving the impasse?
Before we came into the PDP, the PDP was already divided; people like Chief Tom Ikhimi, Mike Ogiadomhe; a former deputy governor and former chief of staff to former president Goodluck Jonathan, the owner of AIT; High Chief Raymond Dokpesi and a former Federal Minister of Works; Engr. Chris Ogiemwonyi; we came into a divided house. We then noticed that anytime there is a meeting, which the governor wants to call to see how we can move forward, these people come from a different group, because we always ask the chairman to invite stakeholders. Most of the other groups that were sidelined were having access to the governor. It’s not our duty to settle their rift, because we came into PDP as a political party; PDP is completely divided against itself.

Uhumwonde where I come from, there are about two or three factions there. So, you don’t really know whom to deal with. We told the governor, lets hold a meeting and resolve all troubles. So, we called Chief Tom Ikhimi, whose faction has been sidelined completely, because it is obvious that you won’t even know if they are still in the party. Lucky Igbinedion, a two-time governor of the state, didn’t come. He said he was in South Africa. Chief Dan Orbih didn’t come, but the state chairman was there. Arch. Mike Onolememen said the notice for the meeting was too short, so, he couldn’t attend. With the people that were there, we held the meeting and took a decision. The decision was to dissolve the former excos and do a fresh election.

In the meeting, Chief Tom Ikhimi told the governor, ‘lets say, you take 60 per cent and give us 40 per cent. The question is how are we going to share it because we are not one? Which faction are you going to give the 40 per cent?’ That was how the issue of harmonisation came about and we agreed that, the best way, lets dissolve and do a fresh election; those of us who came from the APC and those that were already in the PDP.

I find it difficult to see myself as a new person in PDP, because I have been a member before now. I left PDP 2004 when they deregistered us during the period of Late Chief Tony Anenih; I was among those that organised the convention in Jos. As at then, some of these people that now run their mouths were not even in the PDP; some of them were still in JSS 1 or thereabout. 

Because of the 2004 disagreement, many of us left, and for some reason or the other, we are back now and you want to see us as outsiders? I know the party more than most of the PDP party members today. As we speak, the State governor has just returned from a trip and soonest, we will try to find a way out. Its not the first time a seating governor is moving from APC to PDP; it happened in Sokoto, it happened in Benue, it happened in Bauchi. At the end of the day, everything was settled in those states.

But here in Edo, we have a case in the Federal High Court on this matter. The question is what do they want? Their argument is that everybody that came from the APC to PDP should sit on the floor? I as a leader cannot produce a councilor in my place? As we speak today, the exco in my ward are all PDP; they were there before we came. We should all find a way of harmonising so that we all can have a say in the arrangement of things, but they are saying ‘no.’

I think a faction within that group has gotten used to not winning election or producing governor; all they are interested in is to hold on to the structure of the party. We observed so many things during the period of this Supreme Court issue. While the APC was praying for the Court to rule in their favour, a faction of the PDP was praying to throw away the governor; after all, we go back to where we came from. Very soon, with the support of the governor, we will see how to properly harmonise and have equal strength in the party, because the PDP belongs to all of us.

There’s this allegation in some quarters that you are still a card-carrying member of the APC, what’s your take on this?
That’s absolute rubbish. The chairman of PDP in my ward registered me; it was on television, newspapers and the Internet. The following day, all the political appointees in my local council moved. How can I be in APC? A lot of them are very worried about me, because I’m very blunt; I say the truth, I say things the way it is. I have my card; my ward chairman presented it to me in front of camera and journalists. Nobody can tell me where to belong to; we are not leaving PDP, we are not going anywhere. Those that won’t agree with what we do are the ones to leave. When I joined PDP years ago, none of them were there. The person masterminding them was a deputy governorship candidate.

In your book, The fall of the last god-father in Edo, you chronicled the history and fall of the last god-fathers in the state. Any hope of reconciliation with the perceived god-fathers?
Oshiomhole was a very nice person; I worked with him for eight years, but when he got to Abuja, he didn’t have the bureaucracy to guide and control himself. Agree with me, if I manage somebody politically for eight years, at least, I will know him. There were a lot of things we did that he disagreed with. I am a politician, he is not a politician; he is a trade unionist and activist. There were a lot of things he knew nothing about. At the end of the day, he made mistakes and has still not learnt his lessons.

He is ‘Mr. know it all’, like I said in my book and I have said it in previous interviews. He talks before thinking; he made a lot of mistakes, but I don’t have anything against him. He is not a big deal to me; I have a better pedigree than him. If he wants to make peace, I will make peace with him. If he doesn’t want peace, we don’t need him. Neither am I running for any elective office anymore. I contested the governorship ticket with CAN; he knows that he did not win the primaries; the people that manipulated the primaries have all come to apologise to me.

The APC candidate in the last election has congratulated governor Obaseki over the Supreme Court upholding his re-election victory, how will you react to that?
Nobody cares about his congratulations. Even in the US, Trump has not congratulated Joe Biden. Ize-Iyamu didn’t win any election in the Edo September 19th governorship election; he was the person they used to trample my own ambition against Oshiomhole. But Oshiomhole called him all sorts of names.

Lets go back to my book, we didn’t campaign; Oshiomhole already campaigned for us. Ize-Iyamu is only deceiving himself. Oshiomhole finished him and it will take a lifetime for him to recover; there is nothing Oshiomhole didn’t call him. During the campaign, when he came back to APC, he came to my house when I was already championing the course of Obaseki. He came with people, and I told him I couldn’t campaign for him.

As a loyalist of governor Obaseki, what is the unique thing about the governor that attracted you to him?
I have known Governor Obaseki from the age of 11; he went to the same college with me and he grew up in my neighbourhood. We attended same school together, including Senator Matthew Urhoghide, Rasaq Bello Osagie and Major-General Charles Airhiavbere (Rtd.). Right from childhood, I knew he was a very resolute person; he always stand by what he wants, but I never knew he will come into politics because he was very brilliant.

If he takes a position, you can’t push him. All that matters to him is Edo. Before he won the elections, he was always with me, because I was a front man in his campaign. Five years now, I have not gotten a contract, because he says I am not a contractor. If something doesn’t come from his mind, he won’t do it. I like him and see it as an opportunity for us to encourage him so that he can do what he wants to do for our people. I am not running for any position again, but I want a better society where Edo people will be happy. Right now, there is no money; he cannot change everything that has happened over the years.

On the absence of state executive council in the state, and the local government elections yet to hold, what’s responsible for the delay?
Governor Obaseki cannot just on his own be picking people otherwise, they will say he abandoned the PDP before appointing members to constitute his cabinet. I want all of us to sit together and speak with one voice. When we were in APC, we didn’t have all these problems; although it still took him time before he formed his cabinet members. But now, we have different factions; he cannot just anchor his commissioners from the APC or from the PDP.

The reason he has not appointed the commissioners and conduct local government elections is because the party is not yet one; the party has not fully united. If we go for local government primaries by this time, all the delegates are old PDP members. What about people who came from APC? I would like to have a councilor in my ward, I would like to have the chairman in my local government; we need to work all these things out before the elections can be held. That’s why the governor said all Head of Service in the different local government should take over the running of the local government pending when local council elections are held.

Most people who left the party are people from Edo South. Why is Edo South issue a reoccurrence even though it won overwhelmingly?
I have also suffered the problem we have in Edo South, just that we are a majority in terms of number but most time, we allow people outside Edo South to control us. What they do is to pick the weak ones among us and use that one to fight other people. God has given Edo South numerical strength, why are we fighting ourselves? Lucky Igbinedion suffered over Late Chief Tony Anenih. Now again, another man just appeared from nowhere and is questioning somebody with a degree from the University of Ibadan.

Your advice for those who convened the anti-Obaseki re-election campaign movement popularly called ‘Edo People’s Movement’ (EPN)?
Most of them that started are very vocal, but you can see them now; they are not talking anymore. Those that finally got appointment from Oshiomhole are quiet; we don’t hear from them again. Some of those persons are now in ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) and even appointed into big boards. Therefore, they don’t talk again.