I have just read the vacuous deadpan piece signed by the Edo APC Assistant Publicity Secretary, Victor Ofure Osehobo. And I wondered how a so-called Assistant Publicity State Publicity Secretary could be so empty. Apart from the fact that the piece is empty and dull-witted, it is hugely full of inanities.
Ordinary, the dead APC looking for some rapture by attacking PDP, would have been ignored, however, a lie left unattended takes the likelihood of truth in the minds of the gullible.
The defeat by PDP during the last year’s gubernatorial election has made APC in Edo State look more of commoners coming together as pained individuals rather than as a political party. Of course, this piece of worthless write-up will boost their inferiority complex in their minds.
Victor Ofure Osehobo should know that the Chairman of PDP in Edo State is the custodian of the ideals, tenets, and ideologies of the party in Edo State. And it is part of his responsibilities to manage the PDP brand as some elements that decamped from their party, APC, are hell-bent on knocking down the discipline that had been built in the party since 1999. And PDP is resisting what APC could not resist when these same elements divided the party into what was then EPM and OSM. PDP is a strong indivisible party, and those who cannot fit into the ideology of the party will be allowed to leave no matter how highly placed the member is. It is not the fault of PDP that these elements have not been able to incorporate themselves into the party; they came with a mindset of dominance without knowing this is not the APC they left. PDP is, as the chairman had said, a peaceful, united and vibrant party where dialogue is encouraged and division is discouraged.( It is an umbrella big enough for all men with good intentions) And this is done by exploring all the internal mechanisms for dispute resolutions unlike what the Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu did when he went to Channels TV to proclaim he had issues with the governor over PDP without first discussing it with the party stakeholders. This attitude and character, as he portrayed, is a hangover from Victor Ofure’s APC and we had told him without mincing words that such is alien to PDP, and that if he wish to return to the party where such character and attitude is accepted, we are ready to show him the door.
As erroneously posited in the shallow write-up, PDP did not collude with Obaseki and his clansmen to destroy Edo State, rather, they have come to PDP to be rehabilitated and adapted into a political party with a moral culture. Whether they can is now left for them to decide. You can push a horse to the stream, you can’t force it to drink from it.
It will be more of dishonesty for APC to start accusing PDP based on the failures of Obaseki when in 2016, they elected him to power and ruled over them for 4 years. “…his rudderless government without a modicum of respect for due process and the rule of law but with dictatorial tendencies in the eyes of the general public is at best a failure.” This assertion, though fitting, cannot be seen as the fault of PDP. Was the governor better than this when he was in APC from 2016 to 2020?
It will interest APC to note that PDP in Edo State is doing its best to disassociate itself from Obaseki as a person and his numerous failures that are very obvious. His inability to form a cabinet a year after election, his inability to conduct LGA elections, issues surrounding the Gelegele Seaport, the hollow visionless Edo North Airport claims, the take over of AAU, the unnecessarily forced vaccination, the acclaimed EdoBest program, flooding in Edo State, the insensitivity to insecurity in the state, his lack of transparency and accountability…and others of his obvious failures have been hugely criticized by PDP members.
So APC should be guarded with the fact that PDP in Edo State is not Obaseki in EdoState. ..these are two different entities. While Obaseki and co are bent on bringing disrepute to the party and the state, old members are jealously guiding against their shenanigans as to continue to protect the brand and offer Edo State a viable option away from APC. 2024 is not forever, whatever happened would be redeemed.
As expected, the party Chairman, Dr. Tony Aziegbemi, would speak and write to be politically correct as a very intelligent politician he is, however deep down every single member of the old PDP knows Obaseki does not have the characteristics of PDP, which is rooted in fairness, justice and equity. He does not represent PDP. Everyone knows PDP is a party that plays according to the rule and respect the rule of law unlike the Governor. Everyone in PDP knows promises made by the governor won’t be fulfilled. And most importantly, every single member of PDP knows the governor is not a stakeholder in the party. So when next APC wish to invoke its dead spirit, it should channel its heavily laddened frustration with the governor towards him, not PDP.