As more loyalists and aides chuck their allegiance to PDP’s candidate Gov. Godwin Obaseki in the run-up to the Sept 19 guber election, the next line of action his APC’s rival Osagie Ize-Iyamu expects is for Obaseki to push the panic button.
And the embattled governor is doing just that.
According to sources, Obaseki has given the remaining associates behind him a tall order—to deliver their individual wards and constituencies on the election day or face the consequences.
But that was no threat, a frontliner in the Obaseki campaign explained.
“The election is a war we must win,” the source first admitted, as quoted by the Nation on Saturday.
Then he clarified: “What Obaseki said is that for the PDP to remain in government, all of us must deliver our constituencies at all cost.”
Others on the campaign team might have read Obaseki’s lips differently, and they are beginning to worry about his desperation.
According to the newspaper, another of his dwindling loyalist base, a council chairman in the Central Senatorial District, said many supporters of the governor are losing it.
“I can tell you that Edo people are worried. Supporters of the governor are worried and leaders of the PDP are anxious over some recent developments,” the chairman said.
Striking fear into their enemy at a time like this looks like an effective strategem for the APC, its candidate Ize-Iyamu, and his sponsor Adams Oshiomhole.
The tactic, those around Obaseki worry, is making their man appear a bad product to the whole world, and his loss at the poll will only feel naturally if the APC wins.
The PDP concern about Ize-Iyamu’s victory is actually growing by the hour.
Chairman of PDP’s National Campaign Council for Edo Election Governor Nyesom Wike believes the ruling APC is going to deploy state security forces and even INEC to swing the election in Ize-Iyamu’s favor.
“All they want is violence because they cannot win the election,” he said in a press release recently.
But the APC might not be the only one violent party in this contest.
Obaseki, to, went as far as dismantling the Edo legislative building to prevent the APC majority lawmakers from sitting to impeach him.
That incident has been seen as many as violation of democracy—for an executive to go as far as disrupting a separate arm of government from acting independently.
It also served as a herald of a violation election come Sept. 19.
“If the election is suspended, the implication is that Obaseki will serve out his tenure without election in November.”
INEC’s chairman Mahmoud Yakubu has warned that if violence becomes inevitable in the Edo election, the commission will not hesitate to cancel it.