Former Political Adviser to ex-Governor Adams Oshiomhole, of Edo State, now an elder of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, Honourable Charles Idahosa speaks on the controversy surrounding the choice of candidate of the party for the 2024 governorship poll, the initiative on reconciliation and 2020 accord on PDP ticket for 2024. KUNLE ODEREMI brings some excerpts of the interview:
Looking at the crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State, are you satisfied by the position of the national leadership of the party?
So far, the national leadership of the PDP has done well, because all the governors know what led to where we are today. They know the kind of agreement they reached, that was breached and that brought us to where we are today. They should work harder, because the reality is very clear. The truth of the matter is that the national should do what is right. All those that took part in the agreement and settlement with Ogbeide-Ihama who was already the candidate of the PDP before we forced him down, are still alive. If they are no more governors, they are still relevant. They should say the agreement they reached at that time and should tell us who fulfilled his own or who did not because if by any error of omission or commission they deny Ogbeide-Ihama the governorship ticket which he is supposed to get because of what they arranged for Obaseki to come in who was given a waiver by the same national, PDP is finished in Edo State. I said it when Oshiomhole was having issues with Obaseki, I said if they mess around with Obaseki because there will be consequences. Is APC not struggling for survival today? PDP should be very careful.
Ogbeide-Ihama was already the candidate of PDP. It was already clear. Nobody was going to stop him. I invited him to my house alongside Osaro Idah, because we are related. Here in my sitting room. I pleaded with him and he stepped down. I told Obaseki to go and discuss with them. That was how they went to Port Harcourt. He left here in my house in the night with one of his uncles, his mother’s immediate younger brother, a retired director in the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. He is alive today. It is like after reading 48 Laws of Power, where they told you to destroy those who made you and that is what he is doing.
How do you feel when you consider the role you played in the emergence of Governor Obaseki?
Yes, it is a big regret to me. All journalists in Benin know the role I played. People around him know the role I played. Oshiomhole brought him to me. I am happy that Oshiomhole is still alive and that Obaseki is still alive. It was very easy, they arrived at my house very early in the morning. He said Oshiomhole asked him to come and see me on his ambition. I set up the structure, I set-up his campaign structure. I remember that I was the one who met all his old boys in the secondary school. Nobody can take that away from me. It is unfortunate that when he became governor, he turned into another thing. I think he must have bought the “Forty Eight Laws of Power ‘’ and hid it in one room, because I have looked at what is the problem as a junior brother which he is to me and I can’t find any. It should interest you to know that I led him to the PDP to take his card. I was not happy that Oshiomhole wanted to disgrace him out of APC. I fought all the battles. That was his second coming. Many times, he came to my house threatening to leave, that the troubles are much. He will tell me of how Tinubu abused him in Lagos, how the Chief of Staff abused him, how they asked him to go and beg Tinubu. I told him that you can’t give up that Oshiomhole cannot be the one to tell the Benin people what to do with their son or who should be governor. Just after only four years Oshiomhole had gone to Osagie Ize-Iyamu, whom he had earlier told us a lot of things about.
You have only six aspirants as the ruling party while the APC and LP has a lot of aspirants, don’t you think that the crisis has made your party unattractive?
You are very correct, people are rushing to the APC and LP; meanwhile, PDP is the ruling party, yet they don’t want to come because they believe that someone has been chosen, that the governor will use his power to ruin the party. They will win one case in the morning, Legacy group will win in the afternoon, in the night they will change it with three judges and say that other judges made mistakes. They will be doing justice by zoom. I think it has discouraged some people. I can tell you that Ogbeide-Ihama deserves it, because everybody begged him to step down. He did not only step down, he became Obaseki’s agent with INEC. I know what was promised him by the powers-that-be. What kind of heart does this man have? You cannot remember all these things, now you want to crush him? They have turned Edo State to a farm. They go and bring their friends from Ikoyi club, Ikeja Country Club to come and eat. So, there are no politicians in Edo, look at the situation? I told Anslem Ojezua, my friend, that there is no zoning, there was never a primary. You can’t say it is for only one zone but if we agree that this is who it should be, no problems. I told him, you were the chairman of a ruling party and you left to become an ordinary member. If it was for Esan and if Obaseki meant well, should he be the one to choose for Esan? Why don’t you leave it for them? You said it was Esan and you picked one person. Edo is now a big farm. When I said we want a home boy, they turned it into a joke. When Ogbeide-Ihama won the House of Representatives, he knew that the party helped him to get the ticket and he gave money, gifts and at the end he said the people that voted for me are not necessarily members of the party. Young people, that was what made me mention mama-put. I cannot understand the politics they are playing. I am over 70 now, some of us will soon retire because it is not interesting anymore but I just want to make sure that I am at peace with myself by doing what is right. I believe in Ogbeide-Ihama, you need to see his CV and that of others. When they propagate one, you will think that the rest are nobody. Ogeide-Ihama went to Emotan Primary School, from there to Federal Government College and we know the people that go to Federal Government College, you must be brilliant. He went to the University of Benin where he studied engineering, he worked for ExxonMobil, held strategic positions before going to the University of London, Harvard, Aberdeen University.
Can he win the election for the PDP, considering that he only represented one federal constituency?
He broke the jinx in Oredo. It had never happened before. Oredo is a mini-Edo State. There is no tribe that is not represented in Oredo, he went there twice, nobody has ever done it. He broke the jinx. Before him, you only go for four years, nobody has been able to go two times, he was there twice and he has been in the party since 1998. There are so many other people who are in PDP that are there. There are those that are not known at all. Now, they spent almost the whole state’s fund on television going from one channel to another all for primary. What of when campaign starts? The people that are listening to all those things are not delegates.
There are fears that the PDP might end up having a parallel primary, do you share this?
That is the duty of the national leadership to handle. There is nothing anybody can do about it because the party is broken into two. I am from the PDP legacy group; they are taking out people every day, we are not perturbed; let them take them. Today you call a meeting and you have 20. The next day before you come they have given SA to half of them, we have seen all these things before. They are using money; they are using positions, they are using all kinds of things. But we are here, we have seen it all before. SA is like pure water now, ‘come and if you don’t want to take it give it to your wife or relation that is their business.’
Are you ready for reconciliation?
I don’t want to mention names, many have come to me talking about reconciliation. One came three or four days ago and I looked at the person and said, ‘you want us to reconcile with Obaseki’s faction, what is on the table? I told him that there is no leader in Edo State apart from Adams Oshiomhole that fought for Obaseki like Charles Idahosa, so any plot against me will backfire because you don’t help people and the person turns against you. So, I asked him, what is on the table?. Obaseki dissolved his exco and I was very excited, I said okay thank God he wants to reconcile, there was no exco, no local government chairmen, that means he wants to reconcile by allocating the positions to every faction, I thought that was what he was going to do, I told my people that he wants to reconcile but he sprang up from his slumber as usual and reconstituted just from his group so what are you going to reconcile with? The person was staring at me. So if he says reconciliation what is he reconciling with? With SAs and SSAs? One thing about Oshiomhole, he is a nice person, I have said it several times, but I have no regret over what I did to him, if it happens again, I will still do it. The DG I gave to Obaseki to start his campaign, Ayevbekpen Osakue, does not talk to me now because he believed that if I knew Obaseki was that wicked, I shouldn’t have sent him because I pulled him out of Chris Ogienmwonyi’s campaign and gave him to Obaseki because I knew he is very cerebral, strategic and a good political planner. He believed that I couldn’t talk to him because Obaseki gave him nothing. I was Oshiomhole’s political adviser for eight years, Oshiomhole will want to do something, I will say don’t do it, he will say why, we will argue and he will bow to superior argument but this one will not tell you anything instead, he will start running away from you. Obaseki today cannot tell you this is what Charles Idahosa has done to him because I don’t have any problem with him. He sees me at functions and starts hailing me because people will think that we are friends but they don’t know that we don’t talk. The last time we saw in a public function I asked him if they did any examination that showed that you came first to deserve to be governor, people put you there but you have abandoned them now.