By Isaac Asabor
It may not be wrong to conjecture that not few Edolites are facing the challenge of whom, among the 14 gubernatorial aspirants registered to participate in the forthcoming September 19, 2020, to vote for. Particularly befuddling to the electorates is that the upcoming election is unarguably a two horse race that pitches the incumbent governor, Godwin Obaseki of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Besides registered voters in Edo State, the election is already generating anxiety among Nigerians, particularly politicians and governors of the South-South states as they have been singing the refrain, “The PDP must remain the dominant party in the South-South”.
The challenge of who to vote for, no doubt, has been exacerbated by the extant political culture in the South-South that is so preoccupied with the ideas of celebrity, popularity, and status. The issue of easily deciphering who the cap fits in any political capacity in the state has also being exacerbated by negative campaigning or mudslinging that it is difficult to know who the real leader is among the motley of flag bearers that always indicate their interest for any given political position ahead of an election. But the fact remains that the election will only take place in Edo State and not in Delta, Rivers, Cross-Rivers, Akwa-Ibom and Bayelsa; where PDP has dominance in the South-South region. To those who are still flaunting the popularity of PDP in the State, it is expedient to inform them that the party literarily went into comatose in May 2007 just after Chief Lucky Igbinedion vacated Osadebey Avenue, and now been resuscitated by the incumbent governor. To this, one can say how far he will go in resuscitating the party is what we do not know about except God intervenes.
The reason for the foregoing line of thinking cannot be farfetched as Statisticians are of the view that findings obtained from Statistics at a particular period of time can never remain static. This is the reason why I will always disagree that Edo State is not in any way dominated by PDP. To buttress the foregoing view, Statisticians are unanimously of the view that “Normally, a good way to assess the change over time in one variable is applying the model of Repeated Measurements ANOVA. This model allows using one, two or more variables and identifying the effect of one variable over the other, over time, as any other ANOVA analysis. The computation could be a little complex, though. To me, those who are still parading the statistics that PDP dominates Edo should please go and update their findings once again through the application of ANOVA.
It is not an exaggeration to say that with the childish manner campaign electioneering is been carried out in the State at the moment that if a good leader came on the scene, he or she would not be quickly recognized on account of the somewhat faulty yardsticks that are been used to determine who a leader is in the state in the ongoing political dispensation. For decades, the political heroes in the state have been popular figures, money -bags and media creations who more often than not utterly lack the leadership traits that can be deployed toward the development of the state and betterment of Edolites; both at home and in diaspora. On the other hand, those that are actively involved in the campaign of calumny in the state have so much bad-mouthed other candidates that by the time voters go to the poll, they may end up voting for the wrong aspirants to the detriment of credible candidate such as Ize-Iyamu.
In fact, the foregoing age-long problem in the state might have made some of the electorates to be swallowing hook, line and sinker all the lies been told against the personality of Ize-Iyamu without thinking about his leadership qualities that would have made them to support him ahead of the election, and eventually vote for him on the day of the election. Viewed from the prism of the foregoing facts, it is not an exaggeration to say that members of the PDP in their electioneering are not in any way telling Edolites how Obaseki plan to improve on his woeful performance should in case he wins. It is not hyperbolical to say that members of the PDP campaign team have been going about the electioneering with Ize-Iyamu as the target of their maliciously orchestrated campaign of calumny in order to Pull Him Down (PHD). They have so much campaigned against him by impressing it upon the electorates that he is not capable of governing the state on grounds of what they have heard about him despite the fact that all the things they heard were mere allegations by the opponents to gain campaign traction.
It is not an exaggeration to say that the campaign of calumny that is been carried out against him, particularly at this time of electioneering in the state ahead of the September 19 governorship election in the state is unarguably intensive and wicked. The mischievous campaign no doubt is unarguably carried out to jeopardize his chance of governing the state. Those who are bent on campaigning against him by calumniating his personality should not forget that the hearts of the kings and leaders are streams of water in the palms of His hands. He directs them. He turns them. Against the foregoing, it is not an exaggeration to say that He will definitely turn the collective heart of the electorates on September 19, 2020 to massively support Ize-Iyamu and vote him into power.
Finally, the essence of this piece is to advise politicians in the state to eschew from campaign of calumny against politicians that have the capacity to uplift the state to a higher developmental level. It is high time we stopped politicizing critical leadership issues to the detriment of the state and Edolites in general. Politicians should always see the development of the state as the big picture. It is expedient to ask Ize-Iyamu’s political opponents if he their own manifesto. They should please tell Edolites the issues they would be capable of addressing when voted to power rather than by each passing day telling us about what they heard about Ize-Iyamu. He has been telling Edolites about his Simple Agenda. His political opponents should in the same vein tell us about their own respective Agenda.
