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Ex-national president of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ Mr George Izobo has waded into the rudderless direction of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in Edo State.
In a memo to Bishop Anthony Okosun, the chairman of the reconciliation committee of the party, constituted by the state chairman, Dr Anthony Aziegbemi, the former NUJ president highlighted the intrigues and conspiracies that have befuddled the party in Edo State since 1999.
For those who know Izobo, he spoke from the position of knowledge and institutional memory given the fact that he was the pioneer State Publicity Secretary, SPS of the PDP in Edo State.
Izobo, now a party elder spoke against the background of the cold war in the PDP between Governor Godwin Obaseki and his deputy, Comrade Philip Shaibu.
In Edo, it is common knowledge that the governor and his deputy are now said to be fighting over the carcass of the PDP given the fact that the mainstream of the party led by Chief Dan Orbih was judicially sidelined by a controversial court decision which recognized his faction of the party to nominate candidates in the last general election.
Izobo in a response to an invitation extended by the reconciliation committee, however, did not mince words in condemning the treachery of PDP governors in Edo as the bane of the party in the state.
According to him, that malaise has climaxed with Governor Obaseki noting that the only solution was for Obaseki to apologise to the mainstream of the party led by its national vice-chairman, Chief Dan Orbih.
It would be recalled that after he negotiated his entry into the party from Abuja in June 2020 that Orbih was compelled to lead the campaign for Obaseki’s reelection. However, following the victory, the party was put aside as the governor constituted his government.
A bold move by the mainstream of the party to take over the ascendancy suffered a setback when the Supreme Court gave credence to the candidates selected by the governor’s faction of the party. That decision led to the PDP for the first time losing federal elections in the state.
The party which even while out of government at state and federal levels won the majority in the presidential and National Assembly polls was forced to play catch up to Labour Party and the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC.
The crises that befell the PDP were what made Governor Obaseki to constitute a reconciliation committee led by Okosun from Edo Central.
The crises were what partly triggered the conflict between Obaseki and his deputy, Shaibu as it is believed that the deputy governor saw that without the mainstream or legacy party led by Orbih that the PDP is finished, hence his alleged flirtation with other parties in the state.
But in his response, to the Reconciliation Committee which leaked, Izobo asked the committee and Obaseki to retrace their steps to Orbih and the mainstream.
Addressing Bishop Okosun, he said:
“I got a notification on behalf of Edo State PDP conflict and resolution committee- for a meeting at Afuze. It was stated that you are chairman of the committee.
“My frontal and consistent membership of PDP is as old as PDP itself. Bishop – you personally know that.
Noting how PDP governors precipitated the past crises, he said:
Lucky’s (Igbinedion) “silent conflict” with leadership brought about “Grace Group” with the philosophy of “No man is God” in opposition to leadership.
The divide caused by that conflict dovetailed into Prof. Osunbor’s confrontation with “leadership” of PDP.
Many unprintable consequences followed that unnecessary conflict.
PDP’s Osunbor governorship was “dashed” to Oshiomhole’s ACN. It was even rumoured that Oshiomhole’s struggle to power was funded by PDP state resources – through Grace group’s inhibition of PDP leadership – with the slogan “No man is God”.
Noting the present crisis between the legacy PDP and Obaseki, he said:
“We are currently witnessing the worst ever. People are suffering. Development is suffering. The spirit of good relationship has been killed among the people of Edo.
“In all of these sequences – human attempts were made at reconciliation & resolutions. They failed – they continue to fail – because greener pasture seekers who benefit from the conflicts keep fueling them.
“The seemingly endemic constancy of PDP conflicts in Edo State appears to be beyond human redemption.”
On the two options open to the party, Izobo said:
“One is terrestrial – the other is celestial.
Governor Obaseki should swallow his pride – propelled and fueled by greedy psychophants around him – relate honestly with Dan Orbih – to seek peace, justice and resolution to the current conflict within PDP.
“Let us seek the face and forgiveness of God and beg HIM to kill the spirit of “conflicts” in Edo political system.”
Diagnosing the crisis, he now settled on his local chapter in Owan East where he is the leader of the party, describing the composition of stakeholders as unacceptable.
Many stakeholders argue that while Izobo has given his perspective of a solution, others are giving theirs and it now behoves on the national leadership to seek the path of justice and truth.