By: Efe Igbinovia.
I decided to write this short piece because of the deliberate misconception by some APC supporters that Obaseki scammed Esans with the Esan Agenda. The Esan Agenda started long before Obaseki ever thought of joining the PDP. I wouldn’t want to give the APC the pleasure to repeat it long enough before it becomes true. Let me give some background information to those who might be ignorant of the foundation of this struggle by Esans.
At the twilight of Obaseki’s first tenure, a debate started on mostly Esan platforms and amongst Esan politicians and intelligentsias as to whether it would be in the political interest of Esan land to allow Obaseki complete his second tenure or allow a fresh Benin man from PDP to challenge Obaseki. The political implications were weighed thoroughly by the Esans and some of them believed that it was best the Esan Agenda started then, having critically considered that any fresh mandate for a Benin man from a PDP stock would certainly give them another 8 years. Added to Obaseki 4 years, that would give the Benins 12 uninterrupted years at the helm. This conclusion gave rise to the candidature of Mr. Ken Imasuangbon and Engr. Gideon Ikhine during the last campaign where they went round the state and solicited for the votes of party delegates to become the PDP governorship flagbearer. A candidate like Engr. Gideon Ikhine started traversing the entire states in 2019 and Obaseki joined the PDP in 2020, few days before the governorship primary. All PDP candidates eventually stepped down for the incumbent governor, Obaseki. A historic and patriotic move that led to the eventual death of backward politics in Edo state.
So, it is disingenuous for APC to start spreading falsehood everywhere creating the wrong impression that Obaseki was the one that promised Esans the Esan Agenda when in fact the agenda was set in motion when Obaseki was still in APC. How could Obaseki had promised Esan PDP members when he still had more than a year to complete his tenure and was still in APC. Those running with this fake news are deliberately being mischievous and trying to make Edos in general see Obaseki as someone who can’t be trusted and we know this isn’t true. Obaseki has shown time and again that he can be trusted and he certainly didn’t promise any group Esan Agenda. I am not also unmindful of the fact that those of us who support Obaseki are the ones giving the enemy the opportunity to turn it on the governor, because some of us have decided that we must have an opinion on everything, even when we clearly lack the wit, range and discernment to engage in such sensitive discussions. Even the bible says we shouldn’t be unaware of the wiles of the wicked. As supporters of the governor, our concentration at this moment is to put more effort in informing the general public on the good and laudable works of the governor rather than dissipitate energy and time on other matters.
As citizens of Edo State and Nigeria, people are free to have a legitimate agenda and pursue it to a logical conclusion and within the armbit of the law. People can decide to call their pursuit any name they dim appropriate and if you must suggest a change, you must do it with utmost sensitivity. If you are well abreast of our Edo history, some of you would have known that we were born into one ancestry with a common bond and you would have also be more temperate in your opinion on the Esan Agenda. And I look forward to a day in Edo politics where we wouldn’t be discussing a sectional agenda but a state agenda where anyone from the three senatorials can decide to vie for the highest political office in Edo at any given tenure, regardless of who occupies the office.
