How Jonathan swept Edo votes

Posted by admin Edo, Elections 2011, Goodluck Jonathan (2010-present), Presidency, State News Sunday, May 15th, 2011

Prior to the April 16 presidential election , one of the states President Goodluck Jonathan was not expected to win was Edo State. Though a South- South state, the state was marked an “enemy” territory. The state is ruled by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). Consequently, political pundits in various analysis gave the president no chance.

The prediction was that the presidential candidate of the ACN, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu would win the state alongside other ACN controlled states.
This is because of two factors. One, the Edo State governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole loathes the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) like a plague. Since he assumed office in November 2008, the governor has worked assiduously to completely obliterate the party in the state.

It was therefore expected that Oshiomhole, being a core ACN man would deliver the state to his party in the presidential election against all odds, if for nothing else, to prove to his rivals that he (the governor) dictates the pace of the politics of the state and not them. Already, the governor’s ACN dominates the political sphere in the state. So, nobody gave Jonathan a chance.
Besides, top shots in the president’s party in the state have been at war with themselves for some time now. Their differences have not allowed them to pull their strength together to assert themselves in the politics of the state, especially in the various areas where they hail from.

Therefore, at the beginning of the campaigns, not a few have thought that the division within the state PDP would militate against the fortunes of the party in the state. Daily Sun gathered that the party chieftains of the party were already bracing up for the shame of being the only South-South state where President Jonathan would possibly lose. Chief Emmanuel Odia, a PDP chieftain in Edo Central senatorial zone said he, and a host of others had feared that the crisis in the state PDP would have an adverse effect on its performance especially in the presidential election.

That was the mindset of most of the PDP stalwarts in the state when the Chief of Staff to the President , Chief Mike Oghiadomhe came into the picture. Oghiadomhe was the state deputy governor between 1999 and 2007.
Daily Sun gathered that the chief of staff to the president called a meeting of all stakeholders in Edo PDP and pleaded with them on the need to close ranks and work together for the success of the party in the polls, particularly in the presidential election.

Odia confirmed that “at the beginning of the electioneering activities, I had thought that due to the internal crisis rocking our party, that we will be totally defeated. But few days before the election, Chief Oghiadomhe came to Benin and summoned a meeting which I attended. He passionately pleaded with us to sink our differences and re-double our efforts to ensure that we come out with success.”

Impeccable sources said as Oghiadomhe was brokering a truce between feuding members in the Edo PDP, he was also reaching out to former members of the party, who had left the party for the rival ACN, and other stakeholders in the politics of the state, selling the Jonathan project to them. His efforts paid off resulting in the return of former Senate Whip, Senator Roland Owie, and Captain Hosa Okunbor to the PDP. Owie and Okunbor were among those who worked for the emergence of the ACN government in the state.

When eventually the presidential election was held and result declared, Jonathan won the state with a landslide. He polled 542,173 votes to defeat Ribadu who is the candidate of the ruling ACN in the state. The president’s score represents 88.0 per cent of the total votes cast in the election. The former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) scored 54,242 votes. General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) and Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau of the Congress for Progressive Change(CPC) and All Nigerian Peoples Party(ANPP) polled 17795 and 2174 votes in the state respectively. The CPC and ACN scores represented 2.9 percent and 8.8 percent of the total votes cast. There are 1655776 registered voters in the state. Out of this figure, 37.3 percent voted in the presidential election.

While many may want to gloss over the victory of President Goodluck Joanthan in Edo State, PDP stalwarts say it should not be taken for granted that the President won because the state is part of the South South. A PDP chieftain in Edo South Senatorial zone , Mr Clifford Ogbeide said while thanking God for the PDP victory in the state, there are leaders of the party in the state without whom, the victory would not have been possible.
He admitted that “ we had some challenges before the election” which would have made the ruling party had a dismal outing in the presidential poll. According to him “but for the tireless efforts of some our party leaders in the state, we would have been out rightly disgraced by the ruling party in the state.

Ogbeide said beside the former chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Anthony Anenih, “one person that put everything on line to ensure the success of the of the party( PDP) in the presidential election in the state is the Chief of Staff to the President, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe. This is a man widely respected by all persons across the state irrespective of party affiliation. Many people shifted position to join the Goodluck project because of the zeal with which Chief Oghiadomhe took the project. He was on ground and he networked all persons into the project.”

Odia agrees. He said the Chief of Staff to the President contributed immensely to the party’s victory in the presidential victory. “He joined hands with other leaders of the party in the state and delivered Edo votes to Jonathan. We are not surprised. He was a deputy governor here for eight years and we all know his impressive attributes”, the party chieftain added.

While paying glowing tributes to the former Edo State deputy governor for the manner he galvanized the members of the party and those outside to support the Jonathan presidency project, an excited PDP leader in Edo North leader, Alhaji Sule Osheke described him as “ the pot that cooked the project and the steward that delivered it”.
He said in spite of his status in the presidency, the Chief of Staff to the President made himself accessible to all throughout the electioneering period.

“Chief Oghiadomhe is a rallying point for the Goodluck project, and because of the great respect the people of the state have for him, we believe him and we tilted towards the project”, he added. Osheke said with the way and manner the PDP swept the presidential poll in the state, it is now evident that the party will bounce back in the state as the ruling party. And soon too.

-Sunwp_posts