Outgoing governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, must at these moments be ruing all that could have been, rather than the bitter realities of his last eight years in the saddle, which sad as is, cannot be wished away by neither his handlers nor himself. Come to think of it, did Obaseki have minders or handlers? Probably not; a control freak that he is.
Now that the hour of reconning is drawing dangerously nearer for him, with his certain exit from the Osadebey Government House Benin, less than 60 days away, coupled with the near certainty of the imminent defeat of Asue Ighodalo, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate that he foisted on all others, Obaseki, sources reveal has gone melancholic. Haunted maybe.
Having burnt as many bridges that took him across the rivers of political success soon as he gets to the other side, thinking he is now home and dry, fact check is fawning, while it may just be little too late to undo the sad tase he has left and is leaving, in both public and life and interpersonal interactions.
Looking for an ingrate, you got it in him, a non performer, here he comes; with all motion and no movement, Obaseki ended his double tenure as Edo State Governor as Mr. MoU.
A fighter of no particular cause and bereft of good conscience, Obaseki sparred with those that aided him, openly starting with Senator Adams Aliu Oshiomhole, his predecessor in office, who stuck out his neck for him.
Same he served his erstwhile deputy and loyalist, Comrade Philip Shaibu, who blindly went down alongside into the trenches, in the bid for a second term ticket for the former.
The same way and manner he betrayed the former governor of Rivers State Nyesom Wike who aided his entrance into PDP after he betrayed the APC that revived his dieing career in the banking sector.
As if that were not enough, Obaseki went frontally, in his challenge of the Palace of the Oba of Benin, at different points. One was his attempt to jump-start a private consortium in anticipation of warehousing returning stolen Bini artefacts that hitherto adorned Europe’s museums and other private collections around the world. And, whatever the argument was going to be, Godwin Obaseki made the chase. Needless to say, he bit the dust. He betrayed the revered Kingdom due to his greed and wickedness.
Ditto for the PDP chieftains, particularly of the South-South echelon, including Chief Dan Orbih, who offered him a platform on which he served a second tenure. Obaseki’s payback was to seek their ouster from their own party, but all in vain.
The biggest betrayals was served to the very notion of democracy and to the good people of Edo State, who he for long periods denied representation by those they elected at state constituency levels, while also massively withholding the dividends of democracy to the generality.
Fourteen elected APC members of the House were denied taking oath of office by Godwin Obaseki. Once again destroying democracy in Edo state.The good life has eluded Edo people in the last two seasons of Obaseki.
It is payback time and the electorates are fully justified in throwing out the bad rubbish that is Obaseki’s PDP.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ebegbulem, journalist and politician, is former commissioner for information in Imo State.
