OJIEVA EHIOSUN 
…Says Edo People Will Determine Who Becomes Their Governor
Barrister Mathew Edaghese is a legal practitioner, Chieftain of Labour Party, Human rights activist, social critics and political leader in Esan land. In this interview with Saturday Telegraph, he spoke on a number political issues in Edo State, Edo 2024 governorship election, complacency of Esan politicians, the odds towards actualising Esan 2024 agenda among other issues. Excerpts:
Political parties in Edo State are on the Streets, there is lobbying and counter- lobbying, politics of interest is taking the centre stage in Edo. Party primaries are coming up in February 2024; as a political leader what is your take on next year’s governorship poll?
2024, like every other year will come and go. Edo election is an unsettle election as we know. Many people are coming up showing interest in the guber race. We are yet to have the primaries. It’s after the primaries have been done and dusted, that the pretenders will be separated from the contenders. As we speak now, we don’t know who is a pretender in the race for governor of Edo State and those who are really serious with their intentions. It is after the party primaries we will know where the pendulum swings. Across the three major political parties in Edo State, there seems to be serious crisis over who succeeds Governor Godwin Obaseki in 2024. The sweet romance that once existed between the incumbent governor and his deputy has since become bitter over power tussle.
What is your take on this?
We should not be indulging ourselves in encouraging personalisation of power, nobody can play God. No one person has control over the destiny of another person. The deputy governor, Rt. Hon. Comrade Philip Shaibu, has the right of a free citizen under a democracy to make his own choice as to which direction he wants to go politically. So long he is not doing ant- party activity, no one has the right to dictate the direction of his intentions and aspirations. It is rumoured all over the state that Obaseki has anointed Asue Ighodalo, a well known financial guru from Ewohimi in Edo Central, to succeed him.
Now as a stakeholder and known political voice in Edo, will you throw your weight behind the chosen one?
An intelligent question you have asked. I’m an Esan man, also an Esan-born political actor, a major stakeholder in Edo State politics and beyond. Now it is not in Governor Obaseki’s powers to pick from among us who should represent us assuming Esan people want to unanimously agree on one candidate. No one man can impose a candidate on us. It is the Esan people that will agree to say ‘yes this man will be our eyes there.’ That being said, Dr. Asue Ighodalo has the right to aspire on his own merit, not on anybody’s merit.
The biggest mistake any aspirant will make in Edo State politics is to lean heavily on one man’s assurance with intension that he can be coronated. Nobody owns the vote that will be cast on election day. If Edo people have not stood their ground in the second coming of Obaseki, he won’t have returned for his second term. I was the person that came out with that slogan ‘Edo not bi Lagos.’ And it became the leading slogan and force of Obaseki’s campaign strategy. The truth is that if anybody wants to play the role of a kingmaker now, that person may end up being humiliated at the end.
It wasn’t because Obaseki had the strength of a lion that made him successful, it’s because Edo peo- ple stood their ground. Presently, no right thinking Edo man will condone imposition of candidate of any kind be it PDP, APC or Labour Party. Even if people have made up their mind to go for a particular candidate, the very fact that the issue of godfatherism is coming up, people will stand against it. Godfatherism is dead and buried in Edo State.
President Bola Tinubu has promised to deliver Edo State back to APC in the 2024 guber election, what is your take on this?
When you have people making arrogant statement and playing God under a democracy where the choice to elect who will lead the people is the right of people, you are already talking tyranny and autocracy. Such things are unpleasant to the principle of democracy. The president cannot decide who who will succeed him, neither will Governor Obaseki decide who takes over from him. I said it before, I will say it again: imposition is dead and buried in Edo State. Any political party which tries it is calling for big trouble.
Tinubu is the President of a nation, whether good or bad; there was an election that produced him and he cannot tell us that he didn’t win that election. Has he said that? No. Edo people will elect their preferred candidate who will govern them come 2024. Neither Tinubu, PDP, or LP can play God when the time comes.
You’re a big force in Labour Party and after the last election across the country, Labour Party seems to have gone into hiding. Now there are almost 12 aspirants fighting to grab Labour Party ticket for Edo 2024 guber, considering what played out on the last lection, can LP muster that force again?
I will not want to jump into conclusion to say Labour Party is facing any form of political crisis. All I can say is that Labour Party will conduct its primaries like any other party to produce the candidate for the party. Whether there are a million aspirants for now, it’s just aspiration. Everybody has right to aspire, but the right to choose belongs to the delegates who are representative of the people. At the party primary, a leveller will emerge which is the right to pick a candidate by the delegates. There can be no more than one at the end of the exercise; only one candidate will emerge.
So whether they are 500 aspirants for now, it will be reduced to just one at the end. Are we sure of a level playing ground for all aspirants looking at the way politicians throw money at delegates. Level playing field is presumed under a democratic setting. So any other thing means you are expecting manipulation which has no place in democracy.
People are scared that Labour Party might sell out to money bags in 2024 guber, you think so?
Any attempt to sell out Labour Party to money bags will spell doom for the fortune of the party. And I do not think that is the direction any Labour Party man would want to travel. If there is compromise, if there is sell out, the consequence will be very great. Because what Labour enjoys as a party is the sympathy and goodwill of the ordinary people. So the very minute you decide to patronise illegality and manipulation, you have flushed down that confidence into the gutter and you can never regain it. So it will be suicidal for Labour Party executives, leaders to dream of selling out their party to the highest bidder, that would be detrimental.
If the governorship doesn’t go to Esan this time round, will it not mean that Esan people are second class citizen in Edo State?
When you talk of denial, who is going to deny who? It’s suggestive of the fact that there is a notion that it is in the hand of a particular person or segment of people to produce the governor. It is not in the hand of anybody, it is in the hand of every electorate in Edo State to decide who becomes the next governor, not anybody, except the Esan decide to deny themselves the opportunity to have a taste of the government house.
The truth is that, it is inequity for Esan not to produce the next governor of Edo State by reason of rotation and ethnic justice. But it’s also going to be naive of us to think that if it is going to be argued that it’s the turn of Esan to produce the next governor, then we should settle for our worst 11. Only the best from Esan land will satisfy our desire. Looking at the past, Esan man has produced the governor of Bendel State in the person of Professor Folorunsho Ambrose Alli of blessed memory. The standard Alli set is still unbeatable till tomorrow.
So if it is our turn to produce the next governor, it should not be short of that standard. It should be the class of Alli. We will not key into a plan to produce a political neophyte, or a politically blind man. It is better to support a stranger who is competent than have a native who is going to ruin our collective political destiny. So we would not take the risk of committing political suicide of electing somebody who will betray our cause and at the end humiliate us. There must be unity among us else we are politically doomed.
Now let talk about screening of the aspirants…
I’m one of the political leaders of Esan by every standard. In fact some of us are more qualified to be called Esan political leaders than those people who are seen as conventional political leaders. That class of people had failed Esan land and so they are not qualified to addressed as our political leaders. Esan people will not be led by those who call themselves leaders. Only leaders who have proven themselves can be addressed as such. Now coming to the area of screening, it is only those who submit themselves for screening that will be screened. We can’t force anybody for screening.
What is your take on zoning?
I’m m pro-zoning, I have always supported zoning, it is the turn of Esan people to have the governor. But that I’m pro- zoning doesn’t make me a slave to zoning. I’m for zoning on the grounds that we produce the best. I will support an unknown person. The aspirants must be ready to meet the needed requirements. So zoning is good, but quality should be tied to it. For me, every right thinking Esan man will give their votes to the best.
Lastly, why do you say complacency will ruin the chances of Esan having the governorship in 2024?
Complacency is going to ruin the opportunity if it is not properly managed. I’m beginning to see complacency among the Esan aspirants in the guber race. They are taking consultation for granted, most of them are reaching to people outside Esan land, They are not reaching out to the critical stakeholders in their own territory. And if you lack a base, you can’t launch far in any war. A General without a base, can not do well in any battle. So let them not take for granted the fact it is said that it’s Esan’d turn. Organisation is part of politicking, they must have a formidable political organisation, they must have synergy, they must reach out to the stakeholders in Esan land.
They must be accepted home first before they launch out. A dancer must do well at home before dancing outside. I will not stick out my neck to support a candidate who does not see me as a relevant stakeholder. Manna will not fall on the lap of an Esan aspirant who is not serious. They must earn it, they must work for it, they must deserve it, and finally credibility must be seen in all facets of the candidate’s day to day activities.
