The National Vice Chairman (Southsouth) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Dan Orbih, has said a “stranger” cannot succeed Governor Godwin Obaseki in next year’s election.
He spoke at a meeting of leaders of ‘Legacy PDP’ from across the three senatorial districts of the state in Benin city, the state capital.
Orbih urged the leaders to put up a very strong spirit to ensure that PDP has a good, marketable, and acceptable candidate for the poll.
He reiterated his earlier position that the ticket for Edo PDP election is not for the highest bidder.
He said that the members and leaders of the’Legacy Coalition’ will decide the next candidate of the party.
Orbih said:”Elections have taken in Imo, Bayelsa and Kogi. Next is Edo governorship election loading. If PDP must retain and win the governorship election, this powerful body now known as “Legacy Coalition” must produce the candidate.
“We must produce a candidate that will address the challenges of our state. One who will identify with the people and make Edo State great again.
“Now is the time to go back to our respective LGAs to work. According to INEC timetable, the process will start February, 2024. We must support and throw up delegates that cannot be compromised. Delegates that will support and vote legacy coalition candidate. A known member of the party. A willing candidate who will not tell us he has been begged to contest.”
Reiterating that the ticket is not fir sale, Orbih added:”I have heard stories of people boasting that they are prepared to spend money to compromise the process of nominating our candidate.
“By the grace of God and your support, the Edo State PDP ticket is not for sale. It is not for the highest bidder. On this we stand. God bless PDP, God bless Edo state, God bless Nigeria.”
Also, a PDP chieftain in Edo South, Martin Osakwe, has urged Obaseki to handle succession politics witj care and wisdom.
Osakwe, proprietor of Paragon Schools, Benin, said Asue Ighodalo, who is said to be tge governor’s preferred choice, may not be acceptable.
He said if Obaseki projects a party stalwart like Anselem Ojezua, the peoole may embrae him as a better alternative.
He said: “I have played politics here in Edo for more than forty years since 1978. I was in the UPN(Unity Party of Nigeria). I was a founding member of PDP. It is when you know people that you know their pedigree.
“I look at this man. What has he done for my constituency, which is education? How many people is he training in the university? What free Education programme do we have? What has he done for his community? There are people in Edo Central you can present to us.
“If you bring somebody like Anselm Ojezua, we will say okay we know him. We can study him etc. That’s what leadership does. This idea of creating emperor governors has been the greatest undoing of the 1999 constitution. The constitution didn’t provide for it but gradually we started seeing governors having more power than the President.
“It should not continue. Mark my words. It is not that a governor should not have a say in who succeeds him. But it should not be the determinant. He should not be the one to say it must be this person.
“The person you choose will determine the support you have. If, for instance, we chose a world bank as governor in the last eight years and he has transformed Edo State. The first thing people will suggest is that lets go for another international consultant.
“You’re coming to say that because somebody is a bank manager or chairman of a bank somewhere … They called me. I told them that they’re cooking a bad soup. I didn’t mix words. That soup is already rotten. Nobody will eat it unless you want to have a running stomach. You want to go to the hospital. I don’t want to go to the hospital at this stage. I won’t have a hand in that. That project is dead on arrival.
“Morally, it is even wrong for governors to determine their successors. Why? It blocks a major ingredient of democracy – accountability and transparency. Why are you picking this person?”
On the crisis in the PDP in Edo State, Osakwe said that there is only one PDP in the state, adding: You can call it the authentic PDP or the Legacy PDP, led by Chief Dan Orbih.
We’re rebuilding. As far as the party is concerned, the process of rebuilding is in top gear. We are prepared for 2024.
“Everybody knows that the governor in 2024 will come from those you have identified as Legacy PDP who I will call the original PDP. We will produce the governor. As to what kind of governor we will have it would be determined by the experience that we have had in the last 18 years. Let me say without equivocation that we know those who should not be governor, who cannot be governor and who ought not to aspire to be governor.”
He stressed that experience has taught the PDP leadership that being a technocrat or international consultant is not a perequisite for governance or leadership.
Osakwe added.. “What we need is what I have called a ‘politnocrat’. He is somebody who has experience in politics, who is home with the culture of the people and who has experience in human and economic resource management. That’s a ‘politnocrat. Somebody has called the person a home boy.
“Our next governor will be a home boy. The person who will be governor will combine the qualities of Samuel Ogbemudia and Ambrose Alli. How do you do this? You will take the visionary, developmental approach of Ogbemudia. His developmental vision, his tenacity, his selfless distribution of amenities and projects across the state. That was what Ogbemudi
