Edo 2020: The Value Of Ize-Iyamu To The Expansion Of APC In The South-South

If not for the loss at the Supreme Court, Bayelsa had become an APC State, the party having won the governorship election in January this year. That win had made Bayelsa to become the second APC State out of the six states of South South.

It was a dream come true for the APC. The value of Bayelsa State to the APC was not in its oil wealth but for the fact that it was considered the most formidable of the PDP States in political character. This assumption was for the fact that it is the home state of the immediate past PDP President, Goodluck Jonathan. It also had the antecedent of posting for the PDP the highest scores, percentage wise, in many general elections. The governorship seat was indeed a remarkable catch for the ruling APC until the Supreme Court spoiled its victory party by an annulment.

Interestingly, while the APC family all over the nation was in mourning for losing Bayelsa to the PDP, ironically the cabinet of the Edo State Government, led by the Governor Godwin Obaseki was in celebration mood for the same reason. They were joined by all their supporters. Their social media aides virtually danced on the keypads of their phones and computers celebrating the loss of their party in another state.

They celebrated the loss of Bayelsa State for two reasons. One was that they saw it as an opportunity to disparage the National Chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, whom Governor Godwin Obaseki had launched a smear and intimidation campaign against because Oshiomhole had refused to commit himself to forcing the APC to adopt him as a second term governorship candidate of the party. The second reason why Governor Obaseki and his supporters celebrated the loss of Bayelsa State to the PDP was the fact that they enjoyed the status of being the only APC controlled State in South South Nigeria – a factor they have been using to blackmail the APC into forcing Obaseki on the members of the party in spite of having maligned and vowed to end their political career, as well as the generality of Edo people justifiably dissatisfied with Obaseki’s poor performance as governor.

They have boasted that without Obaseki, the APC cannot win Edo State. This is very far from the truth. In the first instance, Obaseki could not be said to have played any significant role, in the election that brought him to power in 2016. He was merely a figurehead. He was not just unpopular but unknown. Then Edo people were shocked to learn that the man proposed by Oshiomhole to succeed him, had been in his government as the Head of the Economic Team for eight years. This was unusual for a Benin man who was in his sixties and was reputed to be a rich business man. However, The reason for his obscurity could be understood against the backdrop that despite his wealth and exposure to government, Obaseki had all his life never related with Edo people socially and economically. He had no record of philanthropy or service to his community. Therefore, Obaseki rode to power on the back of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole’s generally applauded achievements, Adams Oshiomhole’s personal charm, Adams Oshiomhole’s oratorical prowess, and Adams Oshiomhole’s ability to cultivate friendship and followership across party lines.

Unfortunately, for the almost four years that Godwin Obaseki has been governor, he has been unable to consolidate on the gains of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, which include enlarging the membership and electoral fortune of the APC in Edo State. He has rather diminished the value of the party.

It is laughable that Obaseki could threaten to end the reign of APC in Edo State when he knows nothing about starting, building and managing the party. It is even ridiculous to serve a quit notice on the founders of the APC. Who are the founders of the APC?

In Nigeria, the history of the APC started in 2014 when the ACN, the CPC, the ANPP and the Imo State Chapter of APGA merged together with a constitution drafted by a committee of which Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, then the Chairman South South of the ACN, was the Vice Chairman. Incidentally, the ACN was biggest partner in the merger, nationally and in Edo State contributed about 95% of the membership of the new party.

In Edo State, the history of the APC started in 2006 with a political advocacy group called Grace Group led by Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, who was then the Secretary to Edo State Government and a force to be reckoned with in the PDP. The Grace Group was a protest group within the ruling PDP in Edo State, which protested the unfair handling of party policy. For refusing to be cowed, the members of the group were illegally deregistered from the PDP. Having been denied membership of the party, Osagie Ize-Iyamu with his political associates went to seek political fortune elsewhere. This led to the Grace Group adopting the Action Congress just registered by Chief Bola Tinubu and others, as their new political vehicle in Edo State. Then came along Comrade Adams Oshiomhole who had just retired from the Nigerian Labour Congress having served the organization as National President for eight eventful years in which he became a household name all over Nigeria. Adams Oshiomhole was nominated as the Action Congress Candidate for the 2007 Edo Governorship Election. However, the Governorship Candidate of the PDP, Professor Oserheimen Osunbor was declared winner by INEC. That declaration was challenged by Adams Oshiomhole and the AC at the Elections Petition Tribunal. The petition which he won dragged on to the Appeal Court, which on November 11, 2008 eventually affirmed the victory of Oshiomhole and the AC as earlier pronounced by the Elections Petition Tribunal.

Subsequently the Action Congress (AC) modified its name to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). It was with this name that Comrade Adams Oshiomhole contested the governorship election for his second tenure in 2012. In that election, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu was the Director General of Oshiomhole’s Reelection Campaign Organization. Oshiomhole won the election overwhelmingly and unprecedentedly.

However, in 2014, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu left the APC to join the PDP due to some misunderstanding with Governor Adams Oshiomhole. In 2016, he was nominated the governorship candidate of the PDP in the election that Oshiomhole sponsored and campaigned for Godwin Obaseki of the APC. That election, which Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has referred to as his most difficult electoral battle was characterized by drama, including it having to be postponed from its originally scheduled date by two weeks. Although won and lost, many Edo people still consider Ize-Iyamu, who was by far more popular and still more popular than Godwin Obaseki, the actual winner of the election.

Interestingly, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, has returned to the APC and is aiming to get the nomination of the party for the September 19 governorship election. And it is no gainsaying that Ize-Iyamu is the favourite of party leaders and members.

At this time in its history, the APC deserves more than a candidate that can win the Governorship seat of Edo State. It needs a candidate with the image and the propensity to drive the process of expanding the APC beyond the boundaries of Edo State. The APC should not have a candidate who like Obaseki lacks the character, the initiative and the network to coordinate the expansion of the party in the South South. It definitely must be careful not to have someone like Obaseki, who takes delight in being an only child, so to say, with the status of the only APC Governor in the South South.

Looking at all those interested in securing the Edo APC ticket, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu stands apart as the only man made for that role. In fact, any politician that has been close to Ize-Iyamu would agree that he has the capacity to drive the process for the expansion of the APC in the South South if he becomes the governor of Edo State. Ize-Iyamu is a legend for having a political network in Edo State, within and outside of the party structure.

Ize-Iyamu’s strong political network goes beyond Edo State. This not only a reflection of his natural inclination to make friends and to promote friendship everywhere, it is also a derivative of his past political engagements that traverse the Niger Delta region and beyond. As a charismatic and influential Chief of Staff to the Governor and SSG of Edo State, respectively, between 1999 and 2007, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu made friends with so many politically influential persons across the six states of the Niger Delta. In fact, he was the points man for inter-state political engagements with the Edo State Government. These relationships have been sustained to date, irrespective of the political parties the characters are in. Similarly as the Vice Chairman South South of the ACN, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu had the opportunity to interact and coordinate party activities and personnel in the entire region. Therefore, connecting with people outside of Edo State, to execute a plan of action in the interest of the APC will not be difficult for him.