Edo 2024: Anxiety mounts as Esan elders await implementation committee report

Leaders of the pan-Esan socio-cultural organisation Esan Okpa Initiative (EOI) and other stakeholders are eagerly awaiting the Implementation Committee’s report, which will address the tricky problem of reducing the number of Esan-looking candidates for the Edo State Governorship election scheduled for 2024 and is chaired by renowned constitutional law professor Michael Ikhariale.

According to rumours, the Committee, which is finishing up its report this weekend, may suggest consensus building as a “winning strategy” to get the candidates to queue up.

The 11-member Implementation Committee met with governorship candidates from all political parties last weekend in Benin City, the capital of Edo State, in an effort to assess their suitability and make sure that Esan, which makes up Edo Central Senatorial Zone, puts its best foot forward in the race for a replacement for outgoing Governor Mr. Godwin Obaseki, whose term expires on November 12 of next year.

Undoubtedly, several of the candidates, including Prof. Oserheimen Aigberaodion Osunbor, who served for 18 months as governor, three other well-known professors, five former Edo State House of Assembly Speakers, and others, exhibit admirable and impressive credentials. However, Esan leaders are concerned that the number of candidates will hurt Edo Central’s chances if they all compete in party primaries against fewer candidates from the other two zones. “There is a legitimate expectation that the governor’s position in Edo State is now for Esan people to lose,” said Ikhariale, “and quite frankly, there is the real possibility that we might just lose it if we do not put our house in order by swiftly formulating a winning strategy.”

The engagement was undoubtedly an effort to separate the wheat from the chaff and make sure that only formidable individuals with clout and influential reach to the other two zones – Edo North and Edo South – are supported, despite Ikhariale’s recent conclusion of his term as a visiting professor at America’s Ivy League, Harvard University, who claimed that their assignment was not to “screen out” any aspirants because that is the forte of the political parties.

Please allow me to make this important explanation regarding today’s events before I continue. Neither do we have the intention nor the desire to “screen out” anyone while we are here. The various political parties are responsible for selecting candidates.

“We invited you to participate in an interactive session where we would assess each other’s respective strengths and shortcomings and then proceed to be completely honest with ourselves about our readiness for the governorship campaign in Esan.

“Moving forward, we anticipate this interaction to be open, detached, and based on a set of objective standards. The EOI leadership and other key stakeholders will be given the outcome of today’s dialogue for consideration and further action.

“We all understand that whenever brothers have a private conversation and emerge beaming, it is typically a sign that they have fooled themselves. Obviously, the EOI does not seek to harm itself in this situation or purposefully upset people.

“When examining the current political climate in Edo State, it is simple to see that Esanland has never had a better chance to produce a governor in recent election cycles. According to the State’s constitution, there are three senatorial districts: Edo North, Edo South, and Edo Central (Esanland). Only Edo Central has not yet produced a governor out of these three in nearly twenty years. When we previously had a governor of Esan descent, his term was regrettably cut short just a few months after it began.

“EOI’s primary objective in this situation is to objectively reason with all the candidates with a view to forging consensus around those candidates who have realistic chances within their respective parties and Esan people will support those candidates while allowing the good people of Edo State to make their choice,” he claims.

Prof. Philomena Ejele, a linguist at the University of Port Harcourt, and Prof. Oyaziwo Aluede, an education scholar at Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, are other members of the Implementation Committee, which is led by Prof. Ikhariale and has Chief Executive Officer Novelpotta, Dr. Celey Okogun, as secretary. A political development expert, Dr. Ono’ohomen Ebhohimhen, the acting director general of the Edo State Directorate of Quality Assurance, and Engr. Francis Oriakhi, president of the Esan Club 30 in Port Harcourt, are also members of the committee. While Mr. Prosper Iyere and Mr. Alex Orukpe are chosen from young organisations, Rev. Fr. (Dr.) Fidelis Arhedo and Mallam Abdulkadiri Mukhtar also represent faith-based organisations on the committee.

The interactions with the aspirants, who were primarily PDP, APC, and LP members, were generally characterised as “fruitful”. Along with Osunbor, other well-known candidates who attended the event included the former chairman of the APC in Edo State, Col. David Imuse, the former chairman of the Esan North East Local Government, Hon. John Yakubu, and the former chaplain of the Edo State Government House, Rev. Fr. Andrew Obinyan. Professors Sylvester Odion Akhaine, Amb Martins Uhomoibhi, and Osezua Ehiyamen are the others.

Former Edo State House of Assembly Speakers Rt Hon Francis Okiye, Rt Hon Friday Itula, Rt Hon Bright Omokhodion, and Former Deputy Speaker Rt Hon Festus Ebea were also in attendance. Although they expressed a readiness to attend, former House members Rt Hon Serguis Ogun and former Speaker Rt Hon Victor Edoro were unable to.

Only 17 of the 26 candidates who replied to the Implementation Committee’s invitation ultimately attended the engagement last weekend. Three candidates from the diaspora asked for a Zoom facility, but it couldn’t be set up right once. Four candidates who had first replied to the invitation letter with an apology were joined by two more candidates. As part of the effort to reduce the number of aspirants in the zone, leaders of the Esan Okpa Initiative, led by its president, Rt Hon Mathew Egbadon, and other Esan elders met with aspirants of Edo Central extraction early this year in Benin City.