Edo State Commissioner for Information, Louis Odion, in a syndicated interview with some political reporters, purportedly in Lagos, seized the occasion of the anniversary of his boss, Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s third year in office, to hurl uncharitable tirade at Chief Tony Anenih, the Iyasele of Esanland and national leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He must have granted the interview after the pre-recorded interview by his boss on Africa Independent Television (AIT) aired on Thursday, November 10, 2011.  What he said about Anenih was not thematically different from Oshiomhole’s.  He only expanded the scope of the rubbish they had purported to feed the public with, in the ongoing propaganda to deal with Anenih.

In any case, I must give it to Odion that his language, by all standards, was more elevated than his boss’ because he is better educated.

Odion is possibly caught in the horn of dilemma, with all sense of responsibility and fairness, knowing that he, as a well-brought up Esan man, would ordinarily not abuse his elders in any form; and not even in the instant case of Anenih from whose large-heartedness he, like many Esan people in Nigeria and in the Diaspora who have been opportune to know him closely, had benefitted in the past and are still benefitting.

The scenario to me was like the Biblical hand of Esau but the voice of Jacob.  Even though it was Odion that was speaking; it was the spirit of Oshiomhole that was giving him utterances; and, to that extent, Odion’s reckless attack on Anenih was from his head and not from his heart.  But if he says that it was from his heart, then it will be terribly unfortunate how mean-spirited he can be.

Enough of trying to situate and rationalize Odion’s jibe within the context of his adversarial position! Let me even address the issues he raised about Anenih being a spent force.  How did he mean? Exactly what was he talking about?  Whoever comes up with such a proposition or thesis not only in Edo but also in Nigeria is either a political ignoramus or a sheer propagandist of the worst kind.

The flip side of the proposition is that Anenih had been a formidable political force having been part of the strategic initiatives that defined the breezy presidential power politics of the late General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua in the ill-fated Third Republic; and the emergence of John Odigie Oyegun as governor of Edo on the platform of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP).  Prior to this time, he had in the defunct Second Republic ensured the emergence of Samuel Ogbemudia as governor of Edo on the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) platform.

How can a man whose imprimatur was evident in the political maneuverings that culminated in the emergence of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the late President Umaru Yar’Adua and President Goodluck Jonathan (as recently as April this year), the PDP government in Edo State from 1999 to 2007 as well as stopping Oshiomhole’s Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) from capturing Edo Central District in the April elections, be said to be a spent force?

Even Odion showed a somewhat deep understanding of the circumstances that resulted in the imposition of Oserhiemen Osunbor as the PDP candidate by Obasanjo in the 2007 governorship election and the subsequent political mischief within the PDP; which was why the party leaders could not collectively defend the Osunbor mandate.

If they had not allowed internal rift that proved deadly to the mandate, how would Oshiomhole have won the case in the tribunal?  And, if Oshiomhole had not presented himself as capable of being loyal during the time the matter was in the court, could he have received the sympathy of Anenih?  After all, did Oshiomhole not concede some commissionership slots to Anenih when he stepped in as governor following the November 14, 2008 Court of Appeal verdict that sacked Osunbor?  Was it for nothing that he made those concessions?

And when Oshiomhole decided to misbehave in the guise of waging a war against the godfathers, did he not unleash government machinery against Anenih and the PDP machine in the state with members of the House of Assembly becoming endangered?  Was it not to decimate him and his political base as his ilks have done to some other godfathers in their respective states?  But while those could not survive, Anenih survived in Edo and has become a formidable threat to Oshiomhole and the ACN machine.

In the rerun elections into some state House of Assembly seats, which took place before the April 2011 legislative elections, Oshiomhole whose mantra of “one man, one vote” was a façade, deployed state machinery in the exercise in which the ACN candidates triumphed over their PDP opponents.

Excited about the development, Oshiomhole had organized a mass rally with coffin-bearing party faithful claiming that they had buried the godfather in Edo politics.  They had expected to sweep all the April legislative polls in Edo, but they were stopped in Edo Central by the force of Anenih which made it possible for the PDP to win the only senatorial seat, the two Houses of Representatives seats and five out of the six state House of Assembly seats in the district; and which winnings have now been confirmed by the tribunal and Edo Central remains a no-go area for Oshiomhole.

Yet, Odion claimed that the man who has achieved this feat in the face of a brutal ACN government machine is a spent force!  What a mindset!  Besides, contrary to the impression created by Odion that Anenih used his boys in the state legislature to work against passage of bills, he (Anenih) actually reined his support for greater Edo state by intervening in a utilitarian modus when Oshiomhole stepped in as governor and could not understand the political economy of budgeting….  That is why he is a conscionable leader with his eyes on history.

Ainofenokhai is a Benin-based public issues manager and political analyst.