A QUICK recap of how Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, began to act indecorously towards the former Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Tony Anenih, would help to put this piece in the proper context of its title.

Sometime in 2009, Anenih had, on the occasion of Kenneth Imasuangbon’s movement into the PDP from the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, at Ewohinmi in Edo State, declared that the ACN was like an air conditioner without a compressor.

Apparently encouraging his numerous party members, as was expected of any political leader, not to despair, Anenih was reported to have said that the ACN government had failed to meet the yearnings and aspirations of the people of the state.

He had advised Oshiomhole, who was president of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, at a time, to address his mind to the fact that there was difference between being governor and labour leader; and that governance was not about making fabulous speeches and getting applause from students but about performance.

If there was any other occasion where Anenih addressed PDP members and had cause to comment on governance in Edo, it was to the institutions of government and the ACN that he directed his comments, not to the person or the frailties of Oshiomhole.

But it is understandable Oshiomhole would become aggressively offensive in his reactions to Anenih’s statements and wise counsels. The point of aggravation was the fact that Anenih was not careful in declaring the readiness of the PDP to dislodge the government of Oshiomhole from power in Edo on the grounds of non-performance.

What did he expect from Anenih?  Was he thinking the Iyasele of Esanland had forgotten his leadership of the PDP simply because he (Oshiomhole) pleaded with and/or requested him to nominate two commissioners and a special adviser into his cabinet after the Court of Appeal declared him governor having nullified the election of Oserhiemen Osunbor of the PDP?  How that political rapprochement came about is a subject for another day.

Was Oshiomhole thinking Anenih would continue to massage his ego and rationalise the glaring inactions of the ACN government in Edo?  Realising that was wishful and knowing very well that Anenih’s political influence in the government was awesome, Oshiomhole had set out to define himself by confronting him.

He insulted a man who could give birth to him.  In fact, it is a matter of public record that Oshiomhole, in response to some words of encouragement by Anenih, had called him (Anenih) his father at a public function in June of 2009 and had said that he would continue to accord him respect as a “leader” irrespective of the fact that they were not in the same political party.

But the Comrade Governor has since broken his own words and has continued to abuse the Leader in a vulgar manner that offends the sensibilities of true sons and daughters of Edo.  When the Comrade Governor knocked Anenih at a public function in Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin, the two commissioners and special advisers nominated by Anenih who were present at the event did not have to be told that the revelry was over.  They got to their offices and threw their letters of resignation at the Governor in protest against the public affront.

Well, Oshiomhole did not care.  His
strategy was working.  He moved against members of the PDP in the State House of Assembly, deploying shenanigans and brinkmanship to remove Zakawanu Garuba as Speaker along with the other leaders.  He induced some PDP members to cross carpet to the ACN and thus succeeded in securing the ACN majority in the State Legislature.

The resignation of the commissioners and special adviser as well as the illegality in the House of Assembly was presaged by the rerun election ordered by the Court of Appeal into the Akoko-Edo Constituency 1 seat.  Anenih had prevailed on PDP members to ensure that they acted freely and fairly during the election in line with Oshiomhole’s much-trumpeted “one man, one vote” mantra.

But Oshiomhole reportedly undercut the PDP when he allegedly deployed government machine to intimidate the electorate, aided malpractices and compromised the process such that his party’s candidate, Kabiru Adjoto, was able to defeat Anselm Agbabi of the PDP.  The Oshiomhole deception, including aiding of violence, that bolstered the victory of the ACN did not go down well with Anenih.

Oshiomhole had used the same strategy in other subsequent rerun elections in the state.  Encouraged by the outcomes, he had mobilized his camp to embark on a political rally where he proclaimed the death and the burial of the political godfather (in reference to Anenih) in Edo.  The camp did the ridiculous by carrying a symbolic coffin to reinforce its message.

Up till now, Oshiomhole has not been satisfied with that despicable show.  But how can he be satisfied when he discovered that he was just deceiving himself as the last general elections showed that the godfather was not buried after all.  If he was actually buried as claimed by Oshiomhole, he (the godfather) had resurrected and terminated what would have been Oshiomhole state-wide hubris in Edo Central Senatorial District?

This has been the cause of Oshiomhole’s disappointment and pain; which is why, apparently out of frustration, he has not stopped hurling invectives at Anenih.  The godfather is alive and kicking.  Hurray!  He has become a veritable bugaboo to Oshiomhole’s re-election bid.  If anyone expects the Comrade Governor to be polite in his reactions to the real political threat around him as typified by Anenih, then he or she may not be fair to Oshiomhole.

But that should not turn the Comrade Governor into a gangster even though his seeming uncivilized disposition might have been shaped by his many years of involvement in labour activism.  Everybody knows that Oshiomhole can talk but should he, even if it is in his character to throw punches at every opponent, commit himself to the regular abuse of Anenih?

However, it is apparent that it is not in the character of Anenih to jump into the public arena to take on an aggressor or offender.  This is the truth. He has always been taciturn, preferring to work and perfect his political strategies behind the scene.  He does not grant press interviews; and this has been a decision of about two decades now.  If he has any position to express, he always reduces it into writing and appends his signature.  This way, it becomes difficult to misquote him.

This is why the lead story of Compass newspaper of Wednesday, February 22, 2012, entitled “Anenih to Oshiomhole: You are a drowning gov”, where a reply purported to have been made by Anenih to a derogatory statement earlier made by Oshiomhole, was quoted and displayed on the front page, amounted to a sheer misrepresentation of the Anenih persona.

Anenih has never and would not engage in a war of words with anyone, including Oshiomhole.  But the peculiar political situation in Edo would not hamstring him in commenting about the institutions of the ACN and the government of the day.

Mr. SUFUYAN OJEIFO, a  journalist, wrote from Abuja.