By Ochereome Nnanna
TWO major political parties – incumbent party in power, the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, and its arch rival, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have rolled out their drums of war ahead of the July 14, 2012 governorship election.

They are both led by tested “men of war”, Governor Adams Oshiomhole, the ACN candidate and Chief Tony Anenih, the godfather of Edo PDP, whose famed expertise in winning elections is being called to duty by the candidate of the PDP, the retired Major General Charles Ehigie Airhiavbere.

These two political combatants come from markedly different backgrounds. While Anenih was bred from the Shehu Yar’Adua political stable and is adept at the group’s ability to produce miraculous victories and dominate larger political platforms due to its tightly-knit structure based on intense loyalty to the “godfather”, Oshiomhole grew out from the Labour fold where he perfected his ability to rally the Nigerian people behind him to fight anti-people policies of the Federal Government.

In 2007 when he made his first foray into elected office, Oshiomhole carefully built coalitions of strange bedfellows. He went into the race as the joint candidate of the Labour Party, LP, and the ACN.

To make an inroad into the then ruling PDP, he secured the support of the hugely unpopular outgoing Governor, Lucky Igbinedion and even brokered an understanding with an Anenih whose faction of the party stood the risk of being sidelined by the faction that the governorship candidate of the party, Professor Oserhiemen Osunbor, represented.

Osunbor was declared winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in 2007, but through a tenaciously fought legal battle, Oshiomhole reclaimed his mandate on November 11, 2008. No sooner had Oshiomhole assumed power than he parted ways with Anenih because, according to the former, he was not willing to abide with the politics of godfatherism. He said he was more comfortable working directly with the people.

While Anenih’s political fortunes have been mixed over the past five years, that of Oshiomhole has been on the steady rise. For instance, Anenih had fiercely championed the presidential ambition of former Governor Peter Odili of Rivers State, which was nipped at the eleventh hour by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in preference for the late Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

Apart from losing control of his native Edo State, he also lost the bid to get former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Prof Charles Soludo, elected as governor of Anambra State in February 2010.

In spite of these losses, he has remained very relevant in presidential circles and within the national leadership of the PDP. Based on this, many faithful of the party in Edo State still believe he is able to use his clout and abilities as “Mr Fix-it” to unleash the “federal might” come July 14.

Mindful of his natural handicaps as someone from the minority Edo North, Oshiomhole decided to capture the hearts of the people of the state, particularly the hugely more populous and influential Benin axis. The Oba of Benin, Omo N’Oba N’Edo, Uku Akpolokpolor Erediauwa, was tired of decades of poor leadership in his kingdom, which was much more beautiful when he was installed in 1978. He was tired of the city drowning in rainwater every rainy season. A decade of PDP dominance of the state, during which a son of Benin City, Igbinedion ruled for eight years, only saw the worsening of the rot.

The Oba invited Governor Oshiomhole to his palace and extracted a pledge from him to do his best to develop the city, no matter what it would take. In fact, when Oshiomhole started demolishing illegal structures to enable him widen the gauge of major urban roads to six lanes each, an uproar went up that he intended to demolish the palace of the Oba.

In response, the Oba wrote the Edo State House of Assembly, urging them to pass all enabling laws sent to them provided they were for the development of the city. He even volunteered to give up part of his palace walls if necessary.

From there on, events went on a rollercoaster in the city, with most families voluntarily allowing parts of their ancestral properties to be adjusted to make way for the many six-lane intra-city dual carriageways, complete with both surface and underground drainage and street lights. Oshiomhole simply adopted the Lee Kwan Yew approach to solve the problem of ancient Benin City.

And in gratitude, the Oba of Benin, in league with his royal chiefs and the elite of Benin, openly declared him as the candidate of the Binis. In a twist of irony, even the man who lost his seat to Oshiomhole in court, Prof Osunbor, during a surprise visit of the Governor, endorsed his efforts, saying since he (Osunbor) sought public office to develop the state he owed it a duty to support the person now doing so.

Oshiomhole became so smug and confident of his acceptance by the Edo electorate that he challenged Chief Anenih to walk with him through the city of Benin and let the media monitor live the reactions of the people towards them both!

As the D-day draws nearer, the atmosphere in Edo State has taken a turn for the bloody. Within the last fortnight, tragedies struck in the Oshiomhole camp. A strange tipper ran into his convoy on the way to a campaign engagement, in which three journalists lost their lives.

And on Friday, May 4, 2012, Oshiomhole’s Principal Private Secretary and friend he brought from the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Mr Olaitan Oyerinde, was murdered in cold blood in his house. The state’s Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Louis Odion, also narrowly escaped possible similar fate, as the same four-man gang of hoodlums had invaded his private house but luckily for him he was not at home.

The Governor and his camp believe the opposition PDP is behind these evil acts, an allegation the PDP has since debunked.

These acts of bloodletting, if actually politically motivated, are hardly necessary. Edo citizens are among the most literate in the country, with the average person in the street able to speak English or at least, fluent Pidgin English. They are very widely travelled and exposed. They know exactly who they want to vote for come July 14. Any life lost is merely wasted.

The interests of the state is better served in an atmosphere of civilised campaigns and free rein for the electorate to make their choice. It should not be a do-or-die affair.