EDWIN ASEMOTA
THE article with the above title by Johnson Momodu in the Vanguard of March 15 is indeed an interesting piece. Obviously, the author set out to glorify the person of Chief Anthony Anenih.

However, in the writer’s effusive attempt to portray Anenih as a benevolent kingmaker, he betrays the nature of the Chief’s politics which could be described as self-serving.

Indulging in sublime glorification of his subject matter, Johnson Momodu says: “…. With the feelers that Jonathan is interested in contesting the 2015 presidential election … Anenih is considered the President’s biggest asset.

He is expected to deploy his experience in support of the re-election bid of Jonathan, consistent with his tradition of having assisted the elections of some office holders in the past, starting with Dr. Sam Ogbemudia as governor of Edo (sic) in 1983 on the platform of the defunct National Party of Nigeria, NPN; Chief John Odigie Oyegun as Edo governor on the platform of the defunct Social Democratic Party, SDP, in 1993, Chief Lucky Igbinedion as Edo governor on the platform of the PDP in 1999 and 2003.

It was the turn of Professor Oserhiemen Osunbor in 2007 as Edo governor, but the victory was understandably short-lived because of internal tension generated by Osunbor’s desperation to hijack the party structure from Anenih”.

With statements like this, one begins to believe the widespread rumour that Anenih, because of his desperation, connived with the AC, now ACN, with the instrumentality of a compromised judiciary to remove Osunbor, a PDP governor, from office. This declaration by the writer is rather antithetical to his celebration of Anenih as a champion of loyalty. In a partisan political system, the greatest demonstration of loyalty is to the party, over and above that of any individual.

What is the consequence of Anenih’s suggested complicity in the unfortunate removal of a PDP Governor, as suggested by the writer, because of his fear that Osunbor was going to hijack the party structure from him? Successive results of elections in Edo State, since the ACN took over the governorship, indicate that the PDP may yet be consigned to many years in political wilderness. Interestingly, almost all the original members of the PDP, including elected political office holders at the national and state assemblies have left the party for Anenih due to his overbearing influence.

This is the trend of Anenih’s political association: Those who helped him while he was presumably the kingmaker end up falling apart with him. His steadfast associates are those that must forever be subservient.

The electoral fortune of the party has so dropped as the following analogy illustrates. Whereas the result the Tribunal relied upon to have awarded Oshiomhole the 2007 Governorship Election, after subtracting from Osunbor’s alleged rigged votes, has Oshiomhole scoring 166,527 votes against Osunbor’s 129,017 votes with a difference of 37,510 votes, in the July 14, 2012 election.

Against an Anenih structure that produced General Charles Airhiavbere, Oshiomhole scored 477,488 votes while Airhiavbere (PDP) scored 144,234 votes showing a difference of 333,254 votes. There is no gainsaying the fact that the mass movement from the PDP to the ACN in protest against Anenih contributed to this landslide win by Oshiomhole and the ACN in an election in which the PDP lost all the local government areas and almost all the wards, including Anenih’s home base Uromi.

The progressive decimation of the PDP began with Anenih’s de-registration of Governor Lucky Igbinedion and his associates in 2005.

This led to the formation of the liberation movement by the name of Grace Group within the PDP, led by the then Secretary to the State Government, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu. It had the slogan: “No Man is God” for obvious reasons.

Today, deriving from the whittling down of the membership strength of the PDP which started in 2005, and Anenih’s desperation to pursue a personal ambition at all times, Anenih has been demystified in Edo State.

The PDP Congress of February 2008 which was witnessed and certified by INEC, the Police, SSS and officials of the PDP national secretariat at which the majority of the party members in Edo State, including then Governor Oserheimen Osunbor, went to the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium to elect the Sadoh-led state executive in spite of Anenih, was an attestation to the fact that the people were tired of Anenih’s clannish politics.

Alas, Osunbor who was a marked man right from when he got the PDP governorship ticket instead of Anenih’s in-law, Magnus Odion Ugbesia, who Anenih preferred, had to be sacrificed to massage Anenih’s ego.

Talking of presidents who Anenih assisted, it was convenient for John Momodu to say that Chief MKO Abiola’s presidential mandate of 1993 was negotiated away by Anenih as a sacrifice to keep the country united.