SENATOR Oserheimen Osunbor’s declaration, carried in many national newspapers including Vanguard on November 11, that he will be contesting the 2016 governorship election in Edo State came like a bolt out of the blue. And it sure has set a ricocheting buzz in Edo and beyond. As regular as the declaration may seem, it portends serious implications for the political calculations in the state come 2016.

Ever since he was removed from office as governor in 2008, courtesy of a court judgment which invalidated his disputed election, Sen. Osunbor seemed to have gone into early retirement from the political scene. Even his attempt at a come back in the run-up to the 2012 election seemed to have emphasized the need for Osunbor to retire. In the party primary of the PDP of which he had been a candidate before being made governor in 2007, Osunbor came last of the four aspirants.

Nevertheless, most people did not see the result of the primary as a true reflection of the level of his popularity, as the primary was considered to have been manipulated by the leadership of the party in a way that Osunbor stood no chance of winning. It is said that the leaders had promised to humiliate him for not having conceded to them while he was governor. In fact the leaders had been accused of compromising Osunbor’s defence at the Tribunal, a situation which is believed contributed to Comrade Adams Oshiomhole’s outright victory.

Ever since the last primary, Osunbor’s fortune and profile in Edo State PDP have suffered gross depreciation. He has actually been denied proper recognition and respect. Ironically, though, the man’s reputation in the public domain seems to acquire gain progressively due to the nostalgia his performance in the brief period he occupied in office evokes, given the desperation of Edo people to have a trusted man succeed Adams Oshiomhole at the expiration of his tenure in November 2016. Surely in spite of controversies that have trailed his management of the State, Oshiomhole has raised the bar of political perception and performance.

By Patrick Osagie