By Emmanuel Aziken

Given the particular landmarks of the outgoing governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, it is not surprising that there is much trepidation among political stakeholders on the choice of his successor.

Remarkably, the two major political parties through their leaders have produced Pastor Osaze Ize-Iyamu, PDP and Godwin Obaseki APC as the frontrunners. Not only because of their reach, but also because they are backed by the party leaders. The emergence of the two men and the about two dozen others still in the race has, however, not satisfied some key stakeholders leading to growing agitation for more options.

Obaseki-Oshiomhole-Iyamu

In the last week, two separate delegations were said to have met Gen. Samuel Ogbemudia challenging him to bring out the men he claimed to have been nurturing as a successor to Oshiomhole.

Ogbemudia it would be recalled had in the past claimed that his Edo Mass Movement, EMM would play a decisive role in the emergence of Oshiomhole’s successor. One of the delegations it was learnt asked him to bring out the candidate he had claimed to be incubating in the face of what they claim as their dissatisfaction with the options on ground.

However, the resort to Ogbemudia is puzzling in the eyes of many given the former governor’s earlier stance to support whosoever Oshiomhole endorses. Well, given the fact that Oshiomhole is yet to publicly endorse anyone, including the famed financial engineer, Obaseki, insinuations of a change of tact in the APC state leadership remains on the cards.

Even in the PDP, the story is not different. Though many party chieftains had until now considered pastor as the best bulwark against Oshiomhole’s succession agenda; especially given his network and history in delivering winners in the past four governorship elections in the state, pastor may still have some work to do.

The story is told of how one patron of his campaign who has been repeatedly bashed by the Oshiomhole government nearly collapsed this week when loopholes in the present PDP strategy were exposed. The man could not imagine an Oshiomhole proxy holding the fort in Edo State for another four years!

The devil is in the detail
President Muhammadu Buhari’s hesitance to give immediate assent to the 2016 budget as passed by the National Assembly was acknowledged to be on account of fears that the budget details that were said to be coming later could contain inputs that could bind him to implement what he does not like.

The debate that followed saw legislators assert that the president has no role in budget making after tabling his proposal. Purveyors of that claim, however, forget the fact that the constitution also gives the president the right to veto whatsoever is passed; and also, the right to expend up to half of the budget up to half of the year. Even more, the hesitance flowed from experiences in the past when bills passed by the National Assembly were tampered with by either legislators, presidency officials and sometimes, by both parties acting in collaboration.

One of the most famous cases was in 2001 when Section 80 of the Electoral Act as passed by the two chambers of the National Assembly was mutilated reportedly by some legislators and the then president.

The most recent example of such tampering was the Constitution Alteration Act passed by the 7th National Assembly. President Goodluck Jonathan had claimed in his last days in office that he would veto it, an assertion that was immediately debunked by the National Assembly, which claimed that the president had already signed it.

The request by the Senator Ike Ekweremadu led Constitution Review Committee on Dr. Jonathan to return the original copy as prepared and presented by the National Assembly was not complied with even up till Dr. Jonathan’s exit from power.

Osoba’s option
Not all has been revealed as to the reasons for Aremo Segun Osoba’s return to the All Progressives Congress, APC last Sunday. Whereas some may have wrongly claimed it was an effort by the former journalist and governor to seek relevance, other sources familiar with the development, however, paint a picture to the contrary. Aremo, such sources claim, is not hungry, a claim buttressed by the fact that the APC Southwest leadership came to him and not the other way.

Even more pivotal for the return of Osoba to the APC leadership it was learnt was the desire to give his followers in Ogun State a platform to pursue their political aspirations, especially given the fact that the Social Democratic Party, SDP to which they had gone has been seriously smeared by recent revelations of cash handouts from the PDP.