By Okharedia Ihimekpen
There can never be an endto sloganeering in the ambience of politicking and political contestations in Nigeria. “No man is God”, a slogan that dominated the political space in Edo State on the heels of the 2003 governorship election victory by Lucky Nosakhare Igbinedion, was a creation of the Grace Group, a dissident political group within the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Edo, funded by Igbinedion.

The slogan was the group’s misplaced sarcastic reaction to his (Igbinedion) re-election after he survived the initial prudent move within the PDP in the State to halt his re-election bid on account of obvious non-performance in office from 1999 to 2003. The Grace Group had an ambitious agenda: To ensure the perpetuation of the Igbinedion administration in the State (beyond 2007) by proxy.

Indeed, the promoters of the group left no one in doubt that it was out to wrest the power levers in the PDP and in the State from the political grandmasters. By 2007, many of its members had emerged in strategic spheres of life in the State; and, in a deliberate deployment of propaganda to retain political power in a post-Igbinedion administration; it had also positioned itself to determine people’s political destinies.

But ironically this group had an axe to grind with the genuine mainstream component of the PDP in the State under the guidance of the politically inimitable Chief Tony Anenih. It was Anenih’s well thought-out move to redeem the party and save it from the stranglehold of a non-performing governor (Igbinedion) that provoked the creation of the Grace Group so that the regime of non-performance and impunity in the State could continue.

Whereas there was and there is still nothing gracious about the Grace Group which has since morphed into the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN. Back to Anenih’s shrewd move: He was said to have summoned some PDP stakeholders sometime in 2002, and reasoned with them that, judging from the abysmal performance of Igbinedion as governor, it would be suicidal for the party to re-present him in the 2003 governorship election.

The nuances of the meeting and the decisions reached therein were, according to reports, disclosed to Igbinedion. In a desperate counter to Anenih’s wise move to save Edo State from his (Igbinedion’s) inept leadership, he quickly organised a reception in his own honour at the Oba of Benin Palace Ground to appeal to the sensibilities of Edo people, both at home and in the Diaspora. The reception, however, turned scandalous and was heavily criticized by the opposition.

A desperate Igbinedion, also in a political manoeuvre, started to use his influence in the governor’s forum to drum up support for Atiku Abubakar against the second term of President Olusegun Obasanjo. His multi-millionaire father, Chief Gabriel Osawaru Igbinedion, came out with an argument that tangentially veered from the sublime to the ridiculous.

His argument: “Agreed that my son may have failed as a governor (which was exactly the situation); but if a pupil fails in an examination, it is only proper that the child be allowed to repeat the examination”. Who could fault this anecdote? But arguing for extension of the opportunity of a second chance to a failed student and extending it (argument) into the realm of governance was clever.

He pleaded that his son should be given a second chance. Anenih, who was effectively in charge of the PDP, accepted the plea. It was thus understandable that in his (Anenih’s) grand plan to ensure Obasanjo’s re-election, he had declared, “No vacancy in Aso Rock” and “No vacancy in Osadebay Avenue”. This was to allow peace to reign in Edo, and consequently, Igbinedion was returned to power in the 2003 elections. As expected, Anenih was vindicated as Igbinedion failed to perform and left behind a legacy of misrule.

On reflection now, I wonder what members of the Grace Group meant by “No Man is God”. They have always defined it as their mission statement: that being God-driven, they reasoned, nobody except God Himself can stop them in their mission. But they forget that man could be God to man; and, that God does not come down in person but through instrumentalities.

It was the group, which from within the PDP, allegedly sponsored Adams Oshiomhole in Action Congress (now Action Congress of Nigeria) for the governorship race. Wait a minute, do you call this sabotage or anti-party activity? In spite of the intrigues and treacheries of the group, the people rejected Oshiomhole at the polls, until the courts imposed him on them.

This, obviously, explains why Oshiomhole’s government has been a continuation of the Igbinedion misrule and it (Oshiomhole’s government) can never question any of Igbinedion’s actions or inactions while in office by way of probe. This also, clearly explains why Oshiomhole has never criticized Igbinedion’s misadventure in governance; instead he calls it the PDP eight years of misrule.

Could this have explained why the report of the panel on Assets Verification from 1999 to 2008, which was headed by Oshiomhole’s cousin, Useni Elamah, could not be released by Oshiomhole? What about the much-publicised Water Board report? In these reports are details of the government houses that were illegally sold or acquired, as well as the government vehicles that were allegedly used to prosecute elections in 2007 and which are now in private houses of members of government.

This ignoble cabal has held the state economy down such that nothing seems to work despite the expenditure of billions of public funds, received through federal allocations and Internally Generated Revenue, IGR. The widespread moral, physical, social and psychological degradation that evolved in the state economy since the Igbinedion era has gathered enough momentum that no one is in doubt into which direction the ship of state is heading.