Okharedia Ihimekpen, the Edo PDP spokesman is at it again. This time, a failed attempt to re-write history of a political force in Edo State that he knows next to nothing about as encapsulated in his warped treatise published on Page 41 of Monday August 22, 2011 issue of the Nigerian Tribune. Those of us, the founders of the Grace Group that he thoughtlessly referred to are not surprised as the month  draws to an end, a time for him to get to Uromi to pick some crumbs.

Ordinarily, one would not have bothered wasting precious time to respond to the jobless man’s words in the publication but for the obvious distortions and clear twisting of history of the current power bloc in Edo State. Suffice it to say that when the Grace Group was conceptualized, the slogan was and remains “No Man is God”.

It was coined because Chief Tony Anenih has always played God. The slogan was coined in response to the overbearing attitude of Chief Anenih who prefers to dictate who does what in the then PDP and who had enormous disdain for party members in Edo North and South.

Anenih was not only dictating who occupies what position in the party in Edo Central where he hails from, he was dictating who becomes even councillor in the largest two senatorial districts of the state. He was doing this to undermine Chief Gabriel Igbinedion and Dr. Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia’s leadership in Edo South as well as Admiral Mike Okhai Akhigbe and the late Inu Umoru in Edo North.

When the Grace Group started like a mustard seed, Chief  Anenih, like his errand boy Ihimekpen, dismissed the group as inconsequential. All issues raised by the group to end the emerging conflict and strengthen the party were waved off by  the Anenih dictatorship which operated with iron fist.

When the party re-registration got underway in 2005/2006, Anenih and his cohorts used their influence at the national party secretariat to de-register all members of the Grace Group. So, they registered only themselves and threw out all members of the group, including chairpersons of the party in almost all the local government areas of Edo State. That has been the greatest undoing of the PDP and ultimately, the genesis of its harakiri in Edo.

When all Grace Group members were de-registered, we then aligned forces with like-minded groups in the state to establish the Action Congress, Edo State with a mission to effectively wrest power from the Anenih dictatorship and free the people from the iron-grip of the godfather.

This we achieved with utmost precision and high sense of bravery from all our members as led by Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and Dr. Tony Omoaghe, our founding State Chairman who led the young party to a resounding victory that ended Anenih’s dictatorship.

When the Grace Group pulled out, Anenih did not even repent. He even tightened his tyrannical grip on the party. That was what led to the splitting of the party into the Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia-led faction and the Chief Anenih-led faction. The war has been raging since things fell apart in the PDP House.

Ihimekpen should not expect the centre to hold. So when the party lost to ACN at the 2007 polls, Anenih who could to stand the humiliation he had suffered from the Grace Group vide the massive votes of the electorate in Edo State for the peoples Governor, invited Olusegun Obasanjo to rush to his aid. Obasanjo flew in and did all the magic and forced the Maurice Iwu-led INEC to announce a fraudulent result for Prof. Osunbor who did not win election.

That what was took us to the tribunal and the Appeal Court where in a unanimous judgment, the mandate hijacked by Anenih, Osunbor, Obasanjo and Ihimekpen was restored to us by the judiciary. Imagine if we hadn’t an improved justice system in Nigeria, the hijackers would today still be in power in Edo.

All accounts as presented by Ihimekpen in the Nigerian Tribune publication are false.

Ihimekpen even sounded most  illogical when he gave the reading public the impression that despite Chief Lucky Igbinedion’s alleged poor performance in the first term, Anenih  ‘fixed’ him again for a second term after appeals from his billionaire father.

A number of simple questions to such a vile claim are necessary. First, how can Anenih who knows that Igbinedion’s first performance was an “abysmal failure”, according to the Gospel of Saint Ihimekpen, field him for a second term if Anenih was of a sound mind?

Secondly, it is immoral for Anenih to want to tell Edo people today that Lucky Igbinedion was a failure in government if he was the one that “fixed him” as governor.  He should have taken full responsibility for Igbinedion’s failure if truly he failed.

If Igbinedion was a success or a failure, the moral command provides that Anenih should take full responsibility.  In like manner, he (Anenih) do not have any right whatsoever to produce another candidate (Osunbor or Ugbesia) if the Igbinedion he claims to have produced twice, failed.

This is the moral burden Ihimekpen’s article throws up for Anenih. It is not enough to haul insults at Igbinedion, all the insults, accusations and foul language used on Igbinedion in the treatise should be directed at Anenih.

Again, it is wrong to insinuate that Igbinedion dictates what Oshiomhole does in Edo. Any one who behaves well is a friend of Oshiomhole. If anyone is guilty of anti-party activity, it is not Igbinedion but Anenih. When Comrade Oshiomhole regained his stolen mandate through the court, Anenih was part of his government as he nominated three commissioners into our government because Oshiomhole was determined to run a unity government.

But like the leopard that will never change its spots no matter the rains, Anenih came with his entire overbearing attitude again to dictate annual budget for him. The Airport Road and Siluko Road dualisation that Ihimekpen referred to in his article were not to be executed if Oshiomhole was to yield to the dictates of the Uromi godfather who was insisting on their removal from the 2009 budget.

He equally requested the removal of the mass transit (Comrade) buses from the budget. This was where he parted ways with Oshiomhole and he asked his nominees into the cabinet to resign and they all ran away. Since then, Edo State has been better for it. The godfather has been booted out of contention and has been confined to his political enclave in Uromi.

It is interesting to note that Ihimekpen mentioned three major roads under construction in the state capital by the Oshiomhole administration. In his previous articles against the Edo State peoples Governor, Ihimekpen wrote that the Governor was not doing anything but now he cites on-going projects.

What an analyst? His questioning if the Airport Road was awarded to the Igbinedions is laughable. If Ihimekpen was not sure of the contractor handling the projects, he should not bother mentioning it. In any case, competence is what is required in any job execution not who Ihimekpen or Anenih wants.

The Grace Group slogan is still very apt today: that Anenih is not God, so he should stop playing God. His godfatherism tendencies have not only been demystified by Comrade Oshiomhole-led government, he has been taught a bitter lesson through the power of the people as typified in the April general elections and  all previous by-elections held in Edo State since the inception of the ACN administration. There will be a repeat performance in the July 14, 2012 re-election of Comrade Oshiomhole as Edo Peoples Governor.

Mr. Owegie is the Publicity Secretary of Action Congress of Nigeria, Edo State.

DAN OWEGIE is the Publicity Secretary of Action Congress of Nigeria, Edo State.