AS the countdown to the 2012 gubernatorial election in Edo State draws near the permutations and maneuvering in the Peoples Democratic Party has intensified. This is particularly on the issue of the choice of the governorship candidate of the party.

A parameter for selecting or nominating the challenger of the ruling ACN candidate, who undoubtedly is the incumbent Governor Adams Oshiomhole , has been rumoured to be the zoning of the PDP ticket to Edo South Senatorial Zone which has on record the highest number of registered voters. On separate occasions, though, leaders of the party have publicly refuted the claim.

Before the recently concluded party congresses, the state chairman, Chief Dan Orbih had declared at a stakeholders’ meeting that the party had not zoned the ticket and would not zone it. He said it was going to be an open affair.

Speaking in a similar vein, the former Board of Trustees Chairman and national leader, Chief Tony Anenih, at an earlier stakeholders’ meeting had declared that the party would support whoever is credible, generally acceptable and willing.

The idea of zoning as a deliberate policy of the party is predicated on the need for equitable representation and rotation of party and elective offices. And the governorship position is prominent in this consideration.

In the articulation of this principle in Edo State, therefore, from 1999 to 2007, the PDP zoned the governorship to Edo South whereupon Chief Lucky Igbinedion ruled for two terms of eight years. And in respect of the formula, the office was zoned to Edo Central whereupon Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor became governor in 2007. However, by an accident of fate, Osunbor could not serve out a complete term of the Edo Central mandate, not to talk of the expected two terms of eight years as the Edo South was privileged to do through Chief Lucky Igbinedion. Through no fault of his, he was removed by a court judgment after one and a half years of a-four year tenure.

Comrade Oshiomhole having ascended the position of governor of Edo State since 2008, at the end of his tenure in 2012, the rotational equation shall have been realised as follows: Edo South (eight years), Edo North (four years), Edo Central (one and half years). Therefore, in the balance of equity, which is central to the contemplation of the zoning principle of the PDP, Edo Central naturally has a mandate to reactivate and complete, as it were, in the contest for the 2012 governorship of Edo State.

However, the ultimate objective of a political party is not just to present candidates for elections, zoning or no zoning, but to present candidates with the best potential for winning an election. The argument of the strong advocates of zoning is that at every material point in time, through diligent selection, every zone has the material that could swing the electoral fortune in the favour of the party.

Yes, winning an election is it. And for this reason some persons within the PDP in Edo State have been desperate about dislocating the subsisting zoning arrangement which naturally should favour Edo Central, by pushing for another zoning arrangement of taking the governorship back to Edo South. But the questions that need answer here are: How sure could the PDP be that the Edo South aspirants they presently have could beat Oshiomhole in 2012? How well have they studied the demographics and the sophistication of the awesome Benin City population upon which the Edo South zoning apologists base their confidence? Why would the party think that only a Benin man could remove the incumbent governor?

It is relevant to point out here that the politics in Edo has gone beyond the mundane calculation of numerical strength of the place of origin of a contestant. Politics here, if one may use the term, has gone, by and large, digital and creatively strategic.

In choosing a candidate, perhaps the most important consideration should be of what value is the personality of the aspirant to the pursuit of the electoral goal? An impressive personality within and outside the party naturally stimulates strategies which are well contemplated, articulated and executed.

At this critical time, it is such a personality, irrespective of the senatorial zone of origin that is desirable for the PDP in Edo State if really the party is serious about regaining power from Oshiomhole and the ACN in 2012. Now the question is, given the PDP aspirants on parade, who fits the bill?

Without doubt Senator Osunbor stands much taller than all other aspirants on the platform of the PDP. His superiority does not so much derive from his impeccable intellectual credentials or personality but the fact that he has been tried and found to possess the humaneness, sincerity of purpose and the drive for the general happiness in the art of governance which are qualities lacking in Oshiomhole’s administration and for which the people would be too happy to see him back in 2012.

The people are obviously tired of the unholy tax regimes in a stagnated economy like Edo State; unending road expansion projects that are badly executed by dubious and conniving political associates and godfathers, occasioning face-saving contract revocations and re-awards wasting billions of naira; administration by intimidation, contracts hyper-inflation, and nauseating hypocrisy among other follies.

The desire for change is palpable in Edo State. And the people are looking up to the PDP to make a credible move to effect the change.

Mr. EFOSA UGIAGBE, a  political analyst, wrote from Benin,  Edo State.