TALKS of the PDP coming to power againin Edo State usually dwell more on the current state of politics in the state than reliably predicting what will happen in the future.

In practice, the political paradigm is proving to have in-built corrective mechanism – whether it is the shifting opinions of the electorate or the general slow learning processes of the opposition or challenges offered by the judges or the media and/or the creation of other powerful political institutions.

Weighing this development against the ordeal Edo electorate had passed through with Oshiomhole, PDP would have no excuse not to return to government in 2012. The people have been alienated from government. Virtually all the segments of the economy have gone sour and in comatose.

The education system that used to be the pride of the people had collapsed with high school fees and dilapidated infrastructure in schools; the legitimate rights of workers, civil servants and teachers have been grotesquely abridged as the government has used over- taxation to make nonsense of the minimum wage.

Since Oshiomhole came to power, the protection of lives and property has turned convulsive with assassinations, kidnappings and robberies becoming the norm and order of the day. As confessed by the Assistant Inspector General of Police Zone 5: “An average of five cases of kidnappings and other related cases are reported everyday in Edo State today”.

Is it in commerce and industry? Justifying why he endorsed the close down of the well-known Edo Line Transport Company, the other day, Oshiomhole said the government could not maintain two transport companies: Edo Municipal Transport Company and Edo Line at the same time. So Edo Line had to die.

Edo Line that was founded sometime in 1967 when Oshiomhole was still a tailor apprentice in Kaduna. Okpella Cement Company, Ewu Flour Mill and the Bendel Breweries have all been consigned to the dustbin of history. Agriculture that used to be the mainstay of the people’s economy is now a thing of the past.

Even the roads in Benin metropolis which the government had prided to be the thrust of Oshiomhole’s administration is riddled with scandals, controversies and corruption so much so that the Governor had revoked the contracts.

Examples are the Airport and Siluko roads, while other roads in the state have been reduced to death traps. Perhaps the highest casualty in the malodorous saga is the health sector as the state hospitals have become despicable health centres.

All over the world, democratic governments gain legitimacy to the extent that they reflect the will of the people. To demonstrate that they have support for their policies and decisions they must seek the consent of the governed through periodic elections.

Despite the claims of victories of parties or candidates, elections are fairly weak even though they represent intermittent forms of citizens’ approbation. The electorate in a democracy should have opportunities not only to read about, watch and listen to the development of political debates as spectators, but also to participate directly in them. This is what Oshiomhole and his government lack in Edo.

Even if democratic societies fall short of this kind of democratic ideals as we have in Edo, it is fair to say that the people should have a say about the kind of government that governs them.Only the other day the electorate cried out and condemned the inhuman treatment meted on one Major Lawrence Loye whom Oshiomhole, for three years, had used to traumatize, dehumanize and demolish homes of innocent electorate without compensation or prior notice. They called for compensation from government even as the government had earlier admitted that they were in possession of their compensation.

Like his reaction to over-taxation, minimum wage and inflated school fees issues, Oshiomhole vowed that it was over his dead body that any compensation would be paid. This is the kind of night journey Edo people have embarked upon with Oshiomhole. Now that the crown of political leadership and governance has fallen in the state and the people are left in bewilderment, the ball is once more in the court of the PDP; it has a responsibility to pick up the gauntlet and show the light that the people might find the way.

The people need to be galvanized and re-oriented; they need reassurance of a hope already betrayed; and, above all, they need divine guidance to bring their economy out of the woods. These and many others are the challenges of the new PDP.

Indeed, the only certain prediction today is that with the rebound of the PDP in the state, coupled with the mismanagement of the judicial mandate given to Oshiomhole in 2008, he with the collective resolve of the traumatized people of the State, especially civil servants, will cease to be governor effective November 14, 2012 as the PDP is set to return to power, this time on the strength of New Deal that will guarantee the well-being and the destiny of present generation and the generations yet unborn.

Mr.OKHAREDIA IHIMEKPEN, a commentator on national issues, wrote from Benin, Edo State