AHEAD of next year’s governorship election in Edo State, high level intrigues, plots, blackmail, name-calling and political witch-hunting have started in earnest, especially in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the State. It is obvious that in the days ahead, more of it will resurrect among those who are posing and pretending to be members of the party, but in the actual sense they are moles who were on a suicide mission to disintegrate the party and pave way for the ruling party, Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, to win again in the forthcoming election.

For these political moles, Barrister Kenneth Imasuangbon, an accomplished businessman, politician-cum-philanthropist who has done so much in reviving the party in the state and appears as the potential choice of the people ahead of poll, seems to be their greatest target in their campaign of calumny and political shenanigan.

The calculation of these detractors in the party, who are truly working for the opposition, is to sow the seed of discord between Imansuagbon and the great leader of the party, Chief Tony Anenih. No wonder they have started their shoddy job by planting a false news story in one of the national dailies claiming to be a comment from the Imansuagbon camp attacking Anenih’s personality.

When I read the story, I was surprised for a reason, but on the hand not surprised also for a reason too. Why I was surprised is because I know Imansuagbon as man who has great respect for everybody irrespective of your status, position or tribe. This is despite the enormous achievements he has made in private life which places him ahead of his peers before he joined politics. His humility knows no bounds and has remained his greatest weapon of success in all his endeavours, including his present quest to fly the PDP ticket in the state.

Again Imansuagbon is not known for frivolities, pomposity or pride. So for anybody to link him or his campaign organisation with an attack on Anenih is a stark lie aimed at destroying and frustrating PDP’s efforts towards wrestling power from ACN in the state next year.

Imansuagbon joined PDP in the state when everybody, including those who are now jostling for the party’s governorship ticket abandoned the party after losing the governorship seat in the state. Even the party governorship candidate in 2007 who was removed by Appeal Court went into hibernation. Apart from him, others who have benefitted so much from the party in various ways since 1999 abandoned the party like a plane without a pilot. It was only Anenih, who was like a symbol of the party in the state, that took the bull by the horns in reviving the party.

It was at that point that Imansuangbon, having not benefitted anything from the party, summoned courage and joined Anenih in rebuilding the party against all odds. Other members of the party were neither here nor there. While some of them were PDP members in the day and ACN in the night, others have no clear direction as they either sat on the fence or went into political oblivion for years.

It is obvious that without the political sagacity of Anenih and Imansuagbon, PDP would have died a natural death in the state, having been orphaned by those who had used it for self-enrichment over the years. No wonder the party was able to withstand the ruling party machinery in the state during the last April polls, especially in Edo Central where both Anenih and Imansuangbon hail from.

Why I was also not surprised with the story is that I know that the owner of the only national daily that published the controversial story is a leader of ACN in the state. That is why I said earlier that in the days ahead many more of such stories might be planted in the newspaper, because propaganda is their major stock in trade which they have used to deceive the public for long, but Nigerians are becoming wiser now. They have long realised that the editorials of the newspaper have remained anti-PDP from the day of establishment.

That is the major reason Anenih, Imansuangbon and other genuine members of PDP, not moles or opportunists in the state, should ignore such syndicated and fabricated stories, brace up and see it as one of the known antics of the ruling party in the state. It is also a clear signal that despite much acclaimed achievements by the ruling party in the state, it is obvious that the governor is jittery over the popularity of PDP in the state and what might be the outcome of the next year’s election.

As for Anenih, as a leader who have seen it all in politics, both at the state and national levels since the Second Republic, the choice of a people’s candidate for PDP in the election is the only way the party can defeat the ruling ACN in the election. And in making such a choice, what should be supreme is party loyalty, contributions, sacrifices and commitment of the aspiring individuals, not numbers of years one has been in the party without track record or meaningful contributions.

By the look of things in the state, the people want change and PDP remains their only hope to dislodge the ruling party that has done much talking without much on ground to show for it. That is why PDP cannot afford to disappoint the people by being distracted with the already known antics of the ACN. This is an opportunity PDP cannot afford to miss, because it might be disastrous for them if they did not put their house in order before the election next year.

Mr. CHRISTIAN AWVIDE, a cleric,  wrote from Benin City, Edo State.