Edo PDP Crisis: Are Obaseki’s Attacks Making Orbih a Revolutionary?

By Alfred Imokeme

As we continue to listen to the tepid echoes of Obaseki’s rants since 2020 against Chief Dan Orbih, one thing comes readily to mind only; that is, the autocracy in Edo State is easy to understand from the public speeches of Obaseki, it is easy to identify his undemocratic credentials and offers a recognizable target in Chief Dan Orbih of which the lovers of freedom can direct their analysis. Obaseki tries as much as to contend for powers with Chief Dan Orbih in any given opportunity, hence, he talks about being the leader of PDP in Edo state where he has control of only 11% of the Party’s population, especially those with no membership cards or those who are not members of the Party’s excuses.

One thing frustrating to us about Obaseki’s recent dictatorial tendencies is that he was launched in 2020 by PDP into the minds of the electorates as one whose basic aim is to challenge the unjust treatment by Comrade Oshiomhole against him, and the masses rallied around PDP to defeat the unjust status quo. Ironically, Chief Dan Orbih was the Campaign Director who went round 192 wards repairing the battered name of Obaseki who was adjudged by APC as a total failure because no physical project could be tied to his name in those visited wards.

Let no one mix Obaseki’s recent rants with progressive ideology deriving from truth, sincerity, integrity, morality,y or honesty. No, don’t be deceived, his attitude and anarchic conductors are far from these. We have seen his demonstration of overt power just to instruct the people ‘who is the leader.’ He wishes to exercise total control over the willing and unwilling members of PDP in Edo State. This is the first time I have ever seen a governor mimic leadership in its mundane and parochial attitude as if he is in a circus where he is a puppeteer dancing angrily. “I am the leader!” Obaseki goes with a gong from one marketplace to the other with the echoes of his claim falling with his spittle in a brash way.

Although we are yet to see his demonstration of power to the level of his troop stack booting the doors of those who are opposed to him in a post rating Edo State, carting away his victims in Black Maria directly to Uselu or Oko Prison, we can’t fail to notice his show of power in its crudest form.

Today, Obaseki’s major target in PDP is Chief Dan Orbih. The restless and frustrated governor has unwittingly built a powerful aura around Chief Dan Orbih like a man wearing steel armor that the PDP leader is now being seen as the invisible revolutionary whose ideology is to ward off evil against the old PDP. Yes, Chief Dan Orbih has all the trappings of a revolutionary: unlike Obaseki, He talks less, he is not seen in public ranting, he keeps a straight face, he is never sad or pained, he talks with charm, and has an infectious smile.

Obaseki is succeeding in making Chief Dan Orbih a revolutionary fighting a just cause, a protector of his followers. Chief Dan Orbih is now seen as a man whose spirituality is pure, a bastion of hope with seductive ideas, an embodiment of progressive ideals, a man whose purpose is to fight an unjust situation the old PDP members found themselves, an iron bender…Perhaps Chief Dan Orbih has been elevated to the ranks of Che Guevara or Thomas Sankar, two revolutionaries whose places in history are assured.

Chief Dan Orbih is not asking about abstract issues as much as Obaseki is making it look as if what is being asked of him would portend nuclear danger to the world. What Chief Dan Orbih once asked was that appointments coming from the government should be shared between the old and new with a sense of understanding, equity, justice, and Fairplay. Respect the constitution of the Party to the last letter without smuggling parts into it or abridging it.

When the governor said, in his usual arrogant way, that he cannot go into ‘trade by the batter,’ which is however his choice to make, Chief Dan Orbih, who is the ultimate leader of PDP in Edo State said, well, since you have made your democratic choice even when it is morally wrong, we in the old PDP shall keep our excos to the tablets of our hearts because that’s the only badge of honor we now have. This has since infuriated Obaseki who wishes to eat his cake and have it.

Chief Dan Orbih is iconic, as it stands, at least in Edo State PDP. Not even the creation of the world of Obaseki can change this indisputable fact. He has earned his leadership through sheer reciprocated respect for his followers in PDP. He does not force followership, he is naturally a rallying point. He is a force of nature that even in distance, his tremor disturbs Obaseki to no small measure. Obaseki is shaken to his core whenever the thoughts of Chief come up in his mind. He is threatened by his existence and so pursues a singular agenda in making Chief his arch-enemy. But most revolutionary, just like Chief Dan Orbih, are unshakeable by the rants of those who are opposed to them.