‘Ize-Iyamu This, Ize-Iyamu That, Obaseki Nko?’ -By Isaac Asabor

I had cause to visit a relaxation spot at Ogba in Ikeja, Lagos last Friday. While relaxing over a bottle of chilled drink in anticipation of the traffic on Mowe-Ibafo road to ease off, some clique of customers at the table that was very close to where I was sitting were no doubt sounding rancorous with potpourri of views on the upcoming gubernatorial elections that have been scheduled by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to hold in Edo State and Ondo State on September 19, 2020 and October 10, 2020, respectively. As they argued on top of their voices with the tacit approval of the operator of the relaxation spot as he passionately participated in the discussion, I engaged one of them as I observed that he was averse to the undue campaign of calumny that has been designed to denigrate the personality of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu by his traducers that are majorly affiliated to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the State. As I interrogated him on his views, he said he was loathed hearing people calumniate Ize-Iyamu each time issues that pertain to Edo 2020 were brought up for discussions. In his words, he said, “Ize-Iyamu this, Ize-Iyamu that, Obaseki Nko?” His response, no doubt, inspired the coinage of the title of this piece.

Against the backdrop of his question in the foregoing, it would be recalled in this context that just as the former governor of the State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole was noted to have calumniated Ize-Iyamu in the political electioneering that heralded the 2016 gubernatorial election in the State that the leadership of the PDP which has recently warmly welcomed the governor of the State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, with open arms had for the umpteenth times calumniated him particularly on his performance as the governor of the State.

For instance, in a widely publicized press statement last year, the Edo State Chapter of the PDP descended on Gov. Godwin Obaseki, describing his tenure as a hardship phase for the people. The aspersion was cast on him when the former chairman of the party in the State, Chief Dan Orbih was addressing a news conference in Benin City. The then party chairman said Obaseki had failed to offer leadership to make the people enjoy the dividends of democracy. Orbih lamented that Obaseki’s three-year tenure had only brought agony and deprivation to the populace, denying them the benefits expected from democracy.
The PDP chieftain also advised Obaseki to desist from the “yearly jamboree” of inviting people for talks in the name of marking anniversary but to channel resources to tackling problems.

“More so, the governor has not delivered on the 200,000 jobs he promised youths in Edo State.
“Our roads are begging for attention. There is worsening insecurity, in spite of the huge amount of security vote he withdraws monthly.

“He should, henceforth, commence the support of security agencies in the state for efficiency and if he cannot, he should stop withdrawing or collecting security votes.

Orbih also decried the governor to pay bursaries and grant scholarships to Edo students in various institutions of learning, lamenting the dilapidation of various schools in the state.

According to him, the least the governor can do for the youths is to employ more teachers to tackle the dearth of teachers in the state.

Orbih also condemned the Obaseki-led government clampdown on civil society groups for demanding accountability to determine the status of infrastructure in the state.

“The governor owes it a duty to account for every action of his in the state.”

In a similar vein, the PDP had in 2016 asked a Benin High Court to disqualify Mr. Godwin Obaseki from participating in the governorship election then for allegedly providing false claims and information on oath about his educational qualification to the INEC.
At this juncture, is it not paradoxical to see the governor flying the gubernatorial flag of the party that had for the umpteenth times vilified and denigrated him?

Analyzed from the backdrop of the criticisms fired against the governor by the leadership of the PDP which ironically is the party he has today pitched tent with, it is not an exaggeration to say that the whiffs of maladministration in Edo today is more pungent than the viral Oshiomhole’s sound bites on Ize-Iyamu which are been circulated about by those who are no doubt ignorant of the fact that when one finger is pointed at someone that four will point back at him.
There is no denying the fact that the challenges facing Edo State have in the recent times assumed the inglorious political prominence of the hotbed of campaign of calumny as they are well-documented. Indeed, the State is not short of challenges.

Our communities are being ravaged by curable diseases even as overwhelming majority of Edolites live in dire poverty, and spend less than a dollar a day. The population of unemployed youths who often see migration to other lands as the way out from the quagmire of biting hardship is exploding thereby contradicting the self-generated applause often orchestrated by those at the helms of affair in the incumbent government. Since the rainy season commenced, erosion and environmental degradation have remained the order of the day while in our communities women are discriminated against and young girls lack the same opportunities enjoyed by their male counterparts.

Puzzlingly enough, this is a state where the power of incumbency was brought to bear in the purchase of electoral ticket with the alacrity of cash and carry transaction without the blink of an eye. The braggadocio that characterizes the political absolutism literarily reeks with the pungent smell of a political environment where the rich and powerful continue to plunder public funds with careless abandon, and where economic inequality is dangerously growing as the influential and connected hoard wealth, leaving the poor and vulnerable to scramble for daily bread and wallow in malnutrition; and now, monies are now been thrown around to deepen the traction of acceptability in a newly joined party that was once gasping for breath in the State. These are among the alarming indicators that show that our State is slipping backwards and is not progressing.

It is this altogether gloomy situation that has been agitating the collective mind of virtually all Edolites so much so that a few of them are looking forward to the emergence of a good and credible leader in the mold of Ize-Iyamu that is poised and committed to change the repulsive and ignominious status quo. While the hope of the people kept incubating in their mindsets, the governor, who is invariably the flag bearer of the PDP in the upcoming election come September 19, 2020 has not been engaging Edolites on issue-based campaigns. Rather, his campaign team has been busy heating the polity with bouts of hate speeches, and resorting to the use of acerbic words, half-truths and outright lies since the whistle of the electioneering campaigns was literarily blown by the umpire of the expected election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Conclusively, while it is not a sin for anyone to calumniate his opponent in a period of electioneering, there is wisdom in bearing an African proverb that says “A Camel never sees its own hump” in mind.