Chief Tom Ikimi, former Nigerian Foreign Affairs Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, has said that it is only a stupid party that will not grab the golden opportunity of Governor Godwin Obaseki’s defection to give him the ticket to seek re-election.
Ikimi said Obaseki’s decision to defect from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to PDP was the wisest thing any politician and a sitting governor could do to salvage his political career, given the treatment meted out to him by his former party.
He said Obaseki’s defection was not a new political development in the country, adding that prior to the 2015 general elections several PDP governors defected to APC.
“Close to the 2019 elections, the governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, left APC for PDP. So, this is nothing new,” Ikimi said.
On Obaseki’s chance of winning re-election on the PDP platform in the forthcoming September governorship election in Edo State, Ikimi said as a sitting PDP governor, Obaseki would not only win the re-election, but would do so very convincingly.
“He is now a sitting PDP governor. I believe that he will win convincingly. He has enormous structure on ground. Don’t forget that the entire 18 local government chairmen, more than 190 councillors and House of Assembly members have moved with him to the PDP. Obaseki has the capacity and I know he will win.
“His decision to defect to the PDP was a wise one. In my view, it is a welcome development in Edo politics. It is only a foolish party that would not give him (Obaseki) ticket (to seek reelection), adding that the governor had performed enough to earn him a second term in office.
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Ikimi, who spoke on Saturday, explained that all the three PDP aspirants would pass through the same process that would eventually produce a candidate for the governorship election, adding that the process of primary would be transparent.
On what mechanism had been set in place to take care of post-primary crisis in the party, Ikimi explained that in the event that one person emerged as the party’s candidate, the other three would work with any person who became the candidate of PDP.
“They will be happy to see the PDP wins the governorship election in September. On that note, I don’t foresee any post-primary crisis,” he said.
Ikimi accused the former national chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, as the architect of terror Edo politics, adding that such a dark era had since gone with the suspension of the former governor.
“The person that was fundamentally involved in the politics of terror in Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, is now out of the way. And we expect to have a free and fair election,” he stressed.
He maintained that APC would not recover from the breeding of internal crisis before the 2023 general elections, saying that as one who played a major role in the merger between major opposition parties, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), to form the APC, “the party had missed the road a long time ago.”
