By Lucky Okoedion
Adams Oshiomhole who is today in a role reversal seen as the major antagonist to the advancement of progressive governance by most Edo people except some few aggrieved career politicians and thugs, was once a beneficiary of the same ideology and principle that he now passionately oppose. He was a beneficiary to the extent that, according to him and as suspected by many before he finally admitted to it, the Late President Yaradua of blessed memory supported him to defeat Professor Osunbor who was the candidate of the president’s political party PDP in the 2007 governorship elections of Edo State and the legal battles that followed. One wonders whether president Buhari will learn from Late President Yaradua and support Obaseki who is on the side of progressive governance, instead of supporting Oshiomhole and Ize-Iyamu the candidate of his party APC who is neck-deep in fraud scandals and other scandalous activities caught on camera, like his alleged recruitment of thugs and criminal elements to disrupt the forth-coming elections.
The questions on the lips of many are “Why will Buhari risk ruining his anti-corruption legacy by supporting an Ize-Iyamu who has a 700 million fraud case in court with the EFCC and has other scandals on his neck? Since it is his second term, why shouldn’t Buhari protect his legacy and stay clear from Edo elections?” Some think that these thoughts have gotten to the president some how, and thus he has refused to even allow Ize-Iyamu to meet with him. Whereas others fear that the president may at the dying minute fall to the temptation of compromising his principles and ruining his legacy by supporting Ize-Iyamu. The coming days and weeks will tell.
Here is a quote from Vanguard Newspaper publication of December 14, 2011 where Adams Oshiomhole himself finally admitted to the world that he was supported on the basis of principle by Late President Yaradua though he was not the candidate of the president’s political party.
“Speaking on the occasion, the governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, revealed that the late President supported him both financially and morally when he contested the governorship election in Edo State in 2007, adding that even when the poll was rigged and a wrong result announced, Yar’Adua still encouraged him to seek justice in the court.
“He further revealed that the late President rose above narrow party considerations when he approved that he (Oshiomhole) should appoint some members into vacant positions in the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, although he was not a member of the ruling PDP. He said: “Against the wish of his party members in Edo State, he insisted that only I, as a governor, was in the best position to nominate indigenes of the state into the board of NDDC.” The Edo governor then posed some questions on what truly happened during the last days of the late President and challenged those who were around him to respond to the rumours which made the rounds then, that Yar’Adua wrote his handover note to his then deputy, President Goodluck Jonathan, but the note was hidden by his aides. He also raised the issue of the cabal which opposed Jonathan’s assumption of office as president even after it had become clear that the late Yar’Adua had become incapacitated and therefore unfit to rule. Said he: “We need to know those godfathers who prevented President Jonathan from assuming office because the nation passed through a very dangerous period at that time”. Corroborating Oshiomhole’s experience with the late Yar’Adua’s administration, Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi, said that when he protested against the deployment of troops to his state during the re-run governorship election in 2009, the Federal Government responded by refraining from doing so thereby preventing his opponent who he suspected planned to use them to rig the poll from doing so.”
