SAN FRANCISCO, December 13, (THEWILL) – The governor, who was sworn into office on November 10, is yet to appoint Commissioners and other agency staff into his cabinet with the singular exception of the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Osarodion Ogie. Ogie’s swearing-in, penultimate Wednesday, drew expected applause but also a prolonged buzz.
The buzz, it was learnt, followed the statement made by the governor during the swearing-in ceremony.
“We started this journey together, and I am not going to sit down here and give you the charge, you know the charge, you are part of the whole process. The only advice is that you are going to face pressure you have never faced before.
“Trying to get an aged system to now begin to work efficiently and respond to the needs of our people. There will be extreme pressure on you, since you had that interface with the political system because people will want to do things in the way they are used to,” Obaseki had stated.
That reference to pressure was a subtle allusion to the ongoing tiff between the governor and his party, regarding appointments, THEWILL has learnt. Ogie, in his acceptance remarks, left a trail of hints.
“I have been one of the pillars and I want to give my word today that I will remain a pillar in that struggle in that journey to make Edo a better state.
“Let me thank our party leaders, we fought an unusual election, but they have shown understanding. I want to join the governor to appeal to you to continue to show that understanding, because at the end of the day all our interest are the same,” he said.
Curiously, some of the dignitaries present at the event included Mr. Tony Aziegbemi, the state chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); Mr. Dan Orbirh, PDP South-South Vice Chairman and Mr. Anselm Ojezua, state, Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC). This has continued to fuel the talks that the governor still enjoys the better of the two worlds of both rival parties and may either continue to play them against one another to his advantage.
Ojezua is the legally-recognized chairman of the opposition APC in the state and has been a strong ally of the governor since his supremacy battle with former National Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole and all through the September 16 governorship polls, an assistance that allowed Obaseki to use both rival platforms to realise his re-election.
THEWILL has learned that appointments of key officers into the administration may be delayed till sometime in February and March 2021, because of a disagreement between the governor and the party over the choice of key officers to be appointed.
According to a dependable government source, three scenarios are playing out currently on the matter. The first is about the PDP. The party, he said, had been out of power for many years and cannot afford to remain in opposition.
“They cannot afford to call his bluff even though they can insist that they gave him the platform, allowed him to retain the Deputy Governor and now the Secretary to the State Government, all of whom are his men. These are very powerful positions in government,” a source who spoke on condition of anonymity, told THEWILL.
Secondly, the governor, he said, still has his eyes on the ball in the courtroom where cases are still pending.
“He would want to see how that pans out probably up to the Supreme Court.”
Thirdly, “the governor is an economist. A lot of money was spent during the elections. He may want to run a lean government. Why, for example, should he appoint people and then commit resources to buy vehicles, and start another battle against financial leakages?”
The governor is still contending a suitability suit brought against him by the APC and one of its stalwarts, Mr. Edobor Williams. In the suit, marked FHC/B/CS/74/2020, the plaintiff prayed the court for an order to disqualify Obaseki from contesting the September 19 governorship election in Edo State on the grounds that he supplied false information on oath to INEC, an act said to be contrary to Section 31(5) and (6) of the Electoral Act, 2010.
The suit, which was filed on July 14, 2020 at the Benin Division of the Federal High Court, suffered some setbacks before Justice Mohammed of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court took it over. The PDP and INEC are the other respondents in the suit. The presiding Judge had adjourned further hearing to November 18 for the plaintiffs to open and close their case after which Obaseki would do the same.
Before granting the request, the judge however reminded both parties that the suit was a pre-election matter with a life span of 180 days and so would end in January next year.
When asked if the ruling party had submitted a list to the governor for consideration, as a starting point, the source said: “That is not the way we do it in politics. We have to agree first about the positions that are to be shared before you talk about submitting a list. They have not even gotten to that stage yet. But I can tell you, there is a yawning gap between him and the PDP.
The party leaders had thought they would get the SSG position and made fruitless demand to submit a name. The governor, understandably, resisted the move.
“The current SSG worked his ass out for the governor and provided permutations to win the election. Apart from him, there are the loyal members of the House of Assembly ready to do the governor’s bidding, too. Either way, the governor has an upper hand but I can tell you, the party is not finding it funny at all.”
When asked if this seeming zero-sum game held the potential of defection by the governor to his former party, the APC, the source maintained that, for now, that is a remote possibility.
State Party Chairman, Aziegbemi, said the party was solidly behind the governor over the delayed appointments and advanced three reasons why appointments are yet to be made.
He told THEWILL that the devastating impact of COVID-19 on businesses and finances, the dwindling oil revenue as a result of the fall in demand and crashing prices in the international spot market and the social and economic effect of #EndSARS protest, “are the combination of factors that have prevented him from making appointments.”
“The party is solidly behind him”, he however said, adding, “there is no disagreement with the governor over appointments and we have not sat down to say who should be appointed” though he revealed that “some appointments would be made in February, 2021,” after consultations.
He dismissed the idea of the governor’s likely defection to the APC as a figment of the imagination of those entertaining it.
“Yes, Anslem Ojezua was present at the swearing-in ceremony of the SSG. What about it? He is my personal friend and Edo, by our unity and with what happened during the September 16 poll, he’s the pace for Nigeria.”
Speaking on the same vein with this newspaper, APC state Chairman, Ojezua, said the nature of appointments so far made by Obaseki was a deliberate policy of the government, arguing that appointments of any kind are at the pleasure of the governor even though the Constitution made provision for the appointment of, say, Commissioners and Board members.
“He is the only one who has the power to appoint and in doing so, he has to carry party members along. The election was the outcome of concerted efforts of party members,” he said.
When pressed if those party members include the APC, he simply said, “The more reason there are ongoing consultations. I believe when the time comes, he is the only one who has power to appoint.”
Asked if the APC was ready to accept Obaseki back should he choose to defect, given the likelihood of ‘pressure’ from the PDP and also on the backdrop of some recent defections from the PDP, he laughed and answered with a firm NO.
Governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi and Senator representing Adamawa North Senatorial District, Elisha Abbo, recently defected to the PDP on the heels of earlier defections by ex-PDP National Chairman and also Senator, Barnabas Gemade, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Yakubu Dogara.
According to him, “The governor has left my party for the PDP. As far as I am concerned, he has not made such move known to me. When asked why he was so sure, he added, “He is the only one who can answer that.”
Attempts to get Mr Crusoe Osagie, Special Assistant to the Governor on Media, to respond proved abortive. He neither picked repeated calls to his phone nor responded to messages.
*** This report appeared on the cover story of the print edition under the headline “Obaseki, PDP on Collision Course.’
Amos Esele is the Editor of THEWILL Newspaper. He has over two decades of experience on the job.
