Visitors have accessed this post 152 times.

Chief Dan Orbih, National Vice-Chairman, South-South of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP was the chairman of the PDP Edo State Campaign Council.

Orbih, a seasoned political force and an orator extraordinaire, in this interview reviewed the election campaign while acknowledging the help he got from Comrade Adams Oshiomhole in marketing his candidate.

He appreciated the strategies and systems deployed during the campaign . His ultimate thanks he gave to the Almighty God without whom all this would not be possible. Find below excerpts from the interview.

What was the leverage PDP had going into the Edo2020 election? The advantage we had was being able to tell the people that the problem was not Obaseki, but that it was about Oshiomhole trying to play ‘god.’ A man you presented as your candidate the last time, you turn around and to now say that the man is no longer qualified to contest the election. And of course Nigerians are more discerning and beginning to show more interest in politics, especially with regards to accountability and who governs them. 

People are experiencing very difficult times and they believe that if we have the right leadership they would be able to turn things around. Obaseki has been tried and tested in the last four years with a successful track record, if given another four years the people of Edo have more to gain. Don’t forget that PDP is all about the people.

What was unique proposition of the campaign? The Edo PDP  party platform is a formidably strong with systems and processes that can be rivalled to none. We had two serving senators out of three, and we won the presidential election with Adams as National Chairman of the party and he could not deliver his state for Buhari in the last presidential election. Obaseki coming to join the PDP further gave us more advantage. A party that is already very strong, joining forces with an incumbent performing Governor, was a clear sign that we were not just going to win the election but win with a landslide. And again, I believe that this election is a catalyst wind of change for politics in Nigeria going forward.

This is an unprecedented game changer in the future of Nigerian politics. It proves that when people are determined,  have a strong will to elect and protect their votes, their votes will surely count. The wind of change has started from Edo State and it has given hope to others that if we can do it without the federal might, others too can do it. I believe that this is really, really good for our politics and for our democracy.

Some are of the opinion that PDP won the 2016 elections, do you believe this to be true? One thing I want to say here is that in 2016 that the APC candidate in this election was then our candidate and won his own Local Government Area with about 1,000 votes. However, in this particular election he lost in his Local Government Area with about 3,000 votes. So, you can see when we talk about platform. When he won his Local Government Area it was not about him, it was about PDP. The fact that he lost his Local Government Area in this election is pointer to the fact that the party that gave him the platform in 2016 was already a very major platform.

What do you have to say to the perception that this election was a battle of wits between you and Oshiomole ? This was more about the resolve of Edo people to free themselves from an inconsistent man who changes his tunes every day, not about me. A man who would say one thing today and say something different the next day, preferring to suffer from ‘selective amnesia’ at will. Appear in khaki during the daytime and put on the best dress that money can buy in the night. I believe that no matter how you try to deceive the people, you may succeed for sometime but eventually the people will come to find out the truth and I think the Edo case clearly proves this.

When Oshiomhole came to power, the expectation was very high, he commanded a lot of street support from those who probably did not see some of those things which some of us saw very early when he came into the political stage in Edo State but in time a lot of the people started seeing his true colours. So, the people resolved to resist a man who initially gave the impression that he was out to fight godfathers but later metamorphosed into a political godfather himself.  The people said ‘NO this was not the impression you gave to us when you were talking about fighting godfatherism.’ THE Edo people had had enough and so the idea cowing to his godfatherism was so vigorously resisted by the people.

You were a strong associate of the late Chief Tony Anenih. What do you think would have been his thoughts on this election?
We cannot actually talk about the rise and fall of Adams Oshiomhole in the politics of Edo State and of Nigeria without looking back at what the leader stood for in the politics of Edo State in particular. When Oshiomole was governor, he constantly rained insults on the leader, but Chief never responded to him. He kept telling me ‘Dan do not worry,  by the time Oshiomole is going to fall, a lot of people will not believe it’ He always said that Oshiomole will not go too far. Today, while a lot of people are celebrating the victory I make bold to say that for the years that the party was in opposition there was a man who stood firm and with a strong belief that it was a question of time that the party would reclaim power in Edo State and that man was Chief Anenih. My only regret is that he did not live to see the day we won back our state and I believe that he will be very pleased wherever he is seeing the party coming back to power. It was a crushing defeat for Oshiomhole and all he stood for in the politics of Edo State.

Without Oshiomhole, do you think Ize-Iyamu would have done better?Recall what I said in an interview where I said that “Oshiomhole has done more damage than good to Ize-Iyamu’s campaign.” I would rather leave it at that. Apart from leading the campaign for the re-election of Godwin Obaseki I can say frankly that Oshiomhole complemented my efforts by all those things he said about Obaseki and the things he said about Ize-Iyamu. For the first time in the governorship campaign of our state we had the man who was leading the campaign of our opponent campaigning at the same time for our candidate based on all the nice things he said about Obaseki when he campaigned for him and all the bad things he said about Ize-Iyamu when he campaigned against him.

The victory margin projected was much higher than what we saw, what happened? I must commend all those who contributed to winning the election. The fight was a really tough one from all possible angles, but to God be the glory. The Oshiomole influenced of Edo State federal appointments, two Edo State federal ministers, other federal appointees and the federal appointment hopefuls who thought they would be considered for by the government, all ganged up to fight the PDP. Coupled with a minister, Festus Keyamo coming to Edo State with his ministry, NDE giving each market women N10,0000 that was shared by the wife of the APC candidate . But as I said earlier the times are hard and the obstacles were all over but the Edo people had made up their minds not to give in to lip service anymore but follow their conscience and heart.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *