The All Progressives Congress said it is seeking to take advantage of the internal crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party in Edo State ahead of the September 21 governorship election.
The move was confirmed in separate interviews with the Edo APC Chairman, Jarret Tenebe, and the party’s Woman Leader, Mrs Patricia Okoebor-Benson.
The PDP had recently expelled ex-deputy governor, Philip Shaibu, and National Vice Chairman, South-South, Dan Orbih, for alleged anti-party activities.
The PDP argued that Shaibu and Orbih’s ouster would not affect its chances in the upcoming governorship poll.
But the APC insisted that the expulsion of the PDP chieftains was a good omen for their candidate, Senator Monday Okphebolo.
Tenebe told our correspondent they would seek every avenue to ensure they benefit from the crisis, even if it means wooing the expelled PDP members to swell the APC rank.
He said, “The thing is that every political party, once an election like this is coming, will want problems in the other party for them to benefit. And if it happens the way things are going (in Edo PDP), I am praying that we will be the ultimate beneficiary of the entire process.
“The truth is that a sensible party will want to hold on to their best hands. These people they are trying to do away with include the South-South Vice Chairman of the PDP (Orbih), an honourable member who has served in the House of Reps for eight years and also a governorship aspirant of the party (Ihama). You can also talk about the deputy governor who they foolishly impeached when a major election was coming.
“So I believe and pray for the matter not to be settled so that we can cash in on it because if we have these calibres of people in our party, then the PDP would not have peace in this governorship election coming up in Edo.”
The APC woman leader in Edo also shared his sentiment.
Okoebor-Benson swore that unless God says otherwise, the pendulum would swing in the direction of the APC governorship flag-bearer.
“I can assure you it is a win-win situation for the APC. With them (Shaibu, Ihama and Orbih), it is an advantage. For me, I don’t know about the Labour Party and whatever candidate they are presenting. But I can tell you that Asue Ighodalo (PDP candidate) is not a politician.
“The APC is winning this election come September 21. The PDP could be spending the government money for all we know. But the people have had enough of Obaseki in the state. They are wiser now,” she assured.
But the camp of the PDP governorship candidate, Asue Ighodalo, disagreed.
The PDP Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Ibrahim Abdullahi, disclosed that though many PDP members felt Orbih could have been spared the axe, their exit won’t negatively affect the September 21 poll.
He said, “We collectively are not in support of the decision taken at the state level. A few of us felt it was the way to go. But I am not one of those though. I would have loved people like Dan Orbih to be persuaded well enough. I have spoken in times past to that effect. I don’t see any reason why a factor like him in the South-South would be lost in that manner. I feel it is a minus for us.
“As for the former deputy governor, I do not want to glorify him too much. He saw to it, knew the tide was against him and decided to play to the gallery. If you have a boss like Obaseki who was determined to rubbish you, you need to tread carefully. We saw what he was doing and some of us were concerned about him.
“There was no way you would fight your boss the in manner he was going. Can you imagine Vice President Kashim Shettima fighting Tinubu in such a manner? How far will that take him? It is not politics of ideology and principles we are playing. It is politics of survival. So I saw him deploy too many arsenals against his boss and knew it was only going to be a question of time because he wasn’t going to survive it.
“For me, it is good riddance to bad rubbish. He doesn’t have the electoral capital. But for Dan Orbih, a chairman of Edo State on two consecutive terms and later South-South chairman, there is no denying the fact that he is a factor to reckon with indeed. Therefore, some of us feel terrible to lose him. But I don’t think he will want to work against his own party. What does he stand to gain from that?”
