Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is the real Party of true people’s power in Nigeria, no matter how anyone wants to debate it using political characterization of democratic principles. This is a fact that the newly decamped Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State just experienced firsthand; especially in the family way and manner that the Party leadership and loyal stakeholders were able to resolve the challenge that his cross-over from his former party, APC to PDP had precipitated.
The conclusion of the matter after the Party primaries a few days ago at the Samuel Ogbemudia stadium, Benin City; is that the coast is now 7Up clear for him to contest the State gubernatorial election in September flying the PDP flag. This is no mean feat and sacrifice by the party and the three leading aspirants that agreed to step down relinquishing their ambition for now, in deference to Party supremacy. Of particular mention are the easy going and unassuming Engineer Gideon Ikhine who seized the momentum with visionary exactitude and was first to step down; not out of political cowardice but exigent calculation. And was later, followed by the duo of Hon. Dr. Engr. Omoregie Ogbeide-Iyama, a ranking member of the Federal House of Representatives representing Oredo Federal Constituency and Barrister Ken Imansuangbon, the popular ‘Rice Man’. To this three patriots of the Party, timing and consultation with their constituency and State-wide army of supporters were key factors in determining their ultimate sacrifice which has received the overwhelming applause of the Party. The peaceful resolution of the candidacy matter was an eloquent testimony to brilliant deal-making skills by the new Party leadership in the State headed by the Rt. Hon. Dr. Tony Aziegbemi. Now that Governor Obaseki has tasted how we roll in PDP, he should therefore, endeavour to attract an all-inclusive engagement of all party stakeholders and sub-groups within the Party especially the Main Stream and Social Media folks, going forward, in the renewed efforts of mass mobilization, Campaigns and the election proper.
One can now say with reasonable degree of certainty that Governor Obaseki has won the heart of the Party and Edo people. That is the beginning. What the people want to hear now, is his opening gesture or first official PDP statement in a Town hall convoked by the Party. This is important. Because, there is a revealing relevance in the first thing that a beneficiary of a process does to signpost what to expect from him or her. In this case, after weeks of bruising headlines, Obaseki became the PDP flag bearer for the 2020 gubernatorial election. From this point on, his personae should start resonating in the minds of all PDP members by expressing a vision that connects with the masses, not any longer from APC’s point of view but from PDP’s point of view.
Thus, a direct message and a new campaign direction should be unplugged. This should not dwell on Oshiomhole’s uncouth manners and endless political drama. They don’t count now. Surely, his intemperate conduct and high wire subterfuge against Obaseki became a sort of political Rosetta stone for PDP to expose the fault-lines in the APC contraption that’s just a contraption of all that’s evil against society and decency. Oshiomhole was just a bumbler who ended up being thrown under the bus, at the end of the day. What a sweet relief it must have been for Governor Obaseki to have left that pressure cooker affair with APC behind him. Hence, he has to constantly reboot to the junction of time when PDP volunteered the big umbrella in his stead, to cover him from the evil rains that was being conjured by his own former Party to drown him politically; if not for PDP. Hence, the call is for Obaseki not to let the Party down and for the Party to be up to the task.
As the gong for the campaigns has been sounded by INEC, we’ve got to realize that there’s a big difference in the ways PDP and APC engage the public consciousness. In fact, when Governor obaseki was still in APC, his media team was always trying to define Oshiomhole negatively. But the challenge at this time is not Oshiomhole but Mr. Osagie Ize-Iyamu, who appears to be the one favoured for now to fly their tattered flag or whoever the APC’s abracadabra way of politicking throws up at the end of the day, not minding the electoral laws and extant directives by INEC. They don’t care. For the PDP, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has already sown enough doubt and confusion in the people’s mind about Ize-Iyamu’s reputation, which needs only to be amplified through a coordinated and non-stop media blitzkrieg, for impact.
The new campaign direction should have one underpinning echo chamber. This is that Ize-Iyamu is a gift that keeps giving negative vibes. Everyone know that the APC is not short in supply of snidely whiplash of shady characters driven by absurdity and a visceral hatred for truth but resort to nonsensical verbose of unverified allegations and mischaracterization of people of sterling qualities. They are fabrication experts of half-truths and are conscience-seared when they create thunderstorms all over the place. That’s why there is the need to glean the entire scenario from the basic challenge it portends. In simple terms, it is war. And in all political wars, the real challenge is most often the over-confidence of dismissing a challenger with a whiff of media spin. No Sir! The battle must be pressed until the last vote is cast and counted in favour of PDP before anyone can claim that it’s over. You’re going to be hearing all kinds of demented narratives by Ize-Iyamu’s media team and cyber rats, but it should be that; every time they come after us with falsehoods, we rise stronger with incontrovertible facts from their own archives of misdeeds.
This should not be a responder kind of campaign, whereby they say and we respond. Instead, let it be a combination of punching and counterpunching at the same time. They will think twice if they know that they will be punched back at. The effectiveness of this route is dependent on how much of their plans and machinations that the Party knows and continues to expose. Despite the structural advantages of incumbency, the real worry is that, in every election circle, many political enemies come together, even if it’s just for rocking the boat’s sake. They don’t give up. It is their stock in trade and they wait patiently for the adventure every four years to converge as vultures to devour anyone who does not fit their narrative of stomach infrastructure way of life. The whole political space is already strewn with hatchet men and jobbers, of the which, some were even vociferous double-faced PDP members, as can now be ascertained from some of their recent vile public profession and demonization binge after benefitting from the Party and acquaintances.
Since this is no longer a game as the framers of democracy envisioned it to be but a political war, rather than dismiss their vituperative preaching all over media platforms, it seems advisable to take a good lesson from the hardball classic, Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, written about 500 B.C. In it, there’s a snitch chapter on spies that should suffice in exposing the undemocratic plans of APC in their brazen attempt to stealthily try to subvert the will of Edo people in the forthcoming election. According to Sun, “what enables the wise sovereign and the good General to strike and conquer, and achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary men, is fore-knowledge.” He then goes on to describe five kinds of spies that should be courted through back channels: the local, the inward, the converted, the doomed, and the surviving spy.” When the information about the enemy or opponent’s intention and movements is garnered from any of the five categories, wrote Sun, and when that information is assembled, processed and analyzed critically, it becomes “the divine manipulation of the threads that is the sovereign’s most precious faculty.” So, even if the Governor does not have these five different kinds of spies, he must have in place a well-knitted and apprised team of experienced tacticians who can anticipate and mitigate APC’s political maneuvers with missionary zeal and win the war for him and the party.
All political wars are won through deployment of strategies, which is how one communicates in essence. Victory can be achieved by effective engagement and communication; and victory can also be breached by effectively negative communication and skewed engagement. At this point in time, every true breed of PDP extraction must embrace these organic political nutrients of regaining full control of the Osadebey Government House, Benin City and rally round Godwin Obaseki. He will get elected again with your support, but only this time around, under the PDP flag. This is why every hand must be on deck to help Edo people think a little more clearly about the political choice of re-electing him, in order to foster a different kind of governance and leadership that will usher in a new class of young politicians unshackled from the evil grip of god-fatherism.
Malik, a Political Communications consultant and former Head, Public Affairs and Strategy of the PDP Governors’ Forum writes from Abuja.
Note: Malik, a political communications consultant was head of public affairs and strategy at PDP Governors Forum.
