It was clear right from the start that the immediate past national chairman of the All-Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole was a shoo-in when he indicated interest on April 5 to seek the ticket of the party in the Edo North senatorial race in the 2023 election.
What political pundits didn’t bargain for were the intrigues and the foul, fierce fight by the incumbent Senator Francis Alimikhena to grab the ticket for an unprecedented third term.
What was supposed to be an unbreakable political bond between Alimikhena, an Oshiomhole acolyte took a turn for the worse when the senator chose to pitch battle against his ‘master’.
During his 70th birthday celebration at his Iyamho country home, Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State, the ex-president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had declared his intention to contest for the upper legislative chambers.
He declared: “For us to do what we need to do to retain power in 2023, I am convinced that this is the time to proceed to the next step of the conversation which is about who leads the great people of Edo North in the Senate by 2023.
“My decision comes after all consultations because you must be convinced that you can do it and improve on it. I do not want to go to the Senate and sit down, listen to motions and collect a salary at the end of the month.”
Back in the 2015 primary of the APC, Oshiomhole had supported Alimikhena, an old soldier at the last minute, against erudite scholar, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, a move which tilted the scale in favour of Alimikhena as Ihonvbere was poised to win.
Again, in the 2019 election, with Oshiomhole under attack as the national chairman of the ruling party, he was scared stiff that the senator may defect from the APC, exposing him as not being master of his house. Under such circumstances, he gave a nod to Alimikhena, 75 to contest despite the groundswell of opposition against his second term aspiration.
Signs that all might not be well with the Senatorial primary in Edo North surfaced on Thursday, May 26 during the House of Assembly primary when there was a long delay occasioned by the late arrival of materials from the party’s national headquarters in Abuja.
A close party source disclosed that the delay was as a result of the attempt by Alimikhena’s henchmen to hijack the delegates list at Benin Airport from the party official who came in from Abuja to conduct the primary.
According to the source, the senator had moles at the party headquarters who fed him with regular information as regards the movement of the party official from Abuja and the names of the delegates, the overwhelming majority who were not his men.
At the airport, Alimikhena’s men were said to have offered the official a mouth-watering amount of money to lure her to a secret rendezvous where the delegates’ list was to be doctored in favour of their principal.
The official however stood her ground and refused to follow them. In the meantime, the former Edo State governor’s supporters who got wind of the plot immediately dashed off to the airport for a violent confrontation as members of both camps were fully armed.
At the end of the day, the official who was armed with the authentic list proceeded with the primary which finally started in the night after the rescue operation.
The source added: “Oshiomhole would have lost if the primary was conducted with the doctored list. The doctored list was populated with core loyalists of Alimikhena. Despite his popularity and general acceptance by the people of Edo North, he (Oshiomhole) would have been disgraced.”
With the foiling of the coup plot by Alimikhena, an ex-major of the Nigerian Army, it was obvious to most observers that it was game over for the senator.
When he announced his withdrawal from the race and resignation from the APC via a letter dated May 27, it was expected.
The terse letter which was addressed to the national chairman of the party was clear.
Citing injustice, Senator Alimikhena, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Customs wrote: “I write to notify you that I have withdrawn from the Primary election as a result of injustice and also withdraw my membership from the party.”
With the primary done and dusted, the stage is now set for the 2023 election against Mr. Pascal Ugbomhe of the rival Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
