Opinion: The Snake, The Frog And The Edo 2020 Election

By Onuwaje Eyimofe Tekky
Many years ago, an elderly friend of mine told a very funny but interesting anecdote while we were arguing. The premise of that argument I have since forgotten, but the moral of the story etched a permanent image on my mind.
Here is the story- many years ago in the forest of a faraway land, a big snake crossed path with a very tiny little frog, in the faceoff, the snake said “hey little frog, you are lucky that I am filled; I would have eaten you as an appetizer.” The frog was intimidated. He said to the snake “you can’t do that, the day you do that, I will give you a grave stone as a gift”. The snake was astonished he made an attempt to prove his point by eating the frog. But the frog was smart enough to escape from her deadly fangs.
You escaped today, but I bet you, my stomach will be your final resting place when next we meet, said the snake. The frog retorted: “I will leave this forest for good if we meet and you see the next day.” This statement got the snake sick in the stomach for several days.
With the battle line drawn, both animals did not cross path again for such a long time that those who witnessed the alteration above felt that both animals were cowards. Then came this market day when men and women were busy shopping in the market square. The snake laid siege in the nearby bushes waiting to feast on rodents that were scared out of their hideouts in the markets. As it camouflaged itself in the bushes waiting for the first meat in the form of rodent, he was this tiny, little, feeble and weakling frog hopping towards her.
The snake filled with anger and poised strike, focused her attention more on the frog, so as not to make same mistake he made the last time they met. With all seriousness, she struck not once, but twice “ba,-bam” , then dejavu she missed not once, but twice.
The snake, determined to end the rude and wide mouthed little frog once and forever, chased after this little frog, the frog hopped and hopped, knowing full well that any slip up will result in its death.
As providence will have it, the frog hopped into the market with the snake just a few millimeters away from her. The determination of the snake to end the life of the frog once and for all, proved to be the beginning of his end.
Everyone in the market were screaming “snake!-snake!!” Before any one could say Jack Robinson, everyone came out with sticks and stones, hitting and stoning the snake until the snake was eventually killed.
It is no longer news that the erstwhile All Progressive Congress (APC) National Chairman Adams Oshiomole and his political son cum prodigal son Godwin Obaseki are no longer bed fellows and that their political misadventures led to Adams Oshiomole’s suspension from the party and the cross carpeting of Governor Godwin Obaseki to the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP)
It is audible to the deaf and visible to the blind that the same Godwin Obaseki was made by Adams Oshiomole. He was a political “kiwi” who Adams Oshiomole gave wings to fly. Many said he is not a politician in the first instance, but as a former US president once said “politics is too serious a game to be left for politicians alone”.
For me who was a student of Auchi Polytechnic in 2016, I felt Adams Oshiomole’s support for Godwin Obaseki was fanatical, nonsensical and insensible with the way and manner he carried him on his head like a “gala sausage” looking for who to buy.
First, he just flipped the political arrangement 360 degrees without consulting other stakeholders in the state, especially the Esans (Ishans). He, Adams Oshiomole is an Estako Man from Iyamho, Edo North, while the then deputy governor Pius Odubu was a Bini (Benin) Man from Edo South.
One who is not biased will expect the new godfather of Edo to consider the Esans in his political time table since the Binis Produced a governor for 8 years in the period of Lucky Igbinedion (1999-2007) and the Estakos had their share of 8 years also with Adams Oshiomole from 2008-2016, and Godwin Obaseki another Bini Man 2016¬-Date. So in the 21 years since the return of democracy, the Esans only produced a governor for 1 year & 6 months. While their counterparts like the Binis have held sway for 12 years and Estako 8 years.
The man, Adams Oshiomole is very mercurial hence he is at the edge of losing his politicsl “Garden of Edo” so to speak. When Edo people thought he will project an Esan in 2016, he swapped position fielding a Bini Man for governor, a position held by the Estakos and replaced Pius Odubu a Bini man with Phillip Shaibu an Estako Man as Deputy Governor.
Rumour had it that he (Adams Oshiomole) did not support Pius Odubu in 2016 because he was not loyal, so he picked a very loyal Godwin Obaseki as his anointed candidate. The campaign was so heated, that when Pius Odubu came to campaign in Auchi APC Secretariat, he was shot at with 3 of his security orderlies rushed to Faith Medical Center as they sustained gunshot wounds.
Fast Forward 4 years later, Governor Godwin Obaseki claimed that all he learnt from Oshobaba, fighting godfathers in Edo State (Adams Oshiomole inclusive) is what is left in his grey matters.
Governor Godwin Obaseki met a very strong Edo Chapter of the APC, but before he jumped ship, he made sure he dissipated the party to an all-time low. That very small frog in the opening part of the story represents Governor Godwin Obaseki, while the great snake is Adams Oshiomole. Though the governor was considered weak and feeble politically, he was able to influence the suspension of the APC National Chairman Adams Oshiomole from his own village and ward (Estako West, Ward 10-Iyamho), while Oshobaba who even though he was at the apex of the party couldn’t. Who is a better politician anyway?
That singular act by the very weak Governor signaled the end of Adams Oshiomole’s reign as APC National Chair truncating his tenure by almost 50% and bringing his membership of the party to an abrupt end.
As a matter of fact, the court of appeal sitting in Abuja on Tuesday 30th June, 2020 dismissed the suit filed by Adams Oshiomole challenging his suspension from the APC. A 3-man panel of judges presided over by Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam unanimously dismissed the appeal.
So while the political infant, Governor Godwin Obaseki is in the PDP, the political bigwig Adams Oshiomole is without a political party. His actions have rubbed off on him. If Oyegun had remained in the seat of Edo State, APC as of today would have been stronger in Zamfara, Delta, Rivers & Bayelsa States and these states wouldn’t have been donated willfully to the PDP and Edo people would have held the bragging rights of been the APC Chair 8 years and the possibility of PDP winning 2020 Edo Gubernatorial polls would have been an utopian projection.