With the major political parties throwing their tickets open, the Edo Central, which has been calling for the zoning of the governorship ticket to the area, faces a stiff battle.

When political calculations and permutations were being done eight months ago in Edo State, no one would have thought that the Esan agenda which gained prominence and was aimed at producing the next governor of the state from the Edo Central senatorial zone, would suffer a setback.

The call to zone the ticket to the senatorial district by all the leading political parties gained ground as a socio-cultural group, Esan Okpa Initiative, led the way. The call was not out of place considering that the zone had only tasted power for 18 months since the Fourth Republic began in 1999 when Professor Oserhimen Osunbor was booted out by the court to pave the way for the emergence of Comrade Adam Oshiomhole in 2008.

The call won many admirers who felt that for equity, justice, and fairness, the zone should produce the next governor. With this, many politicians from the zone threw their hats in the ring with some aspirants moving to other parties to boost their chances of emerging candidates and eventually becoming the governor.

The Public Relations Officer of Esan Okpa Initiative, Tony Iyare, a former Commissioner under Oshiomhole, had saideight months ago that the zone was speaking to Edo South and Edo North people to ensure that they support the Edo Central’s bid to produce the next governor of the state.

According to Iyare, a mobilization and contact committee made up of 24 members and headed by the President of the group and pioneer speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Mathew Egbadon, was also set up to meet with leaders of the major political parties, the Peoples Democratic Party, All Progressives Congress, Labour Party, traditional rulers, and women to actualize this dream.

In a strong move to put the best hands forward, the zone listed criteria that the aspirants must meet to enjoy overwhelming support to succeed Governor Godwin Obaseki who will complete his second term in 2024.

Despite this lofty idea by the group, Gideon Ikhine, who is also from the zone had a different view and should be credited as the man who saw tomorrow. In an interview withafter he ended his 24 years sojourn in the PDP and moved to the APC, he warned that the idea might not see the light of the day as the right thing to do was to have an Edo State agenda to make Esan man the next governor of the state.

Esekhaigbe said other senatorial zones were ganging up against them by discarding zoning and harping on capacity and competence, which he said was an attempt to undermine them. He noted that despite his genuine intentions for his party and the people of Esanland, he had been called unpalatable names.

Referring to some of the aspirants who willingly participated in the screening and suddenly turned against him, he said, “Why will a man deny he was not invited for an exercise which he deliberately skipped? “Why will a man who knows his constitutional limitations of tenure continue to deceive himself? Is Esan looking for a one-term Governor?

“Can a man who is still on active service of a corporate organisation come and take precedence over the men who have kept the party for years? Some known political scammers have assured them of the Daman miracle.

“Some Esan political leaders are deliberately sowing seeds of discord to the advantage of the other senatorial districts. Some are even positioning for deputy governorship. Let us have a conversation today about our best for the job. Tomorrow may be too late. Those calling me names today would remember this day tomorrow. Take the message and forget the messenger. We need only one man for the job. Edo Central needs the APC ticket, and so do other parties in Esanland. I repeat with emphasis that all the aspirants cannot get the ticket. Only one aspirant will get the ticket,” he added.

In a new call, the Esan Okpa, in a statement on Monday by Egbadon and Iyare, restated the need for all political parties to pick their candidates from the Edo Central senatorial zone, to correct the prevailing political imbalance in the state to guarantee justice, equity, fairness and peace to all segments of the state.

Arguing that it would be a “grave mistake to do otherwise”, the group canvassed for realism anchored on history and mutual respect to the different sections of the state, in casting lot for the next governor of the state that would succeed Obaseki, whose term expires on November 12, 2024. The group also stressed the need for the parties, political elite and opinion molders in the state to appreciate this salient concern by the Esan people and be mindful that the state was founded on a tripod of brotherhood at its creation in 1991.

Restating its strong appeal to political elites from Edo North and South senatorial zones to concede the governorship ticket to aspirants from Edo Central senatorial zone, it maintains that this is a recipe for ensuring peace, equity, justice and even development to all sections of the state.

“On our part, we have worked strenuously to reach out to our brothers and sisters in the other two zones to demonstrate our resolve on this matter. Until now when we have started hearing equivocations by some opinion molders in Edo South and Edo North, we thought we had built a consensus on the just and equitable demand of Edo Central on this matter. We remain ever committed to continue to dialogue with all political strands of the state to achieve this goal” it says.

The group noted that since the creation of the state 32 years ago, only one governor of Esan extraction, Prof Oserheimen Osunbor, who was in the saddle for just 18 months, while Edo South senatorial zone would have had a combined reign of 17 and a half years between Governors John Oyegun, Lucky Igbinedion and Godwin Obaseki, who will be rounding up his two-term tenure this year. The group said that Edo North senatorial zone through the reign of Governor Adams Oshiomhole was also in the saddle for 8 years. They have also produced the deputy governor in turn, during this period.

Arguing that political leaders in Edo State cannot now wear blinkers and play Janus in this matter, Esan Okpa stated, “At national politics, we are loud in supporting zoning as a way of guaranteeing justice, equity and fairness to all sections of the country and then recoil to opportunistically discard this at home. Enough of this equivocation.”

It is clear the quest for power and the winner-takes-it-all-syndrome in Nigerian politics have become a major factor in this debate. However, for Edo Central to realise its ambition of producing the next governor of the state, it needs to work more closely with other groups and negotiate how positions would be distributed, now that the parties have thrown their tickets open. (The PUNCH)