That ‘spent force’ thesis and an Odion misadventure

I was not in any way surprised at Odion’s incontinent verbal diarrhea because I needed no one to tell me that all his ranting, apparently typical of a neophyte who descended incautiously into the arena of potentially consuming political conflict, was motivated by the desire to please his paymaster.  To that extent, Odion’s invective, political […]

I was not in any way surprised at Odion’s incontinent verbal diarrhea because I needed no one to tell me that all his ranting, apparently typical of a neophyte who descended incautiously into the arena of potentially consuming political conflict, was motivated by the desire to please his paymaster.  To that extent, Odion’s invective, political as it was, was a poor rehash of Oshiomhole’s devious mindset.

He must have granted the newspaper interview after the pre-recorded interview by his boss on Africa Independent Television (AIT) which was aired on Thursday, November 10, 2011.  What he said about Anenih was not thematically different from Oshiomhole’s.  He only expanded the scope of the rubbish they had purported to feed the public with, in the ongoing propaganda to deal with Anenih.

In any case, I must give it to Odion that his language, by all standards, was more elevated than his boss’ because he is better educated; but I could see through his naïve response to the question that led to the poorly launched tirade that he was no longer his original self having lost his sense of decency to accept, in the first instance, to be the spokesperson of Oshiomhole’s government, knowing full well that he would be saddled with the dirty job of taking on the opposition even if the leaders (of the opposition) were his relatives and benefactors.

This is the tragedy of Odion’s new assignment as Oshiomhole’s attack dog.  He does not care that he stands the risk of being so addressed as long as the pecuniary interest, not the interest of Edo State and her people, that made him to step aside, as Managing Director of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s National Life newspaper (a tabloid), to accept the job.

Or was it that Odion found himself in between Scylla and Charybdis? Perhaps, he did not want to work for Oshiomhole and here he was in the employ of a business concern owned by the National Leader of Oshiomhole’s Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and a soft request was made to him to offer a professional service.  Just maybe!  And, he grabbed it; whereas, this was a position that Hon. Patrick Obahiagbon was offered and he rejected it because he was to use it to engage Anenih in the worst kind of media bashing.

I have made this suggestion of Odion being possibly caught in the horn of dilemma, with all sense of responsibility and fairness, knowing that Odion, as a well-brought up Esan man, would ordinarily not abuse his elders in any form; and not even in the instant case of Anenih from whose large-heartedness he, like many Esan people in Nigeria and in the Diaspora who have been opportune to know him closely, had benefitted in the past and are still benefitting.

The scenario to me was like the Biblical hand of Esau but the voice of Jacob.  Even though it was Odion that was speaking; it was the spirit of Oshiomhole that was giving him utterances; and to that extent, Odion’s reckless attack on Anenih was from his head and not from his heart.  But if he says that it was from his heart, then it will be terribly unfortunate how mean-spirited he can be.

Enough of trying to situate and rationalize Odion’s jibe within the context of his adversarial position! Let me even address the issues he raised about Anenih being a spent force.  How did he mean? Exactly what was he talking about?  Whoever comes up with such a proposition or thesis not only in Edo State but also in Nigeria is either a political ignoramus or a sheer propagandist of the worst kind.

The flip side of the proposition is that Anenih had been a formidable political force having been part of the strategic initiatives that defined the breezy presidential power politics of the late General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua in the ill-fated Third Republic; and the emergence of John Odigie Oyegun as governor of Edo State on the platform of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP).  Prior to this time, he had in the defunct Second Republic ensured the emergence of Samuel Ogbemudia as governor of Edo on the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) platform.

How can a man whose imprimatur was evident in the political maneuverings that culminated in the emergence of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the late President Umaru Yar’Adua and President Goodluck Jonathan (as recently as April this year), the PDP government in Edo State from 1999 to 2007 as well as stopping Oshiomhole’s Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) from capturing Edo Central District in the April elections, be said to be a spent force?

Even Odion showed a somewhat deep understanding of the circumstances that resulted in the imposition of Oserhiemen Osunbor as PDP candidate by former President Obasanjo in the 2007 governorship election and the subsequent political mischief within the PDP; which was why the party leaders could not collectively defend the Osunbor mandate.

If they had not allowed internal rift that proved deadly to the mandate, how would Oshiomhole have won the case in the Tribunal?  And, if Oshiomhole had not presented himself as capable of being loyal during the time the matter was in the court, could he have received the sympathy of Anenih?  After all, did Oshiomhole not concede some commissionership slots to Anenih when he stepped in as governor following the November 14, 2008 Court of appeal verdict that sacked Osunbor?  Was it for nothing that he made those concessions?

And when Oshiomhole decided to misbehave in the guise of waging a war against the godfathers, did he not unleash government machinery against Anenih and the PDP machine in the state with members of the House of Assembly becoming endangered?  Was it not to decimate him and his political base as his ilks have done to some other godfathers in their respective states?  But while those could not survive, Anenih survived in Edo and has become a formidable threat to Oshiomhole and the ACN machine in the state.

In the rerun elections into some State House of Assembly seats which took place before the April 2011 legislative elections, Oshiomhole whose mantra of “one man, one vote” was a façade for “one thug, one vote” deployed state machinery to bolster thuggery in the exercise in which the ACN candidates triumphed over their PDP opponents.

Excited about the development, Oshiomhole had organized a mass rally with coffin-bearing party faithful claiming that they had buried the godfather in Edo politics.  They had expected to sweep all the April legislative polls in Edo, but they were stopped in Edo Central by the force of Anenih which made it possible for the PDP to win the only senatorial seat, the two Houses of Representatives seats and five out of the six State House of Assembly seats in the district; and which winnings have now been confirmed by the Tribunal and Edo Central remains a no-go area for Oshiomhole.

Yet, Odion claimed that the man who has achieved this feat in the face of a brutal ACN government machine is a spent force!  What a mindset!  Besides, contrary to the impression created by Odion that Anenih used his boys in the State Legislature to work against passage of bills, he (Anenih) actually reined his support for greater Edo State by intervening in a utilitarian modus when Oshiomhole stepped in as governor and could not understand the political economy of budgeting….  That is why he is a conscionable leader with his eyes on history.

I can understand the fears of Oshiomhole and his foot soldiers when Anenih, after the recent successful congresses of the PDP in the state, declared that the party would recapture the state in next year’s governorship election.  They know his capacity to cause a collateral damage to their political agenda; therefore no efforts must be spared to rubbish him and make him look ordinary.

The strategy cannot work.  Having done all the dirty job of trying to diminish Anenih in the public estimation, they cannot rest assured that they will be in charge of the battle for the soul of Edo.  So, Oshiomhole and his megaphone (Odion) would be shocked when, contrary to their propaganda, Anenih performs a miracle of leading the PDP to upset the applecart of incumbency in the state next year.

It is then that Odion would know that Anenih is not day dreaming; and that he (Anenih) does not belong to the genre of Odion’s so-called tuketuke (jaded or tired) politicians.  But is it not sad that Oshiomhole and Odion, a professional unionist and a professional journalist respectively, have both ceased the platform of governance to don the garb of some kind of propagandists and “politricksters”?

Ainofenokhai is a Benin-based public issues manager and political analyst.