2023: EMERGING PERSPECTIVES TO POWER ROTATION IN OJU/OBI FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY: James Igiri Odeh

 

A couple of days ago, a friend and brother, Ade Joseph Otor, came up with an article titled: The mistake PDP should not make in Igede in 2023. In the said article which enjoyed readership from different strata of the Igede Society and beyond, he harped on the need for the House of Representatives seat to move from Obi to Oju in the interest of fairness, equity and justice.

While this is not a rejoinder to that shared perspective, in the strictest sense of the word, it is seminal to bring other issues to the front burner with a view to balancing the analysis as in our considered opinion, there were wilful and subtle omissions or commissions in the aforementioned write-up which this piece seeks to address. Read more click

Igiri 

 

First, Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) is the governing party in Benue State and so one mistake it should avoid is to give in to pressure from the protagonists of zoning and hands its ticket to a weakling and/or a neophyte who will drown the party's fortunes in Oju/Obi Federal Constituency in 2023.

This becomes imperative because, there are other political parties that will field candidates in the election and one of such political parties is the All Progressives Congress (APC).

APC is a party with rooted tentacles particularly in Oju where it won all the elective offices in the previous elections of 2019 save Oju2 state constituency. The people, structures and strategies of APC are yet unbroken and more pertinent is, if rumors are anything to go by, the party intends to hand its ticket to the All Progressives Grand Alliance's candidate in the previous election who has defected to its fold. He is no more the rookie that he was in 2019.

Everything on ground seems to prove the rumor mongers right. For instance, the man constituted the party executive in Oju and Obi local government areas with little or no input from other stakeholders; a development that rocked the unity of the party in the area with many vowing to revenge but there seems to be no such platform within the party except the general election.

That goes to show his strength in the party and besides, they say time is the ultimate healer. Those who were hurt on account of his domination and manipulation of the party structures no longer feel the same way, or so it appears.

And so, if PDP caves in to the pressure of zoning without a careful analysis of who will be given the ticket that will be a match with the new man in APC, it will end up shooting itself in the foot and electoral defeat is imminent.

Besides, Igede Nation under the auspices of IGEDE IN 2023 MOVEMENT is canvassing for the rotation of Senate to Old Oju in 2023, assiduously. Thankfully, we now have aspirants both from PDP and APC, mostly from Oju. This is a cause we are so committed trusting God for an end to era of political repression and domination in Zone C.

If the quest to produce Zone C Senator of Igede extraction scales through, we pray it does, will it be right, morally speaking, to have the Senator and Member, House of Representatives all in Oju?

Besides, there are speculations that many people from Oju Local Government Area are strategically networking with power brokers in the State to have a Deputy Governor picked from the area.

If that sails through, we pray it does, will it not amount to taking double ration by Oju with nothing left for her Obi brother, assuming without conceding that the party zones HoR seat to Oju?

Remember that the only reason Oju retained the House of Representatives seat for 12 years(1999-2011) in the first instance was because, the late Deputy Governor, HE, Prince Ogiri Ajene, in his wisdom and magnanimity felt that since he was going to be Governor, as he was assured by the hegemonic political class, it was only right to retain the House of Representatives in Oju.

Even though that ambition was scuttled by principally the Zone C people themselves, it was a categorical statement about fairness, equity and justice, for which Igede people are known.

In the final analysis, if PDP in Benue State is interested in brightening her chances of electoral victories in Oju/Obi in 2023, given the above permutations, it should be circumspect with buying into the Trojan horse called zoning being championed by moles within PDP whose true allegiance is to APC.

For the Igede Nation, it should be better to close ranks and work in unison towards getting the coveted Senatorial seat or Deputy Governor rather than narrowing our agitations to Oju/Obi Federal Constituency Seat that is exclusively reserved for and indigenous to the Igedes of Oju and Obi Local Government Areas.

The important thing should be who is experienced enough to attract democratic dividends to Oju/Obi Federal Constituency and not the face, geography, creed or political party of the person behind the wheels.