Unending court cases and conflicting judgements over the rightful candidates of Edo PDP in next year’s general elections put INEC in a waiting game, writes Jethro Ibileke

Fractional crises in political parties are not new. The various political parties in Nigeria have at one time or another other enmeshed in fractional crisis, whether at the state or national level.

Nigeria’s next general elections are barely two months away, and yet, some of the parties, especially the two leading ones, the All Progressives Congress APC and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, are still in the quagmire of factions in some states. Most worrisome is the major opposition PDP, which is not at all healthy at the national level, even as its members in some states are fighting themselves dirty.

A case study is the Edo state chapter of the party. It is the case of a house divided against itself for the ruling party in the state, where some of its members are loyal to the State governor, Godwin Obaseki, and the rest are behind the national vice chairman (south-south) of the party, Dan Orbih. The state executive members of the party are also divided, with the chairman, Tony Azeigbemi queueing behind Obaseki, and the secretary, Hillary Otsu with Orbih.

It would be recalled that the two factions held parallel primary elections and each submitted names of different candidates for the same positions to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for the very important elections. This development has put the electoral umpire at a crossroads as to which of the factions’ candidates to recognize.

To persuade INEC’s nod, the two factions have resorted to litigations at different courts, in some cases, of equal jurisdiction, to obtain judgments ordering it to recognize their candidates and discountenance the others. This has led to the recognition of candidates of one faction, only to be discarded after another court judgment orders INEC to do so.

Following a court order, the Dan Orbih faction jubilated when on 3 October 2022, names of candidates that emerged from its primary elections were recognized and uploaded by INEC as candidates of the PDP for the state and national assemblies. There was disquiet at the other faction, but for a little while. Not satisfied, the Godwin Obaseki faction approached the appellate court in Abuja. The court order dated 10 November 2022, gave recognition to the Obaseki candidates. INEC has no option but to amend the list of candidates for the Edo PDP again.

Commenting on this development, the national commissioner and chairman information and voter education committee, Festus Okoye said the commission was served different court orders after it had initially posted a list of candidates on 3 October 2022, hence there was a need to amend was previously released.

He said: “After the list was released, we have had court orders and there have been reconducting of primaries in some of the political parties. And so, what the commission has done is to harvest all the court orders that we’ve been served, harvest the list of candidates that have been forwarded to us by political parties based on court orders. We have amended the list and we have uploaded it to our website. What has been uploaded on our website is the amended list of candidates as harvested by the commission and as also submitted to us by the political parties, based on court order and also based on obvious corrections about names that were made by the various political parties.”

Corroborating Okoye’s statement, the Edo INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Obo Efagha, noted that it is “the national headquarters of INEC that publishes the list of candidates in an election on its website, and so, whatever you see on the website means that that is the list of candidates for election.”

Meanwhile, the development has generated conflicting reactions among supporters and members of the two factions of the party, with the party’s chairman in the state, Tony Azeigbemi, describing the updated list as a reflection of the outcome of the primaries conducted by the panel sent by the national working committee of the party.

“The party is in line with the updated list, the updated list reflects the primaries conducted by the panel sent by the National Working Committee of the party to conduct the said primaries. They are the candidates that emerged from the primaries conducted by the panel sent by the NWC”, Aziegbemi said.

As of the time of filing this report, attempts to get a reaction from the national vice chairman (south-south), Dan Orbih, failed, as calls made to his mobile phone were not answered

Prominent among the now discarded candidates include a former Minister of Works, Arch. Mike Onolemhemen (Senate, Edo central) Pascal Ugbomeh (Senate, Edo north) and the incumbent member representing Oredo Federal Constituency in the lower chamber of the National Assembly, Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama

Names on the new list include those of Matthew Iduoriyekhemwn (Senate, Edo south), the incumbent Senator representing Edo north, Francis Alimikhena, who is to slug it out with the former chairman of APC, Adams Oshiomhole, and Clifford Ordia. The Speaker of Edo State House of Assembly, Marcus Onobun, is contesting for the Esan west, Esan central/Igueben federal constituency.

WHO LAUGHS LAST?

Meanwhile, cases are still pending in court over the authentic candidates of the PDP in the state for the various elective positions in the 2023 general elections. Notwithstanding the controversies over the candidates’ list, candidates from both factions of the party have inaugurated their campaign councils and commenced their campaigns in the state.

Questions still begging for an answer are: When will the ruling PDP finally put its house in order, harmonize its list of candidates and put to rest the court cases? When will the court stop dishing out divergent judgements and allow INEC to rest from the unending harvesting of candidates of political parties and concentrate on its preparation for the election proper? Between Obaseki and Orbi, who will have the last laugh? We are waiting!