PDP and APC Are Two Unavoidable Evils in Nigeria's Politics

In Edo State the Ahmed Makarfi faction of the PDP produced
Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu as its governorship candidate
while that of Ali Modu Sheriff produced Matthew
Iduoriyekemwen. Iduoriyekemwen is from Ikpoba
Okhai, one of the largest local government areas in the
state, while Ize-Iyamu is from Orhiomwon.
The factional crisis has allowed the All Progressives
Congress (APC) and its governorship candidate, Mr
Godwin Obaseki, to harvest more of the PDP leaders
across the 192 wards of the state. Last Tuesday,
Iduoriyekemwen addressed journalists in Benin City,
where he accused the Independent National Electoral
Commission, INEC, of ignoring court orders which
affirmed Sheriff as the PDP National Chairman.
While insisting that he remained the PDP candidate in
the September election, Iduoriyekemwen, who is also a
former state representatives in the Board of the Niger
Delta Development Commission, NDDC, and a  former
Majority Leader of the state House of Assembly,
alleged that the INEC was conniving with the Markafi
faction to deceive the people of Edo on  the issue of
the PDP flag bearer. “INEC has been behaving in a
manner that has shown clear partisanship in the
internal affairs of the PDP, openly making comments
that tend to rubbish the court process.
You will be surprised that while we are busy
campaigning, reaching out to voters, to show INEC’s
bias, on the 20 of June, one Deputy Director of Public
Affairs said they won’t monitor Sheriff faction’s
primary. In another event, the same man said INEC
was yet to take a decision since Sheriff has gone to
court. But the Electoral Act is very clear, it does not
make it mandatory for INEC to be present in a primary.
It said INEC may or may not attend,”he said.
“I read the other day, INEC published 19 candidates for
Edo guber and my question is when did INEC monitored
the primaries of other parties because I am in Edo
State. And in that publication, the intent  is to mislead
Edo people not to vote for the PDP, because you could
see that recently a lot of PDP leaders are moving to
APC because they know that the candidate that is
supposedly being paraded by the party is not the
candidate that they know can deliver the party in the
next election.
When it got to the party, they wrote Ize-Iyamu’s name
relying on a court order. I am here to challenge INEC
to tell us what they meant by that court order, which
court order are they obeying because they are a lot of
court orders which said INEC should only deal with the
Sheriff faction but INEC has continued to play politics
to deceive Edo people? But we are determined to get
justice, I remain the candidate of the party and sooner
or later the court will pronounce the truth”. Shortly
after, Iduoriyekemwen’s statement, Edo Youths PDP
Vanguard, a pro-Ize-Iyamu group, described him as a
political prostitute.
The  group, on a statement by its Chairman, Eghosa
Osazuwa, alleged that Iduoriyekemwen was in a
mission to hand victory to the Governor Adams
Oshiomhole-led APC in the poll, describing
Iduoriyekemwen as an unserious politician who must
apologise to the PDP. However, another group in the
PDP, which is pro-Iduoriyekemwen, under the aegis of
Next Generation Foundation, says it is Ize-Iyamu that
needs to apologize for his political prostitution and not
Iduoriyekemwen, recalling that while Ize-Iyamu had left
the PDP for the then ACN, Iduoriyekemwen had been a
member of the PDP since 1999.
While the two PDP factions battle for the soul of the
party ahead of  the election, thousands of their
members defect to the APC in droves. A total 4,536
aggrieved PDP members in Egor and Ikpoba Okhai
LGAs  decamped to the APC, just as the AREWA group
in Edo, led by the President-General, Alh.Sahabi Aliu
Umar, endorsed Obaseki as their candidate. Leader of
the PDP defectors in Egor, Mr. Promise Igbinevbo, said
the PDP had deceived them over the years and that the
party was yet to shed its old ways in spite of attempts
to rebrand it. He said: “We are here to bury PDP today.
We were deceived by some political leaders of the PDP
all these years. Today, they call them new PDP but I
realized that old PDP remains. I later realized that they
are like the leopard which doesn’t change its skin.
PDP leaders are conservative. PDP leaders cry for
their parochial interest alone to the detriment of their
followers. I have wiped off my tears because of the
belief that I have in democracy. In democracy, it is said
that the minority will have their say while the majority
will have their way. Today, the majority are having their
way from the PDP to APC. I want to let you know that
myself, my chairmen here and women leaders and all
executives are members of PDP across Egor Local
Government Area, that we are here to team up with the
Comrade Governor and his APC candidate, Mr. Godwin
Obaseki. I want to let you know that I don’t bow down
for people for nothing. I don’t bow down to people
because of money. I want to let you know that I bow
down to people with integrity. We bow before
Oshiomhole because of his handwork in Edo State.”
Igbinevbo, who called out each of the 4,536 decampees
from across the wards in Egor, said he and the new
APC members will go out on their own to ensure total
victory for the APC in the LGA. Receiving the defectors,
Oshiomhole said he was impressed by the large
number and quality of those who decided to join the
APC.
“Today, I have seen people with a difference. When my
brother came and said he didn’t want to come with APC
members; he wanted to do it in a hall where only PDP
decampees will be present, I didn’t quite understand
him. I said he should allow APC members to come, and
he said, no, if APC people come, he would not be able
to call the number of PDP people that are decamping.
So, when I entered this hall and I saw this sea of heads,
thousands of PDP women and youths, leaving PDP to
join APC, I said, and it is stated in the Bible, now for
PDP, it is finished. There is nothing left.”
Also, Obaseki had interaction with members of the civil
society organizations in  Edo and the Dr Samuel
Ogbemudia-led Edo Mass Movement (EMM) where he
outlined his plans for the state if elected as governor.