Atiku Candidacy Set to Unify Edo PDP

The emergence of the Waziri of  Adamawa State, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, as the presidential standard-bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party,  PDP, may after all serve as the harbinger of good tidings in the final resolution of the intractable dispute among the rival factions in the Edo State chapter of the party. 

 The state chapter of the PDP has been embroiled in an internecine dispute over which faction should exercise control of the party structure. 

The Edo State chapter of the party is bleeding profusely from what observers would call "political haemorrhage and attempts to "patch" things up have often resulted in  "mere window dressing".

 Governor Godwin Obaseki, immediately after the success of his re-election bid, as the leader of the party going by the PDP constitution made several attempts to take control of the party structure   from the "old executives to replace them with what he referred to as harmonized executives .

The  leaders of the old PDP members were able to successfully repel the plot, since then the party in the state is yet to experience some measure of peace and stability.

The ruling party was still reeling in that state of chaos and confusion until it went into the serious business of electing party delegates and candidates during its primaries. 

Part of the outcome of the rancour and division in the party manifested in the parallel primaries conducted by the two rival factions. 

Past attempts at reconciling the rival factions have often yielded futile results.

 The national body of the party at a time tried to wade in to see if it could resolve the logjam with the setting up of the Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State committee but in the end, the report of that committee barely scratched the surface of the deeply rooted crisis.

However, the coming of  Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, an old political warhorse,  who emerged victorious in the hotly contested presidential primaries of the party, may ultimately be the soothing balm that will compel the acrimonious combatants to sheathe sword and embrace peace.

 The hope of a possible and quick resolution of the intractable Edo PDP crisis is anchored on the premise of the campaign theme of Atiku as the "unifier". 

Political observers in the state are of the firm belief that the Wazirin Adamawa possesses the clout to restore peace and stability to the crisis-ridden party since the majority of the power brokers in the centre of the tussle have at one time or another belonged to his political camp. 

Hon Tony Aziegbemi, the party's state chairman and also an apostle of unification, is one of those confident that the end is in sight as regards the crisis rocking the state chapter of the party  His optimism is based on the emergence of Atiku Abubakar as well as the magic wand his aura and clout will bring to bear on compelling the contending political forces to adopt moderate positions rather than extreme positions that tend to tug vigorously on the heart of the party. 

Besides, pundits are also of the view that Atiku's intervention will " settle the power tussle" between the chief protagonists, Governor Obaseki and Chief Dan Orbih, both of who seem to hold the ace in the crisis rocking the party in the state. 

Ironically, Governor Obaseki rooted for Atiku at the last presidential convention of the PDP, held in Abuja, while Chief Orbih, who served as the Edo State Co-ordinator for the 2019 Atiku Presidential Campaign, made a complete U-turn in 2022 to support Governor Wike in the last presidential primary.

 With Atiku now fully in the saddle, one might soon witness a  convergence of the Obaseki and Orbih forces as a political masterstroke in ensuring the PDP does not lose Edo State to the opposition APC which is already waiting in the wings to "snatch" back a state It "carelessly lost" to the PDP in 2019 when Governor Obaseki fell out with his godfather, Comrade Adams Oshiomole and scampered to the PDP for "rescue" and to actualise his re-election bid.