By DADA AYOKHAI
The recently concluded Edo governorship election has shed light on the nature of politicians and the despicable level they are willing to go to to misinform, mislead and ultimately undermine their opponents
Analyzing the election results of the two major political parties in Edo State, it becomes evident that the election helped to dispel many misconceptions about the PDP guber candidate, Bar Asue Ighodalo.
The election results debunked some the falsehoods spread about Bar Asue Ighodalo, revealing that many of these claims were untrue and exaggerated.
Before the election, the opposition Edo APC, led by former NLC President and former Edo State governor, Sen Oshiomole, propagated various half-truths in an attempt to discredit the PDP and its guber candidate, Bar Asue Ighodalo.
The Edo governorship election on September 21 featured two of the three major contenders coming from the same Edo Central senatorial district.
While the PDP guber candidate, Bar Asue Ighodalo, hails from Ewohimi in the Esan South East, the APC guber candidate, Sen Monday Okpevbolo, hailed from Irrua in the Esan Central local government.
During the guber campaign, Senator Oshiomole who is from the Edo North district but has a relationship with the Ewohimi community by marriage took advantage of that to demarket Ighodalo to his kinsmen. To oshiomhole, he is more Ewohimi than Ighodalo.
Sen Oshiomole also presented himself differently to the Edo public, sometimes as an advocate and at other times as an in-law, which seemed confusing but aimed at scoring cheap political points.
One of his many spread lies about Barrister Ighodalo was the claim that Bar Ighodalo is afraid to sleep in his Ewohimi village due to the fear of witches and wizards.
Additionally, he also falsely stated that Ighodalo does not own a house in his Ewohimi village.
The ultimate, it seems, was to portray Barrister Ighodalo as insignificant in Ewohimi, let alone in the Edo Central district.
The election results announced by INEC have unequivocally debunked Oshiomole’s claims about Bar Ighodalo as grossly inaccurate and overblown.
The overwhelming preference of the Ewohinmi people for Ighodalo over Sen. Oshiomole, their in-law, is evident in the election results.
Ighodalo’s remarkable popularity is a testament to the love and support he enjoys from his community, as evidenced by the substantial number of votes he received compared to the APC guber candidate in the Edo Central district.
In contrast to Sen. Oshiomole’s portrayal, Ighodalo is undeniably a first-class Ewohinmi son.
And also by extension, the election results as released by INEC showed that Asue is also more acceptable in Edo Central district known in local parlance as Esan than his opponent from the same district, Senator Monday Okpebholo by winning
3 of the 5 local government areas in the district
