By DADA AYOKHAI
The recently concluded APC guber primary may have come and gone but the ghost of the exercise is openly stalking the party leaders in the face.
A major fallout of the repeated guber primary exercise is the battle of wits and intrigues that trailed the exercise right from the time the NWC of the party declared the first exercise supervised by Gov. Hope Uzodinma of Imo State inconclusive and ordered a rerun.
That rerun now seems to be the albatross of the leading opposition party in Edo State.
Borderline News 24 can authoritatively affirm that the Guber primary rerun afforded some aggrieved APC leaders the chance to vent their anger as well as go for the jugular of Comrade Adams Oshiomole, the acknowledged leader of Edo State APC, to demystify as well as unmask him as a “general without troops”
Pastor Osazie Ize-Iyamu, who had earlier opted out of the race to support Sen. Monday Okpebhlo, quickly became the arrowhead of those plotting to demystify Oshiomole and reduce him to the status of a Senatorial leader.
Before the first exercise that was annulled by the APC NWC, Comrade Adams Oshiomole, now the Senator representing the Edo North district in the Senate, flagrantly bulldozed his way by “imposing” his preferred candidate, Hon. Dennis Idahosa, a member of the House of Representatives on the party
The former comrade governor allegedly was able to do so based on the acclaimed chubby relationship between him and Gov. Hope Uzodinma of Imo State.
Borderline News 24 learned that the outcome of the primarily created room for the discontent that almost consumed the party, leading to the emergence of three winners, with all of them laying claim to having won the primary .
Given the state of disarray the party found itself, a move to cut Sen. Oshiomole to size and restrict his influence to the Edo North district, was hatched.
The revolt against Oshiomole was so thick and palpable that his position as the leader of the party in the state became untenable. One by one, people began to question Oshiomole’s legitimacy while the plot to move against him and his “adopted candidate” grew rapidly.
Eventually, the guber rerun primary provided the fertile ground for the forces ranged against Oshiomole to unmask the “big masquerade” in full public glare.
In the end, the candidate supported by Oshiomole lost. With the humiliation and demystification completed, Oshiomole’s much-vaunted status and clout are now blowing in the air.
Whilst Oshiomole is busy licking his wounds, plotting a rebound, and also cursing the party hierarchy for hearkening to the cries of his opponents, Pastor Iyamu is enjoying the limelight as the newly crowned APC leader.
Could this situation translate into the fall of Oshiomole?
He is known as a cat with nine lives but the impact of his recent face-off with other APC leaders may as well signal political oblivion for the veteran labour leader .
