By DADA AYOKHAI
The crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Edo State has taken a new dimension following calls for the eviction of the members of the Wike/Orbih faction from the main fabric of the party.
The call was made by Sen Yisa Braimoh, the PDP leader in Owan East and Owan West respectively, in a strongly worded letter addressed to the state deputy governor, Hon Phillip Shaibu.
A visibly angry Sen Braimoh was reacting to the inauguration of the Hon Paschal Ugbomeh Senatorial Campaign Council which took place in the home country of Chief Dan Orbih in Ogbona, Etsako Central local government area of the state by the splinter Wike/Orbih faction of the party.
Sen Braimoh described the senatorial campaign council inauguration as “illegal” and an “affront” to the party leadership led by none other than the state governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, and urged the party to take immediate and practical steps to exorcise the rebellious faction from the mainstream to prevent the spread like cancer”
falling short of labelling the actions of the Wike/Orbih faction as “repulsive”, Sen Braimoh who represented the Edo North senatorial district in the Senate between 2003 to 2007, said the recent actions by the Wike/Orbih factions if not checkmated before it grows into a full-blown “cancer” is capable of creating confusion in the minds of the law-abiding members of the party.
Sen Braimoh’s views were contained in an open letter he sent to the state deputy governor, Hon Shaibu, whom he referred to as the “leader” of the party in the Edo North district.
According to him, the other two senatorial districts in the state may follow the same footsteps if nothing is urgently done to rein in the Wike/Orbih faction.
He noted, “This illegal and unauthorized announcement of the composition of a campaign council will not only send the wrong signal to PDP loyalists across Edo North district but also open the floodgates for similar illegalities to be perpetuated in the Edo South and Edo Central pretty soon.
” If allowed, the attendant anarchy and confusion that will erupt in the ranks and file of the PDP in the state may become UNCONTROLLABLE”.
He described those behind the “illegal inauguration of the campaign council as the “real enemies” of the party in the state, stating further that the Wike/Orbih faction would stop at nothing to make the state ungovernable and prayed for God to intercede on behalf of the righteous.
Calling for an outright ban of the Wike/Orbih faction, Sen Braimoh opined that the crisis may escalate beyond imaginable proportions if the party leaders at both the state and the national levels pretend that all is well whereas the reverse is the case.
He also wondered where the power-drunk and rebellious Wike/Orbih group derived their authority from, saying they lack both the power and the moral suasion to challenge or undermine the authority of the state government and the party leadership.
Sen Braimoh urged them to retrace their steps before the big hammer descends on them.
Sen Braimoh specifically noted that the members of the recalcitrant Wike/Orbih group are bent on destroying the existing unity in the Edo State PDP and urged the party leaders to take drastic steps to checkmate the nefarious activities of the group.
