Oshiomhole: The ‘Political Lion’ Defeated In Battle By ‘A Snail’

After months of attacks and counter-attacks by major political actors in the Edo State governorship election, the exercise has come and gone with the incumbent governor, Godwin Obaseki, flooring his major rival, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, by a margin of over 80,000 votes.

Governor Obaseki, who contested the election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), polled a total of 307,955 votes.

His major rival and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ize-Iyamu, scored 223,619 votes.

Palpable pre-election tension had enveloped the state due largely to the verbal attacks from the camps of the two major political parties that participated in the election.

The verbal attacks were mostly between a former governor of the state and ex-APC national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, and his one-time protégé and incumbent governor, Godwin Obaseki.

Oshiomhole had described himself as a “political lion” and referred to Obaseki as “a snail”. He had vowed to help Ize-Iyamu defeat the governor in the election.

Obaseki, on his part, vowed to bury Oshiomhole’s political career and put an end to godfatherism in Edo.

Oshiomhole had backed Obaseki to succeed him after serving two terms as Edo governor in 2016, but the duo fell out in a bitter public feud that eventually saw the incumbent governor defecting to the PDP.

In the build up to the September 19 election, Oshiomhole had told Channels TV in an interview that Obaseki was “not even eligible to contest the election”.

Oshiomhole had said, “how can he be a threat?” adding that, “how can a snail be a threat in a race where tigers are involved”.

The former APC chairman had also expressed regret for supporting Obaseki in the 2016 Edo governorship election.

Addressing a crowd of supporters at his Iyamho country home in July, Oshiomhole had said: “I have made a mistake by supporting a man who has no vision for my people. So, I want to correct my mistakes by making sure a servant of God, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, is elected as governor and kick the snake out of the government house.

“From now till September 19, I am here in Edo State because a political lion that I am, I am not scared of anything,” he had said.

Meanwhile, Obaseki, during the governorship election campaign of the PDP in Oredo, had vowed that Oshiomhole would be “dealt with because he does not respect people of the state”.

He had said, “As a sitting governor, Oshiomhole decides to pick who will represent me in my house of assembly. Can you imagine the insult? That was where this fight started.

“Because he believes, in his own mind, that Benin people are like chickens. When you throw corn, they will run after the corn.

“This election is a contest with Oshiomhole. We have dealt with him at the national level, we will bury him politically in this election; because he has no regard for Benin people, he has no regard for us in Oredo, and we will show him that he is nothing.”