Governor Obaseki; a huge fan of Peter Obi

If by now you don’t know that the entire Edo state is for Peter Obi, then you might as well go live in a cave, that’s if you don’t already. If Edo state was the only decider in this election, Peter Obi will coast to a landslide victory, no one will even come close.

It is no news that Edo state is entirely shut down for Peter Obi, from the innermost villages to the epicenter of the capital Benin City, Peter Obi is a phenomenal force that every Edolite has come to reckon with.

The number one citizen of the state is not left out of this tsunami as he is said to be a very huge fan of Mr Peter Obi, but due to his party (PDP) affiliations, he may not be able to publicly or directly endorse him.

However, this has not prevented Gov Obaseki from admonishing his people to support competence and not political party. In a PDP stakeholders meeting last month (July), he warned the PDP of the impending implosion of the party in the state as the indigenes of the state have now become “OBIdient”, including members of his household.

Governor Obaseki who himself is a huge beneficiary of the ‘vote candidate and not Party’ initiative when he defected from APC to PDP in the dying minutes leading up to the gubernatorial election due to a fall-out with his predecessor and mentor Adams Oshiomhole, and went on to win the election with significant margin.

This therefore projects how Obaseki will handle Edo state with regards to the presidential elections. Edolites have always been politically aware, they have always voted candidates and not the political party.

Testament to this is how Adams Oshiomhole won the incumbent PDP in 2007 contesting on the platform of Action Congress with which his party (Labour Party) had formed a strategic alliance.

Even though Oshiomhole was denied the ballot, he would later reclaim his mandate at the Court  of Appeal, a decision which excited the citizens of Edo state as he was the one true candidate that majority of them voted for.

Governor Obaseki has read the room, he has seen the writings on the wall and he has put his ears on ground, he knows that his people yearn for only Peter Obi. It would therefore be a calamitous mistake to endorse any other candidate apart from Peter Obi.

As a sitting PDP governor, he has an obligation to host the party and receive the presidential aspirants when campaign begins in the state, that could be forgivable, if he goes further to endorse his party candidate outside the campaign grounds, he will most likely lose the respect and support of his people.

Obaseki himself is ‘OBIdient’ and if the decision was vested solely on him without the factors of political party and public opinion, he would not only vote Peter Obi, he will massively canvass support for Peter Obi.

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