By Abdul Jelil
A lot has been said and much more is being said about the Federal High Court judgement as regards to the PDP and its governorship candidate, Dr Asue Ighodalo in the primaries that produced him in February.
Three party members petitioned the court for themselves and on behalf of 378 other delegates, aggrieved that they were denied participation in the primaries.
They argued that their exclusion ran contrary to the electoral law and the party’s constitution. The court granted that they ought to have been delegates at the primaries.
Depending on which divide one stands, there is a tendency for one to relate the judgement to a victory for either of the parties involved.
Already the opposition party is banking on the disqualification of the PDP from the contest in which a governor will be elected in September, to govern Edo state for the next four years.
However, taking into consideration the various interpretations of the judgement, the PDP has approached a superior court, the Court of Appeal.
The PDP has pointed out and rightfully so, that the court is not a Father Christmas to give a plaintiff what he did not ask for.
According to the party, the court’s ruling was that the plaintiffs ought to have been allowed to participate in the primaries in February.
The party and its supporters maintain that the court did not annul the primaries but only ruled that the plaintiffs should have and ought to have been participants in the primaries. They contends that neither Ighodalo nor the legitimacy of his candidature was mentioned in the judgement. They further insist that the judgement did not disqualify the primaries nor did the court rule that fresh primaries be conducted.
The party has asserted that even if the aggrieved persons were allowed to participate in the primaries, and assuming they did not vote in favour of Ighodalo, the outcome of the Primary – Ighodalo emergig as winner, would be the same.
Whatever yardstick one may lassess the situation from, Ighodalo continues to pull a massive crowd to his corner, even as September 21 is fast approaching.
What the bigwigs at the helm of APC affairs need to know is that the man on the street doesn’t recognize or agree with the opposition’s challenge of Ighodalo’s candidacy. The concern of the man on the street is that the right person who will better his life, wins the election on September 21.
For the man on the street Ighodalo stands head and shoulders above the other contestants. This is no surprise as the former Chairman of Sterling Bank, The Nigerian Economic Summit Grouo and Nigerian Breweries Plc, has been the candidate who has most engaged the electorate and was the first to share a robust and wholesome manifesto wherein every citizen counts.
Taking into reckoning his connections both locally and internationally, he has what Edo state needs to move a notch higher and better. His opponents seem to be aware of this fact. Dwarfed by his pedigree, his opponents have resorted to desperate and callous attacks of his person , in a futile attempt to diminish his intimidating profile.
Ighodalo’s presence in the race has put so much pressure on the other candidates that they have lost strategy and focus and are unable to design or deploy a campaign of issues and substance built on credible plans for the development of Edo State and its people.
Rather, they have resorted to a campaign of calumny and shenanigans in the hope that they can eject him forcefully out of the race.
Without a doubt, any candidate who seeks to ascend office via a doorway of trickery, deceit and subterfuge has nothing to offer the people he seeks to govern.
Being the man of principles, discipline and class that he is, Ighodalo has refused to condescend into the murk and mire of false allegations and political deceit and trickery, like his opponents.
He has remained steadfast to his promise to run a clean campaign based on issues and has refused to play the politics of personal attacks.
His focus remains the effective engagement of the electorates and the promotion of his manifesto to Edolites at home and in the diaspora.
Ighodalo has not allowed the distractions of the unserious to take his eye away from the ball, after all the devil doesn’t fight a bad person.
Ighodalo’s campaign is in top gear and he has maintained the tempo as could be seen in the crowd that graced his outing in Benin city on Tuesday.
While his opponents are bereft of ideas and plans for the good of the state and are falsely propagating his disqualification, the PDP flag bearer is gaining more ground and by September 21, the electorate will speak with one voice in support of Ighodalo.
. Abdul Jelil writes from Abuja
