Is the quest by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Edo State to oust Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as governor of Edo State a matter of life and death? No, claims the PDP. But the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN which is the ruling party in the state disagrees as it alleges the complicity of the opposition PDP in the recent spate of death to have befallen associates of Governor Oshiomhole or those travelling with him.
The latest casualty and perhaps the most striking hit on the side of the Comrade Governor was Mr. Olaitan Oyerinde who until life was snuffed out of him in the early hours of May, –, 2012 in his residence in the upscale GRA area of Benin was the governor’s principal private secretary.
Oyerinde 44, was a carry over from Oshiomhole’s activist days as a labour leader and was on leave from the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC.
One of the brightest stars of the Nigerian labour movement, he was a senior operative of the NLC who Oshiomhole brought into government in Edo State to coordinate his inner engine room in the Edo Government House.
Oyerinde, was not the only casualty to have fallen on the side of the ACN since the campaign for the July 14, gubernatorial election kicked off.
His death came barely one two weeks after three journalists lost their lives in a ghastly motor accident involving the convoy of the governor. The accident which caused the death of the three journalists was upon the reported collision of a tipper with the governor’s convoy along Warrake-Auchi Road after a rally in Afuze, Owan East Local Government Council of Edo State.
The Governor had been scheduled to kick off his governorship campaign in Edo South senatorial district of the state on Saturday, April 28,2012 at the Museum ground in Benin City, when thousands of ACN supporters gathered for the occasion learnt that the governor had narrowly escaped an accident.
Before Oyerinde’s killing, the governor perhaps on the basis of the suspicious tipper collision with his convoy a week or so before, had accused the PDP in the state of a hand in the accident. He petitioned the state Commissioner of Police over the accident and called for serious probe. However, the police was still busy with that when Oyerinde was killed.
The war of words between the Governor and the PDP in the state became intense, particularly after the Governor disclosed that he received a security report where the PDP leaders held a meeting and concluded that it would be difficult for them to win the election and that the only way to make head way would be to destabilize the state through kidnapping of people close to the governor and assassinating people around the governor.
Oshiomhole was particularly bitter because according to him, “ less than 48 hours after I submitted this petition that the PDP god father and his cohorts are planning to cause mayhem in the state, planning fake accidents, kidnapping and killing of those close to me, they went and killed my son, Oyerinde”.
But the PDP in a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Mathew Urhoghide, denied the involvement of the PDP in the accident that led to the death of the three journalists, and queried the state of the governor who drove him self on that trip. The party alleged that speeding may have caused the accident. They went on to accuse the governor of raising false alarm with a view to cover the alleged N10billion mansion allegation leveled against him by the party.
And on the killing of Oyerinde, the PDP urged the governor to look inwards as they claimed to have no reason to kill Olaitan whom they described as a very brilliant young man.
Sensing that the PDP may capitalize on the tragedy that hit the governor and the ACN in the state, the leadership of the ACN in the state decided to proceed with the governorship campaign on Saturday 5th of May, 2012, about 24 hours after Oyerinde was killed.
That day, there was a heavy down pour that commenced at about 8:30am, but thousands of ACN members and admirers of Oshiomhole defied the rain and waited patiently to listen to Oshiomhole who showed the grief that had befallen him.
Okada riders, market women and youths were observed carrying a mock coffin of the PDP and with their placards reading “Oshiomhole we are with you always”, “PDP has murdered sleep”, “Police must find the killers of our Comrade or we will find them” and several others.
While apparently managing to suppress his grief, Oshiomhole was able to tell the crowd on his suspicions on the death of Oyerinde and the three journalists. “Just yesterday, they killed my son in cold blood right in his bedroom.”
With apparent reference to the rain that was still drizzling at the time of the rally, he said: “When they have spoilt the atmosphere even God in heaven was angry and decided to bring water to wash away the evil that these guys have committed so that we men of God may have a clean rally. We respect elders only that we disagree with any policy that says the god father first. And that was why we even started the tarring of roads from the village of the god father.”
“They decided to kill Olaitan, they planned to kill me in an accident. They wasted three young men in an accident. Their crime was that they are covering an election like this. And who was defending them. Suddenly the police became the police prosecutor. They said I was drunk. I have told them that he who kills in the 80s will have death awaiting him. That is why we choose not to cry but I won’t cry.
In our second term, (in memory of the dead journalists) those dead journalists we will build an edifice with their names in gold in Benin City and we will put the heading that they died so that the god father will not prevail. Forever and ever it will be there for historians. Today the god father is dead and finished. He is on political oxygen, he can remain in that oxygen and because we serve Jesus Christ he cannot wake up”.
Tension further heightened in the state after Oshiomhole’s gave the police 14 days to find Oyerinde killers or the people of the state “will find them”. Following his threat, PDP leaders disappeared from the town, fearing that they may be attacked by ACN youths. Oshiomhole who wept profusely when the ACN governors paid him a condolence visit, reiterated his ultimatum to the police and vowed that Oyerinde’s killers must never go unpunished.
Oshiomhole took his campaign to Esan last Tuesday and outlined his developmental projects in the area and assured the people that as Adolor of Esan land, “I will ensure that more projects are executed in Esanland”. While he tried to combine his grief with politics, his opponents in the PDP, Airhiavbere and that of the ANPP, Solomon Edebiri, have been mobilizing for votes also across the state.
Oshiomhle, last wednesday, to the shock of many and the admiration of many others, at the service of songs of the late Oyerinde at Government House Benin City, announced that the Delta Crescent, where Chief Tony Anenih’s mansion was situated be renamed after the late Olaitan Oyerinde.
The political tension is heightening every day in Edo and there is no doubt that within the next one or two weeks, the police is expected to come up with a lead as regards the killers of Oyerinde. Oshiomhole has appealed to youths of the ACN to be calm while the police is given the opportunity to investigate the matter.
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