Obaseki vs. Oshiomhole: Is an end to the phantom battle in sight?

The pages of newspapers, as well as news items and opinion pieces on websites, all across Nigeria, have been awash with news report after news report screaming about a titanic battle between Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, and his predecessor Adams Oshiomhole. Granted, there were actually incidents and behind-the-scenes wrangling that pointed to the fact that there was some sort of cold war brewing between the two. But while both men have repeatedly said there is no ‘war’ between them, it hasn’t stopped the media from blowing whatever was between them to larger-than-life proportions.

Oshiomhole, currently the National Chairman of All Progressives Congress, Adams Oshiomhole, has also blamed the media for creating friction between him and Obaseki, after a meeting with the governor at Oshiomhole’s Iyamoh residence. At the meeting, said to have lasted into late Monday night, Oshiomhole said the rift between him and the governor was the creation of people with personal interests, and he went on to describe Obaseki as his brother.

Obaseki, on his part, said the visit was to celebrate the Islamic holiday with his former boss, and he even quipped that those who thought there was a rift between him and his predecessor should “stop thinking.”

There is no letting up in the political fight between the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, and the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki.

Before I wrap this up, here’s a background: Obaseki was said to have sacked eight commissioners from the state executive council, said to be loyalists of Oshiomhole, who helped the governor substantially in clinching the governorship of Edo. Things got so dramatic, to the point that it was alleged that the Edo State House of Assembly was hurriedly ‘inaugurated’ and a speaker ‘elected’ at night with only nine lawmakers present.

Traditional rulers and chiefs of Benin even met with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja and pleaded for his intervention in the rift, and by then, it wasn’t a phantom war anymore. It was very real. However, it was clear that some forces were blowing it out of proportion for political gains. Even the Oba of Benin, Omo N’Oba N’ Edo, Ewuare II, who led the aforementioned delegation to the presidential villa, reportedly told Mr Buhari, “If this crisis is not resolved now with immediate effect, it may jeopardise the progress of the state”.

However, as it stands today, the optics have improved greatly, proving the ‘war’ to be far less than that, if it ever was in the first place. Whispers have it that shadowy ex-political kingpins and rival politicians are to blame. But the Edo governor has maintained that it’s all figments of fertile imaginations. Like I’ve heard Obaseki say in a couple of places I’ve been privileged to be present, “It’s ridiculous to even imply that I’m fighting a war with [Adams] Oshiomhole.” He concluded by waving it all off, declaring that those rumour mongers will soon be put to shame. And from the look of things, they have.

Osahon, an entrepreneur, wrote in from Maitama, Abuja.