Uzodimma: Committed Towards Expanding APC Frontiers & Championing Tinubu’s 2027 Return 

SIMON EBEGBULEM

The most recent victory of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, at the national level, at the sub-national off-season governorship election in Edo State, once again brings to the fore, the untiring efforts of notable individuals of the party, towards expanding the frontiers and making it the party of first choice by Nigerians.

Try as it may, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party’s baseless attempts to exonerate itself from the hardship confronting Nigerians, the effects of which the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, has frontally taken on to reverse, via the Renewed Hope Agenda, will ever be to the utter shame and regret of PDP.

Assuredly, and in the not too distant, as more of the gains of the re-engineering matrix of the administration bear more fruits, then would the true meaning of the fabled 60-years-rule by the PDP and the juggernauts that touted it, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, dawn on Nigerians. Their plan being to put Nigerians under perpetual and everlasting bondage, misery and suffering.

Nigerians are now wiser, and nothing encapsulates this more than the APC’s thumping that brought a well deserving end to the Godwin Obaseki’s eight years of maladministration in Edo State, and back into the fold of the forward looking APC.

Under the instruction of the leadership of the APC led by President Bola Tinubu, that Edo State should be salvaged and recovered back to the fold of the party, Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State was beckoned on to lead other Progressives governors in ensuring that the mission is accomplished, applying all democratic principles. Governor Uzodimma is one of the silent heroes that worked day and night to make this comes to reality, and once again ensure that democracy flourishes in Edo and its dividends cascade down to the good people of the state, under the leadership of the Governor-elect, Senator Monday Okpebolo, beginning November 12 and beyond.

Senator Hope Uzodimma, fondly called “Onwa Oyoko” by his teeming supporters and admirers comes with lots of democratic antecedents predating his mounting of the saddle as Imo State Governor, in 2020. A former member of the Upper Chambers of the National Assembly, he, not unlike President Tinubu, who he holds in the highest of regards and esteem, has joined in expanding the frontiers of the party, ensuring notable spread across the Niger and far beyond the Heartland state, where he has continued to endear the ruling party to all and sundry.

With sterling performance in Imo, which has expectedly rubbed off on Ndi Imo at the federal levels, through appointments, added to the glaring Federal presence in the state and coupled with his administration’s unsurpassed infrastructural and economic development strides, Governor Uzodimma has continued to garner accolades from far and wide, several of which has translated into more recognition and added responsibilities.

Into his first tenure in office, colleagues from the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, in recognition of his leadership qualities made Senator Hope Uzodimma Chairman of the Progressives Governors’ Forum, while President Bola Tinubu, even from before coming into office, has chosen to work with him, charging him with the most sensitive of assignments, of which he has creditably discharged and delivered on. In the process and along the ways, the APC has gained and continues to add, a windfall of notable and heavyweight defectors from the major opposition parties in the geo-political zone, into its fold.

The landmark APC victory in Edo. 

Right from the beginning, Governor Uzodimma has been in the thick of the battle to rightfully return Edo State, back tomorrow the fold, working assiduously with others, including the leader of the APC in the state, Senator Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole, a former two-term governor, to make this manifest. It is therefore, no surprise that following the Independent National Electoral Commission’s declaration of Senator Monday Okpebholo as winner of the September 21 election, on Sunday, congratulatory messages poured in from high, far and near. Uzodimma, being a loyal party leader, may not understand what he and others have achieved in getting Edo back to the APC fold, but those who have followed the political history of the state will better understand. After Comrade Oshiomhole left the Nigeria Labour Congress as its President, people from all works of life, advised him to contest for the Presidency of this nation. But Oshiomhole opted to run for the governorship after the masses of Edo State persuaded him to come and lead them out of the PDP conundrum. That was how Oshiomhole joined in the governorship race in 2007, under the umbrella of the then Action Congress, with alliance with the Labour movement. However, he was rigged out by the PDP and Edo people cried foul. The current President, Ahmed Bola Tinubu mobilised resources for Oshiomhole and recruited forensic experts, who deployed the most modern of techniques, including recounting the ballot papers used for the election. That was how, on March 20, 2008 the Edo State Election Petition Tribunal nullified the election of Prof. Osarhiemen Osunbor and declared Oshiomhole the authentic winner of the poll. And on November 11, 2008, the Court of Appeal upheld the ruling of the state election petition tribunal declaring Oshiomhole winner. Therefore, Governor Obaseki made one of his too numerous blunders, when he and his cohorts came with their usual rhetoric that, “Edo is not Lagos”. Sadly, after the efforts made by the now President Tinubu and Oshiomhole to bring Edo into the APC, Governor Obaseki, who was handed the ticket of the party by the latter, against all odds, took the state back to PDP to the chagrin of many, including President Tinubu and Oshiomhole.

It is therefore, understood why President Tinubu deployed his political ally in the South East, the political strategist, Governor Hope Uzodimma, to return Edo back to the APC fold. Uzodimma did just that, applying all democratic tenets. He campaigned to the Igbo community in Edo vigorously and reminded them of all the anti democratic actions of Governor Obaseki, which includes his refusal to swear-in 14 elected members of the state House of Assembly. He rallied his colleague governors to ensure that the dream of Mr President is achieved in Edo. By reclaiming Edo State to the APC, Governor Uzodimma is already galvanizing support for President Tinubu’s 2027 second term bid, which is well expected; clearing all hurdles and expanding the political horizon of the APC come 2027.

It is not surprising that today he is referred to as the “Lion” of the South East. As chairman of the South East Governors, Uzodimma has been able to propagate the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Tinubu, and today we are witnessing the influx of people into the APC in the South East.

The APC National Chairman, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, while congratulating Senator Monday Okpebholo, commended the political sagacity of Uzodimma and other progressive governors.

“We look forward to a prosperous new chapter for Edo State”, said Ganduje.

There was wild jubilation in the ancient city of Benin, when the Returning Officer for the Edo State governorship election and Vice-Chancellor, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State, Prof. Faruk Adamu Kuta, declared Senator Monday Okpebholo of the APC as the winner of the keenly-contested election at 9:26 p.m. on Sunday, September 22.

He announced that Okpebholo, representing the Edo Central Senatorial District, secured 291,667 votes to defeat the PDP candidate, Dr Asue Ighodalo, who got 247,274 votes.

The Labour Party’s ,LP, Olumide Akpata, former President of the Nigerian Bar Association ,NBA, came a distant third, securing 22,763 votes. This declaration ended the plot by governor Obaseki to continue to keep Edo under the stranglehold of his factional PDP. And thanks to Governor Uzodimma whose superior political dexterity rescued the state from that stranglehold. For sure, President Tinubu can now relax, that his APC has made a major in-road into the South South ahead 2027.