Controversy Trails Orbih’s Move To Settle Obaseki And Shaibu

The surprising move by Chief Dan Orbih, the National Vice-Chairman, South-South of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to intervene in the crisis between Governor Godwin Obaseki and his embattled deputy, Comrade Philip Shaibu is stoking controversy GWG.ng reports.

Orbih had opened up on his initiative in a statement late on Tuesday saying that the open combat was demarketing the PDP in Edo State.

As the national vice-chairman of the party in the South-South, Orbih’s move would ordinarily have been expected given his position as the party’s number one official in the zone. Even more, before now, he was chairman of the party in Edo State for about ten years. Indeed, the party in Edo State is generally believed to be built around him.

However, Orbih’s intervention in the conflict between Obaseki and Shaibu is bound to stoke controversy given the fact that he is also at war with the governor and his deputy. It would be recalled that the two men had just about a year ago held meetings among some political office holders and a few selected party chiefs and moved the motion for the suspension of Orbih and some party chiefs from the party.

The move was a shocking one given Orbih’s role in bringing the two men into their second term in office after they were thrown out from the All Progressives Congress, APC.

In the ensuing melee, the governor and Orbih’s followers struggled to position their different candidates on the party’s logo in the 2023 General Election. Though Obaseki won the INEC recognition, it became a pyrrhic victory as the PDP went on to its most disastrous outing in the election after Orbih turned his back on the candidates picked by Obaseki.

GWG.ng reports that under Orbih as chairman even with PDP in the opposition, that the PDP had consistently won the presidential election and the majority of National Assembly seats. However, the party was routed in the last presidential and National Assembly elections causing a panic that made Obaseki cry out about a plot by his estranged political godfather, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole to impeach him through the House of Assembly.

Though the PDP bounced back to pluck the majority of the House of Assembly seats and give Obaseki immunity, the prospects of the PDP remain unclear because the majority of the state executive remains with Orbih.

Last weekend, Orbih demonstrated his strength as he successfully gathered the majority of the state executive members to meetings in his Ogbonna country home and in Benin – City where it was resolved to reenergize the grassroots ahead of the 2024 governorship battle.

It is in this respect that some now doubt the sincerity of his intention to settle Obaseki and Shaibu. As one stakeholder said, Orbih may simply be mocking the two men who not too long ago were joined in battle against him.

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