The jury is still out on
whether Matthew Urhoghide has finished
paying for his sins of radicalism. After years of unionist struggle that
climaxed with his election as president of the Students Union in the University
of Benin, his bid to enter mainstream politics in his native Edo State in 1999
was for 15 years laced with several disappointments.
In every election cycle he made
all the waves, galvanised the electorate but when it mattered most, he was
always left in the cold!
Matthew Urhoghide
Matthew Urhoghide
Urhoghide’s fate until his recent
election to the Senate was essentially because of his own inclination to walk
in the public arena. Many of his associates from his school days like the
former journalist, Segun Babatope preferred to work behind the scenes. But not
Urhoghide, a man who fought the system from outside as a student’s activist and
decided to reform it from inside!
In his first outing in 1999 when
he sought the governorship ticket of Edo State on the platform of the defunct
All Peoples Party, APP, he was roundly routed despite a popular campaign that
galvanised many youths.
He suffered the same stamp of
defeat in 2003 in the hands of Senator Roland Owie, who had just left the
former Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
He did not give up and in 2007
instead of seeking state wide office, he now sought the Edo South senatorial
ticket of the opposition All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP. For the first time he
was on ticket for a general election but was overwhelmed by the PDP’s
nationwide blitz that year.
Despite his own loss, his
formidable political machine was helpful in gathering the election data with
which Comrade Adams Oshiomhole used in prosecuting his election petition at the
tribunal.
With the Action Congress of
Nigeria, ACN in power in Edo State it was believed that Urhoghide’s time had
finally come in 2011 when he again sought the Senate ticket of the ACN.
He was surprisingly disappointed
by the last minute intrigues that shadowed the emergence of the ACN senatorial
candidate in 2011. Urhoghide’s unhidden bid was derailed after Comrade
Oshiomhole joined forces with Senator Ehighie Uzamere as a quid pro quo for the
latter’s own help. Uzamere had helped Oshiomhole to defeat the PDP’s forces as
led by Chief Tony Anenih during the Senate confirmation hearings of the Edo
State nominees for the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.
Some would have also suggested
that Oshiomhole or the Benin electorate was also paying Uzamere a hand of
gratitude for his own role in seeing to the first ever appointment of a Bini
man as both vice-chancellor of the University of Benin and the Nigerian
Institute for Oil Palm Research, NIFOR.
Willy-nilly, Uzamere”s reward
became Urhoghide’s loss.
It was, however, a stinging loss
for Urhoghide and forced him to leave the ACN. He was immediately welcomed into
the PDP which waived away all rules to immediately give him a leading role in
the party which was in opposition in Edo State.
It was a sort of irony. Urhoghide
was now fighting his former comrades and allies and doing so from the camp of
the former enemies.
Urhoghide’s appointment as the
Publicity Secretary of the PDP immediately gave verve and vibe to the PDP which
had virtually been discredited on account of the stewardship of the state
between 1999 and 2007.
It was thus remarkable that in
the period leading to the last National
Assembly elections that the senatorial ticket of the PDP became his for the
taking especially after Senator Uzamere declined a third successive stint.
Confronted with the Oshiomhole
machine in the main elections, Urhoghide overcame and eventually banished the
stigma.
Having overcome the demons with
his Senate victory it is not surprising that those hoping to return the PDP to
the Edo Government House would beckon on him. Is he falling for it, he was
asked in an interview.
“I am not aware of that. I must
say that everything is not about
contest.” He, however, confesses
the desperation of the PDP to win back the office, desperation that it is
claimed has made the party to zone the office to his Edo South Senatorial
Constituency.
“We are desperate in the sense
that we are going to do everything legitimate and within the rules of the game
to win the election.”
It would, however, seem that
neither his stint in the Senate nor his membership of the PDP has lessened his
inclination for political fights. A case in point is his stern posture on the
campaign against Senator Ike Ekweremadu’s election as Deputy Senate President.
“It is very derogatory to accuse
senators of forging the standing rules. It also calls into question the
integrity of the Senate,” Senator Uroghidie said as he warns of dire actions
against the senators that externalised the issue.
“The business and procedures of
doing things are clearly stated. By the constitution, the Senate has the power
to decide what it wants to do. There is no other body that can interfere in the
affairs of the Senate. So, if you are going to the police or the SSS to look at
what we are doing, it then means you have not properly
looked at the necessary laws and
statutes. I believe ethics and privileges committee will look at it.”
Even more pointedly, the senator
blasts the APC federal administration over its dithering procrastination in
forming a government.
“What is more annoying is that
they are trying to rationalize this ineptitude rather than apologizing to
Nigerians that they have not been able to do certain things because they didn’t
have a proper grasp of the workings of government. It is better to say we are
understudying government in order to take off.
“By March 29, 2015, Mr. President
knew he had won the election. He also knew that there was not going to be any
legal tussle as the erstwhile president had capitulated to him completely. So,
if after more than four months and he is still telling us that he will submit
the list of ministers and make other appointments by September, I’m afraid a
lot is wrong. That is six months, 180 days.”
Flaying the seeming stance of the
president to run a government of saints as an impossibility, the senator said the
administration’s dilly-dallying is hurting the government locally and
internationally.
“They keep saying that they are
taking their time when the president knew that he would take oath of allegiance
two months before he was sworn-in. What are you planning? Are you waiting for
agents to descend from heaven before you can draw a list of ministers? Are you
going to solve the problems of Nigeria in one day? Are you looking for people
you think are too saintly that you want to appoint as secretary to the
government or as chief of staff or ministers?”
Pointing at a major flaw in the
president’s failure to constitute his cabinet he noted the recent state visit
to America where the Nigerian team did not have a ministerial delegation to
match that presented by President Barack Obama.
“You can see a betrayal of
officialdom and bureaucracy in that. Our own Secretary of State should have met
with the American Secretary of State, not the president jumping into a meeting
with him. It is an embarrassment to the country.
Credit: Vanguard
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