Oshiomhole: The Raging Bull In A China Shop

 Adams Oshiomhole obviously thought he was larger than life and he mistook his rise to prominence as the result of his smartness. He saw himself as a political lion whose roar sent jitters through all and sundry. He must have become too used to being in power and its corridors to assume he was Hercules or perhaps even Zeus over mere mortals.

Coming from an eight year reign as labour leader who stood like an applauded collosus over Nigeria, dictating all labour actions especially against government policies and receiving both ready compliance and obeisance from the Nigerian people, Oshiomhole must have seen himself as a force to reckon with in the polity.

His further rise to the government house in Benin City as governor of Edo State turned him into a giant, a usual attribute of shortmen - power makes shortmen very tall that they dwarf Goliath. He took on the godfathers of Edo politics and spared no one. Oshiomhole was fearless and confrontational and took on personalities no less than the late Chief Tony Anienih, the Edo strongman and later on Chief Tom Ikimi who had stood solidly by him on his way to government house. The Igbinedions were not spared. It was stupefying when Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu revealed in later years that former governor Lucky Igbinedion was among Oshiomhole's financiers when he contested for the governorship.

Obviously, Oshiomhole was creating political foes and indeed he created many. He disillusioned civil servants who had expected that as a former labour leader he would protect their interests. He never did. He even went so low as to take food out of the mouths of poo traders.

After Tom Ikimi left the APC and returned to the PDP, Oshiomhole went to Ikimi's hometown while campaigning for Buhari in 2015 and stood before the people and told them that Ikimi was always looking for ready soup to eat.

For Oshiomhole, he had venom in his mouth and that was his ready weapon, he could take anyone to the cleaners. For him again, he could dress any spruced up person in very sordid garbs. No one was exempted except those he still considered benefactors for the time being. 

Oshiomhole was a typical raging bull running berserk in a shop filled with chinawares, his loose mouth adept at spewing verbal excreta was his strong armour. When his two terms as governor of Edo state was up, he chose to be the godfather of Edo politics by installing a stooge to ensure his continued grip on power in Edo politics. Godwin Obaseki's seemingly unintelligent  appearance must have fooled him to pick Obaseki as his replacement . Godfathers usually want people they can control and those who are faultlessly subservient, loyal and seemingly foolish are their usual best picks. Nobody wants the Nnamani-Chime saga. However, godfathers are hardly mindful of what power does to people. Kwankwaso-Ganduje, Duke-Imoke, and even Igbinedion-Oshiomhole if we are to go by Ize-Iyamu's revelation, are some incidences where power changed the lackey to a brutal master against his benefactor. 

Obaseki disappointed Oshiomhole. 

Oshiomhole became the national chairman of the All Progressive Congress and he continued his rampaging, head-butting everybody on his way. While seeking support for the office, he had visited the then President of the senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki to seek his support but once he became the chairman, he began to mercilessly ram his goathead into Saraki and his likes who were disgruntled with Buhari's style of governance.

Oshiomhole who had once called Dr. Chris Ngige his twin brother and said they were Aki and Pawpaw when he was governor, was quick to attack Ngige over the NSITF board. He arrogated so much powers to himself, warning Ngige, a federal Minister, that he would not tolerate rubbish like Buhari from him and threatening to expel him from the party if he did not obey his wish. Of course, we can trust the irrespressible Ngige.

Oshiomhole went brutal in his hard hitting on APC members. He was a man of no tact and certainly no diplomacy. He wanted everything his way and in the interests of his overlords. He had only two of them. Tinubu was the first and Buhari was the second but temporary. Of course, it is still a matter of time, Oshiomhole would one day subject Buhari to his venomous invectives.

Oshiomhole's ascendance to the party top office only weakened the party. He chased away many members who had grievances. Rather than resolve issues with them, he opened his sardonic mouth and spewed scathing invectives on them. In the end, they moved away from the party and depleted the ranks. Saraki, Melayi, Tambulwa, Shehu Sani and many others including the then house of representatives speaker, Yakubu Dogara crossed carpet. Oshiomhole only boasted of their electoral irrelevance.

He made mockery of his party and exposed Buhari's unserious fight against corruption when he said once a corrupt person crosses to APC, his sins were forgiven. That was calamitous!

In 2016, while he was forcing Obaseki on Edo people, he ignored Ize-Iyamu's previous contributions to his ambition and rather destroyed his person before the Edo people. He simply told them that Ize-Iyamu was a misfit for the office of governor. He said the pastor gentleman was a thief and he was only wielding the Bible to cover his ugly sins.

Upon becoming the godfather of Edo politics, he set to run the state by proxy. He got disillusioned because Obaseki unlike him was not all about sheer brawn, he had brains too. Obaseki outsmarted him and took total control of his government. Oshiomhole could not be sober. In his mind, he was the lion of  Edo and once hurt, he would pounce like an angry lion.

Relying on his privilege as the party national chairman, he boasted that he would remove Obaseki from office afterall he was now the voice of Edo, whatever he wanted, the hapless people had no choice. He was their kingmaker. Such overbloated ego and a sheer disregard of the stellar stuff the Edo people are made of.

Oshiomhole chased Obaseki out of APC after ensuring that the governor did not scale the screening exercise. Obaseki went to the opposition PDP. APC lost Edo state to the PDP on account of Oshiomhole's politics of personal vendetta. 

Oshiomhole courted Osagie Ize-Iyamu whose character he had rubbished and made very unattractive for any sale. He brought Ize-Iyamu to checkmate Obaseki and he subsequently hijacked Ize-Iyamu's campaign. That was the message to the Edo people. How did he expect the people to buy a product he had told them was very bad and a misfit? 

Few days to the election, Oshiomhole boasted on Channels TV that he was a political lion and Obaseki was a political lizard and wondered how a political lizard could defeat a political lion. Well, time has told who the political lizard really is and certainly as event has shown it is not Obaseki.

It has been days since Gov. Obaseki was declared winner and we are yet to hear a whimper from Oshiomhole. He has broken all the chinawares in the shop and now he is spent, defeated, conquered, overthrown and he is in hiding, quietly licking his wounds. I often tell people to mind their mouth before a fight otherwise they would have no mouth after the fight. This is the case of Oshiomhole, his loudmouth bragged about teaching Obaseki a lesson and now, where is his voice? 

The riotous jubilation that greeted Obaseki's triumph all across Edo state is a pointer that indeed Obaseki was their choice. That only translates to the fact that they have rejected Oshiomhole.

This is certainly the end of Oshiomhole in Nigerian politics. I see more woes for him in APC because those silent  enemies he has created within the rank and file of party faithfuls are cleaning and oiling their arsenals to attack him for the monumental loss of Edo to PDP. The bull is calm now, he can no longer rage, his ego is broken. He is now the hero whose greed, badmouth, penchant for vengeance and inordinate appetite for insatiable power and control have brought him to his knees and he's now a villain with no chance for self redemption. He has been reduced to his actual diminutive size, his humiliation is the only thing that is towering for him. Now the lion is tamed, he can no longer roar but meow silently.