By DADA AYOKHAI
The news about the sudden resignation of Mrs. Omua Oni- Okpaku from the Edo state cabinet recently crept into town and has since remained a subject of conjecture.
Before her resignation, Mrs. Oni- Okpaku was the Edo State Commissioner for Environment and sustainability.
The details behind her sudden resignation were scanty and, to make matters worse, it was supplied by those in opposition to the second term bid of Governor Godwin Obaseki.
But then, in this election season, we are likely to witness more unusual phenomenal and endless possibilities of flip-flops in the polity.
The resignation of Mrs. Okpaku is just one of such. The state government is yet to officially react to her resignation, hence there has been a groundswell of conjectures surrounding the sudden and impromptu resignation of the Owan West representives at the state executive council.
The inability of the state government to issue a formal statement, either as a rebuttal or confirmation, has given added filip to all manners of stories flying around town.
Many view Mrs. Oni- Okpaku’s resignation as a plot to spite her principal as well as send a solidarity message to the Pastor Osagie Ize Iyamu camp.
This is not be the first time such an unusual resignation of a commissioner of the state government from Owan West Local Government would take place in Edo state.
In 2012, Mrs. Inumidun Idehen, from Owan West Local Government resigned her appointment as the Commissioner of Women Affairs and Development few months to her principal, Comrade Oshiomole’s, election and joined the opposition.
Governor Oshiomhole’s then acting swiftly based on intelligence reports at its disposal as well as create an impression that all was well with the administration quickly issued a press release about the sacking of the commissioner bordering on corruption related issues.
The PDP quickly made a mincemeat of Mrs. Indehen’s resignation and eventual defection. At a rally in Ozalla,her hometown, the former PDP state chairman, Chief Dan Orbih, formally received her into the party fold. Mrs. Idehen soon dumped the PDP and returned to the APC after the defeat of the PDP candidate, Maj Gen Charles Airhiavbere (retd), lost the election.
The resignation of Mrs. Oni- Okpaku has also brought to fore the differences in style between Gov Obaseki and his predecessor.
Governor obaseki seems a little bit more mellowed in his approaches to issues of defections by members of his cabinet unlike Oshiomhole brash style of doing things. Thus, Obaseki’s posturings show that he prefers to allow the sleeping dogs lie and worries less if any of his aides or commissioners decides to jump ship at least in the spirit of free entry and exit which democracy is all about.
Mrs. Oni- Okpaku from the Ora axis in Owan West local government and her sudden resignation without cogent reasons sparked of following the footsteps of her kinswoman, Mrs. inumidun Idehen.
This pattern of resignation in the peak of a major election is now being seen as worrisome and peculiar to commissioners from Owan West local government.
[ Pundits have attributed Mrs. Oni -Okpaku’s sudden resignation as an Owan West script aimed at embarrassing Gov Obaseki and his administration, insisting such character traits portend grave danger on how Owan West future commissioners is perceived in the larger political space in the state.
Observers have described the ugly trend as “worrisome” and casting aspersions on the integrity of commissioners from Owan West Local Government Area.
They posited further that in the long run, such character traits may come to represent how an average Owan West representives at the state cabinet is perceived in the state’s political landscape as well as determine the level of trust and loyalty others may repose in them.
