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!
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 electio
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