“Evey man is a prisoner, either of the law or of the conscience”
By Peter Abulu
It has been reported that the immediate past Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki has threatened to mobilize international forces against Governor Okpebholo to ensure that President Tinubu does not win the 2027 presidential election in Edo State.
Just imagine Obaseki who was Governor of Edo State when he boasted that he would burn Nigeria if APC won the governorship election in the State in 2024.
APC won the election and alas! Obaseki hurriedly left the country before the expiration of his tenure and without the decency of personally handing over to his successor in office.
He couldn’t even wait to burn the heaps of refuse littered around the ring road in Benin city and other places in Edo State, not to talk of burning Nigeria.
The only thing he burnt was the huge Edo State resources he spent from the election petition tribunal up to the supreme court of Nigeria trying to “reclaim” a mandate he was never given in the first place by Edo people.
How can the same Obaseki now do from outside Nigeria what he couldn’t do when he was in the country as Governor with all the resources he had and his international connections.
What Obaseki doesn’t seem to know is that he had fulfilled a traditional generational tragedy, and suffered a concomitant irreversible political annihilation.
He is now in his political menopause, from where he only exist by wishful thinking.
Whoever wants to understand the man called Obaseki, should read the book “Nemesis of Power” by the late Professor Philip Igbafe.
They will discover that Godwin Obaseki was not a mistake, but a man who only came to fulfil a mission in destiny!
Therefore, he can only find a reprieve for the rest of his life by asking the people he misled to forgive his errors, because he was possessed by a spirit beyond his control.
It may then be possible for Edo people and the world to show him some sympathy, because as they say, no man can negotiate what has been destined by the gods.
Otherwise, Obaseki will remain a global fugitive with an eternally guilty conscience.
* Peter Abulu is a lawyer with Penthouse & Co