For the better part of the last twenty-four hours, some supporters and sympathisers of former Governor Godwin Obaseki have made a pastime of following my comments around Facebook, insulting me and accusing me of “eating my vomit” because I left the PDP and chose to support Governor Monday Okpebholo.
I am neither surprised nor troubled.
I was insulted when I supported President Goodluck Jonathan. I was insulted when I supported Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu. I was insulted when I supported Asue Ighodalo. Today, I am being insulted because I support Monday Okpebholo.
It comes with the territory.
Anyone who represents political causes in the media understands that insults are occupational hazards. More amusing is that some of the same people insulting me today praised me to high heavens when I deployed the same voice, intellect and energy in support of Asue Ighodalo.
I was brilliant then. Courageous. Articulate. Principled.
Apparently, those virtues disappeared the moment my political judgement ceased to coincide with theirs.
Their insults therefore do nothing to me. Many are simply incapable of interrogating politics beyond personalities, slogans and herd sentiment. Once you leave their camp, reasoning ends and abuse begins.
Let me also correct one deliberate distortion.
I did not join the PDP in 2024 to support Godwin Obaseki. I joined the PDP specifically to support Asue Ighodalo.
Asue was my candidate. I believed in him and campaigned vigorously for him. The fact that Obaseki supported the same candidate placed us on the same side of that particular contest. It neither made me his disciple nor imposed an eternal obligation on me to always support him or side with his politics.
I have no personal quarrel with Godwin Obaseki. My disagreements with him are political.
When I subsequently concluded that remaining in the PDP no longer represented the most useful course for me or Edo State, I left openly. I wrote THAT EDO MAY WIN. I granted interviews. I explained myself.
My position remains simple: political platforms may change, but the ultimate duty of leadership remains constant — to advance the common good.
I had earlier written FROM LAMENTATION TO LEVERAGE, arguing that politics rewards organisation, engagement, alliances and leverage more than perpetual outrage. Progress is sometimes secured not by remaining permanently outside the room shouting, but by entering the room and helping to shape outcomes.
I meant it.
I saw a PDP increasingly dysfunctional and lacking strategic direction. I saw an Okpebholo administration gathering momentum. I met the Governor, listened to his vision and concluded that I could contribute more meaningfully to Edo’s progress by supporting that effort than by remaining in opposition merely to impress political spectators. Moreso as PDP was heading for the precipice, I had to abandon…
What exactly should I apologise for?
If changing political platforms amounts to “eating vomit”, then Nigeria must be suffering from a national epidemic.
Peter Obi has traversed APGA, PDP, Labour Party, ADC and now NDC. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso has moved through PDP, APC, NNPP, ADC and now NDC.
Yet when their political heroes move, it is strategy, coalition-building and principle.
When Daniel Osa-Ogbegie moves, it is “food is ready”, “stomach infrastructure “.
What extraordinary moral arithmetic!
I cannot take seriously a people who suddenly discover Seriake Dickson as an oracle of reform and political integrity, while investing Peter Obi and Kwankwaso with almost messianic attributes. These are politicians. They make alliances, change platforms, calculate and respond to circumstances.
The proper questions are: Why did you move? What do you stand for? What public purpose does your decision serve?
I have answered mine.
I was a lawyer before partisan politics and built my professional life outside government. I do not require political office to validate my existence.
There is also a warning I must give.
Some people apparently believe they possess an unlimited licence to interrogate my politics, motives and character, while the politicians whose battles they fight must remain beyond scrutiny.
That arrangement will not work.
I have no personal quarrel with Godwin Obaseki and would rather leave him alone. However, if his supporters insist on making me their daily political entertainment, they may eventually compel me to stop answering the foot soldiers and undertake a proper interrogation of the political record of the man whose cause inspires their newfound enthusiasm.
Nobody should mistake restraint for inability.
You cannot continually throw stones from a political compound and demand diplomatic immunity for the landlord.
I supported Asue Ighodalo when I believed that was right. Today, I support Monday Okpebholo because I believe his success offers Edo State the better prospect.
History will judge my decision. I am comfortable with its verdict.
My politics is not the politics of perpetual lamentation.
It is the politics of leverage, engagement and results.
Most importantly, it is the politics of Edo State.
I have made my choice, explained it and accepted responsibility for it.
I will not apologise for choosing Edo.
That Edo may win.
