With the Edo State governorship election barely two months away, pundits are wondering if the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) can actualise its new campaign slogan by unseating the All Progressives Congress (APC) on September 10.

In the buildup to the Edo State governorship election slated for September 10, the PDP’s new slogan is: ‘Change the change,’ and discussions and jingles at all their gatherings and rallies are tailored towards that theme.

But with the leadership crisis rocking the party at the national level, coupled with the two governorship candidates that emerged for the governorship election, political observers wonder if the slogan will manifest eventually.

The way it is at the centre, so it is in the state, as there are two chairmen seeking recognition. Senator Ahmed Makarfi’s faction has Chief Dan Orbih as its chairman while Senator Ali Modu Sheriff group has Chief Ebenezer Alabi.

Interestingly, after the court judgment that recognised Sheriff, he immediately suspende Orbih and appointed Alabi as the caretaker chairman to oversee the affair of the party pending the election of substantive chairman.

Meanwhile, as a result of the crisis, the two factions held separate primary elections to pick their candidates for the governorship election. While Makarfi’s faction picked Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, the Sheriff faction picked Mathew Iduoriyekemwen.

Iduoriyekemwen contested against Iyamu in the June 20 primary election, but after losing the contest which he described as fraudulent, he went to pick the nomination form of the Sheriff faction and emerged as the governorship candidate.

His opponent in that contest, a member of the House of Representatives, Ehiozuwa Agbonnayima, representing Ipoba-Okah/Egor federal constituency, said the law recognised only Sheriff as the authentic national chairman hence they have to submit themselves to the rule of law.

However, while the Makarfi faction sold the nomination and expression of interest form at N16 million, Sheriff’s group brought the cost of theirs down to N10 million.

PDP members in the state, especially those of Makarfi’s group, have consistently claimed that there is no faction in the party and that the issue of two candidates does not even arise in the first place.

Those who hold this opinion argue that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) monitored only the primary which produced Ize-Iyamu and as such the question of two candidates in one party fighting for the election is out of the matter.

Besides, analysts believe that what is obvious is the fact that there are two PDP flag bearers with their supporters believing that theirs is the authentic candidate.

Interestingly, the Makarfi-led faction has flagged-off its campaign with the assurance of winning the September 10 governorship election. At the flag-off, party leaders opined that in the quest for electoral victory, the PDP is one indivisible entity in the state.

Buttressing the point, a former minister of information and a chieftain of the party, Prof. Jerry Gana, said from all indications, Makarfi is the authentic national chairman of PDP. He noted that with the latest court judgment recognising the ex-governor of Kaduna State, it has put to rest the issue of who is the authentic national Chairman.

At the time of filing this report, the Sheriff-led faction was yet to flag-off its campaign.

Despite the denial by the PDP that there are two candidates for the election, some pundits believe that if the issue is not quickly resolved, it may affect the chances of the party in the election. But there are others who believe that this may not have effect the party because Iduoriyekemwen has no followership in the state like Ize-Iyamu.

Those who think the crisis will adversely affect the party say the legal tussle may go to the Supreme Court and that if the apex court eventually recognises Sheriff as the authentic chairman, it would then mean that the PDP has no candidate for the election since INEC was said not to have monitored their primary.

David Ugolor told Daily Trust that as it is now, no reasonable person would go and put his vote in the party that is in crisis. “It portends great danger for the PDP because it is only a madman that would vote for a party that is not organised and the crisis between the two chairmen would send a negative message to the electorate in the governorship election in Edo state,” the political pundit said.

“What is happening in the PDP is really unfortunate, because the crisis reflects the characters in the party. Most of the political parties are an assemblage of individuals looking for opportunity for economic livelihood.  Since the PDP lost power last year, things began to fall apart as they were not able to organised themselves around any ideology again,” he said.

“The main stay of the party was to get power and money and since they lost out less than a year now, the party is in problem. The same thing will happen to APC if they lost power tomorrow because they don’t represent anything that can stand out of power,” Ugolor said.

“To me one of the key messages that would be taken in this election is that a party that is not organised will not be able to generate the political will to end poverty in Edo State therefore, my advice to the political actors in the PDP crisis is to rise up to the challenge and quickly put their house in order, because the crisis is destroying the party,” he added.

But another observer, Nosa Osifo, said the crisis would not in any way have any effect on the election. “All the bigwigs in the Edo PDP are with Makarfi and Ize-Iyamu. Iduoriyekemwen and Sheriff have no supporters in the state enough that may become a clog in the political ambition of the PDP and Ize-Iyamu,” he stated.

He said Ize-Iyamu flagged-off his campaign with all the PDP actors and leaders in attendance, adding that the fact that Iduoriyekemwen was yet to flag-off his campaign was a clear indication that PDP has no faction in the election.

However, as it stands today, only September 10 will prove whether the crisis has affected the party or not.