OBASEKI'S VICTORY: EDO NO BE LAGOS, A MESSAGING PAR EXCELLENCE.

ICHEOKU says President Donald John Trump did it in 2016 with his 'Make America Great Again' battle cry and Governor Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki of Edo State Nigeria proved that it works any time with his 'Edo No Be Lagos' campaign mantra which helped him win a second term. His reelection battle plan was anchored on 'Edo No Be Lagos' and it paid bigly. It is a basic rule of society that appealing to the patriotic pride of a people always helps in mobilizing the best in them, the human spirit to identify with a cause favorable to them and then fiercely battle to protect it as a collective. Barack Obama's "Yes We Can" also belongs in this genre of message that rivets. 

You can call it pandering to the human instinct to rise up and protect and defend what they strongly believe belongs to them and as always, people collectively do whatever it takes to ensure that what is theirs remains theirs and not allow it to be taken away by some strangers. President Donald John Trump successfully invoked it in 2016 and Nigerian's Edo State Governor Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki exploited it very well in his reelection victory few days ago. Both men successfully convinced their people to adopt them as their candidate, invest in their election and to have a stake in the election outcome; and the rest is now history. 

Both men made their people to identify, acknowledge and recognize their fight as a fight for them and that some people who are not of their society are trying to use renegade members of their society to steal what belongs to the people. That convinced them that the only way to prevent this from happening is to support their candidature as that is the only viable protective bulwark against the threatening invasion and assured deprivation. 

ICHEOKU says nothing stirs the human spirit more than making them believe that what is theirs is at a crisis point of being permanently lost, taken away, stolen by strangers and foreigners who are not entitled to it because they do not belong in their society and therefore shouldn't have taken what belongs to them. It is literally a mind game and it works any time it has been methodically applied. 

ICHEOKU says does not know how much of a good governance which Governor Obaseki brought to Edo State in his first term; but says that the fresh impetus supplied to him with his reelection victory should encourage him to do more, in order to show the people of Edo State that he understood and appreciates their uncommon favorable sentiment which galvanized them to vote to reelect him for a second term. 

What he didn't do or failed to do in the first term, he should do now and what he did that needs some improvements, he should improve now; and in that way help assure that he rightly earned the mandate given to him by his people of Edo State. He earned their trust and they believed in him that "Edo No Be Lagos" and fought to protect their Edo State from foreign invaders from Lagos, Kano and Abuja. He must now try to earn their respect and admiration by working tirelessly for their benefit to show them that their trust was rightly placed and that he remains eternally grateful to them. Also that the mandate which they gave him will be a mandate of benefit for Edo State and that they will not regret their decision. 

Overall it was a free, fair and non violent election. The usual election brigandry often associated with elections in Nigeria was greatly reduced to almost a near statistically non existent. ICHEOKU commends the Nigerian police and other security agencies for a good job well done by ensuring that a conducive atmosphere existed for the people to safely cast their ballots. INEC also deserves commendation for organizing a free and fair election and concluding it quickly by announcing the results immediately with no room given for manipulations. President Muhammadu Buhari equally earned commendation for not engaging in the notorious 'do or die' politics of former President Olusgeun Obasanjo who never tolerated any opposition party during his administration. 

The two candidates PDP's Godwin Obaseki and APC's Ize Iyamu and their political parties deserve commendation too for upholding their pledge to eschew violence during the election. Rivers State's Governor Nyesom WIke should also be commended for successfully leading the PDP's campaign battle to regain Edo State. Lastly, Edo State people deserves a shout out for showing greatness by conducting themselves peacefully well during the election and for sending a clear telegram to Bourdillion Avenue that indeed 'Edo No Be Lagos'. Lagos was founded by a Bini King and not the other way round, so Lagos cannot expect Edo to be Lagos; instead Lagos should strive to be Edo as in Lagos Be Edo. 

ICHEOKU says also agrees with President Buhari that democracy means nothing if the peoples votes does not count and their mandate fraudulently tampered with. Way to go Mr President. 

ICHEOKU says cannot complete this article without mentioning the hypocrisy observed by Governor Wike of Rivers State about Nigerian political elites. According to him, a case where a president without certificate is president of Nigeria and a man who was a tailor once was governor of Edo State, yet a candidate who is a university graduate but who merely secured admission into the university with a lesser credit score suitability for office was being questioned is simply hypocritical. A case made more dumbfounding because the same fella whose certificate was questioned was previously elected governor of Edo State and was only seeking a reelection and you wonder why he was qualified the first time but suddenly was no longer qualified. 

ICHEOKU says thankfully the certificate imbroglio was successfully resolved in the favor  of the reelected governor before the election and his fitness for office has now been firmly cemented with the favorable outcome of the election. ICHEOKU says congratulations is in order here and hereby congratulates the reelected Edo State Governor Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki. ICHEOKU says prays that he brings good, better and improved governance to his Edo State people in his second term. That way he would have truly earned the trust which they reposed on him by voting to reelect him for a second term. God's speed Governor 'Seki.