The presidential primary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, held last week in Abuja produced a man many of his political associates refer to as a ‘unifier’; a man who is politically experienced, being privileged to occupy the number two position of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As being referred to by some persons particularly his political associates, the emergence Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, as the presidential flag-bearer of the party, many believe, would unify the party and bring warring factions in different states of the country under the big umbrella as one family.

For instance, the Edo State chapter of the party has been, in recent time, embroiled in an internecine dispute.  The battle is of which faction between the Dan Orbih and Obaseki’s should exercise control of the party structure in the state. Obaseki, immediately after his re-election, as the leader of the party going by the PDP constitution, had made several attempts to take control of the party structure from the ‘old executive’ to replace them with what he referred to as ‘harmonized executive.’

Though the national body of the party at a time tried to wade in to see if it could resolve the logjam with the setting up of the Gov Samuel Ortom-led committee, the report of that committee barely scratched the surface of the deeply rooted crisis. The ruling party was still reeling in that state of chaos and confusion until it went into the serious business of electing party candidates during its primaries. And of course, the rancor and division in the party resulted in the party conducting parallel primaries and consequently producing parallel candidates for different elective positions.

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It is, however, of the belief that the coming of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, an old political warhorse, as the party’s presidential flag-bearer would ultimately be the soothing balm that will compel the acrimonious combatants to sheathe sword and embrace peace.

The hope of a possible and quick resolution of the intractable Edo PDP crisis is anchored on the premise of the campaign theme of Atiku as the “unifier”.

Political observers in the state are of the firm belief that the Wazirin Adamawa possesses the clout to restore peace and stability to the crisis-ridden since the majority of the power brokers in the centre of the tussle have at one time or another belonged to his political camp.

Dr. Tony Aziegbemi, the party’s state chairman and also an apostle of unification, is one of those confident that the end is in sight as regards the crisis rocking the state chapter of the party. His optimism is based on the emergence of Atiku Abubakar as well as the magic wand his aura and clout will bring to bear on compelling the contending political forces to adopt moderate positions rather than extreme positions that tend to tug vigorously on the heart of the party.

Besides, pundits are also of the view that Atiku’s intervention will settle the power tussle between the chief protagonists, Gov Obaseki and Chief Dan Orbih, both of whom seem to hold the ace in the crisis rocking the party in the state.

Joe Ebi, is an Edo-based journalist and affairs analyist