Fear, anger, disappointment and frustration are the words to describe what has gripped the camp of the Labour Party governorship candidate for Edo, Mr Olumide Akpata, following the refusal of the Edo chapter of the Obidient Movement to support the Labour Party man.
Instead, the movement has thrown its weight behind the candidate of the central ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Monday Okpebholo.
The large splinter group of the movement has said Akpata is unelectable and decided to pitch their tent with Okpebholo, who was elected into the Senate in 2023.
The remnants of the movement have thrown their support for the state ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) whose candidate is Asue Ighodalo, a consummate lawyer and business mogul.
The movement pledged their support for the APC and its candidate on Monday.
The first group in the movement had also pledged their support for the PDP candidate a few weeks ago.
The group, comprising members from the Edo South Senatorial District, on Monday, said they were supporting Okpebholo because of his close ties with the people.
The development is crippling the Labour Party campaign as its campaign is not gaining traction.
The Obidient Movement is a formidable group, which emerged a few months after its National head, Mr Peter Obi, defected to the Labour Party and became its presidential candidate in 2022.
The movement which takes its name from Obi, successfully pushed the Labour Party to national consciousness leading to the victories of Alex Otti of Abia as governor, and Ireti Kingibe as FCT Senator among others in the Senate, House of Representatives, State Assemblies among others.
The movement was mostly made up of young Nigerians, some Gen-Z (those born between 1997 and 2012 also called Zoomers) gave Obi their unalloyed support and saw him emerge third during the presidential election.
Members of the movement, which is organic and leaderless, have often said their support is not to any party but to personality, which they say must be based on integrity, a word they often ascribe to Peter Obi.
But any hope for Akpata to upend the political status quo which oscillates in favour of PDP and APC in the state appears to be dashed months away from the election.
This has sent shock waves across the Akpata campaign forcing the Labour Party’s Publicity Secretary in the state, Sam Uruopa, to slam the movement describing it as absurd.
Uruopa said, “It is absurd to hear that Obidient movement is supporting Okpebholo just the way some also said they were Obidient movement for Asue Ighodalo.
“The Obidient movement is synonymous with the Labour Party and is integral members of the party,” he stated.
He added, “They have forgotten so soon how the party was denied the use of the Sam Ogbemudia Stadium before the presidential election.
“So, how can these people now say they are Obidient members and they are supporting Okpebholo or Ighodalo?
“For me, they have run out of ideas and do not know what they are doing at this point. They cannot be Obidient movement and work against the party’s candidate, Olumide Akpata.”
Akpata did not react to the development when contacted at the time of filing this report.