Shortly before the August 10, 2002 Council elections in Edo State, the motorcade of Dr Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia, the two-time governor of the old Midwest/Bendel state rode into Ehor in Uhunmwode Local Government Area of the state to attend to a small matter. With him were Mrs Daisy Danjuma, wife of General T.Y. Danjuma and at the time an Edo South senatorial aspirant; Samson Osagie of the Edo House of Assembly; Henry Osawe, PDP Chairman of Uhunmwode; Roland Alari, the Uhunmwode Local Government Council Caretaker Committee Chairman and Caesar Iyayi, an Edo industrialist and PDP chieftain amongst others. As Dr Ogbemudia stood in Ehor’s old Council hall, his tall frame surveying the claque of genuflecting and obsequious partymen and women falling over themselves to honour him and as he listened half-interestedly to the long-winded eulogy by Dr Iyayi, he had standing by his side a young man. When Dr Iyayi finished his praise-song, Ogbemudia, who had just been described as “the only leader in Uhunmwode” then turned to the young man and raised his hands in part introduction and part celebration, declaring him there and then the “consensus” candidate for Uhunmwode Local Government Chairmanship position and promising he was going to continue in his footsteps of bringing development closer to the people. The young man was Eghosa Ogbemudia, an ex-convict and a fraud, son to the old soldier.
According to court documents obtained by Saharareporters, on June 20, 1996, Eghosa Ogbemudia and his friend, Wally Bamdele were convicted of six counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit fraud in Rhode Island, United States. The evidence showed that Eghosa Ogbemudia, with the assistance of Wally Bamdele recruited other persons to whom he gave cheques to pay into their own accounts. These persons then on his instructions would then withdraw the money in cash a few days later and give most of the money to Eghosa and Wally. The criminal scheme was possible because the banks allowed the withdrawals even before the validity of the cheques were ascertained. Eghosa Ogbemudia and Wally Bambele bagged 51 and 46 months of prison terms respectively.They were also sentenced to five years of supervised release, which on deportation became translated to five years of exile from the United States. They were also ordered to make restitution to the tune of fifty-five thousand, six hundred and fifty dollars ($55,650) to the defrauded bank. Ogbemudia and his accomplice appealed the Rhode Island District Court’s decision, but this was upheld per curiam by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit on March 9 1998. In spite of the fact that information about Eghosa’s conviction is known to the security services, there’s a strong indication that they covered this up and Eghosa was allowed to ‘contest’ and win the election and take office as the Uhunmwode Local Government Chairman when indeed he should have been disqualified.
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Even those who protested under the banner of a group known as the Concerned Uhunmwode Progressives only protested on the ground that a free and fair election was not allowed, not on the ground that he was a convict. They reportedly made several protests to the party leaders in the state, but at every point they met a roadblock. However, because all this was happening at a time Samuel Ogbemudia was supposedly not on good terms with his party or President Obasanjo over his call for a South-South president in 2003 (an idea he was supposedly working on with the convening of the Bendel Consultative Council at his home at the time), the Aigbekan Igbinovia-led Concerned Uhunmwode Progressives interpreted this to mean an appeasement for Ogbemudia. They felt this was something the PDP was giving him to stop him decamping to another party. This interpretation was given more credence by the fact that Governor Lucky Igbinedion himself personally presided over the installation of Eghosa during the election proper as the senior Ogbemudia was abroad at the time. However, things are getting a little heated again towards 2007 as there are strong rumours that the two godfathers in the state, Tony Anenih and Samuel Ogbemudia have hit upon the idea of installing their sons Tony Anenih (Jnr) and Eghosa Ogbemudia as Governor and Deputy-Governor come 2007, with the direct backing of Obasanjo and the presidency. This is raising a lot of ruckus in the state as opposition is mounting against the idea. Most of those opposed to the idea feel the state isn’t the private estate of the Anenihs, Igbinedions and the Ogbemudias. In the particular case of Eghosa, his tenure as Local Government Chairman is considered a disaster, marked especially by his frivolous fritting away of Council funds and absenteeism. They say he’s more likely to be found gallivanting around Benin City than behind his desk at the Council headquarters in Ehor.
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