Why I want to lead Edo State - LP Aspirant, Igbinedion

BY SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

A frontline governorship aspirant on the platform of the Labour Party (LP) Edo State, Hon Dele Igbinedion, has said that his interest in seeking gubernatorial seat in 2024 governorship election is to reposition the state and bring it back to its lost glory.

Addressing newsmen in Benin City, Edo State capital at the weekend, Hon. Igbinedion lamented the decaying of infrastructure in the state, stressing that the deplorable condition of these facilities showed that “We do not have a government that understands governance.”

Igbinedion, an ex-parliamentarian noted, “Government in a democracy is supposed to be about the people, it is supposed to be for the people. Every policy of government must be people friendly, people oriented, people valued but unfortunately we have a government and we have had successive governments in this state which is anti people, which sees the people as objects to be crushed, as objects to be sat upon.”

The legal practitioner said that if elected as governor, he would change the relationship between the government and the people through people-oriented programmes and policies, pointing out that governance is a social contract.

His words:

“Nothing is working in Edo. Edo is on autopilot. A good example is the central hospital which has been brought down and a museum called, EMOWAN (MOWAA) is being built in the place. No sane Government would do such.

“The Central library where people used to go and read, a place which serves as a resource center, has been brought down and a shopping mall is being built in its stead.

“No sane Government does that. They wanted to bring down the Nigeria Union of Journalists complex if not that the uproar was somewhat difficult to manage.

“They went somewhere in Benin and they said they want to build a new Benin and they destroyed it, took over the peoples landed properties and they said they are building a public/partnership stuff.

“The state needs a Government friendly style of governance. No new doctors have been employed since inception of this administration, go to the Education sector, no teachers have been employed.

“Recently, we had to take the state government to court to say that you cannot take primary six exams on behalf of National Association of private school proprietors, you can not take primary six exams which used to be done by pupils at the end of third term and you now say you are doing primary six exams in second term, then they now have one full term without any academic work.

“In my village after they finished the exams in second term, the pupils stopped going to school and as such there is no more primary six anymore. When I asked the teachers, they said that the government said that they should be teaching them computers.

“Apparently they brought in one or two computers for them but then the people are not interested. The teacher that is entrusted with the task of teaching the computer class is not computer literate.

“Look at the road to Ekpoma, recently, people died in Ovia. That is something that could have taken the government about 5million to provide some palliative measure to rectify the failed portion as it is not the whole stretch of the road that needs to be repaired to save lives, but no, they won’t do that. Look at that Ekpoma road, that is no longer a road, it is now Benin-Auchi gully.

“What does it take for a responsible government to fix that instead of driving around in bullet proof cars. I will continue to say that we don’t have a government in Edo state.

“We need a Government that is people oriented in Edo. We need a people friendly Government in Edo state. Go to government house now and say you want to see the governor, you can’t see him, is that what it is supposed to be?.

“When I was a member of the House of Assembly, by 6 Am, people from my constituency and all over Edo are already seated in my sitting room waiting to see me. So, we don’t have a Government with a human face in Edo. And that is the first thing that we need to be in place.

“Most often times, politicians who aspire to position of leadership seems to know all the problems and also the answers to the problems but as soon as they get there, they begin to do something else.

Asked if he will not play the same role of perceived insensitivity to the masses like some of his predecessors, the human rights activist; retorted, “In Edo state, we have never had people like me who have what it takes to fix the problems. Some of the people that have governed Edo state have never really been from Edo.

“What I mean by that is that they never actually lived here in Edo with Edo people. They are diaspora. The present governor Obaseki was living in Lagos. He doesn’t even know where Ugbegun or where Abudu is.

“Before him was Mr. Adams Oshiomhole. He was living in Abuja. They said he was born in Kaduna grew up in Kaduna and lived all his life in Kaduna and other places before becoming the labour president.

“All he knew was that he is from Edo state but he never lived here. Before him was Professor Osunbor and so on.

“The difference that we bring is first and foremost, we are home grown. We were born here, we grew up here, we live here. I have children studying in government schools here, I go to Central Hospital, my wife does her anti natal in Central Hospital, I use the bad roads, all my friends are here not in Lagos.

“I don’t have a house in Abuja or in Lagos. My houses are in Benin and I live my life in Benin and in my village, so that is the difference. If you have an idea and during the weekend you just fly out of the state, you will not implement them.

“When you see the village people around you, you get irritated because their main friends are not here, they are from outside. In the United States even in London, you can not aspire to any elective office or political representation except you have lived in that place for at least one year, it is a requirement.

“But now we have one of the persons contesting against me has lived in America for the past 24 years. He only visits Nigeria for a week and goes back and now he wants to be governor.

“How do you expect such a person to even understand the problems and challenges of the people. So, the difference between me and those people is that I am home grown and on ground and I have been here working for the people through my law practice and my small activities being a voice for the voiceless here in Edo.

“If I can do so much in my personal capacity how much more if entrusted with government opportunities for the people”, he said.

Editor

Jude Ossai (JP) a veteran journalist is a National Diploma holder in Mass Communication from Ogwashi-Uku Polytechnic Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State. He also studied at Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) Enugu and Imo State University, Owerri for his first and second degrees in Mass Communication, respectively. He writes extensively on politics, crime, corruption, climate change, healthcare, human rights, social justice, among others.