•Omo-Ojo Photo: Sun News Publishing

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The director, Media/Publicity Committee of the Oshiomhole Campaign Organisation, Mr. Omo-Ojo (JP), has x-rayed the recent election tribunal ruling, which awarded victory to foremost labour leader and governorship candidate of the Action Congress (AC), in the April 14, 2007 elections in Edo State, and posits that the state would experience a new lease of quality leadership on assumption of office.

In an interview with Daily Sun in Lagos recently, Omo-Ojo, who is also the publisher of Midwest Herald, a Benin-based provincial newspaper, fixed his optimism on the man’s unassailable credentials and the manifest determination to prove the vast majority of the masses, who voted for him, right.

“We must take an integrated approach to develop the state. We must employ high-yield ideas from individuals, who can conceive practical inexpensive modules for the different sectors of the economy.
“We must emulate the progressives states such as Lagos, Katsina, Ogun and Cross River States.”
He hints that the in-coming administration of Oshiomhole will not accept political consideration in appointing managers of the economy, pointing out that such situation rendered the state impotent in the past.
Expressing further optimism, he says, “Oshiomhole will use his wealth of local and international connections to attract public private partner initiatives to the state as a way out in the industrialisation programme of the state.

He speaks more on these and other service-oriented issues.
Edo political configuration and the election tribunal judgement
Basically, you are aware of what has happened. The election, as it were, was the subject of litigation at the tribunal level and the tribunal so discovered that the election was flawed and the victory was given to Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. Yes, the PDP and Prof. Osunbor made good their promises to appeal the verdict and I am aware that, that has happened. So, that is the point we are now in the state. But having said that, because nature abhors vacuum, I am equally aware that efforts are being made to put a government in place that will take over from Prof. Osunbor at the expiration of the appeal so that the state can move ahead to the Promised Land and the Eldorado that was promised to the Edo people during the last pre and post April 14, 2007 election.

Post-appeal tribunal in Edo State
It is in both ways. One, the anticipation is that the appeal will go in favour of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. If that happens, it will be the beginning of a new vista for the state. It will be a beginning for the real engineering and integration of good governance for the state. Because the expectation of the Edo people are so high and it is understandably so, because of the bad governance and experience that the state has gone through. The post-appeal tribunal era in the state, obviously, is feverish. The expectation is feverish to the point that the common man in the street can’t wait to experience this new leadership that was promised them.

Oshiomholes popularity in Edo State
There are two reasons for that. One is the fact that Adams as I continually said, during the campaign, is a brand. When you have a good brand, the job is half way done.
Secondly, the level of decay in the state, as at the time he came into the struggle was such that the people wanted a change, not just change, but a time change, a departure from the past. What they needed was a vehicle that would take them to the Promised Land. I always illustrate what happened as at the time Adams came into the political terrain, as what happened to the Jew when God took them out of Egypt to the Promised Land. You know, Moses was selected by God to lead the Israelites out of bondage. You know the excitement was high and the people were expectant.

That was exactly what happened when Adams came in, and brought himself out as the leader of the movement then. The state was ripe for change because of the terrible situations that was prevailing then. Infrastructure were not there, the psyche of the people have been so destroyed. Insecurity was prevalent. The politicians were fighting among themselves. People became over rich, over night, because of the plundering of the state resources. The common man at that point lost every hope in political governance.
When he came in, the message was clear. One thing is to have a good messenger, another is for you to have a good message. In Adams, we had a good messenger, and a good message. True change, a change for good.

What we promised was very simple. Change in the educational sector, change in the psyche of the people. We’ll rebuild the infrastructure. We’ll re-train people, human capital development. These are indices that you can use to identify a leader. Not the era of saying, vote for me, I will give you roads. I will give you water. As far as we were concerned, those were taken for granted. In the 21st century, we should not be talking about building roads, patching roads and sinking boreholes. These are primary responsibilities of government.

We came out with what I will call second layer developmental promises. One, Adams said, we would rebuild and re-create the human capital base, because if you train people, you have gone halfway in achieving development in every other sector. If you don’t train nurses, you won’t have enough nurses in health institutions. If you don’t train people, you won’t have good teachers. So, Adams came out with good message and that was why the masses, market women, bike riders, the ordinary people, supported him. They trust him. It was different from the PDP’s slogan of poverty alleviation. We said we would create so, so number of jobs in the state within a defined number of days. They were very clear cut messages; not the ones that are laced with rhetorics.

PDP as rampaging mob
First of all, let me start from the issue of a re-run, which I think from my own vantage position, is very slim. The possibility of a rerun is very slim. I want to say that the Action Congress, (AC), from the experience of April 14, 2007, must have learnt its lessons by now. What killed them in the April 14 election was their inability to defend the votes given to them by the masses. During campaign, we encouraged people to come out and vote, that we will protect their votes; that this time around, their votes will count. I want to say that we disappointed them to the point that we couldn’t defend their votes at that time. But they stood by Adams and they went to the tribunal. Since April 14, 2007, they have been together. They stood with Adams and AC. I want to believe they have learnt their lessons. The question of not defending their votes may not arise again.

On the issue of containing the rampaging PDP when they eventually take over the reins of government, I always believe that the only way a government will remain relevant is through service, service, service, service. First and foremost, you are in office for the service of the people and the people are so magnanimous enough that a performing leader, a performing governor, will always have their support. From the benefit of hindsight, I know that when a government is doing well, irrespective of the party, the people are always there and will throw their support behind that government. So, I think there will be no room for PDP to rampage if Adams comes in as the governor of the state. The only way to halt them is by giving service.

Actual expectation of people from Oshiomhole
For obvious reasons, Edo people are in a hurry to experience what I call real-time quality leadership. Not the present jumbled approach where you asphalt 4 kilometres of road and spend the resources for eight kilometres on sloganeering through guided media tours, TV coverage, and newspaper supplements.
We must take an integrated approach to develop the state. We must employ high-yield ideas from individuals who can conceive practical in-expensive modules for the different sectors of our economy. We must take concrete and practical steps to diversify the economy. We can no longer afford to depend on statutory allocation from the federation account. We need financial engineers and wealth growers, who can bring water out of stones at this critical period in our dear state. There is no time for political consideration in appointing people to manage the economy, because most of these people have been in the saddle since1999 and their sloppy ideas have rendered Edo State impotent.
Happily, the state is endowed with rich human capital base that the in-coming government of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole can draw from.
For us in the media, we must start early by setting the agenda for the incoming administration, using those parameteres that we promised the people during our campaigns to the 18 Local Government Areas in the state.

As one of the catalysts that brought this fresh, long-awaited change to fruition, I am aware that job creation will be a focal programme to Oshiomhole. As a labour leader, he will also take to heart, such things as the human capital development, because this is the only way we can stop the present window dressing approach to poverty reduction in the society.
The era of buying motorbikes for our youths as a way of engaging them must stop. We must take deliberate steps to train and re-train them on useful skills that will dignify them and the society. The cottage and small-scale industries will also be organised in such a way that they can access micro finance from both local and international sources.

No doubt, Oshiomhole will use his wealth of local and international connections to attract public-private partner initiatives to the state, as a way out in the industrialisation programme of the state; all these must be detailed in an integrated concrete plan that can guarantee self-assessment and scrutiny. Everything must be transparently and honestly done in such a way that people can efficiently score his achievements. We must bring the TQM (Total Quality Management) requirement to bear in our service to the people. This is the reason Lagos is well ahead of other states in infrastructural and human capital development.

I am equally aware that education will reclaim its lost glory. Public schools will be re-organised to achieve Oshiomhole’s human capital development programme in the state. Another area that he will pay special attention to is moving the state towards an ICT compliant educational system. This is the only way our pupils and graduates can be competitive in local and international educational environment and eventually, in the labour market.

More importantly, we must re-brand the state. We cannot re-invent the wheel, but we must reconstruct the psyche of our youths to think better and feel proud of Edo State. Our brothers and sisters both at home and in Diaspora must be assured that their state has been rescued from the cabal of misgovernance; that they can aspire to any height without the overbearing influence of some retrogressive institutions.
Oshiomhole’s plan is to rediscover the lost glories of the era of Midwest State and Bendel State where education and sports occupied the front burner. Oshiomhole will encourage our youths to shun violence and crime, including Internet fraud by tackling the problem of unemployment.

The task is daunting and challenging but with a careful assemblage of high net worth individuals, or as they say, “round pegs in round holes,” Edo State is set on her road to Eldorado. Edo people, especially, the so-called ordinary man, expect so much from Oshiomhole and his choices are few. They expect him to succeed. I believe he’s equipped enough to breast the tape, with the support of everyone.
Some of us have been in the vanguard of change for over seven years and eventually, staked our reputation for Adams Oshiomhole because we believe in him. We will not fold our arms. We will join in ploughing and ensure that we revamp the state together.