From Scholastica Onyeka, Makurdi
Ahead of the forthcoming general elections, the governorship candidate of Labour Party in Benue state Mr. Herman Hembe has urged Benue people to shun greedy politicians and their godfathers saying they were responsible for underdevelopment of the state.
Hembe gave this advice during the party’s campaign rally in Otukpa, headquarters of Ogbadibo Local Government Area, LGA, of Benue’ state.
The federal lawmaker who stated that “The biggest problem of Benue state is greed and godfatherism,” said “The people who have opportunity will always pick people who they can control. They will not do business with me because they say they can’t control me.
“The question is why do you want to control a governor? So you can have access to the treasury and steal the money.”
He said if he wins, he will give facelifts to infrastructure in the state especially schools and hospitals, to enable equal access to all citizens instead of sponsoring medical and educational trips abroad for godfathers and their family members at the detriment of the entire state.
Hembe said it was on record that some previous leaders in the state had fallen out with their godfathers because of sharing formula saying when elected, no such person will be allowed to deep hands into the state treasury.
While thanking the people of Ogbadibo for coming out in their numbers to receive him and the Labour Party movement, Hembe said “The moment we are elected, we will grant the Local Government immediate and unconditional autonomy.
“We will also publish list of all those who are working so you can know wage bill of the state and know who the real civil servants in the state are, that way we will know who the ghost workers are. When we ascertain this, we will save the remaining money to develop our infrastructure; roads, bridges, hospitals, schools among others.”
He said God has brought Labour Party to salvage the country and state in particular and called on the Benue people to vote him into office.
According to him, “We are younger people, we are not greedy like these other people who do not care. If you bring Labour Party to office, we would be better, we would be more humane, we will take more pity on our people and we will rule with the fear of God. Ours will be different,” he assured.
He further urged the Benue people to judge all those seeking their votes by their antecedents and choose those that will lead the state to greater heights.
Hembe further revealed that his administration will focus on security rural development, wealth creation agriculture, infrastructural development among others.