Ahead of the September 10 governorship election in Edo, an aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Blessing Agbomhere, has vowed to probe Governor Adams Oshiomhole and other past rulers of the state, if elected governor.
Agbomhere, a kinsman of Oshiomhole, who hails from Fugar, Etsako Central Local Government area of the state, disclosed this on Tuesday in Benin, when he addressed newsmen on why he wants to be governor of the state.
“I am running, not because I am from Afemi, not because I am from Esan, not because I am from Benin, but because I am from Edo state. I am running because I am from the camp of those that have been deprived of leadership for too long, the youths.”
Commenting on why he decided to probe Oshiomhole’s government and other past rulers, the aspirant said: “My government will abolish corruption in Edo State. That is why the programme we have is to ensure that all our past leaders are probed. Whether they like it or not, we will ensure that whatever they have taken from Edo State, whatever they have wasted from Edo State, they will bring back. And, I will start from Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, present governor of Edo.
“We will visit all the projects he has done to ascertain how much he has spent on the projects and if we see that Edo State has been short-changed, we will ensure that such monies will be refunded to the account of Edo State.
“We will also visit the airport road project. We have been getting petitions from different groups and organisations on that projects, how [the first contractor] abandoned the project and left some money unrefunded to the state. We will go into that issue to ensure that we get into the truth of it and if it is true that he did that, we will ensure that he refunds with immediate effect, the money into the account of our state. We will no longer allow our state to be killed by those who put their interest ahead of the state.”
Agbomhere, who declined being addressed as Comrade, said the nation’s law does not have place for comradeship.
“I tell people I am not a comrade, I am a patriot. I don’t know the meaning of comrade. In the Nigerian law, we don’t know anything like comrade. What we have in Nigerian law is patriotism. So, we young Nigerians should focus our intellectualism, our capacity and our capability in being partiotic to our state, not in being comrade.”
The governorship aspirant also berated Oshiomhole for “abandoning the state-owned Nigerian Observer Newspapers Limited but spent millions of naira elsewhere to print government letterhead papers and other documents when he needed less than N200 million to refurbish Observer printing press.”
When asked how he hopes to get the nomination of his party to fly its flag at the election even while threatening to probe the incumbent government sponsored by the party, Agbomhere said the APC constitution is against corruption, and so, he will probe the present government the same way President Muhammadu Buhari is currently probing the immediate past government.
“We are probing because there are so many allegations of corruption against the present government and the allegations are hampering the chances of the party in the state,” he said.
Besides, he said he has consulted widely with delegates of the party, adding that more than 2,600 delegates are already behind him.
“We believe this is our time to take over the leadership of Edo. We have consulted with Edo people in diaspora. These young people have resolved that it is their time to take over leadership. We have what it takes to build Edo and take it to the next level. This is the time for the change Edo people have been waiting for. I am the new face of that change.”
The governorship aspirant pronmised to invest heavily in the mineral resources that abound in the state “for the development and engagement of the people of Edo state.”