Governor Adams Oshiomhole will not be on the ballot in the Edo State governorship election scheduled to hold on Wednesday, September 28, 2016, but the election will nevertheless be about his legacies. In a shift of principle, the man who preached against the influence of godfathers in politics is desperate to impose his godson, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, on Edo State. And he is leaving nothing to chance.
When the election, which was originally scheduled for September 10 was postponed by INEC over security concerns, many watchers of Edo politics saw Oshiomhole’s hand in the postponement. With the PDP candidate coasting home to a landslide victory over the APC candidate, he needed the postponement to buy time and retool the failing campaign of his godson.
Postponement or not, I am still confident, voters in Edo State are vexed and ready to express their anger against the wicked and harsh policies of not just the APC government in Edo State, but also against the APC-led Federal Government, which has shown incompetence in presiding over the affairs of the nation.
I don’t need to remind Edo people that any attempt to vote a candidate with K-leg will become a huge mistake, which they will live to regret. I am confident that Edo voters will be wise not to vote for another candidate with NEPA bill or bread label for a credential.
Due to the incompetence of the APC leadership at the center, the economy has crashed, with no sign of recovering. If for nothing else, Edo needs to vote out APC as a way of showing Abuja that we are serious about changing the change. It amounts to insult for us to be suffering the way we are – buying fuel at N147, exchanging a dollar at N420 and buying a bag of rice for close to N25,000 and yet allow APC to win elections. If the party cannot fix our economy and security, lower inflation and develop our infrastructure, then we must use the people’s power to remind them to sit up and work for our common good, or we all perish.
They said they will pay N5,000 to unemployed youths and it ended up a ruse. They promised jobs and ended up taking away over six million jobs in just one year; the insecurity they promised to end has become worse as Fulani herdsmen have joined the killing spree. We have never had it this bad. To further insult our sensibilities, the simple change they promised will now begin with me and you and end with us, while they live in the status quo of revelry, corruption and profligacy. If they cannot keep to the promise they freely gave in 2015, then Edo voters must come to the rescue by voting massively against them come September 28, otherwise, they will assume that we are happy with our current situation.
I have followed the campaign, the issues, the candidates’ profiles and antecedents. I know Edo people know the truth about these candidates better. I am, however, confident that this will be a straight contest between Mr. Godwin Obaseki of APC and Pastor Ize- Iyamu of PDP. Between the two major candidates, I see Ize-Iyamu as more prepared and ready to lead. I entertain no fears about his ability to lead well. So far, he has presented real, simple, realistic, scalable and achievable plans; real policies and real strategies to put Edo State back on the path of greatness. I, therefore, recommend him to Igbo voters in Edo State.
Ize-Iyamu has said that he will provide enabling environment for Igbo traders and that under his leadership, trade and commerce will flourish. Being a God-fearing man, he should be believed and I believe him. I also believe he is a friend of Ndigbo.
I know Iyamu will win, but I do not want him to win without the massive support of Igbo voters. I, therefore, call on Ndigbo in Edo State to unite and team up with other Edo progressives so that the candidate that will best serve their interest will emerge victorious.
For instance, if it is true that we dominate trade and commerce in Nigeria, it presupposes that any government, state or federal, that neglects this fact by not making plans for trade and commerce to thrive, is directly working against our prosperity and progress.
The eight years of APC in Edo State has seen many Igbo businesses destroyed. There is nothing to show that the outgoing APC government invested anything in the areas of trade and commerce. Markets across the state have deteriorated under the current leadership. There is no justification for the excessive levies and taxes collected from traders; no running water, safety measures or medics; no light and no access road. Nothing on ground! This is the state of all the markets in Edo. From Ebvareke market to New Benin market, Ekiosa to Uwelu, the story is the same. From Ekpoma to Uromi, Oredo to Ikpoba Oka, all bear the same governmental neglect for a sector that contributes more than 40 per cent in Edo IGR.
Indeed, it is only in the area of taxation that government remembers this important sector. A look at the implementation of Edo tax law by APC government leaves much to be desired. People are overtaxed without corresponding social amenities to justify the tax burden suffered by our people.
In fact, the opinion of Ndigbo in Edo is that the APC government is stifling potential business expansion by its wicked regime of multiple-taxation. This, in part, forms the reason for the high rate of unemployment in the state. How can the people be employed when small and medium scale enterprises, which ought to form the fulcrum of employment generation, are not encouraged to thrive?
National Bureau of Statistics was not wrong when it reported that Edo ranks seventh among the 10 states with highest number of unemployed persons. The trouble is that APC government failed miserably to change the tide. The social malaise caused by unemployment is huge and can only be rectified by visionary leadership at the helm of state affairs. The Edo election is a chance that must be seized. I have no doubt in my mind that candidate Ize-Iyamu of PDP, irrespective of his party platform, fits the bill and will cater for the general interest of Edo indigenes and non-indigenes.

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