Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has said that a people-oriented government was impossible without a viable opposition. He made this known on Monday in Lagos, in an encounter with Ismail Omipidan, shortly after the Supreme Court’s verdict which affirmed his election.
He spoke on the legal battle and other issues of interest.
How do you feel now that the Supreme Court has confirmed you as the duly elected governor of Edo State?
First, all appreciation and honour go to God Almighty for being the source and sustainer of our existence and may His blessings be upon us all. The victory today invariably validates the perfection of the triumph of the will of the people and establishes the masses that we serve as the true and ultimate power of our evolving democracy. Last month, precisely on the 10th of June and earlier on Friday the 14th of April, 2017, the Appeal Court and the election petitions tribunal respectively, gave verdicts which mirror this one given today by the apex court, confirming that truth indeed is immutable.
These serial victories at the polls and the various courts have undoubtedly given me and the good people of Edo State joy, but it should also teach us a vital lesson that at all times, no matter the severity of the odds, we must stand on the side of fidelity, honesty and truth. It goes without saying that we have received invaluable support and guidance from a vast number of friends, supporters and well-wishers and there are no words that can adequately convey our gratitude. At the zenith of this extensive list of people and groups to whom I owe a debt of gratitude is the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, who has been immovable in his support, wise in his counsel and has showed firm commitment to democracy and good governance.
I am also immensely grateful to the acting President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, for his wisdom, encouragement, relentless support and skillful leadership.The leadership of our great party, the APC, under Chief John Odigie Oyegun, remained an uncompromising pillar, keeping our party focused, passionate and effectively mobilised.
Also worthy of tremendous amount of gratitude is the immediate past governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Aliu Oshiuomhole, for his commitment to democracy. Special gratitude goes to our judiciary for being an impartial arbiter and the last hope of the upright, helping to defend our democracy through the dispensation of justice. I pay tributes to our vibrant media, both conventional and contemporary for stirring rigorous debates and enlightening our people.
To our ever-faithful supporters and all who voted for the APC, I am glad your sacrifice and effort to fulfill your civic duty by casting your votes have been rewarded by the judiciary, through the repeated validation of your decision to elect me.
Also, to the opposition, I am grateful, for a people-oriented government is impossible without the opposition. I however hope that my actions in governance will eventually convince the opposition of my best intentions and commitment to the best interest of all Edo people.
I also hope that this verdict by the Supreme Court, which is the last and final judicial authority of the land, will give the opposition some closure, to enable them put an end to their quest and help them to come around and join hands with me to continue the building of our dear state which I actually started about eight months ago. It is also reassuring that our state remained peaceful throughout the entire judicial inquisition and we are committed to keeping it so.
Now that litigation is over what next?
Well, you should expect a much more focused government. As you are aware, we are currently having a retreat of our commissioners in Lagos. We decided to take them outside to Lagos so that they can rub minds with their collegues in Lagos who have done very well in area of governance. Over the last eight months, we have spent time putting together workshops and calling experts to help us look into specific areas, interests and where we promised our people in Edo State.
So now that the contest is over, with our cabinet in place, we are good to go. What you should expect from us is what they would term a high- performing government to deliver the services which we promised our people during electioneering.
We’ve always said we run an all- inclusive government, when we build roads; we do not look at the areas we’ve taken it to. It would interest you to know that one of the major roads under construction today is where Ize- Iyamu lives. So while he was in court, we were building the road to his house. It is my belief that our activities must touch every Edo citizen.
What will be your priority now?
In terms of focus, immediately, we would continue with the programme we started a month ago. Despite recession, we are massively building housing and putting infrastructure on ground. Our goal is to build over 3,000km of roads over the next four years and we are close to first 1,000 km of roads. The construction work is in progress in Edo State as we speak especially in Benin City. So we would continue with putting in infrastructure to encourage economic growth particularly in areas of agriculture, industrialisation and mining.
We are also working very hard at ensuring that key drivers of governance, the institutions, the Civil Service, the Local Government, the Judiciary are re- awakened and given the impetus and the support they need so that they can develop because without the institutions, we are not going to be able to run as fast as we would want to. So we are doing a lot of work in all of those areas and you can come to Edo State and testify yourself.
Finance is always a major issue, what are the measures you are putting in place to ensure you don’t run to Abuja every now and then for Federal Allocation?
You would never be able to have all the money you need to do the things you want to do, but as long as you are very focused on what you want to accomplish and you are committed and passionate, you would look for the money.
So in the case of Edo, don’t forget that my background is finance and it is an area I am not particularly scared of. So what we’ve done in Edo is first to be very clear about what our priorities are. Secondly, we are determined about where we would get the money from and our first focus is to look inwards, what are the areas of waste so that we can cut and make savings to pursue our plans for the state.
We also need to make sure that we get appropriate prices for what we want to do. So those are the things we are looking at- first ensuring that we streamline our priorities, second that we cut down on risks and third to ensure that we procure properly and to ensure that we are getting value for money. With all those, we believe that we don’t have excess, what we have is enough to start.
What are you doing to the poor state of Benin-Auchi road?
It’s unfortunate that Auchi road is in that shape especially when you remember that Edo State has produced three Federal ministers of Works and they couldn’t dualise it. But having said that, I have been in touch with the present minister of Works and as we speak, he has sent out his team to undertake remedial work. Why contracts have actually been awarded, it was part of this year’s Federal Budget. Unfortunately, most of the delay we have experienced is with the passage of the budget, which has caused delay in mobilising the contractors and paying them. But as we speak, I have secured the assurances from the Federal Ministry of Works that it is going to take remedial action on that portion of the road.
You talked about cutting cost, how come you appointed over 400 Special Assistants. What is the motive?
Unfortunately, some people are uninformed. In Edo State today, you can go and check, we have the least number of political office holders in Nigeria. The number of political office holders is less than 400. I don’t think that is too much. The total cost of paying political office holders related to our total cost of personnel is about one twentieth, so I don’t it is quite much.
The rationale behind the appointments came while going round during my electioneering. I realised that there has always been constant cries like you see today in Nigeria which is about marginalisation, people feeling they are not represented; they just feel they are not part of government. So I decided that as a starting point, I should have Assistants, I should have political assistants in every ward. This is to ensure that they work out of local governments to provide information to the Governor’s Office on issues and activities going on such as state of the schools, the state of the Primary Health Centres and things government should deal with on a monthly basis. They should send down these reports. Based on those reports, we will then actually carry out necessary actions.
I should say that these people were not randomly appointed by the governor; they were chosen and selected from the decision made by the representatives of communities at the ward levels. Each ward, for instance, had their meetings and I asked them to nominate three people and one of them must be a woman who has leadership quality within that ward to represent their interest. So at the best, I don’t think the number they are talking about is too large. But more importantly, those are people who have something to offer to their people and the government.