It was the first time Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State will be blowing so hot against President Goodluck Jonathan. Unlike other governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Comrade Governor had hardly attacked the President publicly even though he may not be satisfied with the way the country is being run. He apparently tried to avoid situations that will warrant him attacking Jonathan. And that was why his recent tirade against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led government came as a shock to many.
Oshiomhole’s perceived support for the President had earned him names in some of quarters. Some said he was not a committed APC member and that, that is why it had been rumoured that he may follow the footsteps of Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State and former Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State by joining the PDP. Even though his supporters both in the Edo House of Assembly and his cabinet have been hounded by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the police following the bitter rivalry between the APC in the state and the PDP, the governor has maintained his cool with the President.
But as it seems, Jonathan murdered sleep recently during the PDP South-South rally held in Benin City, when he came to Oshiomhole’s back yard to taunt him, declaring that come 2015 and 2016, Rivers and Edo will “fall” to the PDP. Oshiomhole did not immediately respond to the comment. He may have been digesting it while monitoring the actions of the President to be sure whether he actually meant what he said or was only playing politics. And after that comment from the President, the governor must have observed that several people close to him have been either arrested by the EFCC or the police.
As a matter of fact, the PDP lawmakers in the state House of Assembly have received tremendous support from the police ever since the crisis in the parliament and that gave them the impetus to flout every court order.
Meanwhile, APC lawmakers are being treated like second class citizens. The principal officers of the House, including Speaker Uyi Igbe, son of the Iyase (Prime Minister) of Benin Kingdom, Chief Sam Igbe, the Majority Leader, Philip Shaibu, and others, flew to Abuja almost on a weekly basis as guests of the EFCC until the Federal High Court granted an injunction stopping further investigation of the lawmakers.
While the APC chieftains pass through this hell, the PDP in the state celebrate what is described as the “Federal Might” being used to intimidate the governor and his supporters. Some PDP members in the state have used every means to disrespect the governor even to the point of calling him ole!ole! when the President visited Edo recently at the Benin airport. Going by what is happening around him, it was clear to Oshiomhole that the attacks against him and his supporters were actually geared towards ensuring that Edo falls as boasted by Jonathan. This coming after he helped the President to win Edo in 2011. Oshiomhole, known to be at his best when he perceives intimidation against him, therefore, used the last Wednesday’s mega rally of the APC to commemorate his six years anniversary to reply the President and to also inform him how Edo will vote come 2015.
The Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium was filled to capacity and in attendance were the two leading presidential aspirants of the APC, Gen.Muhammadu Buhari and former VP Atiku Abubakar. Others in attendance were Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal; Chief Audu Ogbe; Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu; Governors Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, Ali Wamakko of Sokoto State; the deputy governor of Kwara State, Elder Peter Kisira; a, former governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylvia; a, former governor of Ekiti State, Chief Niyi Adebayo, House of Representative members, Speaker, Edo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Uyi Igbe, Edo State House of Assembly members; market women; students; civil society groups amongst others.
To the admiration of the crowd, Oshiomhole mounted the podium to reel out his achievements in the past six years, insisting that his achievements will guarantee victory for his party despite alleged plot by the PDP to win the state. The governor said: “We are here to mark six years of revolutionary changes in Edo State. When I stood here six years ago, everybody reminds us that our state was ground zero. Our children were in class rooms without roofs. Our roads were hopeless. Our moats were blocked, children were lost to flood.
In Esanland, there was no water, our politics was managed by three families. You cannot survive without worshiping the godfathers. But I told my people that poverty cannot be described as an act of God. Today, across Edo, life is back. Our children now attend schools with red roof, with aluminium windows. We have connected communities that have been abandoned, Edo is on the march. We have demonstrated that no government anywhere in the planet will have all the resources it needs to meet all the challenges it faces. But with creative management of the little that we had, I made bold to say that many of our neighbours have more money but do not have the level of determination to apply resources judiciously and intelligently to achieve the kind of result that we have achieved in Edo. I want to appreciate the support that you have all continued to give because one man cannot make a forest.
“I want to ask, if you listened to President Jonathan when he was here in September to launch what they called the South-South rally of the Peoples Democratic Party, he was reported as saying that Edo State, our own great state, the Heartbeat of the Nation, will fall to PDP. Let me ask you, can Edo State fall? Can the President fall any of you? He even went on to say that Rivers State will fall to PDP. I need you to mark the word ‘fall”and go back home, take your dictionary and look at the ordinary and special meaning of the word ‘fall’. To fall is to collapse, to fall is to speak in the language of soldiers. When they have used the force of firearms to overcome their enemies and they capture them with the aid of guns after killing many, they can say that the territory has fallen.
“So is the President going to use the armed forces to fall the people of Edo State? I want to put him on notice that Edo State is not an enemy territory to be felled by armed forces and the Commander-in-Chief must not target Edo for falling. Edo will stand and march on. On the contrary, APC will defeat the President in Bayelsa State, APC will defeat PDP in Rivers State, and APC will defeat PDP in Cross River State. APC will defeat PDP in Delta State, APC will continue to bury and bury PDP in Edo State. What is the scorecard of the PDP in Edo State and in Nigeria? The PDP has commissioned the resurfacing of Ofosu to Benin Road in a period of 16 years. That is all PDP has to show in Edo State for over a period of 16 years.
The PDP led Federal Government controls 52.8 % of declared federal collections and Edo State’s share of that 52.8 % and all they have to show in 16 years is the resurfacing of Ofosu-Benin old carriage way. My challenge to my opponents in whatever name they are called, people who spent 10 years in Edo deceiving people, we have shown that they wasted our 10 years but we were not deterred by their failure but rather inspired by the opportunity that we have to reposition Edo State. I have made the point that we can reposition Benin- City, deal with the crisis of flooding, not on the basis of random approach but by taking a holistic view on the flooding problem and applying searchable solutions that are informed by scientific mandate. We challenge our main opponent, leaders and members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP at all levels to come out and refute all that I said we have done that we didn’t do”.
Oshiomhole continued: “Never again shall we be buffeted by people who remember us once in four years when they bring a version of the stolen money to buy guns and distribute to young men to kill people. We have moved away from the politics of sharing salt, banana and sugar cane at the eve of election. Today, the Edo woman understands that providing school for her child is better than giving her a bag of salt once in four years. As long as the PDP has power, the Nigerian people will never have power. Even as we speak, this stadium is being powered by generator.”
According to him, in the name privatization of electricity distribution companies, the Federal Government handed over power to people who know next to nothing about electricity and power generation. “ But today, from our 26 per cent, we have built roads across all the nooks and crannies of Edo state. Because of our commitment to politics without bitterness, we built roads to the villagers of PDP leaders which they did not do. So I ask the President, with all due respect, with profound respect for the President and his office, to show us what his party, the PDP, has done in Edo.
I want to remind you of those powerful statements made by the Edionwere of Benin Kingdom, Chief Edebiri, who said that this generation of Edo people will never again vote for anybody who carries an umbrella that is torn. In 2011, the President scored 96 per cent in this state. Let him show us the 96 per cent contribution of development from PDP. All we see is PDP appropriating federal money in the name of a government body. They gave the money to a former public official who was rigged into office and we had to vanish him. When we use individuals rather than state institutions to distribute public funds that is the height of corrupt practices.
I have stated my testimonial I ask you to ask the PDP their testimonial. By the special grace of God, by February next year, we will not vote on the basis of tribalism, we will vote on the basis of who provides power. For 16 years, PDP keeps promising power but it is clearly power to their stomach. As long as PDP is in power, Nigerian people will be out of power. For as long as PDP has power, Nigerian people will never have power. In the name of privatization of the distribution companies, they have handed over the assets to individuals who know next to nothing about power and electricity.
Today, they collect money when they deliver darkness, they collect money for power when they deliver frustration. We are the father of change. Edo will not fall, Edo will stand and we will decide the President. APC will win the presidential election, APC will win senatorial election and we will never be intimidated. I am at my best as a person when you intimidate me. I have nothing else to live for but to stand on the truth and fight for change and change must come.
The PDP are boasting they are going to rig the election, but let me put them on notice. Nobody born of a woman will rig and govern Nigeria with a stolen mandate. We want to warn them, we will defeat them with the ballot not with guns. The Nigeria armed forces belong to the Nigerian nation, they do not belong to any political party. Any attempt to misuse the armed forces to rig election, it will be fire for fire. Only a coward dies several times before his death, we will stand as soldiers of democracy. We will fight for our fatherland and victory shall come”.
Oshiomhole then threw a challenge to the opposition party which he said spent ten years deceiving people: “Those papas who have spent ten years deceiving pikin and even those pikin who grew old under papa now also deceive papa by whatever name you call them, they have shown that they wasted our ten years. Today, we have liberalized our politics. The son of a cassava farmer can contest election without a god father. We have moved on from a party of deceit to a party that has the vision and determination to move Nigeria forward. Our report card in Edo is clear, we have moved politics away from the tradition of government earmarking money for schools, for River Niger Bridge, for fertilizers.
We earmark roads, we earmark schools, we earmark what we have done, not what we promised to do. So, today, we challenge our opponents, leaders and members of the PDP, at whatever level, to say that everything I said we have done we did not do them”. On his part, Tambuwal blasted the PDP-led Federal Government, saying, “the system we have in place today is malfunctioning”. The House of Reps Speaker added: “The government at the center has failed in several ways and when you have a system that is not working, what do you do, you change to a better system that will deliver. The objective is to deliver good roads, provide security, enhance development in this country.
What we have at the moment is a cabal that hijacked the instrument of authority of the Nigerian people and we will do everything humanly possible come May 2015 to ensure that they are out of the Villa and what we have is a progressive government of APC. When they came here last time, they said you should vote for him that he is from the South-south. But what have the people of the South-south benefited from this Presidency? When he came he rode on the sentiment of being a minority, what have the minorities of Nigeria have to show in the last four years?
Don’t be deceived again, all of us have been deceived before when we were persuaded that we needed to have this personality in government for some reasons. But it has been proven beyond reasonable doubt that sentiments do not provide good governance. All of us must agree that what we need in Nigeria is good governance and whoever can provide that should be the leader of this country not minding where he is from. I therefore commend the good people of Edo for the support that you have been giving our leader here, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. In the past administrations, Edo was not like this but when Adams assumed office in the last six years we have seen real transformation not the type that is being canvassed by the so called ambassadors of transformation in Abuja.”
Tinubu, who commended Oshiomhole for his achievements in Edo, said President Jonathan made a blunder by declaring openly that the school girls abducted in Chibok by Boko Haram were either killed or yet to be found. “Jonathan is stepping on the blood of Nigeria children and dancing on their graves by declaring for re-election yesterday. A wise President will stay in the Villa and declare his intention to run in the memory of those children. He said he will not step on the blood of anybody to be re-elected but he is dancing on their blood.
On his watch, he will want to blackmail the opposing party, no leadership of any nation will sit idle and watch any part of its own territory being taken away by the so- called insurgents. Mubi is the second largest commercial town in Adamawa, if it has been taken by insurgents, then this President should resign. If a military barrack that was equipped with our weapon to fight the insurgents, that barrack the armoury there was abandoned and they fled, you leave the weapon for the insurgents, under your watch, and you said you want to run again, no. God forbid, if you refuse to go, we will sweep you away. We will beat their tyranny, we will show them that the power of the people is greater than the barrel of their gun. You cannot enslave us anymore,”the APC leader said.
National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie Oyegun, who declared that Oshiomhole’s score card in Edo was unprecedented, stated: “His six years has transformed the face of politics permanently in Edo. six years of bringing hope to the life of the ordinary man and woman in Edo State. God spare him and give him the resources in the remaining two years so that when we will be campaigning for governorship it will be no contest. Because like Oshiomhole himself said, we can eye mark our achievements. The PDP can only earmark achievements and that is not real. You are one of our star governors. The governor said just now that when the President was here, he said Edo will fall. But it is the PDP that is falling. We have promised you a new Nigeria. Today the country is being destroyed. Totally clueless Federal Government but by the special grace of God they will leave Aso Rock come 2015”.
(Vanguard)
