Anxiety As Edo Decides Today
The mood in Edo state, particularly, Benin city and its environs is feverish and breathless as the rescheduled governorship election holds today. In this report, PATRICK AHANOR re-captures the campaign promises of the key gladiators
By: PATRICK AHANOR
"After months of campaigns and war of words between the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State, the waiting will be over today for residents as they file out to elect a governor that would preside over the state in the next four years.
Over two million registered voters are expected to make a decision across 2,627 polling units in the state that will shape the polity in the next four years all things being equal, as they say.
And as part of efforts to ensure a hitch free exercise, the police, army and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) have deployed 28,000 personnel, six drones, helicopters, Amoured Personnel Carrier (APC) and gunboats to secure the land, sea and air.
A total of 19 political parties fielded candidates for the exercise, however events leading to the poll suggest that the real battle would be between the PDP and APC.
And so far, the two leading candidates, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu of the PDP and Godwin Obaseki of the APC have to all intent demonstrated that they are the candidates to beat at the poll. They have likewise got money and political clout going for them.
While Obaseki who currently heads the State’s economic team said he is in the race to continue with the development achievements of outgoing governor Adams Oshiomhole, the Pastor-turned politician said he is out to right the wrongs.
Until his appointment in 2008, Obaseki who hold a degree in Classic studies at the University of Ibadan was the founder and Vice President of Afrinvest West Africa LTD.
The APC candidate had claimed that he was the brain box of the successes recorded by Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s administration- a statement that has been often collaborated by the latter.
On his part, Ize-Iyamu, 54, is a trained lawyer at the University of Benin. He has been around the political stage since 1999 where he served as Chief of Staff and Secretary to Government during Ex- Governor Lucky Igbinedion’s Administration.
Ize-Iyamu left the PDP in 2006 and joined the defunct Action Congress (AC) which later metamorphosed to Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and later APC.
However, pundits believed that his return to the PDP in 2014 presented a glamour of hope for the party who had watched impotently, the harvest of its already made politicians by the governor Adams Oshiomhole-led APC.
Nonetheless a careful analysis of the campaigns showed that both parties and their candidates have laboured to undo each other in their promises and war of words.
For instance, the APC candidate pledged to create 200,000 jobs was countered by the opposition party.
Obaseki had said the focus of his administration if elected, would create the jobs through entrepreneurship, industrialization, agriculture and skills acquisition.
In criticizing the pledge, the Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu Campaign Organisation urged the people not to be deceived by the promise by the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Mr Godwin Obaseki to create more than 200,000 jobs if elected as governor.
The campaign organization said it is the punitive and selective tax regime promoted by Mr. Obaseki as the Head of the Economic Team of Governor Adams Oshiomhole administration that has caused the major economic mess in the state today.
According to the statement issued by the media unit of the campaign organization, Ize-Iyamu said the good people of Edo State would not be deceived again by the dishonesty of the APC-led government, adding that youth unemployment and under-employment remain a huge challenge, both at the state and federal government under the APC.
The organization had further stated that data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that Edo State presently has one of the highest rates of youth unemployment in the country.
According to the statement, “when Governor Adams Oshiomhole assumed office in 2008 with the APC governorship candidate, Mr. Godwin Obaseki as the Head of Economic Team, he promised to create 100,000 jobs in each year of his administration, meaning that 800,000 new jobs would have been created over eight years.
“But Oshiomhole has not kept his promise. The governor and his economic team have not succeeded in replacing those they retired from Edo State Civil Service. What more? Almost all the thriving business — Bendel Breweries Limited, Okpella Cement Factory, Ewu Flourmill, Michelin, Edo Transport Service, which the APC inherited from PDP, have collapsed because of the suffocating business environment,” the statement added.
On the contrary, Obaseki had promised to run an issue-based campaigns and he has kept to his pledged although the campaigns.
However, Governor Oshiomhole had taken a swipe at the PDP candidate over the latter’s touting of the governor’s relationship with Business Mogul, Aliko Dangote amongst others.
Ize-Iyamu had in a statement said: “it is just a few months to the end of his (Oshiomhole) tenure that he could attract his friend Dangote to lay foundation stone for cement factory in Edo State.”
In his response, Oshiomhole told the PDP candidate that he was proud that the latter called Dangote his (Oshiomhole) friend; adding that Ize-Iyamu can’t boast of his friends and associates, as some of them have been convicted of looting the State’s treasury.
“I am proud to say my friendship with Dangote has yielded a $1bn investment in the State in the form of a brand new Okpella Cement factory which will offer close to 50,000 direct and indirect jobs to people of the State.
“My friendship with Dr. David Ladipo yielded another $1bn Azura Power Plant. My friendship with Captain Hosa Okunbo has yielded a $750 million Wells and Carlos Farms which is set to employ over 85,000 people.
“I am proud to say that under my stewardship as governor, investors now find Edo State very attractive and they are coming down here in droves.
“Already, a Chinese Steel Company, Yongxing is in full production and is already seeking ways to expand its operation; and Chinese Company, Time Ceramics Limited is also into full production and already into the second phase of expanding its operations.
“Also, more Chinese companies are planning to set up their factories in different parts of the State, these are my friends, and those are my records which I am proud of,” Oshiomhole stated."
Source : Blueprint portal
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