represents Esan West, Esan
Central and Igueben Federal
Constituency in the House of
Representatives. In this
interview, he says Edo people
have passed through pains
under the APC administration,
expressing optimism that the
Peoples Democratic Party,PDP
would be victorious in the
forthcoming governorship
election in the state.
By Emman Ovuakporie &
Johnbosco Agbakwuru
In the next few months, Edo
people will elect a new
governor. How prepared is
the PDP for the exercise?
It is not an issue of how
prepared we are. In Edo state,
we are ready for change. We
have passed through a lot of
pains and troubles. PDP will
take over certainly by
September. Governor Adams
Oshiomhole has not done
anything. Nothing has
changed. On roads, nothing
has changed. In the health
sector, nothing has changed.
There is no legacy the
governor is leaving behind.
But people have been
praising the governor. What
is your take on that?
What are they praising him
for? Is it that he paid
bursaries to students? Or that
the university is running well?
Or workers are being paid?
What has he done?
What are the things you
think will work against APC
in the election?
The taxes are too high.
Everyone is under the burden
of heavy taxation. There is no
employment in the state.
Pensioners are not being paid.
There is no infrastructure
whatsoever in the state. There
are no industries, either new
or deactivated.
Capacity to employ: There is
no sector you can point at and
say Oshiomhole has
performed well. Even in the
health sector, there is
nothing. We have less than
three surgeons in the whole
of Edo state.
What are the programmes
the PDP intends selling to
the electorate?
Edo State is an agrarian
society. In the area of
agriculture which ought to be
main stay of the state's
economy. Oshiomhole has
not done anything. You know
that the sector has the
capacity to employ a number
of people in the state. Even
the Okpella cement factory is
right there in his domain. The
last we heard about it was
that Dangote was going to
take over. We do not know
what the situation is right
now. Oshiomhole has not
built any hospital. Even the
ones he said he is building are
collapsing everyday. The only
major road he is doing is
Airport Road in Benin City and
that road was not in bad
shape.
On loans: It is not just
enough to take loans. He
should be able to tell us what
he did with the loans. When
you are leaving government,
you should be able to tell us
one thing you did. Even the
Lucky Igbinedion they are
blaming, he established so
many polytechnics and
colleges of education. He built
hostels in the state university
and built roads in the school.
He built a library. He built the
biggest hospital in the state
that was named after Stella
Obasanjo. Where are
Oshiomhole's projects? The
only thing he is trying to do is
the establishment of another
university in his own village. Is
it that we do not have a state
university already? That is
after increasing the school
fees of Ambrose Alli
University.
I even wrote a petition to the
House of Representatives
committee about the loan he
applied for. Beside, it was not
a new loan. The truth is that it
is a good loan. What we have
issues with is the
implementation. The first one
he took, what did he do with
it? It is a good loan that would
have helped stimulate the
economy. But the manager of
the loan is our problem.
How united is Edo PDP
ahead of the polls?
There is no crisis in Edo State
PDP. We just did our congress
and a new chairman emerged.
He was re-elected. We are set
for the election. We are trying
to prune down the number of
contestants because we are
very sure that we will win the
election. The people of Edo
State are tired of
Oshiomhole's government. In
the next two months, we will
come out with our own
candidate.
How will the party manage
the issue of zoning?
I am Edo Central and it ought
to be our turn, but the reality
on ground shows that Edo
South should take a shot.
Motions on extortion of our
youths
They are more in number. We
sat and set up a committee. It
is a consensus. It will not
affect our chances. We
consented to it. Wining is the
issue. It is not good to zone it
to a place where you will not
win.
How have you impacted on
your constituents since your
election?
If you were in the House, you
will notice that we have raised
motions that border on our
roads. We have raised
motions on extortion of our
youths looking for
employments. We have raised
a motion on juveniles being
kept in regular prisons. We
have also raised a motion on
pensioners that have not
been paid. So, we have raised
a number of good motions for
the wellbeing of Nigerians.
In this budget, we have made
provisions to ensure that
some of our roads are fixed.
We have made some
intervention funds available
whereby some of our schools
will be renovated and our
women will be empowered.
Our youths too will be
empowered.
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
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