Edo guber: Aspirants laying claims to Oshiomhole’s achievements

It is no longer news that political activities are gathering momentum ahead of the September 10 governorship election in Edo State. The news is how the dramatis personae in the guber race, especially those in the All Progressives Congress (APC), are engaging in cut-throat rivalry and employing the instruments of propaganda, intrigues, gimmicks, antics, calumny, among others in their bid to succeed the incumbent Governor Adams Oshiomhole.

Apart from the gun attack on the deputy governor of the state, Pius Odubu, who incidentally is a frontline aspirant on the APC platform, which happened in the field of campaign in Auchi, his closest competitor, Godwin Obaseki, chairman of Edo State Economic and Strategy Team, who is purported to be Oshiomhole’s anointed candidate, is also alleged to have been recently attacked at Sobe, Owan West Local Government Area of the state.

Ahead of the June 18 primary elections, Odubu and Obaseki, both frontline aspirants, have also brought to bear their political and governance expertise acquired over several years of political involvement to woo and garner the sympathy and support of delegates in the 192 wards across the 18 local government areas of the state.

As part of their campaign strategies, the duo have also employed the tactics of laying claims to the Oshiomhole government’s achievements in the past seven and a half years. This development may have been the reason why Governor Oshiomhole was quoted as saying, during Olagunsoye Oyinlola’s peace meeting with the party’s stakeholders in the state held in Benin City recently, that without his name and performance in office none of the aspirants in the party would have contemplated vying for the governorship. He was also quoted as saying that his deputy has been riding on his back politically and that the impression being created across the state was that without his deputy, APC would lose the governorship seat to its main opposition PDP, just as is purported to have expressed surprise that his support for Obaseki was raising dust.

The two aspirants have in different political and public fora highlighted their contributions to the achievements recorded by the Oshiomhole-led government in the past seven and half years, and at other times laid outright claims to some of these achievements. They have also prided themselves to have the requisite political, administrative, governance and academic qualifications and experience to govern the state.

But the questions political pundits are quick to ask are: who among the two aspirants should rightfully lay claim to the achievements of the state government in the past seven years? Is it the deputy governor, who incidentally doubles as the vice chairman of the State Executive Council, or a political appointee who was invited after an election had been won?

In his declaration statement seeking APC nomination as governorship candidate, Odubu had contended that his contributions to the socio-economic, political and infrastructural development of the state, amongst others in the past seven and half years cannot be overemphasized. The deputy governor, who rarely makes noise about his contributions to the achievements of the Oshiomhole government, disclosed that what prompted him to join the race was his desire and quest to sustain, consolidate, improve and build on the existing achievements.

“President Bill Clinton of the United States of America once asserted that his professor at Georgetown University (the school I also attended) taught him that America is great because people believed in and acted on two simple ideas: First, that the future can be better than the present; and second, that each of us has a personal, moral responsibility to make it so,” Odubu said in Benin City.

“My motivation derives from the conviction that, at all times, we must leave society better than we met it. Our children must, and should enjoy better and more qualitative life than us. More fundamental is the need to ensure that the future is better than the present for the community, state and the nation. It is only in this way that peace, development and growth can be assured. This responsibility must be entrusted to a person with commitment and passion for the welfare of the people at heart,” he said.

Speaking on his political experience, the deputy governor averred that as a former federal legislator and currently in the executive arm of the government, there was no better way to be prepared for governance than by practical experience garnered over the years. He posited that not even a degree in Political Science can take the place of experience because experience indeed does matter.

“A couple of days ago, some fliers that some persons were distributing in town were brought to my attention. In it, they said I have been in government for close to 16 years now, and as such I should not be voted for. Yes, I have been around the political arena for awhile, serving the people in different capacities in the legislative and executive arms of government. I daresay that anybody that would say because of this I should not be voted for belongs to the class of politicians who believe in the politics of ‘chop I chop’,” Odubu said.

“I’m in politics to serve the people. While these people are interested in what they can get, I am interested in what I can give. There lies the difference. Given the high level to which Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has taken Edo State, going forward, the state needs a governor that is game-ready, one that will hit the ground running. I believe I am that person by the grace of God,” he further said.

While further reeling out his political qualities, the APC governorship hopeful added that as a political scientist and a lawyer, he has been uniquely equipped to embrace modern leadership techniques and organizational skills. He argued that the qualifications have provided him with distinctive opportunity to achieve set goals and offer true leadership, adding that experience garnered over the years as a lawyer, legislator and a deputy governor put him in good stead to do the greatest good to the greatest number of persons within the shortest possible time.

Odubu profoundly appreciated his boss, Governor Oshiomhole, describing him as his senior brother for giving him the opportunity to work with him in the last seven and a half years in service to the people of Edo State, further professing that he had been in Oshiomhole’s school of governance and it had been beneficial and rewarding.

Analysts say it is probably Odubu’s loyalty that had made the governor at several fora to publicly describe him as the best and most loyal deputy governor. Perhaps that was also why the Guardian newspaper bestowed on him an award as one of the five most loyal deputy governors in Nigeria. Edo State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and Merit Newspaper have also honoured him with the most outstanding deputy governor in Nigeria and the best deputy governor, respectively.

As a member of the National Assembly in his first tenure between 1999 and 2003, Odubu was a member and sub-committee chairman of the Appropriation, Federal Capital Territory and Labour Committees.

In his second tenure, between 2003 and 2007, he was a member of House Committee on Works, Marine Transport, Commerce, Navy, Anti-Corruption and Public Accounts. He was also deputy chairman of the Commerce Committee as well as the only National Assembly member from Edo State in the Appropriation Committee between 1999 and 2003. He contributed immensely in the provision of funds for the expeditious execution of projects in his constituency and Edo State at large, such as the by-pass (outer Ring Road) in Benin City, Benin-Warri road, among others.

While in the National Assembly, he was credited to have provided employment to several persons from his constituency; financial assistance to Law students of Edo origin at the Nigeria Law School, Abuja; graded several earth roads; facilitated different erosion control projects in Abudu and Urhonigbe; built health care centres; rural electricity and water boreholes in several communities as well as facilitated the rehabilitation of Benin-Abraka road.

He parades intimidating academic credentials that range from scholarships awarded him by the then Benin Area Joint Board as a student of Immaculate Conception College (ICE) in Benin City, which aided him to proceed in 1977, at the tender age of 19, to the USA for further educational pursuit. Schools attended in the USA include Philandersmith College, Little Rock, Arkansas, Southern University, Balton Rouge, Louisiana, Southern University School of Law, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Georgetown University Law Centre, Washington D.C, Harvard University, and Kennedy School of Government, Massachusetts. He also attended Oxford University, Said Business School, Oxford, in England. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) Degree in Political Science, Doctor of Jurisprudence Degree in Law, Master of Law in International and Comparative Law and BL (Barrister and Solicitor at Law).

On his part, Godwin Obaseki, while declaring his interest to contest the APC ticket for the governorship election, said he has in the past seven and a half years offered his services to the Edo State government without salary or compensation. He noted that in the past years he had held the position of the chairman of the Economic and Strategy Team of the state, supporting the effective leadership of Governor Oshiomhole. The role, he said, had allowed him to understand the challenges facing the state and had also given him the opportunity to serve and contribute to the development of the state.

The APC governorship aspirant who linked the achievements of the Oshiomhole-led government – in areas of infrastructural development, education, health, and roads – to the painstaking planning done by his team, added that the team has designed a template for the state beyond the life of the current administration. He said that in the face of the current economic crisis in the country, Edo State needs leadership with fresh and original ideas to take on the new economic challenges so that it can build on and deepen the successes of the current administration.

“Over the last seven and a half years, we have transformed Edo State and achieved what was said to be impossible. However, the Edo project is still work in progress and we are at the most delicate part of this journey. We cannot afford any reversals or slowdown in the pace of the achievements we have made to date. It will be a huge risk for all of us if we revert political power to those who lack deep understanding of how to link the achievements of the seven and a half years with the current situation in Nigeria. What Edo State needs today is someone who has the capacity to raise and access the investments required to build on the past in order to realize the vision,” Obaseki said.

“I am very proud and happy that I have been an integral part of the success and challenges of the last seven and a half years. The knowledge I have garnered in the past seven and a half years puts me in a unique position to understand what is required to take Edo State to the next level. After seven and a half years in the policy cockpit of Edo State, I believe I can fly Edo State higher,” he added.

Obaseki said Edo as it is today needs a leader who, in addition to political sagacity, has the managerial and intellectual experience to manage the state of affairs in the present difficult and precarious situation.

“It will be a sin against God and my people to walk away from Edo State with all the knowledge and understanding I have gathered over the last seven and a half years. It would be unpatriotic not to stand up to be counted,” he stated.

The Oshiomhole government’s chief economic strategist, who parades 30 years of successful experience in the private sector as well as over seven years working in Edo State government, remarked that “with a childhood forged in the warmth, rich and enduring culture of Edo, with education obtained at home and abroad and with blessings of God”, he would like to put all his credentials and resources at the disposal of and to serve the people of the state. He also promised to build, consolidate, sustain and improve on the achievements recorded by Oshiomhole’s government.

Also speaking on the governorship aspiration of Obaseki, the director of his campaign organization, Osarodion Ogie, who is the current state Commissioner for Works, disclosed that the presence, at Obaseki’s declaration, of state executive members, legislators, party chieftains, the governor’s political appointees, among others was not by accident but deliberate, adding that the Edo State government could not hide its preference for Obaseki’s candidature any longer and “you cannot build your house and leave it for a stranger”.

Ogie, who questioned the fact that every aspirant was laying claims to being part of the successes recorded by the Oshiomhole administration and promising to build on them, argued that all the achievements belong to Oshiomhole and that people only sat with him while he achieved what he has achieved. He added, however, that Obaseki was in a better position to claim the administration’s achievements.

“Everybody is shouting continuity, continuity; what are you going to continue? It is Oshiomhole’s works. People sat with Oshiomhole to do that work. Who is in a better place to do the work? Obaseki. Let me tell you, March 10, 2008, the Election Petition Tribunal gave judgment in favour of Adams Oshiomhole and the governor said, ‘Mr. Ogie, if bytomorrow the Court of Appeal declares us winner, what are we going to do? We have to sit down and form a policy team, a team to prepare a roadmap for the government’. That was how Oshiomhole constituted a team headed by Godwin Obaseki in 2008. He provided us with office space in Lagos State and we were going from Benin to Lagos to sit with experts to prepare the programme that we are presently executing,” Ogie said.

“A man who did not participate in building a house, will he know the house better than the architect who designed and built the house? They will soon all start coming, but ask them, if you want to come to continue with Oshiomhole’s works, will you do it better than those who have been doing the work with Oshiomhole? So I speak for the Oshiomhole political family,” he said.

Political pundits who have been monitoring the political development in the state since 1999 to date, however, argue that no political appointee can claim the achievements of any governor more than his deputy. They contend that the governor and his deputy were both elected on a joint ticket and that the deputy governor’s roles are written in black and white, as enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as against that of political appointees. They are also quick to point out that economic team or any other committee is only set up after a winner has been declared, adding that you cannot put something on nothing.

The analysts who believe that the deputy governor has performed creditably well in supervising the affairs of the local government councils in the state, pointed to the prompt payment of primary school teachers’ salaries as one of the testimonies of his capability. According to them, Governor Oshiomhole would have made him a scapegoat if the crisis in the non-payment of staff salaries by some local government authorities were his making.

Another sector under the deputy governor’s supervision that they believed he has done well was the National Boundary Commission. They point out that in the last seven and a half years, there has been no case of communal crisis between the state and its neighbours.

As the cut-throat rivalry in campaign continues, the electorates are eagerly waiting for the aspirants to unleash credible and factual arsenal at their disposal to give them the advantage.