I will ensure Edo people benefit maximally from federal resources – Osagie

Samson Osagie, current minority whip in the House of Representatives, last Sunday emerged as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for Edo South Senatorial District. Osagie a two-time member in the House of Representatives as well as two-time member in the Edo State House of Assembly defeated Patrick Obahiagbon with 1,120 votes against 894 votes to the ticket. He spoke with some journalists in Benin-City. IDRIS UMAR MOMOH was there. Excerpts:

It has become a common phenomenon that whenever an aspirant loses party ticket to contest for any elective political office he or she dumps or threatens to dump the party. Following the just concluded APC primaries, what would be your advice to aspirants that lost?

It is my belief that to leave a party must not be because you have lost the opportunity to fly the flag of the party in an election. There may be other reasons why a man might decide to exit a particular political party. But my advice really is that if politics is about call to service, it shouldn’t be the case that when you lose a ticket you should dump the party in search of other party to get ticket in order to run for an election.

My advice is that we must elevate the process of our politics to a level where we believe in the ideas of a political party and join others in whatever capacities to pursue those ideas for the purpose of bringing about development. So, it is not ideal and I do not subscribe to the idea of people leaving a political party simply because they have lost the ticket of their party to where they want to run for an election.

My advice is that we must learn to abide by the principles on which a particular political party is formed, so that we can collectively, no matter the circumstance, pursue the ideas for common good of all.

Were you threatened by some aspirants dropping names of leaders of the party before the primary that they have been adopted as candidates for the 2015 general election?

I wasn’t threatened in any way when some aspirants tried to use such tactics because I was focused in ensuring that I meet the delegates of the party to appeal to their conscience to see the difference between me and other aspirants in the primary election.

The way we do our politics in this part of the world is that every contestant tends to deploy whatever arsenal that they think is at their disposal sometimes whether fair or foul in order to get political advantage. For me, when I set out for political contest I give it my all and I usually not bother because I know power resides with the people and I know that even if you are an anointed candidate or you have been anointed by somebody you still need the people to endorse or ratify that anointment through their votes.

Now that you have won the party ticket, how prepared are you to slug it out with other political parties’ candidates?

Having emerged as a candidate of the party, the 2015 general elections is now about the future of our country, the future of our state and the future of our senatorial district that I intend to represent. I am more than prepared to give it my all, but don’t forget that I have become a party’s candidate and my party is ready to give the 2015 general election the attention it deserves for the purpose of ensuring that the APC secures victory in that election.

What will be your focus in the first four years in the Senate if elected, as it relates to attracting more federal resources to your senatorial district?

As far as I am concerned, the Gele-Gele seaport has remained the campaign issue for many senatorial candidates that have emerged in the past and for me even though I have not been to the Senate to represent the district I have contributed in the efforts to have that seaport developed so that the economic opportunities of the state and indeed the senatorial district are enhanced for our people to get benefit from.

I recalled that efforts have yielded some results with the result that the Gele-Gele seaport is being seen as not big enough to the level of being a full-blown seaport because of its depth and efforts are being made in order to ensure that it is used for at least for small boats that can come in through Lagos state like what we currently have in Koko jetty.

I want to assure you that as senator representing the district I will mobilise all the opportunities at my disposal to ensure that attention is paid to it by government so that we can have some developmental efforts in that place and create opportunities for our people. This I intend to do by mobilising my colleagues that will be in the House of Representatives to meet with government to discuss it in order to ensure that attention is paid to it and make budgetary provision and pursue it through collective efforts by members of national assembly particularly those from Edo South senatorial district that will be in the National Assembly.

So, Gele-Gele seaport shall be my major focus. It shall also be my major focus to ensure that people in the district are fairly treated in the area of appointment into Federal Government agencies because right now it is heavily schemed in favour of some senatorial districts and the reason is that some persons are powerful at the central government that they cornered many of these appointment to their senatorial districts.

So, it shall be my focus to ensure that some of these injustices are redress and people of this senatorial district are taken into cognizance and rewarded on the basis of their population in the state. On the whole I intend to form a synergy with the state government and ensure that it benefits maximally from distribution of resources giving the nature of our federalism and ensure that Edo State is not cheated at the expense of politics or whatsoever because what we find today is that the PDP government at the centre select and chosen which state benefit from the common poll. At times, they can even go to the extent of having to delay releases of resources to the states in order to weaken them because they are opposition states.

I believe very sincerely that we might not be opposition state from 2015 but whatever status we find ourselves as senator representing the district I shall do all within my power and in collaboration with my colleagues in the National Assembly from Edo State to work assiduously and in harmony with the state government and even local government to ensure that Edo State benefit maximally.

We shall also use the instrumentality of budget to ensure that developmental projects are attracted to the district on a scale that have very meaningful impacts in the different parts of the district and in this regard we will try to avoid the practice of tokenism in the distribution of projects.

We will try as much as possible in consultation with my colleagues in various federal constituencies to ensure that we have mega projects that can have meaningful impacts on the lives of our people. This cannot happen if we do not work in synergy. I am speaking in this way because experience had shown that when individual member of the national assembly decides to works independently what they are able to bring are usually in a very “tokenistic” approach. What I mean is that we have boreholes sunk here and there, have one small project all over the place. At the end of the day the people lifespan is not still long and you discover that it becomes difficult to have value for a long time.

I will also ensure, in consultation with my colleagues from the senatorial districts in the National Assembly, that we look at areas that require mega projects that we will co-fund in the budget in order to ensure that we bring meaningful development from the Federal Government to Edo State.

Are you indicting anybody?

I am not accusing or indicting anybody but only saying that the practice in the past had been that every individual national assembly member in the state goes on his own trying to do whatever they can to attract project to their constituency. That is not accusing anybody of failure; it is just a matter of practice but what I am saying given that experience I will try to work in synergy with my colleagues to attract projects that are bigger in nature to the various segment of the area so that they can have more meaningful impact. Imagine if three senators and nine members of federal representatives in state are able to attract a very big project to their various constituencies in four years we will be able to attract big projects to every different parts of the senatorial districts that the people of the district and the entire state will benefit from and give kudos to the lawmakers.

What I am saying in the essence is that I will work in unison with my colleagues in the House of Representatives to ensure that we bring meaningful development that perhaps will be a departure from the practice we currently find ourselves right now.

What is your message to the people of the senatorial district?

I wish to formally thank all the party delegates who attended the congress for electing me as the party flag bearer for the February 14, 2015 general election. I also wish to thank the leadership of the party both at the national and state levels for creating the enabling environment for the primary to be conducted transparently and peacefully.

Let me also thank the governor of the state, Adams Oshiomhole and his entire executives for their immense contributions towards the successful conduct of the party’s primaries across the state.

As the winner of the Edo South senatorial district primary I wish to thank my colleagues who I contested the primary with, for the mature ways we all conducted ourselves throughout the contest. I therefore, urged all of us as party members to close ranks to ensure victory for our great party in the general elections. No doubt, I am convinced that we all share in the vision of a new Nigeria which the APC envisioned for our great country.

The security agencies that were on hand to guarantee orderliness particularly the State Commissioner of Police and his men, SSS, among others deserved commendations for their positive contributions to the success of the primaries. The media must not be left out as they were on ground to cover the events maximally in order to ensure that the process meet with the integrity test that it duly requires. Above all, I want to thank God Almighty for given me this opportunity once again to fly the flag of this party for the purpose of the 2015 election, to contest the Edo South senatorial seat to represent the district in the Senate come 2015.