The candidate of Labour Party in the September 19, 2020 gubernatorial election in Edo State, Isaiah Osifo, has advised former governor of Lagos State and national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to get the full account of the events leading to the failed attempt to take over the Edo State House of Assembly from all the parties to the issue before jumping to make comments on national television.
Speaking in Benin City, the Edo State capital, on Sunday in reaction to comments attributed to the APC leader on the failed invasion of the Assembly by members of APC, Osifo advised Tinubu to refrain from trying to “impose his retrogressive politics on Edo people” because he cannot succeed.
“In Lagos State, Asiwaju Tinubu has succeeded in putting the destinies of over twenty million Lagosians in his pocket, who must go and prostrate in his Bourdillon residence before they can seek elective positions, buy property and even start a business,” Osifo said.
“It is this retrogressive brand of politics that Tinubu wants to import to Edo State. But he fails to realise that Edo people have never been candidates for such mental dominance and subservience. He can check Nigeria’s historical records for this fact.
“Tinubu cannot do to our people in the 21st century, what our forebears vehemently rejected till this day. He cannot subordinate a free people like us, who would give anything for the triumph of social justice, to his whims. He should learn about Edo people from the rise and fall of Adams Oshiomhole, the sacked national chairman of the APC,” he said.
The Labour Party candidate said “Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has done in three years what Tinubu couldn’t do in eight years, and several years after, by his stooges occupying the seat of power in Lagos”.
“Whereas in Edo State, the illegal activities of area boys and land grabbers have been stamped out of our socio-economic space by Obaseki, but in Lagos, the reverse is the case.
“In Edo State the Geographic Information Service agency, set up by Governor Obaseki issues Certificate of Occupancy in a matter of weeks, and at affordable cost. But in Lagos, the issuance of C-of-Os is still largely influenced by Tinubu, several years after leaving office,” he said.
He alleged tgat it is this kind of culture that “Tinubu wants to foist on Edo people through his agents such as Adams Oshiomhole and the APC gubernatorial candidate”.
“But Edo people will not allow them,” Osifo said.
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