Oshiomhole: I Told Jonathan PDP Has Failed in Edo

Governor Adams Oshiomhole

…Says God used me to dismantle it Govt alleges plan by PDP to heat up polity


Muhammad Bello

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State Tuesday intimated President Goodluck Jonathan of the political liability that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has become in Edo State despite the 11 years it spent being in the saddle there.
This is against the recent backdrop of his taking on one of his predecessors, Lucky Igbinedion.

Oshiomhole, who attributed his various victories over the PDP to divine intervention, was at the State House to confer with Jonathan privately.
"For eleven good years PDP local governments had the head way uninterrupted and they cannot boast of one school. Edo people are not fools, how will they vote for ruffians?" he asked.

He observed that Edo people are disenchanted with the corrupt nature of the ruling party, particularly its penchant for using money to lure voters, saying that he told the president that: "those days are gone."

He also indicated: "All they have tried to do in this election is clear and that is what I went to tell the president."

He urged the media "to recognise that what the PDP leaders have done here is to give the impression that rigging is inevitable, preparing for the future. But they will be shocked that Nigerians are not in the mood for any rigging to take place. So, let me assure you I remain committed to the principle of one-man-one-vote because that is the irreducible minimum."

The governor accused the PDP of trying to create the impression that Edo was ungovernable. "They tried to use some criminals, some armed gangs to create trouble here and there and the police was looking the other way.

Enumerating his achievements so far, Oshiomhole said his administration has scored high marks in the areas of building roads, schools and provision of portable water while the PDP wasted its time earmarking money for projects that were never accomplished.

He recalled that last year he contested election “and I won in all the 18 local government areas including Chief Anenih’s local government”.
He said his party, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), clinched majority of the seats of the National Assembly and won 20 out of 24 house of assembly seats in addition to two senators.

"So, God has used us to dismantle the PDP in Edo State. If it is evil, it can’t stand. Where is the strength of PDP?," he queried.

The governor explained that following the strings of defeat the party has suffered since he came into office "more and more people have decamped from PDP because they were completely demoralized."

"The chief legal coordinator of the PDP candidate decamped to join ACN a month ago. The chief agent of the PDP gubernatorial candidate at INEC decamped to join ACN, citing their reasons as failure of the PDP to manipulate the election.

Oshiomhole also noted that he also floored the PDP in the local government elections "because we chose to fight on the side of democracy because that has been our lives."

He alluded that: "If an armed robber is complaining of being robbed, it is your choice as to how much weight to place on his complaints. The history of rigging election in Nigeria is as old as PDP."

"They have lived on it, they have perpetuated it, they have deepened it, they have feasted on it, and they have even celebrated it. I Thank God He has used me and all other patriotic people to dismantle PDP rigging machine in Edo State," he said.
Going down memory lane, he said when while some the PDP politicians were in cahoot with the military, he and his likes were busy fighting for the entrenchment of democracy.

"For us, it is not a choice that we launch the campaign of one-man-one-vote, we need it and without it, Nigeria’s democracy is not on. And so when they are talking, I ask them a simple question and you can ask them, who among those talking came to Edo State to campaign?," he asked.

Meanwhile, the state government yesterday alleged that it had uncovered a sinister move by politicians in the PDP to recruit thugs masquerading as students to cause disaffection in the state over issues bordering on bursary award and scholarship.

In a statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the governor, Mr. Peter Okhiria, claimed that “the ‘students,’ who held a clandestine meeting at the Students’ Union Government (SUG) building at the University of Benin (UNIBEN), threatened to mobilise students to agitate on the streets of Benin City, after a seven-day ultimatum to the government to commence payment of bursary expires.”

“We want to state clearly that the payment of bursary is not a ‘birthright’ as the ‘students’ claim and is not compulsive on a state government as there are many states in the federation which do not pay. Some states which are generally described as disadvantaged in terms of western education pay bursary to encourage their students go for higher education.”