Edo ex-lawmaker, Arigbe-Osula endorses Ighodalo 

THE former Deputy Minority Leader, House of Representative (Oredo Federal Constituency) and former governorship candidate, Emmanuel Arigbe-Osula, has endorsed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Asue Ighodalo, ahead of Saturday’s election in Edo State.

While endorsing Ighodalo, Arigbe-Osula said this would be the most important election to witness in his adult days, considering the prevailing conditions across the nation.

The former lawmaker noted that the poor performance of the ruling APC and the hardship of the Nigerian people are reasons to get it right in Edo.

Arigbe-Osula pointed out that this Saturday’s election is a referendum on the nine-year APC government at the centre. He stressed that Nigerians have witnessed nothing but hardship in the last nine years of the APC Federal Government.

He said: “We have known nothing but hardship. Nigerians have known nothing but hardship, insecurity, pain, anguish, and in many ways, death. Edo people must come out in their millions and insist, through their electoral franchise, that this suffering must end.

“So, we cannot afford to reward an incompetent government with the governorship of our state. The actors who came to Benin for the grand finale of their campaign are culprits of the things we are experiencing. They came to Edo for the so-called grand finale of their campaign, danced, and rubbed it in our face. The same people who are killing the country were in Edo State asking us to let them kill Edo State for more years. Edo people must say no to APC. We cannot have them. We must reject APC. We must express that at the poll. In this Saturday’s election, the entire Nigerians would be speaking through Edo people. We must reject APC and restore hope to the over 200,000 Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora.
“We cannot afford to make any mistake in this election, otherwise Edo State will be taken 100 years back, never to recover and will drive a sword through the hopes of the entire people of this nation. It is very disheartening to note that the APC, the ruling party in our country for the past nine years, is participating in this election. The APC has forced on us, unrepentantly, great and grave hardship. And yet, they are campaigning on the same promises they made that got Nigeria and Nigerians into this horrible situation in the first place.
“So, Edo State must know that, come Saturday, the country has a common enemy. We, Nigerians, have a common enemy to the progress of our country, and it is APC. We must take our anger against them and not vote APC on Saturday. The only motivation that would make anybody want to vote APC is if they are driven by corruption, not peace, not the development of our state, not the security we have long sought after, not the provision of social infrastructures, which APC has shown they cannot provide for Nigeria and Nigerians. So, in Edo State, there is one party we cannot vote for on Saturday, and that is the APC.

When asked pointedly who his candidate for Saturday’s election is while being vocal against the APC candidate, the former lawmaker said: “Oh, certainly, I do have a candidate. I have taken time to review the background of the other two candidates (Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party and Asue Ighodalo of the PDP) and there’s no doubt Asue Ighodalo stands out as the person I will ask every progressive-minded Edo person to vote for. My good people of the state should vote for Asue Ighodalo if they want to move the state forward. I’ve had time to also meet personally with him to review his vision, to discuss his plans for the state. They are very laudable, and he’s passionate about them and determined to move Edo State in the right direction. I’m saying this without any reservation: the right person for this job and the right person that Edo people should vote for is Asue Ighodalo.
“All sentiments aside, the only thing that should drive any of us to vote and to ask others to vote in this election is the development of our state—not stomach infrastructure that has made a lot of people to congregate under the APC despite the devastation they have foisted on our people nationwide. Nigeria has never been this insecure. Nigerians have never been this hungry. It is even more disheartening to note that the actors in APC in this Edo governorship election are members of the National Assembly, which has been rated as the worst in the history of that institution. You have people who cannot even articulate a vision nor can they promote one, contesting on the platform of the APC.
We’ve seen this before with Buhari. We are experiencing this with Tinubu. We cannot afford it in Edo State. We just can’t afford it.”

One point against Asue Ighodalo is that he has been with the incumbent governor in the past seven years as economic adviser. If people believe that the Obaseki government has not lived up to expectations, it would also mean that Asue Ighodalo can’t exonerate himself from the perceived failure of Obaseki, his promoter-in-chief.
Responding to such claims, Arigbe-Osula said: “I want to say that Governor Obaseki did not inherit a better government from Adams Oshiomhole. However, Asue Ighodalo is not Obaseki. But Edo State today is in a much better, healthier state than it was eight years ago. Everyone of them complaining in APC today is upset because the treasury of Edo State has not been made an appendage of their personal accounts as it were under Oshiomhole. I have had cause to speak with these people personally, and they will tell you that it is not that Governor Obaseki hasn’t performed at all—it is because their homeboy politicians are not having access to the treasury.
“So, unless we have someone with the background of Asue, his professional antecedents, his vision, we would not get Edo State out of the hole. At least, you’ve heard from Asue. We’ve not heard from his opponent, Senator Monday Okpebholo. I want to warn Edo people; we’ve been here before with Muhammadu Buhari. President Bola Tinubu never spoke to us directly, yet we were expecting him to do wonders. Okpebholo has not said a thing in terms of vision. The few times he tried to speak, he blabbed, saying incoherent things that were almost nonsensical.”