It was a show of solidarity for one of their own in Benin City, yesterday, as seven Governors across the political divide stormed the Samuel Ogbemudia stadium to witness the swearing-in, for a second tenure, of Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State.
Leading the pack of Governors was the Governor of Rivers State, and Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, Rt Hon Rotimi Amaechi of the PDP. Also in attendance was Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State of All Progressive Peoples’ Alliance (APGA); Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha of APGA; Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State and PDP; Govermnor Babtunde Fashola of Lagos State and the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN; Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State and ACN; Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State and ACN and Gobvernor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State and ACN.
Also in attendance at the Stadium which was filled to capacity were Former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon; former Governor of Osun State, Chief Bisi Akande, who is also the national Chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria; former Governor of Lagos State, Chief Bola Tinubu; former Governor of Ogun State, Chief Segun Osoba; former Governor of Anambra State, Dr Chris Ngige; former Governor of Ekiti, Otunba Niyi Adebayo.
Members of the opposition PDP in Edo State were also at the stadium, led by SDenator Daisy Danjuma and former Minister of Defence and two-time Governor, General Godwin Abbe.
The Oba of Benin was represented by palace chiefs while also in attendance was the Crown Prince, His Royal Highness, Eheneden Erediauwa. The Sultan of Sokoto was represented by the Magajjin Sokoto.
In his inaugural speech after his swearing-in, Governor Oshiomhole thanked God for granting him and his Deputy the wisdom and the courage to take hard decisions which led to the success of their first tenure.
He recalled that prior to his administration in 2008, “the State became riddled with mismanagement, oppression, corruption, poverty, marginalisation of the people, suffocation of civil society, and the general neglect of the basic needs of the masses. There was hardly a difference between the rural and urban centres in terms of planlessness, unemployment, infrastructural deficit and decay, unaccountable leadership, political manipulation, waste and criminal diversion of state resources, and general insecurity”
Outlining his plans for the next four years, the Governor said: “we shall continue to rebuild faith in government and governance at all levels; mobilise our people to commit to collective growth and development, and strengthen institutions for efficient and effective service delivery. It is our hope that traditional leaders and institutions as well as religious bodies and civil society groups continue to mobilise their members to complement our efforts. We shall not fail to deliver on all our promises and to complete all on-going projects.
“Allow me to say that while we will continue to work on infrastructure, we plan, in the next four years, to place emphasis on promoting sustainable economic growth and development. Our Government will emphasize human capital development, training and retraining of teachers and public servants; promotion of agriculture for food production, employment and increased income to our farmers and rural dwellers; small and medium scale industrial development. We shall continue to attract local and foreign investors to Edo State so as to create more jobs for our people.
“We shall continue to use Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and ensure that all forms of waste are eliminated in the public service. In collaboration with the security agencies, we shall continue to work hard, to ensure and assure the safety and security of our people. Our goal is to ensure that Edo State becomes a major investors’ haven in Nigeria and that our small and medium scale industries are fed with products from our agricultural initiatives.
“Let me pay some brief attention to three issues: agriculture, local government and education. Our goal is increase the gross domestic product (GDP) of Edo State, create jobs for our people and forge strong linkages between agriculture and industry. To achieve this, our government will provide substantial incentives such as provision of rural roads and other incentives to promote large scale commercial agriculture. Emphasis will be placed on productive partnerships, processing and storage that will generate new opportunities for training and income to our small scale industries and farmers.”
The Governor later hosted his guests to a luncheon.
