As the April 20th Edo State Local Government election draws near, Governor Adams Oshiomhole has expressed commitment to the conduct of a free, fair and credible election.
Speaking to a mammoth crowd of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) supporters and voters at Oredo, Egor and Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Areas during the flag-off of the Local Government election campaigns yesterday, Comrade Oshiomhole said the election is a litmus test for one man, one vote.
According to him “it is to me a thing of joy that we are going to conduct a clean, transparent Local Government election on the basis of one man, man vote. This one is a commitment that is our power”.
Oshiomhole insisted, “That is why we are mobilizing, organizing and reminding the people that politics is not a game without purpose”.
Debunking insinuations by the opposition party that the ACN is planning to use the Neighbourhood Watch to rig the elections, the Governor asked “who established the Neighbourhood Watch? Who made the law? The People Democratic Party (PDP) made that law. All we have done is to implement the law. We went for a citizen of the rank of a Major-General; a man who President Goodluck Jonathan had approved to command the Joint Task Force in the Niger-Delta; who commanded the forces admirably, until he retired voluntarily. Those are the kind of people ACN go for.
“We appointed independent men and women who are neutral because we are different. We trust the people, PDP suspects the people. We love the people, PDP hates the people; we work for the people, PDP work against the people; we develop the society, PDP under-develops our communities; we protect lives and PDP kill and the people have killed them in Edo State by endorsing us”, he added.
Oshiomhole recounted that in 2007 and 2011, ACN won landslide victories in Edo South Senatorial Districts in all the elections in spite of the antics of the PDP to sectionalize and tribalize the election.
The Governor maintained “Edo people have dismissed PDP. What is the basis for PDP to think that they can come back? They have committed the sin of stealing; the sin of under-development, the sin of undermining the people of Edo State, the sin of lying that Edo is not viable, sharing the money while the people were languishing in hopelessness.
“What we have been doing in the last four years and five months of ACN government is to put 36 inches nail on the political coffin of PDP. There is only one way to do it; use the resources of the people for the benefit of the people”.
To the candidates of the party in the Local Government Areas, Oshiomhole said “we are changing the face of the politics in Edo State. The future of any political steward lies in what he does; how he does it; what he refuses to do; because Edo people will never take excuses again”. Our Local Governments must use their local resources to develop their locality.
“Leadership is about vision, courage and good heart. Good heart to know that the money belongs to the people”, he said.
