A former Deputy Minority leader of the House of Representatives, Hon Emmanuel Arigbe-Osula has called on the people of Edo State to ensure they vote for good governance rather than on the line of political affiliation.
Arigbe-Osula who stated this in an interview, maintained that the only thing that should drive electorates to vote in the forthcoming election should be the development of the state and not stomach infrastructure.
According to him, “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 and 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.”
Arigbe-Osula who supported the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Peter Obi in the 2023 Presidential election, threw his weight behind the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Asue Ighodalo in the election if they want to move the state forward.
He said “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.
“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.”
He said Ighodalo should not be blamed for the mistakes committed his principal, Godwin Obaseki, despite being the economic adviser for seven years.
“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.”
Arigbe-Osula, a former deputy minority leader and member, House of Representatives contested in the governorship race in 2007.
ALSO READ THESE TOP STORIES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
NNPCL selling Dangote petrol more than imported ones doesn’t make sense — IPMAN
and then