We will not allow cattle colonies —Edo PDP chairman

WITH a dismissive wave of the hand, the Edo state Chairman of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Dan Osi Orbih, said that the All Progressives Congress (APC) government of Mr. Godwin Obaseki has failed woefully. Dan, a scion of the Orbih family of Ogbona, Etsako Central local council of the state said that a careful survey of Edo political landscape clearly showed that Obaseki’s action are anti-people and do not meet well for the ordinary man. HENDRIX OLIOMOGBE brings the excerpts.

What is your assessment of the Edo political situation 18 months after Governor Godwin Obaseki was sworn in?

The Edo political situation is going from bad to worse. In fact, it has gone worse under the incumbent governor, Mr. Goodwin Obaseki. It was bad under former Governor Adams Oshiomhole. The interesting thing is that we never expected anything good from Obaseki. He was the head of Oshiomhole’s economic team. The agenda of the All Progressives Congress (APC) government in Edo state is to deprive Edo people their resources and cart away every allocation hence Oshiomhole’s desperation to see to the emergence of Obaseki both in the primary and the governorship election of 2016. We in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) are not surprised.

This is a man who promised Edo people 200,000 jobs during the electioneering campaigns. Now as governor, he has been sacking workers, closing down institutions where people are supposed to be gainfully employed. This is the tragedy of Obaseki’s emergence as the governor of Edo state. It is obvious that he does not have the interest of the people at heart. You will recall that even the bags of rice sent to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp were stolen by some crooked top government officials and nothing happened. These actions have only gone a long way in painting a sordid picture of the kind of people running the affairs of Edo state. They have a very poor spirit and no sympathy for the less privilege. I believe that if the situation presents itself, Obaseki will say worse things than Oshiomhole who told a poor widow to go and die. These are sadists without human sympathy. They have no tolerance for divergent political views.

How about the anti-corruption drive of the APC led federal government?

It is a known fact that in the selective APC anti-corruption programme where very vocal and PDP leaders are undergoing trial on trump up charges, Edo is the only state where a court gives condition for bail and the government frustrates civil servants from meeting the bail conditions. The APC led government in Edo state lacks human feelings and it is like it is made up of people from another planet. His facial expression gives away the true Obaseki. This is a man who appears angry with the world for reasons best known to him.

What of the petition by Bishop Osadolor Ochei to the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) against former Edo state Governor Adams Oshiomhole?

Going by the petition, Oshiomhole authorized and awarded a highly inflated contract and payment within a few hours for the construction of a 168 room-hostel in Edo State University, Iyamho for the sum of N1.88 billion. The average cost per room translates to N10 million.  The contract was awarded to the firm of A & K Construction Limited without compliance with due process. Similarly, the APC national chairman authorized and awarded the highly inflated contract of building the teaching hospital of the said university for the sum of N12.2 billion also without compliance with due process.

Again, Osadolor claimed that Oshiomhole allegedly authorized and approved the diversion of N1.2 billion approved for the construction of a new accident and emergency ward complex and renovation of existing structures in the Central Hospital, Benin City for the payment of additional 10 pert cent advance payment to A & K Construction Limited for the construction of the teaching hospital of the University of Science and Technology, Uzairue (also known as Edo State University, Iyamho) without compliance with due process and against public interest.

These allegations are very weighty and must be thoroughly investigated by the EFCC. They should not be swept under the carpet if the war against corruption is to succeed. It is cause for great concern that nothing has been done on the petition two years after Bishop Osadolor submitted it with tons of evidence. The EFCC must act on it.

What is your take on attempt by the federal government to create cattle colonies in the country?

I have seen that Governor Obaseki is not here in the interest of Edo State.  All that I have seen in the past one year and some months is that there is a conscious attempt by the governor to turn the state into a grazing field for cattle rearing by the Fulani herdsmen.

Let me say it here that he has concluded plans long ago to use great parts of our land for cattle ranching.

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Let me send a strong message to Obaseki that on no condition must he cede an inch of Edo land to the Fulani herdsmen to give to these cattle men.

Going by the public outcry against this move, he came out with a statement and speaks with both sides of his mouth. In one breath, he said he will not give land and in another breath, he said the government is prepared to welcome all those who want to invest in any private business because we know that ranching is a private business

When you want to force the people and takes their land by force and turns those land into cattle ranching, it is like going from here to the North and tell the people there that you are going to use their irrigation fields for pig rearing and farms.  We know that it is not in their culture to rear pigs. Will they not resist it?  That is how we will resist the attempt to turn Edo State into a grazing field for cattle”

What is your take on the situation at Tayo Akpata University of Education and the recent closure of the College of Agriculture, Iguoriakhi?

If he is not closing down institutions, he will close down government establishments where people are gainfully employed and convert them to female mechanic workshops. He is not supposed to be an APC governor but Edo governor. He should leave politics to politicians and behaves like a statesman. He should take decisions based on self conviction rather than the dictate of his clone and master from Iyamho, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. What we have witnessed in the last one and a half year since Obaseki was sworn in is a miserable execution of government policies and the looting of the treasury. A case in point is the Sobe Agricultural Project where over N500 million was allegedly spent on the farm without anything to show for it. It is now very clear that Obaseki understudied Oshiomhole and even perfected his acts of noise making with nothing to show.

Edo University is supposed to be for the benefit of all Edo people. Do you have any problem with that?

I challenge Obaseki to tell Edo people the rationale for using Edo resources to build a private university that his company, Afri Invest built under the Public Private Partnership. What we still don’t understand is why Afri  Invest, a financial company without experience is managing the school, Edo University (EU) at Iyamho, Etsako West local council of the state. It has no experience in managing a private school not to talk of a university. Every economic investment must have an equity contribution. The question naturally arises, what is the equity contribution of Afri Invest in EU?

The former College of Education at Ekiadolor, Ovia North East local council which was upgraded to a university and named Tayo Akpata University has structures but it is now a ghost institution where nothing happens. It has not been accredited by the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) whereas Edo University at Iyamho without infrastructure and was set up at the same time with Tayo Akpata University has been accredited and will soon graduate the first set of students. It is now clear where Obaseki’s interest lies. The question that naturally comes to the mind of Edo people is how their actions will benefit the people who are earnestly yearning for a new lease of life as a result of Obaseki’s unbearable taxation policies and other measures designed by the government to deny the ordinary Edo man the good things of life.

Governor Obaseki was recently quoted as saying that he will produce two million votes for President Muhammadu Buhari in next year election. What is your take on that?

Oshiomhole could not even win Edo state for Buhari after eight years not to talk of Obaseki who has not done anything for Edo people. The PDP under President Goodluck Jonathan won the 2015 presidential election in Edo state. I can confidently assure you that the PDP will win the next state for the next presidential candidate of the party, again in 2019. Make no mistake about that.

The president was quoted recently as saying that the opposition has amassed so much money for the 2019 election. What is your reaction to that?

For a sitting president to say that the opposition has so much money to fight is a bad omen for the APC. PDP will do him good by sending him home to enjoy a quiet retirement at his hometown of Daura, Katsina state. That is what President Muhammadu Buhari truly deserves now.