In the next few days we shall all be ushered in to the much talked about year 2020. The year made more popular because of the gubernatorial election coming up in Edo state as well as the National Sports Festival also taking place in the state.
Already, the venue to host the sports fiesta has taking a brand new look and all arrangements are in top gear with the Edo state Deputy Governor, Rt Hon. Comrade Philip Shaibu holding forth to ensure all is well.
Meanwhile, there are several political undercurrents accompanying the 2020 governorship elections which have continued to generate mixed feelings and apprehensions in the state.
But in all these, we have every reason to thank God for all He has done for us as individuals and as a people belonging to our dear state, the heart beat of the nation. That is why we should be very careful not to take His blessings for granted.
Irrespective of the political divide you belong to, you have achieved so much in the past which you should not allow to becloud your sense of gratitude. There is no doubt that God has answered your prayers in one way or the other.
Most importantly, for still being amongst the living, you have every reason to give Him thanks and there are situations that you know that God has blessed you beyond your expectations.
The Lord is always prepared to bless His people, even though most of us are not prepared to receive His blessings. For example, He will not bless those who want others to suffer untold hardship, especially innocent persons who are struggling to make ends meet in these hard times.
Specifically, anyone responsible for bringing tears and sorrow into homes of market traders this festive season should not expect God to bless them. Those behind the burning of markets in Benin City for political reasons should count themselves applicants of hell fire.
Those used for such heinous assignments to throw innocent traders who perhaps may have borrowed money to trade in the markets to such a state of hardship and debts should count themselves, most miserable because their own end will be worse.
The suspected arsonists working in cohorts with unscrupulous politicians have no doubt taking this too far and while shedding light on the recent spate of markets being razed in Benin City, Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki said that the incidents are not accident, but the handiwork of arsonists who were out to sabotage markets and discredit the government.
With this action it is obvious that these people are heartless, wicked and can do anything to achieve their aim. The governor who led members of the State Executive Council to inspect the extent of damage at Osa (Ekiosa) said intelligence reports indicate that some people who are disgruntled over his reforms and programmes targeted at improving the welfare of the people were behind the recent infernos in the markets.
The governor who decried the new dimension of fire incidents in the state where those suspected arsonists prevent firefighters from gaining access to markets being gutted by fire said the fire incidents were politically motivated by disgruntled politicians who had vowed to make government unbearable for him.
The governor who further disclosed that they have tried other tricks which did not succeed and they now resort to cause havoc during this yuletide maintained that, “they should try whatever they like, but the government will continue to work for the state and they cannot remove us from Edo State”.
It is instructive to note that those responsible for bringing such miseries on innocent persons and their families are only heaping the wrath of God upon their heads and they will surely not go unpunished.
Before becoming governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki had made his position known that he would never be a puppet to any godfather if elected governor and if he needed to be a puppet to anybody he would rather be a puppet to the good people of Edo state whose general mandate he was seeking to become their governor.
I recall vividly that Obaseki had said a week before his election that he was set to make a positive difference in governance if elected and he promised to deliver more dividends of democracy to the people of the state by working on the good template already set by his predecessor so that he could move the state to greater height.
On how his government would generate at least 200,000 jobs for youths within his first four years in office, Obaseki said he hoped to achieve this through agricultural reforms and by also creating the necessary enabling environment for investors to come and do business in Edo state and today all that are becoming a reality to the chagrin of his detractors who are becoming desperate.
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By Eubaldus Enahoro, AG. Editor, Nigerian Observer 08034742291
