IGARRA (AKOKO-EDO) – The Otaru of Igarra Kingdom, His Royal Highness (HRH), Oba Emmanuel Saiki II and his council of Chiefs have expressed their support for the All Progressive Congress (APC) candidates for the Edo State House of Assembly and the National Assembly in the February elections.
Oba Emmanuel Saiki II also promised to support, on behalf of his subjects, APC Presidential candidate, Gen. Mohammadu Buhari (Rtd).
He disclosed these when he received the state governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole in his palace at Igarra, the administrative headquarters of Akoko-Edo Local Government Area before a political rally at Igarra.
Addressing the Oba, Oshiomhole said, “I want to thank you for the support you have extended to my administration, the wise counselling and to appreciate you for the leadership you have provided and this has ensured peace in this kingdom.
“My mission today is to present our candidates to you in the forth-coming elections; to solicit your royal blessing and to mobilize your subjects to support our party, the APC.”
“Your highness, I must state that while we do this, we need to understand that in this forth-coming elections, we need visible people, not only in the State House of Assembly, the presidency as well. People who can’t be swayed when you put a little money in front of them.”
He said, “In the cause of my speech, light went-off. That is the story of Nigeria. That we can’t live our lives uninterrupted because the Federal Government under the PDP for 16 years has always promised that they will fix power.”
Oshiomhole further said, “today, power supply is under 3,500 megawatts about the same level or less they met it 16 years ago when we were generating over 4,000 mega watts.
He added, “Because of the amount of corruption in Abuja and the gross incompetence of PDP and the greed of individual officials and their unwillingness to handover businesses to those that can run them, rather, they contract them out under the disguise of privatization to their political friends, and associates.”
Governor Oshiomhole said, “The more money PDP throw into power, the more darkness that develop Nigeria, so bad that even the seat of the Federal Government is run on generating set/machine, nothing can be more shameful than that,” he regretted.
He lamented PDP insensitivity to the plight of the citizens in terms of capacity building and human empowerment through job creation.
According to him, “your highness, imagine what is happening to our industries. You set up a factory that is designed to run for 24 hours and every minutes, light is going-off.
“You buy a computer at the cost of N100,000.00, you have to buy a UPS that might cost you about N50,000.00, so that when NEPA takes light, you don’t loss your data.”
“That is the life of Nigeria, one step forward, two steps backward. If PDP remains in power, Nigeria will never have power. So, if there must be power in this palace, your highness has no choice, but to vote against PDP at the State and Federal levels.
Oshiomhole said “your highness, four years ago, I thought the president as a young man would make a difference. We gave him the benefit of the doubt and we all voted for him, but four years later, we have decided to look at his score cards and ask ourselves if we should continue on a route that will lead us nowhere?”
He added, “I am convinced that only a fool will continue to follow a route without a clear destination. Peoples Democratic Party deserves to go so that Nigeria can live its life.”
Governor Oshiomhole later presented the various candidates from Barr. Francis Alimenkhena for Senate, Edo North, Hon. Peters Akpatason, House of Representatives, Hon. Kabiru Adjotu, Edo State House of Assembly, Akoko-Edo Constituency II and Mr. Emmanuel Agbaje for Akoko-Edo Constituency I, Edo State House of Assembly.
Responding, (HRH) Oba Emmanuel Saiki II eulogized the leadership quality and huge developmental strides of the Governor, not only in Akoko-Edo, but the state in general.
He said, “with what you can see right here today, it shows that we are all happy. This goes to tell you that we are not tired of you as our leader.
“We shall continue to be with you and you shall continue to lead us. Whosoever you are presenting to us today, we believe has the same leadership with you and we shall support all of them for the Edo North seats at the National Assembly, State House of Assembly and the presidency.”
You have never disappointed us and I must say that since your tenure as Governor in the last six year or thereabout, I don’t think there is any Governor in the past who has performed the way you have done.
“So far, I think for that alone, we shall continue to follow you as we are not tired of you.”
The Oba and his Council of Chiefs later prayed and blessed the various candidates for victory at the polls. Governor Oshiomhole later proceeded to the public field for the APC rally.
