Technicians and dealers in auto parts at the popular Evbareke market in Benin City have endorsed the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Godwin Obaseki, ahead of the September 10 election in Edo State.
Speaking at a rally of the All Progressives Congress in Benin City, Chairman, Edo State Council of the Nigeria Automobile Technician Association (NATA), Mr. Felix Irabor said, “All Nigeria Automobile Technicians Association (NATA) members are using this opportunity to tell you that this September 10, Mr. Godwin Obaseki will be declared as the winner as Edo State executive governor. I want to promise you, both our members, our wives, in short, members of our household, we will fully cast our votes for Godwin Obaseki and Hon Shaibu. Your Excellency, we are fully behind this great party, and our party will be the winner that day.”
Similarly, the President, Auto Spare Parts Association, Comrade Efosa Asemota said, “we have more than six thousand people in this market. And I am promising you from my heart that come September 10, we all will come out en-masse and cast our vote for our brother, our uncle, Godwin Obaseki to become the governor of Edo State come September 11th or 12th when the result will be announced. In fact, we the people of the market, we thank you, we welcome you.”
Responding, Governor Adams Oshiomhole said, “I want to assure you that your statement is precisely the reason we are talking about continuity and consolidation. When we talk of continuity, it means not to do those ones we have already done. It is to do the ones we have not yet done.”
He said, “Under PDP, they discriminated between the so-called Edo indigenes and Edo non-indigenes. As far as we are concerned, everybody who lives in Edo is Edo, and that is why one of the first things I did after presiding over the Nigerian Labour Congress for eight years, speaking for Igbo, for Hausa, for Yoruba, for Ijaw, for Benin, for everybody, I couldn’t become an ethnic champion. It is impossible. I am just a Nigerian. If you go to AAU, if you are Igbo-speaking, they would say you should pay more. If you are Yoruba-speaking, you paid more school fees, even if you are Delta here, you would pay higher school fees. Who abolished it? I abolished discriminatory school fees which PDP imposed on our state. Do they now have the right to tell you to vote for them for discriminating against your children? And Ize-Iyamu was the secretary to the government of PDP when those policies were being implemented.”
Oshiomhole continued, “Godwin from day one in his campaign keeps saying that he has to work out a scheme to grant soft loans to traders so that they can run their businesses so that they won’t have to be borrowing money to do business. He has recognized that the reason we have to embark on infrastructure is to attract investors to our state. The investors are here now. We now have Nigeria’s largest private power plant, the Azura Power Project. If you go to the Benin bye-pass, you will be shocked by the number of Chinese companies that have come to Edo State. We are producing ceramic tiles in Edo State. We are producing iron rods in Edo State. All of these companies came in the past six years.”
He added, “Let me conclude by saying this election is very clear because the parties are not new, the candidates are not new to government. Let me leave you with this advice. Don’t say it is already done. It is not over until it is over. Even if it is raining that day, you have no reason to be indoors. Go out and vote.”
Governorship candidate of the APC, Mr. Godwin Obaseki said, “For me, this is like a homecoming because, like all of you, I am also a business man. I understand the business you are doing and what made you wait for so long for me since morning.”
Mr. Obaseki assured, “It appears that this market is already congested. We will go and acquire a large parcel of land at the Benin bye-pass. I will give you the land and help with the construction. So, we will open another branch of this market there so that there will be enough space for all traders in this market. I want to make this market one of the biggest markets for selling tractors spare parts in Nigeria, and we will support you. We will support you with Federal Government’s tractorisation programme. They will bring many tractors and you will bring the spare parts to support them.”
He said, “The Comrade has done his own which is part one, and we are going to start part two, and in this part two, we will need all of you to work together. My Government will create the enabling environment for everyone to earn a living.”
Mr. Godwin Obaseki, APC Candidate
