It is with great pleasure I write this open letter with the utmost expectation that all is very well with you, your family and all your endeavours.
Your patriotism for your motherland is not in doubt, because your decision to sojourn abroad became inevitable when the nation’s social, economic and political stability was hazy and not too friendly for comfort.
Interestingly, the world continues to hold the view that Nigeria is too rich for its people to be poor and trapped in its peculiar agonies of rat race existence, to the extent that it is now difficult for very many people to feed well.
An African legend, Bob Marley once sang: ‘In the abundance of water the fool is thirsty.’ It may not be wrong to arrive at that conclusion though, when in the midst of the recession and hunger in the land, some serving senators and politicians are flaunting so much wealth. They live flamboyant lifestyles, purchase vehicles with hundreds of millions of naira in a country where the cost of living is rising on a daily basis.
This craze for acquiring wealth is now the motivation for every Dick and Harry hustling to occupy government offices, and not to serve the people, but rather to lord it over the people who voted them into office when they eventually get into power.
They are everywhere in the corridor of power, either at the local government councils, the state and federal government, the judiciary and various government establishments.
The recklessness of these opportunists who steal government money and their nonchalant attitude to the plight of the majority of Nigerians who work to earn a living has become very worrisome lately.
But thank God, you guys were able to see the bleak situation ahead and you took the bold steps to seek refuge in greener pastures and some of you are reaping from the fruits of that singular act today.
As a nation, we have so many reasons why we are where we are and one of them is the ineptitude of some of our leaders who have deliberately made democracy not to work as well as our inability to manage our God-given resources.
However, it must be stressed that to make democracy work maximally, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers, as one who does not vote or participate in the process of choosing who becomes a leader or does not contribute in any meaningful way to change things for the good of all has no right to complain.
In the words of the former US President Barack Obama, ‘Our destiny is not written for us but by us. Africa does not need strong men but strong institutions.’ Therefore, as a nation, or as a state, we need to build strong institutions that will be the agent of the change we desire.
Now, as friends of Edo State in Diaspora who want the state to become the envy of other states, we need your collaboration to build those strong institutions that are prevalent in developed climes across the world. Even if you have never participated in the electoral process, you are invited to partake in the building process which has been started by Governor Godwin Obaseki.
As the 2024 off-season election draws near in Edo State, we are faced with the herculean task of getting a successor for Mr Obaseki that will build sustainable structures on what has been built already.
It is, however, sad to note that some politicians have contributed to the problems Nigerians are facing today. We have witnessed how they prefer to share money meant for infrastructural and socio-economic development, and how abandoned projects litter the state because of lack of continuity of projects.
In Edo, we must ensure that Obaseki’s successor will not be the one to crumble or stop what has been built to start all over with new programmes, because they want to start something new where they can have the avenue to share government money. We can see the progress made so far by the present administration led by Obaseki and there are quite a lot that has been done and they need to be sustained.
We recall that when he commenced work in 2016, during his first tenure in office, Obaseki embarked on mega projects that some people thought he could not accomplish because they wondered where he would get the huge sum of money for such gigantic projects like refineries, electricity power, seaports and making Edo State a destination for investors.
But he was not distracted, rather he continued with so much zeal overcoming so many hurdles and they called him all sorts of names, including an MOU governor. However, over seven years later, it is now obvious that the governor meant well for Edo people with the transformation going on across the state.
According to scriptures, leaders are from God and it is therefore incumbent on us all to pray for them. It has become necessary to pray that God give us a governor that will transform the lives of the people by addressing their basic needs.
In this era of economic recession, all hands must be on deck to ensure that the right candidate takes over from Obaseki to continue and complete the projects going on in the state. One thing we must know is that some things just do not happen, especially if God is involved. If you are interested to ensure the state is developed, then you must support the continuity of the good works going on in the state.
Edo State needs your support, your investments, not necessarily because you want to make more money, but because you want to make yourself available and ensure good governance prevails and not allowing politicians run down the state for their personal gains.
We are going to be very happy to see your contributions in the state, especially in the area of coming to invest and create opportunities for the people through the industries that are springing up across the state. It is our expectation that just as you have made your impact felt in other places, we want to be beneficiaries here in Edo State too.
Governor Obaseki has always said that his focus is to industrialize the state and with you guys, this feat will be easily achieved when an industrialist and entrepreneur who can attract multi-billion-dollar investments to the state occupies the seat at Osadebe Avenue.
The clarion call on our diaspora friends is that there is no better time than now for you to galvanize support for a government that will build on what has been done for the overall interest of Edo people and the man qualified for the job is Asue Ighodalo. He has promised to use his goodwill to build the infrastructure that will connect people together and deliver services to people as well as facilitate inclusive and transformative economic growth of the state.
