Dr Tony Aziegbemi is the chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State. The Nigerian Observer team comprising TELIAT SULE and ONOSETALE OMOIKE engaged him on the preparation of his party as campaigns intensify in the state towards the September 21, 2024 governorship election. He appraises the party’s preparedness for the election and highlights the qualities of the PDP candidate that stand him out of the crowd. Excerpts:
We know that electioneering activities are now in top gear as political parties make moves to get to Dennis Osadebe House come September 21. Kindly, review the activities of your party the PDP as you are currently the party in power in the state. What has your party achieved from inception to the present moment?
The best thing that happened to Edo State in the past four years was that Governor Obaseki joined the PDP, a move that was necessitated by the way he was treated in the All Progressives Congress (APC). What he has achieved in these past four years in PDP, he wouldn’t have been able to achieve elsewhere. I made sure as the chairman of the party that I gave him comfort in order to have peace of mind to deliver on his vision for the state, as well as execute all his thinking for the good people of Edo State.
And that is so critical. Because as he came into the PDP, if we gave him problems, giving him things to think about apart from governance, I am not sure he would have achieved what he had achieved. And to mention a few things he has done which the PDP is very proud of, I imagine that Edo people will also be proud of some of those achievements. I will just mention a few.
Let us start with the 95-Megawatt Ossiomo Power Plant that generates electricity for the state. Edo State is the first state in the federation that was able to pull off that. So, we have to give that to the governor’s vision that he could bend the hands of the bureaucracy in Abuja to achieve that. And today, most of the government’s parastatals, the streetlights in the city, most of the private businesses around the city center, they are all on Ossiomo Power Plant. I can imagine, if the governor did not succeed in getting the power plant on board, what it would have cost the government to buy diesel to generate power for all the ministries and parastatals. I think that is something that we are very proud of. And we think that Governor Obaseki deserves the praise for doing this.
The second thing we are so proud of is the EdoBEST education project. As of today, it has been adjudged to be the best in any sub national government in the continent, so much so that most of the meetings that the UNESCO and some of the international organizations did, they invited the Edo State Government as the only sub national to attend such meetings, acknowledging what the EdoBEST has done to such an extent that three-year olds in some of these schools can read and write. We now have a lot of people being taken off the streets. And of course, the teachers have been able to have a better working environment so they can impact knowledge on our children.
The one that will really trigger your interest is that 70,000 hectares of lands have been cultivated for oil palm. What interests me now is that the positives from some of these projects will start coming in after the governor has left office. So, he wasn’t even thinking about himself or this immediate environment. He was thinking of the Edo people.
So, when all those oil palms get matured and start yielding, Edo State might not need to go to Abuja at the end of every month to pick up a cheque. We will be self-reliant, and that has been the dream of the government of Edo State. We must carve our niche for ourselves. We must make sure that whatever happens outside us does not affect us negatively. That we are able to honour and can stand and hold our own.
Another important thing is that it is the only state in the country that has gone paperless in terms of government interactions with the ministries and agencies, as everything is now on e-Gov. You don’t have to be looking for files; the issue of a missing file is now a thing of the past because everything is now digitalised.
In the health care segment, the governor has done a lot. I am sure you must have heard that the Stella Obasanjo Hospital will now be a medical hub. This is in addition to the agricultural hub that we have on the airport road and the education hub in Iyaro. We also have the tech park where we trained Edo indigenes that are getting monies paid into their accounts because of the apps they create.
You see, when the governor came in, the state’s gross domestic product, Edo State GDP, was $11 billion. It is now $25 billion. There are so many things that you can talk about that this government has done for the Edo people. And that is why we are saying we need continuity of these programmes. We don’t want to go back to Egypt; we don’t want anyone to take us back to the bad days when contracts were given on complimentary cards.
When Obaseki comes on board, everything is thought through. Everything the man does; he thinks it through. Look at the N70,000 minimum wage, Edo is the only state in the federation that is paying that in addition to the pensions and gratuities which are paid as at when due. The only state in the federation that does that.
I can go on and on and on. Bottom line is, we need continuity. We don’t want Edo to go back to the old days when things were not working. Things are working now and we see a brighter future for citizens. And I expect that Edo people will look at what this man has done, the sacrifices he has made at his personal level to get us to where we are today.
On the issue of continuity, how would you assess your party’s preparations towards the September 21 governorship election?
Well, you know, the PDP is known. It is clear that the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party is the most organized state chapter in the federation. Everybody knows and says that. So, you expect that we will have put together a very robust programme to drive home the positives in our candidate. And they are there for everybody to see. He is the only candidate that has come up with a manifesto: a five-point manifesto. He is the only candidate that has gone around the wards in the state, and to the various markets in the state. Our candidate has gone to nearly everybody that has political relevance in the state. He is the only one that has gone to most of these churches. And because he’s knocking on doors. He has what to say. He is not the candidate that keeps quiet because the next time the candidate opens his mouth, there is a backlash, because there will be massive mistakes made. On our candidate, we are proud of him. We are proud of what he is doing. And we like the way he is engaging Edo people.
And ultimately, the Edo people will take that decision on the 21st of September 2024. And so, we think we will soon start the ward tour. The candidate is going to do that once again. He did that before the primaries. He is going to go once again to all the 192 wards in the state.
That programme will start this week. And then we will do the local governments’ rallies. The mother of all rallies will come up at the end of it before the 21 September election. So, it is a full package. And I invited Edo people to join us in the jolly ride. Because on the 21 September, we are going to elect Asue Ighodalo as the next governor of Edo State, to make sure that all what Obaseki has put on ground is not distorted.
Before the Edo primary election, there was this slogan that focused on equity, where some politicians across political divides insisted that the governorship slot should go to Edo Central. And eventually, you know, the candidate from Edo Central got the slot. So, what does it mean for Edo polity?
It just shows who we are as a people. The average Edo person is fair, just, and wants equity. He believes in equity. And I can’t thank my sisters and brothers from Edo South and North. That felt, yes, we have the numbers to continue to govern the state. Edo South, for instance, has the numbers. They can say, we don’t care about equity. We don’t care about justice. We have the numbers. Democracy is a game of numbers. Let us go to the primaries. We will get our people to vote for whoever we want from Edo South. But they didn’t do that.
That was why the result you saw at the primaries was like a landslide. Everyone from Edo South, North, and Central believed that that was the best, just and equitable thing to do. That was why they gave their votes to Asue Ighodalo, who is from Edo Central. So, I can’t thank them enough.
Again, it just shows that Edo people are the heartbeat of the nation. We are fair-minded people. We don’t flaunt our powers, even when you have them, more so against your fellow people. I also tell everybody, generally, we are warm people. The source comes here from this Benin, this Edo South.
And you could see what happened next. The moment PDP showed its candidate from Edo Central; APC’s leaders were forced to cancel the primaries that brought somebody from Edo South, in spite of the fact that the Edo South has the number. They could have said, that is better for us. Let us support the guy from the Edo South and let’s see. But they knew that if they did that, the average Edo person, the average Bini person wouldn’t have voted for that person, because the person would have known that that was not fair, just, nor equitable.
You said your candidate has been to every ward, and to all the local government areas, met with market women, religious bodies, and so on. So, what other qualities set him apart from other candidates that people should look out for?
I imagine governance is a serious business. I think that for somebody to govern a complex state such as Edo, you have to have a complex mindset. And that complex mindset can only be obtained if you have gone through the meals.
Somebody that has not managed such huge resources, or that has not grown that much resources, and all of a sudden, the person is sitting on the table on the 12 November, and he sees billions and billions flying all over the place, that might upset his mentality.
I think because of the complexity of Edo State, and what is involved, the stakes are pretty high. Our candidate has the overall experience in terms of exposure, what he has done with his life, what he has been doing with his life as he has grown entities. And that is what Edo State needs now. That is what this country needs now. We need people that can grow the system, not the people that if you have not grown anything before, you cannot grow the state now. It’s not possible. That is why Asue Ighodalo is the best choice for Edo State.
Governor Obaseki could grow the state because he had grown something before. So, we imagine that because of that experience, that he, because of that exposure, we think that separates him from every other candidate in the race. And we think Asue Ighodalo will be a fantastic governor if Edo people should give him their votes on the 21st September.
The recent upset concerning the primary election, what other things could you say about that case to assure the people of Edo State?
Well, I am not a lawyer. The national legal adviser of the party, at the meeting we had in Abuja the other day, briefed us and said that the national headquarters of the party organises congresses and primaries.
In the case of the Edo primary that produced Asue Ighodalo, the national body sent people here to organise the congresses. There was an appeal. The national working committee ratified the reports of all the congresses and stakeholders that came to Benin City.
So, as far as we as a party are concerned, we are not aware of any exclusion of any eligible delegates to the primary. You can call yourself whatever you want to call yourself, but if you are not eligible, you are not what you are calling yourself. As a party, we are not aware of any 381 delegates that we excluded from the primaries.
Those that were delegates voted for their candidates or the aspirants of their choice, and Asue Ighodalo emerged as the winner. So, because the case is in court, and because lawyers will go to court and do what they do best, we just leave it at that. But just to reassure our party members and everybody in Edo State, and in the country, our candidate Asue Ighodalo is on the ballot. He is going to be on the ballot and he will win the elections on the 21st of September 2024. by the grace of God.
In addition to what you have said, what other messages do you have for the Edo electorate concerning the forthcoming governorship election?
We believe that our candidate is the best because he has all what it takes to govern us properly and move us to the next level. We believe that voting for any other candidates is a waste of votes. We believe that the talk about federate might is nonsense.
We believe that in Edo State, because of who we are, we will come out to vote for the candidate of our choice without any form of intimidation from any quarters. And I want to reassure everybody that 21 September will come, and we will vote peacefully, orderly, and the results will be declared. The PDP will be declared the winner of that election.
