Blessing Agho, entrepreneur, farmer, and estate valuer, is the Director, Interparty Communications, PDP Campaign Council, as well as the State Coordinator, Obidients-for-Ai Movement. In this interview with the Acting Editor, Chuks Oluigbo, Agho speaks on the activities of the Obidients-for-Ai Movement, why the Edo electorate should vote the Asue/Ogie ticket, and her outlook for the September 21, 2024 governorship election. Excerpts:
How did you get involved with the Obidients-for-Asue-Ighodalo Movement?
When the political parties – the PDP, the APC, and the Labour Party – did their primaries and candidates emerged, people were writing, making videos here and there in support of one candidate or the other. So, I told myself that before I could take a decision, I needed to know these candidates. And there was so much in the media space about Barrister Asue Ighodalo. I took my time to do some research about who he is, what he has been doing with his life before now, and I saw so many amazing things about him. That made me conclude that this guy should be a presidential candidate and not even a governorship candidate. And I decided to key in. In my mind I said, ‘I like this man’. A few weeks after that, Barrister Osarodion Ogie was selected as his running mate. That was very amazing to me. Osarodion Ogie is someone that is open to everyone. And I said, what a combination! That was how I just took my decision that I’m going to campaign for this guy. Thereafter, I posted a photo on Facebook where I wore an Asue Ighodalo fez cap. I didn’t say anything in that post, just wearing the cap alone, and my followers were all gushing in the comment section. About a week after that, Mr. Fred Atiomo contacted me and said, ‘Let’s do this Obidients-for-Asue Ighodalo thing since you are Obidient’. I said, ‘Wow, beautiful!’ That’s how I got in.
Were you part of the Obidient Movement before now?
Of course, I was. In 2023 when almost every Nigerian was in the Obidient Movement, I was in the forefront in Edo State to ensure that Peter Obi won the presidential election in Edo State.
Tell us, what exactly is this Obidients-for-Ai Movement all about?
Firstly, I want to make something clear. The Obidient Movement in itself, remember, is not affiliated to any political party, because that is a misconception some people have. It is an independent movement that consists of the Nigerian electorate. We can decide to support any candidate from a zero party if we see competence in them. So, when we came together, we agreed that of the three candidates in the front line in the Edo 2024 governorship election, Asue Ighodalo stands out. We didn’t want to look at the fact that we supported the Labour Party last year, and it does not automatically mean that any candidate the Labour Party presents to us, we must support. In Enugu State, Aisha Yesufu, one of our front-line leaders in the Obidient Movement, supported Frank Nweke from APGA in 2023 even in the heat of the Obidient Movement. And our leader, Peter Obi, made a tweet some weeks ago to clarify that the Obidient Movement is not affiliated to any political party. So, when we came together as the Obidient people, we decided that we should go for the best, because our leader Peter Obi taught us to look out for the three Cs.
So, what is it that you have seen in Asue Ighodalo?
Personally, I see competence. I see a man who will be able to drive the economy of the state to another level. I see character, and I see capacity. And that is the reason I am rooting for him.
What does the Obidients-for-Ai Movement intend to achieve?
What we intend to achieve as the Obedient-for-Ai Movement is to educate the Obidient members. I am Obidient, you know, and so is the market woman in the market, because we all came together in 2023 to say we want a change in the country because we saw capacity, character and competence in Peter Obi. And Peter Obi taught us that we should look out for these three Cs when electing our leaders. Having got these in Asue Ighodalo, our objective is to educate the Obidient members that they should not look at the fact that we supported Labour Party in the last election, but they should look out for competence, just to remind them of what we were taught in 2023. And we have seen that capacity in Asue Ighodalo. I know, without a doubt, that they will see what we have seen and they will have the same alignment of thought with us. That is our major aim.
We were also taught to vote on the basis of equity, justice, and fairness. The Labour Party rose to fame as a third force on equity, justice and fairness because our presidential candidate came from the South-East, a region that has not produced a president, and we all supported him. Now, Edo people agreed that this time around the governorship seat should go to Edo Central and that political party decided to give its ticket to Edo South. I am from Edo South, but for fairness, I will not say because I am from Edo South, let me support my Edo South candidate. So what we intend to achieve is to enlighten those who still think that because we supported Obi, we would support every Labour Party candidate. It is not Labour Movement, it is Obidient Movement. We supported Obi as a candidate. Tomorrow if Obi decides to go to a zero party, we will also support him in that zero party. We just want people to understand this and those who are not bold enough to embrace this truth, we want to give them the strength and the courage to join us.
You’ve been moving around trying to enlighten people to join the Obidient-for-Ai Movement or to win their support for the Asue/Ogie ticket. What impact have you made so far? As you go around and feel the pulse of the people, what is it looking like?
Yes, we are making great progress. On Saturday we met some Obidient groups. You know one beautiful thing about this Obedient Movement? We don’t even have leaders. I can actually be championing the Obidient Movement in my family, in my house, in my street, even in my zone. So, we met those in Ekosodin who share the same values with us, who understand what we mean by competence, character and capability. They all agreed that Dr. Asue Ighodalo is the best among the three candidates in the front line. This is what we do: we reach out to various Obidient groups and even individuals, we talk to them and those that we have reached out to, they share the same beliefs with us. They agree with us. It’s so easy to talk to them because, in fact, there are a lot of them that are already supporting Asue Ighodalo on their own. So what we’ve been doing is trying to bring everybody under one umbrella as a team to champion this cause. Outside reaching out to them, we did a symposium which is still making headlines. A lot of them saw it and reached out to us on their own to be part of what we are doing.
And to further let you know some of the things we intend to do, we are gathering data of the Obidient people in Edo because we want our votes to count. We know what we did in 2023, and again what they did in return became an eye opener to us. So we are not just making noise, we are walking the talk. We are going to have our own situation room, we are going to have our own observers, Obidient observers across all the polling units in the state where they will send information to our situation room – the outcome of the elections, including the result in the polling unit; we will collect our own results. This other political party, I mean, they are solely depending on external forces from Abuja. I don’t see how that will work, because they have the time to start working on the electorate, but they are folding their arms because they believe some external influence will assist them. It’s not going to happen. This is Edo, we keep saying it. Edo is different from every other state in Nigeria.
Who is funding the activities of Obidients-for-Ai Movement?
People are saying that we are being sponsored by the state government. I laugh because the first and only time I have met Asue Ighodalo was on the day of the symposium. I only exchanged pleasantries with him when we received him at the car park and took him inside the hall. And then I listened to him address us. That’s the only time I’ve ever had anything to do with him. After that day, I have not met him. So, we do these things independently without any government affiliation. You know why? So that if Asue Ighodalo goes off track tomorrow, we can confront him and say, ‘Oga, this was not what you told us you were going to do when we supported you’. That is what makes the Obidient Movement different. We are bold, we are fierce, we fear no one. So when I read stories or posts from people saying that we are being sponsored, I laugh. We have a secretariat, an independent secretariat, in Benin, so we are doing our thing, because we want a state that will be suitable enough for us to live in, conducive enough for our businesses to thrive, and conducive enough to raise our children. That is the reason we are all out for Asue Ighodalo irrespective of the political party he comes from.
The election is less than three months away; how optimistic are you that Asue Ighodalo will emerge victorious?
I am very optimistic because I go out every day. When I go out and talk to people, after my first two lines, the moment they hear Asue Ighodalo they say, ‘Of course’. Some even go to the extent of showing me their PVC to prove that they are ready to vote for Asue Ighodalo. Everybody loves the man. So, if you ask me about optimism, I can tell you that I am optimistic because Asue Ighodalo is accepted everywhere. Everywhere you go, it is Asue Ighodalo that is being talked about. We don’t even get to hear about the other two, apart from the Labour Party candidate, and that’s because of the few Obedient members that are still supporting him. The third guy is not even in the race to me, so I don’t like to talk about him at all. So, I am very optimistic that Asue Ighodalo is going to win this election. He’s not just going to win this election, there will be a wide margin between him and whoever is going to take the second position.
What are you going to tell Edo people who have not made up their mind on who to vote?
What I have to tell them is very simple. Don’t look at your cultural beliefs, your religious beliefs, your ethnicity, go for the best. Just look at The Nigerian Observer office where we are holding this interview; it’s so beautiful. My office used to be around here and I was there for almost a decade before I moved out last year. I know how The Nigerian Observer premises looked. I was here when they started the renovation. I was here when they tarred that road that leads to my office complex. Kudos to our Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki. Our Governor has carried out reforms, especially in the civil service, that you have to meet a certain standard to fit in that position to be the number one citizen of this state. So, Edo people, please look out for those standards in choosing your next governor. Look at the standard the governor has already set in motion. We need a leader, we need a governor that will continue from where Governor Obaseki stopped. We need continuity in government policies that work. Obaseki has done something that in thirty years people will make reference to. He has written his name with a golden pen, so we need somebody that will move it further, not a governor that will take it backward to the era of Lions and Tigers, agberos and all. So, my Edo people, before you take your decision, please look out for competency, capacity, and character. Are you enjoying the economic reforms that we have in the state today? People are being paid their salaries regularly. We need to vote in people we know can continue that legacy, and that person that can do that is Dr. Asue Ighodalo.
