By Don Osehobo Ofure

My mailbox is full with many questions from eager Edo people, who want to know the specific plan the APC candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu's Manifesto the Simple Agenda for fire disaster. There are others who want to know about his plans for low cost houses.

Let me start with the Fire Service. I am aware because I have read about it as item (C) under the second letter of the Simple Agenda which is 'Infrastructure Development and Urban Renewal', that the incoming APC governor of Edo state has a Fire service policy.

Very recently, Pastor Ize-Iyamu commended the Federal Government for donating a very sturdy Fire Service vehicle to Edo state. The donation was the high point of the disaster and embarrassment, the Edo State Fire Service has become under the present government.

The very bad situation was summed up by the Nigerian Conference of Fire Service Directors who lamented the ugly state of the Edo fire service at its recent conference when it said, fire-fighters and equipments for quick response to disasters, are absent in Edo.

The body called on the State government to expedite action in approving the urgent recruitment of more fire fighters as those in the state fire service have become old hands as well as provide it with adequate funding for training and purchase of new state-of-the-art fire fighting equipments.

Pastor Ize-Iyamu is, "... seriously concerned about the Edo Fire Service responses to critical fire incidences, particularly within our major cities. The Uwelu Spare Parts market, Oliha market, Santana market, Osa market, and the Urhokpota fire disasters all within eight months have exposed the terrible state of our fire service and the government’s disdain for the common man hinged on her failure to respond and prepare for future incidences".

As a result the Simple Agenda has a plan to " modernize, scale up and enhance the capacity of Edo State Fire Service to respond effectively to critical fire incidents within 30 minutes in our cities".

Also, "Every major market in the state will be reformed to accommodate a fire service unit. These units will serve as a branch of the state fire service". This will be in addition to his government setting up, "dedicated water reservoirs in some areas of the state for the refill of water tanks of fire service trucks".

On the subject of Housing, it is also a critical part of the Infrastructure development and Urban Renewal plan of Pastor Ize-Iyamu's Simple Agenda, and is labelled (D). But let me digress a little.

The housing deficit in our country is put at over 20 million units. It is also estimated that more than 60% of Edolites live in substandard housing. Nigeria's National Housing Policy (NHP) came on stream in 2006 as a solution to a growing and recurring problem of housing shortage.

It was in 2013, that the Federal government commissioned the Nigerian Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC), a private sector-driven mortgage refinancing company with the public purpose of promoting home ownership for Nigerians while deepening the primary and secondary mortgage markets.

The Simple Agenda plans to addressing housing by encouraging, " the Public-Private-Partnership initiative in the provision of decent housing units for people in the state". To do this, the, "Government will supply quality housing through a policy for social housing for the poor and the vulnerable, and develop affordable houses for workers in the state", as well as allow the public, " access to affordable mortgages at single-digit interest rates".

New Government Reservation Areas (GRA) are also planned and this the Simple Agenda hopes to actualize, " by allocating land, providing infrastructure (including road networks) and inviting reputable developers to take over such areas at reasonable cost to government and the affected communities".

The beauty of the policies and plans for the Fire Service and Housing in Edo state by the incoming government of Pastor Ize-Iyamu is that, they, " would lead to the creation of additional jobs in the economy". #

By Segun Tomori


The Edo State governorship elections scheduled for 19th September, 2020 promises to be interesting and keenly contested for many reasons. There has been a swap of roles by the two major candidates – Pastor Osazie Ize-Iyamu has switched allegiance to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and is running as its candidate, while the incumbent, Gov. Godwin Obaseki formerly of the APC, is running on the platform of the opposition, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Backtrack to 2016, Obaseki won as APC candidate, while Ize-Iyamu lost as the PDP flag bearer. Therefore, it is understandable that the forthcoming elections will be a battle royal between the two leading candidates.

Between 2016 and 2020, a lot has changed and it is important that the Edo electorate get issues in proper perspective. Gov. Obaseki was disqualified based on discrepancies in his credentials by the screening committee of the APC, of course the then National Working Committee (NWC) endorsed the report, alongside two other aspirants also disqualified. The party had swallowed the bitter pill after losing Bayelsa State which it won at the polls to the jurisprudence of the Apex court based on purported discrepancies in the credential of its Deputy Governorship candidate. Who would have thought a sitting Senator’s credentials would in anyway come under the hammer of the Supreme Court? But as we know, the Supreme court judgment is final and the APC preferred to err on the side of caution on Obaseki instead of backing him and risking the “Bayelsa treatment”. The same opposition party now fielding Obaseki raised eyebrow about his qualifications in 2016, and would have done same if he had emerged as APC candidate.

Most analysts have reduced the disqualification of Obaseki to his disagreement with the immediate past APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, but his ordeal transcends such insular conclusion. For reasons best known to Obaseki, 14 out of the 24 Edo House of Assembly members have been surreptitiously shut out of the State and prevented from being inaugurated, over a year after their election despite interventions from the National Assembly, Party hierarchy, Presidency amongst others. The incumbent thumped his nose at the party that brought him into power, not only preventing elected legislators from serving their constituencies but also carried on as “lord of the manor” riding roughshod over party leaders, and at a point threatened the National Chairman for not getting his permission to land in the State. Such was the rabid display of power by Obaseki that alienated him from party faithful across the State and even resulted in the resignation of his Chief of Staff and top aides at some point. It would have been counter-productive for a party worth its onions to field him, even if he had scaled through the screening process.

After receiving an estimated N350bn in three and half years, nothing on ground suggests that his performance is commensurate with the resources. In the words of the Edo PDP Chairman, Dan Orbih, late 2019, “Obaseki brought agony and deprivation to the populace, denying them the benefits expected from democracy. For instance, the 200,000 jobs he promised youths have remained a mirage, infrastructural development for schools have been nothing to write home about, roads and other indices of developments across the State have not fared better.

Now that Obaseki is running under the party of the kleptomaniacs, where all they do is loot, Edo’s future will be mortgaged, God forbid PDP takes the State. If Obaseki can purportedly fritter away N8bn of Edo resources to purchase the PDP ticket, how much more will he need to cater to “fat cat godfathers” in PDP for 4 years? There is a saying that if we don’t look at where we are coming from, we won’t know where we are going to. Edo people must cast their minds back to the “8 years of the locust” of former PDP Governor Lucky Igbinedion where the state resources were turned into a slush fund. He was eventually convicted for defrauding the State.

Pastor Ize-Iyamu like any human might have imperfections, but running under the platform of the APC – a party with progressive ideology led by President Muhammadu Buhari will make Edo State fare better. We have seen the yeo-man’s job of the Federal Government with the National Social Investments Programme (NSIP), infrastructural renewal that has seen Lagos-Ibadan, Warri-Itakpe railway spring up, 2nd Niger Bridge, agricultural revolution in local staples production amongst other laudable, on-going initiatives. A Gov. Ize-Iyamu will be able to synergise with the Federal Government to hasten development of the State. Just recently, Gov. Wike of Rivers, though a PDP Governor, showered encomiums on President Buhari for returning N78bn spent on Federal projects in the State. If he can do that for an opposition State, how much more a State controlled by his party?

The choice before Edo people is crystal clear. It is between choosing a party renowned for its welfarist and pro-people ideology and another whose stock in trade is feathering the nest of its bigwigs with State resources. In this race, you cannot seat on the fence. Don’t be deceived that Obaseki is the candidate of the people, he is actually the candidate of PDP godfathers who are already aroused by the aroma of Edo treasury. We must stop them in their tracks by voting APC’s Pastor Osaze Ize-Iyamu (POI). Yes, we can!


*Segun Tomori* is a Member of the Media and Publicity Committee of the APC National Campaign Council (NCC) for the Edo Gubernatorial Elections.

The Campaign Organization of Pastor Osagie Ize Iyamu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Edo 2020 Governorship election, has challenged Governor Godwin Obaseki to confess the amount of dollars he allegedly paid the PDP in exchange for the party's ticket instead of distracting the people of Edo State with a screening of videos involving Governor Umar Ganduje of Kano State.

In a statement endorsed by the Director of Communication and Media, Mr. John Mayaki, Governor Obaseki was also asked to reveal the amount of state funds he allegedly wasted on his 'ill-thought and treacherous Oshiomhole-must-go' project.

He said: It is unfortunate that Mr. Godwin Obaseki, the outgoing Governor of Edo State, has continued in his irresponsible ways, chief of which includes the abuse of office and utilization of state purse and agencies to pursue personal ambitions."

"In a desperate move to maintain relevance—as his name had been fast leaving the lips of Edo people, and his significance fading in their minds—he has compelled the state agency to display a disputed video involving Governor Umar Ganduje of Kano State."

"This irresponsibility and desperation flout all the principles of decorum, decency, and honesty enshrined and expected of a gubernatorial personality. It shows, clearly, Obaseki's lack of character and good spirit. As an aspirant seeking a second-term return, Obaseki further casts himself in the negative light with this thoughtless act."

"Since his emergency cross-carpeting to the PDP, and his imposition as the party's candidate, the party has been consumed by much ado, chagrin, wrangling, and bad blood. This is simply because of what both party members of the PDP and independent observers have said: Obaseki, in the usual PDP style, had rained dollars, hence buying the party's candidature in the hands of taxpayers and at the expense of longtime aspirants."

"The question is no longer if it happened as it has been corroborated by the best person to corroborate it: the precious Nyesom Wike of the loquacious and venomous order. The contemplation is now on the areas of the real amount expended and what part of public fund bore that brunt."

"Instead of providing answers to this, and the amount of state funds he wasted on the Oshiomhole-must-go project he actively pursued for nearly two years at the detriment of governance in Edo State, Obaseki is seeking means to deflect attention from himself and distract the people with other inconsequential matters."

"Offered with a platform such as a screen at the heart of Ring Road in Benin City, the State's capital, one would have thought that the Governor would display his achievements and records in office to the people. That he settled to use such a platform for cheap blackmail reveals the failure of his tenure and the kind of campaign he intends to run."

"Mr. Obaseki and the PDP have run out of wits and their campaign of calumny, bitterness, and division, as opposed to one driven by fact-based records and policy discussions governed by civility will only strengthen the resolve of Edo people to reject them in September."

By Don Ofure Osehobo

When the rice man – the Governorship aspirant of the PDP, Mr Ken Imansuagbon– warned his party of an Ize-Iyamu political machine few weeks ago, he was merely saying that “the fear of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu” , the governorship flagbearer for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo state, “is the beginning of wisdom” in Edo politics, but many didn’t fully grasp the point that was being made.

With these words, Imansuangbon clearly acknowledged the steady popularity - almost cult-like following- of the tall and handsome, God-fearing Edoborn politician amongst the men, women, youths, professionals, artisans, and the masses of the state, as evidence of the growing dissatisfaction with the current State governor. And this was even before Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu emerged as the flagbearer of the APC.

The statement was also an acknowledgement that the relevance of the current state government was eroding because of its poor visibility and glaring inability to proffer solutions to increasingly pressing socio-economic and political challenges.

Mr Imansuangbon's statement also highlighted a most worrying fact; the realisation that Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu's fame, reach, tactics and strategy would make it impossible, even foolhardy, to tamper with the electoral process, coming up in Edo, September 19, 2020, as was the case in the past.

To the opposition party, PDP, and its tenants at Osadebey Avenue, Benin City, it does come as worrying evidence, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu's profile and popularity, despite all the hurdles they created and put on his path up till this moment. They have always been completely dazed and their candidate, for want of a better label, know that his initial absolute and seemingly unwavering support base has since caved in.

Whether the growing popularity of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu is the result of increasing confidence in his capacity to surmount hurdles or the penchant to come out unscathed or it is his preparedness to serve with his Simple Agenda, a blueprint that sold out on Amazon with its people-focussed policies and programmes,it is a statement of fact. And it is also true that it is an indication of the people's growing disenchantment with deteriorating social conditions in Edo and the pressing security challenges, which the present state government has failed to address, headlong. So the people are eager to end the reign of an inept government which have lost all sense of decency and credibility.

This is the real threat to the present state government's unceremonious almost 4- year hold on power. It is time for the plausible alternative to the most incompetent political leadership that has ever emerged in Edo’s history. The only place fit for the head of such a government who parades dubious credentials, and choose to transfer allegiance to a lifeless party that was rejected nationally, five years ago and 13 years ago by all Edo people, is the rubbish heaps of history.


However, their dread of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu can be understood. Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu is a glaring and present danger for the useless political contraption called PDP, whose dream to be back to relevance can never see reality. Edo can only move forward not backwards where the PDP belongs.

#APCNextlevel
#Pastorosagieizeiyamu
#SimpleAGENDA
#Edomustmoveforward

Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu has described as shameful and lack of tact, the PDP's decision to field the man it had roundly condemned as a non-achiever as governor of Edo state.

In a statement released by Prince John Mayaki, the Director of Communication and Media, of his Campaign Organization, Ize-Iyamu said it was confusing that "today, the PDP is singing Godwin Obaseki’s praise, claiming he is the almighty, the saint, the blameless after parading him as a failure who deceived the courts and INEC with counterfeit credentials.

He said: “The same PDP dragged Obaseki before a judge, pointing out the inconsistencies in his academic records, seeking judicial order to stop him from assessing the government corridors.”

"Today, the PDP says Obaseki has initiated programs and policies in Edo State when only a few weeks ago, before their tax collectors were settled, the party branded the embattled Governor a complete failure who reversed the growth and development of Edo State.”

"The naked truth is that the PDP has neither plan nor strategy for winning this election or to lead Edo state. They therefore resort to the only one thing that works for failures: excuses and mudslinging.”

"Although yet subtle, what PDP is doing is simply the use of an opponents' negative publicity to show its lack of content, vision, ideas, and as a shield for the internal wrangling ongoing in the party.”

"It is a shame that this party that brought out Aliko Dangote from his trademark political non-alignment and characteristic silence still has the audacity to make national statements that still border on falsehood and deception.”

I repeatedly watched the ITV Benin clip where my brother Dr Don Pedro Obaseki had cause to call on all Edo people, ahead of the September Edo governorship election to vote for the APC governorship candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu because he has ,"substance ". I commend him because as they say, truth is bitter, but must be told. He must have been in the spirit.

To use his exact words, he said, " I don't want to vote for Obaseki - No manifesto. I want to vote for substance". What Dr Obaseki meant is that the APC candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu's campaign to be governor of Edo state come September, is bound to be reality because he has a manifesto, the Simple Agenda

This Simple Agenda is a manifesto of hope for all Edo people; it is a document of substance put together by Pastor Dr. Osagie Ize-Iyamu, using the APC manifesto as guide, to explain in detail, his vision to make Edo a model state in Nigeria when he takes office as Executive Governor.

Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu has analyzed the current challenges facing our state, consulted stakeholders across the 192 Wards of the 18 Local Government Areas, and came up with the Simple Agenda, to launch Edo State on the path to sustainable prosperity and holistic development.

Essentially, the Simple Agenda is a genuine road map, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu has designed, and contains the ingredients critical to transform Edo state from its present unacceptable condition of underdevelopment to an attractive state with a vibrant economy.

By publicly declaring that the Simple Agenda is a substance, for which reason, Edo people can trust to vote for the APC governorship candidate as the next Edo state governor, Dr Pedro is saying that Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu is ready to serve and can be trusted; that he is equipped for the task of being a governor and that he has what it requires and what it takes to deliver on the job.

To understand what Dr Obaseki means, one has to understand the meaning of the concept of substance. It is a fundamental quality or the ultimate reality that underlies all outward manifestations and change, according to the Lexicon which also say it is practical importance.

Essentially therefore that Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu has substance compared with the PDP candidate, Mr Godwin Obaseki, means that the APC candidate is more of an electable material. It means that Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu's manifesto or Simple Agenda has power, convey readiness and possess meaning enough to brand the APC candidate, as a more serious contender for the Governorship of Edo state.

Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu himself has said it that the Simple Agenda is a roadmap which simply explains his mission to fast track the transformation of Edo state through transparent, effective and accountable governance in a way that improves the living standard and well being of all Edo people. #

Edo state governor has since become both the State Executive and Legislature as without the authority of A State Legislature, he illegally removed the N2.1billion or 50% of the State's Equity in the Azura Power Plant to invest in a fictitious Industrial Park,and using his cabinet as the State Legislature the Governor also paid N700million for a nonexistent Edo Refinery he claimed is at Ologbo

Edo 2020: Wike, PDP bringing war to Edo state – Agbonayinma
…says PDP’s corruption in Edo cannot be forgotten


Former member of the House of Representatives and APC stalwart in Edo state, Hon. E.J. Agbonayinma, has called on the governor of Rivers State and chairman of the PDP campaign council in Edo state, Nyesom Wike, to guard his utterances and stop issuing violent threats regarding the upcoming elections.


This, he said, on Tuesday during an interview on Democracy Today, a political programme on AIT.


“Wike is not from Edo state. We are from Edo state and we know our people, we are peacemakers. But the way the governor of Rivers state is talking, it’s as if we are going to war or maybe he’s bringing war to Edo. In Edo, we don’t want war, we just want elections.”


Responding to a question about Governor Obaseki’s performance, Agbonayinma stated that whatever achievements have been recorded during his tenure should be credited to the APC, as he enjoyed maximum support from stakeholders at both the federal and state levels.


“Whatever Obaseki has done has been with the support of APC leaders; it has always been APC people advising him to do the needful and whatever he did can be credited to APC. Now, he has gone to a party that failed miserably. The PDP brought us to where we are in this country today. The problems we are facing, the corruption that has eaten this country deeply, was created by PDP both nationally and in Edo state.”


He further added that he and Obaseki were senior aides to former governor Oshiomhole and no one can deny that Oshiomhole’s tenure ushered in unprecedented development in the state.


“Let me ask you, before the governor of Edo left APC for PDP, was he not the governor? Myself and the current governor were senior aides to former governor Oshiomhole. Governor Obaseki can ascertain and tell everybody that Oshiomhole did excellently well beyond reasonable doubt, and that nobody can compete. Go to Edo specialist hospital, there is no hospital built by the government anywhere else in Nigeria that can be compared to it.”


He urged the people of Edo state to make a wise choice at the polls come September.

By John Mayaki

Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu in an article written five years ago, had predicted the need for delineation from the over-dependence on the federal government’s monthly allocations and occasional bailouts. He believed Edo State is made of more, should stand tall, and be a place of greatness—he still does.

In the article titled ’Edo Without Allocation’, Pastor Ize-Iyamu had stated that the ”true test of a viable state is the ability to be financially self-reliant” after he raised questions like: ”Can Edo state survive without Federal allocation? Does Edo state qualify amongst the few states in Nigerian that can truly be called viable entities?”

It is sad that after four years of Godwin Obaseki’s leadership, this question remains pertinent because the existing administration has not provided the kind of leadership that solved the puzzle. Yet the questions Pastor Ize-Iyamu raised have not been exhausted, and it is even more interesting given that in the structuring of those questions, one finds the pointer to policies and initiatives needed to be made, therefore rescuing the situation. In essence, he wasn’t just asking, he was rather telling, pointing, and prescribing things to be done to raise Edo to its deserved greatness.

Diving deeper into details, simultaneously asking path-clearing questions, Ize-Iyamu further wrote: ”What interface have we had with our local oil operators, NPDC, Pan Ocean, Dubril, Seplat, Newcross or Summit oil as host state to encourage them to increase their scope of activity? How have we leveraged on the good fortune of having the headquarters of NPDC located in Benin City to encourage oil and gas companies to relocate to Edo State to do business? Taxes are traditional and veritable platforms to raise revenue but if the necessary atmosphere conducive for business growth is not created, who are we going to tax?”

Continuing, the widely-read pastor revealed that “many governments have deliberately created tax holidays and incentives for new companies in order to attract them to their locations. What are we doing in this direction and who have we attracted? Where are the business districts or parks in our state and what is government relationship with the private sector if they exist? Edo without allocation must go beyond the stigma of a civil service state to a more commercially oriented state. To achieve this status, we must re-invent our public service, think outside the box, and become more businesslike in our approach to governance.”

From the foregoing, one can easily figure that this writing from five years ago came from a place of deep conviction and a mind filled with ideas. It is a must-read and, thankfully, it is everywhere on the internet and can be dredged up.

But it is easier, one may say, to point at things and make verbal arguments than it is to make actions geared towards achievement, and he or she won’t be wrong. But that altogether brings us all to a point, to a situation where we must now test our hammering ideas against the anvil of experience and actions.

Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu is still out there pointing at things and making smart arguments, and even, now gunning for the top job. If he has for long foresaw the things we are now in dire need of even before it became an issue for us, why then must we not bring him in to walk the talk? If we feel it is easy to make arguments than to lead actions, then what is even easier with the opportunity glaring at us is to bring this man in now to prove his mettle.

He has even codified all these questions and the important answers (in the form of initiatives and policies) into a smart and accessible manifesto: it is one that, in clear steps, details the path towards greatness and how, in practicable measures, he will lead the way. And greatness through aspirational living, just like in the era of early men defined by Thomas Hobbes, is what Edo State desperately yearn for. Having seen our needs even before we dreamt it, and still here seeking to convert them to reality, it is finally time to let Pastor Ize-Iyamu lead his people to the promised land.

*Prince John Mayaki is the Director of Communication and Media, Campaign Organization.

Re-Stop attacks on Gov Obaseki, Ize-Iyamu tells supporters

Our attention has been drawn to a fake and malicious report containing a false claim that the Pastor Ize Iyamu Campaign Organization, following a supposed meeting on Zoom, had instructed its members across Edo State to halt ‘attacks’ on the Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki.

We wish to clarify to the public that this report has no element of truth. It is a work of fiction that leaves no doubt on its source given the glaring intent to discourage the criticism of an administration that continues to distract itself with political matters amid a public health crisis, and the mischievous, nonsensical categorization of respected leaders of the All Progressives Congress as belonging to Edo People’s Movement, a pressure socio-political group that ceased to exist a long time ago.

For instance, to the chagrin of those who would rather chaos and conflict, and have devoted time and resources to sowing the seeds of discord through the concoction of false reports such as the one that inspired this response, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu maintains a cordial, mutually respectful relationship with all aspirants of the All Progressives Congress and has reiterated his readiness to offer support to anyone who emerges as the party’s choice after the primary process, in loyalty to the accord entered by the leaders who have no disagreement on the fact that the state and political party share a common enemy who has dishonorably played the role of a depraved cog in the wheel of progress and development for four years now.

This, therefore, rubbishes any claims to the contrary, and members of the public are urged to disregard such.

To the best of this Campaign Organization’s knowledge, there has been no attempt, from any quarter, by anyone, whether his rank high or low, to impose any aspirant on members of the party. While everyone has touched base with their supporters and are campaigning to increase support within the ranks of the party, it is an accepted reality that members of the party retain the right and freedom to their convictions.

Contrary to what the writers of the fictitious report would have the public believe, only one character has made intolerance, desperation, disregard for party leadership and processes, and dictatorship his renowned political trademark. Only one character has consistently risked the survival and growth of the party out of the insecure feeling that his asphyxiating grip on party structure would be loosened. Only one character has devoted the instruments and resources of the state to the decimation of the party and the embarrassment of other Edo Citizens in the view of the nation as a way to bully and railroad them into backing his political ambition.

The fake report, falsely claiming that a cease on an ‘attack’ has been proclaimed, is merely an attempt to escape criticism for these anomalies and reckless acts of governance. Unlike them, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu does not deal in the vicious, conscienceless attacks on people and personalities. Instead, his Campaign Organization has focused on issues straddling leadership and governance where, unfortunately for them, their principal has come short as exemplified in his dabbling in cheap propaganda and acts of blackmail while struggling to manage and contain a viral disease, and its spiraling consequences, in the state.

Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu’s bid to offer a new direction based on a SIMPLE agenda guaranteed to grow our economy, secure our people, and restore their dignity and pride remains on course. Claims to the contrary are untrue and should be completely disregarded.

Signed: Mr. John Mayaki
Director of Communication and Media
Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu Campaign Organization

By Osehobo Ofure

As a party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) position on the issue of consensus candidature is public knowledge. But for the records, the party sometimes ago stated that all positions including Governorship are open for a contest among members; unless for positions in which only one aspirant who indicates interest, purchases a form for that position.

A variant of consensus candidacy is also a scenario where all the contending aspirants for an office come together to back a single candidate for a position, by agreeing to step down and pledging to work for the success of that preferred candidate. It is this candidate that will carry the burden of implementing the important task of rescuing the state from the claws of incompetence, intolerance, and reversal of growth and development, with others supporting.

This variant has become necessary because in Edo state, stakeholders have agreed that the current occupant of the position of Governor does not deserve a second term. They, therefore, are united in the submission that whereas there are qualified, competent and credible members who can challenge the incumbent at the primaries, it would be foolhardy for all to jump into the fray. But, suffice a digression to cross examine how and why the party chose this option as a last resort, so it does not drown its fortunes in Edo state.

All was well after the Governor took office until he shot himself in the foot when he alleged that party leaders and members have become a burden to him and as such, asking him to share Edo state public funds to them, adding that that was not why he was elected.

Committed to rubbishing the party that brought him to power, soon after the 2019 general elections which saw the party winning all 24 seats at the state Assembly, the Governor orchestrated a confusion that made nonsense of the 7th Edo state Assembly. He did this by proclaiming the state assembly with majority members who were duly elected absent, as a minority of 9 took oaths at night and purportedly elected a 'speaker'.

Then came the fracas at the state-owned Edo University, Iyamho, which has its first Convocation and had guests from far and wide in attendance. The Governor embarrassed the party and the state when thugs in his deputy's convoy of motorcycles clashed and had these guests attacked, close to the private residence of the APC National chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. Yet with all the security apparatus at the Governor's disposal, not a single arrest was ever made over the matter.

This was soon followed with an attack targeting Comrade Adams Oshiomhole at his Benin residence. But the party moved on by embarking on serious membership drive, identifying and interfacing with former and new members across the state who have shown genuine interest to rejoin or join the party, developing a programme of action to receive them and at all levels of engagement from the ward to the state levels.

Then the unthinkable happened, late last year when founding members like Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu and his supporters, who in times past, left in annoyance were welcomed back home at a rally in Edo South. To the chagrin of many, thugs made bonfires of tyres on Benin City streets and barricaded the entrance and exit of the Benin Airport, in addition to all roads leading to Comrade Adams Oshiomhole's home in Benin City, the state capital.

A similar rally in Edo North, the home senatorial zone of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole also suffered from vandalization of facilities at the venue but held successfully. Homes and offices of party leaders went on free for all attacks as they escaped assassination, and in the state capital, without as much as a word of condemnation from a governor who serves as Chief Security Officer of the state, sworn to safeguard the lives and properties of all citizens.

Yet the governor has not hidden his ambition to return to office for a second term and was holding rallies but said he had banned rallies without his express permits! And as part of the strategies put in place to actualise his dream, he got a handful of persons masquerading as the Ward Exco in Etsako West local government area to suspend the National chairman from the party. This was a matter that saw the Governor saying his second term was non-negotiable while singing that Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has been suspended from the party. He even demanded that the National chairman only visit the state where he served two terms as governor only with His (Obaseki's) approval.

Not to mention that this same governor has sacked party members he suspected of being loyal to the National Chairman, as Aides , members of the state executive council and elected local government council chairmen - all known party members. And for three and half years now, he woefully failed to constitute boards and parastatals of Ministries, department and agencies of the state.

These are some of the reasons why party stakeholders came up with the idea that this betrayer must be voted out and replaced with a consensus candidate from among those who have signified desire to be Governor. Consensus at this time is to ensure that the party pick her best from among the seven aspirants.

But then again the benefits of consensus have been articulated elsewhere as germaine to our situation in Edo. Happily all the aspirants have bought into the idea and ready to see it through. It is all about inclusive participation, engaging and empowering the party and requires a commitment of all aspirants to work together and increase cooperation.

It will create shared understanding through discussion that bridge differences, equalize the distribution of power in the party and can create better decisions that are more representative of the larger population of expectant and eager supporters of the party, nationwide.

The consensus arrangement will create more ownership and commitment and result in more effective implementation because the entire group of aspirants in tandem with stakeholders commit to taking an action on a plan they believe cannot fail.

By Osehobo Ofure

The APC in Edo today is facing trying times. The party got here through the machinations of Governor Godwin Obaseki, whose style of leadership or governance by exclusion since he took office accounts for the division among the political class in the state.

There is now no cohesion in the party, on whose platform Obaseki contested and won election. The love among party members is waxing cold because the governor has alienated party members and leaders of his party, the APC in the state.

This was the scenario before and after gubernatorial aspirants on All Progressives Congress (APC) platform, met, articulated and condemned what they described as needless crisis that has engulfed the party since the middle of 2018.

The governorship aspirants, including former deputy governor, Pius Odubu; Charles Airhiavbere, Osagie Ize-Iyamu and Chris Ogiemwonyi, blamed the crisis on the deliberate alienation of party leaders and members by the Governor which all worked hard to install him in 2016 as a negation of Edo peoples' collective desire for a party that is stable, virile and .

They condemned the orgy of politically motivated violence which once swept through the state and targeted members of the party with opposing views from the governor coupled with attacks on the person of the APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole and others perceived as threats to the second term ambition of Governor Obaseki.

The aspirants lamented the inauguration of the State House of Assembly - elected members of the legislative arm on the platform of APC but unable to perform their lawmaking duties due to the antics of the Governor as they passed a vote of confidence in the leadership of the party at the state and national levels, led by Dr. David Imuse and Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.

The aspirants who commended President Muhammadu Buhari and other national leaders of the party for their insistence on party supremacy, said this impetus is key to the party retaining Edo State with, ‘firmer grip’ in this year’s gubernatorial election.

In their views, there was need for sanity to prevail in Edo APC as it remained the party that would enable all stakeholders, to realise individual and collective aspirations to provide effective, efficient and productive leadership for Edo state, going forward.

In summary what these prominent sons of Edo said was that three and half years down the road, Obaseki as governor had only succeeded in marginalizing other members of the party with his wicked claim that he cannot use the public resources to feed the greed of party leaders and members.

Their submission is that as the next governorship election in Edo State approaches, party members must unite and work to arrive at a consensus to deliver any candidate who is adequately equipped to strike a balance between delivering on good governance for Edo people and promoting the party platform that formed the government.

It was on the heels of rebuilding the party that a few days ago a meeting called by some leaders of the All Progressives Congress in Edo state was postponed to allow stakeholders continue consultations. The benefits outlined below comes with consensus and for the Edo APC now is the time to work hard at making them a reality.

Sharing power:
Consensus enables stakeholders to take collective control over the decisions that affect the party. At its heart is a respectful dialogue between equals, with all working as one.

Building the party:
Consensus decisions aim to meet everyone's most important needs and find a balance between what different people want.

Making better decisions:
Consensus involves looking for ‘win-win' solutions that are acceptable to all. It is neither compromise nor unanimity – it aims to go further by weaving together everyone's best ideas and key concerns – a process that often results in surprising and creative solutions, inspiring both the individual and the party as whole.

Getting things done:
When everyone agrees with a decision they are much more likely to implement it. In the long run, people are also more likely to stay involved in a group that is committed to hearing their views and meeting their needs.

Ironically, consensus decision-making has been labelled a process that builds trust and creates ownership and commitment. The effective consensus process is said to be one that is inclusive and engages all participants and so lead to better quality outcomes that can empower the journey forward.

Before now, one of the stakeholders, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu said, "...aspirants have chosen to work together, myself, General Airhiavbere, Engineer Chris Ogiemwonyi, Dr Pius Odubu, Hon Saturday Uwuilekwe, Professor Amadasun, Chief Solomon Edebiri, people who have expressed their interest in Governorship. But that has not stopped us from interacting; from sitting together. And we have all resolved that somebody will get it and whoever gets it, all of us will support the person. And that is how it is supposed to be"

He also said, "For many of us, we are ready to concede to the party position. Whoever the party wants, fine. And if by the grace of God, it happens the party also chooses us, we also expect the same level of grace from them and that means to concede".

Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu is a team player. If the party can actually get to the level where all aspirants can actually engage themselves, interface and come up with a consensus, it will save a lot of money, stress, bitterness, and rivalry. And this is what the party needs now more than ever.

#Edomustmoveforward

By Dr. Charles Omorodion

According to Edmund Burke, "when bad men combine, the good men must associate, else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle".

Edo State polities has matured full-circle to the extent that the political elites and statesmen have come to the realization that collectively shared visions and ideologies is key to frustrating tyrannical rule and silos politics.

Nigeria politicians have a lot to learn from Edo State APC political maturity. The on-going political realignment in Edo State APC is a paradigmatic shift in the modality for conducting a full-fledged political democracy. This is professionally self-evidence in APC frontrunner’s conducts in Edo 2020 elections against Governor Obaseki.

What is certain in the political transmogrification in Edo State is that the seven main APC contenders for the gubernatorial ticket are determined to remove and replace Obaseki as governor of the state.

Through consensus and gentleman agreement, the contending candidates have resolved to unite and pull together to back a single preference candidate that emerges from the selection process. The agreement is for all other contenders to collapse their political structures in support of the preferred candidate to wrestle power from Governor Obaseki.

The evidence suggests Obaseki is out of contention with the authentic APC party in Edo State. His best option is to either get the ticket through a backdoor parallel congress or to decamp to a new political party.

Edo state APC is spoilt for choice in the race to select a single candidate amongst the seven wise men who have offered themselves to serve. This includes personalities like Eng. Chris Ogiemwonyi, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, Gen Charles Airhiavbere, Dr. Pius Odubu, Dr. Solomon Edebiri, Hon. Saturday Uwuilekhue and Hon Johnson Ehiozuwa Agbonayinma.

There can be no doubt whatsoever that the aforementioned seven candidates are eminently qualified political juggernauts with enviable track records. Interestingly, all seven candidates have mutual respect for one another in this closely fought contest. This extraordinary phenomenon is in sharp contrast with the conventional political wisdom.

Hence, the wise men have unanimously resolved to tread carefully going into Edo 2020 race not to scatter the political structure they have collectively nurtured in the last 12 months as a divided house. This is a similitude to the book of wisdom teachings in the Gospel of Mark 3:25 which states that "a house divided against itself cannot stand".

More importantly, a divided party can't win elections because it is often bedevilled by a phenomenon called a spoiler effect and vote-splitting among contesting candidates. In a first -past- the -post elections system, a spoiler candidate can be used to draw votes away from the major candidate within the same party.

Similarly, the spoiler effect can also enable a preferred candidate to win with less than half the votes in the first-preference votes winning percentage system. These phenomena are frequently the case where the spoiler candidate takes away votes from a more viable candidate with a better chance of winning, through tactical vote splitting.

This is particularly worrisome is the seven APC contestants have paid their political dues going into this party primaries. There is no doubt whatsoever that the seven wise men are committed to ensuring only one candidate emerges from the party selection process.

Regardless of whether the party selection process adopts an open or secret ballot, the vision to remove Obaseki is paramount in the political reckonings. The seven wise men equally know they must strategize wisely to prevent the spoiler effect mindset, defeat, and truncate Obaseki's second-term agenda.

According to Sun Tzu, a Chinese general and military strategist, the supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting. Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting. If the mind is willing, the flesh could go on and on without many things.

With limited resources, the war strategy of Obaseki's opponents is to win the EDO 2020 election by featuring a superior candidate that can subdue and overwhelm him and his supporters without fighting and tearing the APC party apart.

Regardless of the personality and candidate APC preferred to choose, the challenge is to ensure such candidate has the best capacity, goodwill, and capacity to unseat both the incumbent governor of Edo State as well as defeat whomever PDP decides to feature for Edo 2020 elections.

Whilst the APC leadership are doing everything possible to avoid personality clashes and personal interests interference which may produce unelectable candidate, or a candidate with the least chance, capacity and capability of securing necessary votes across the whole of Edo State, the party is struggling with how to manage the relationships with the ardent supporters of the other aspirants who may probably become disenchanted when their principals bow out of the contest.

If the APC leadership fails to heed this advice, then all efforts in the last 24 months to replace Governor Obaseki will be at best aspirational, self-delusional, and a mere rabble-rousing political beauty parade.

Whatever the personal disappointment of the losing side in the party selection process, APC leadership must be studiously guided by the original vision and goals to emancipate Edo State from the shackles of emperor Obaseki with a more party-friendly candidate come 12th November 2020. Everyone involved in this political rescue mission must understand that any order outcome from the original mission and the goal is only an appendage to the struggle.

Therefore, regardless of the outcome from the party selection process, Edo State APC membership must unanimously accept it as a win-win outcome for everyone involved in this liberation struggle. This means that we must maintain the coalition and focus our attention on our key cardinal vision and goals to replace Obaseki's government.

We must equally appreciate that Obaseki, our main antagonist, is not resting on his laurels as well. He is busy strategizing with his followers to divide the coalition mounted against him, by knocking heads, pitching one candidate against the other, making unnecessary suppositions and insinuations, which we must resist and take with a pinch of salt.

Notwithstanding the credentials of the contestants, political contests will typically result in either a winner or loser. The seven wise men knew that only one out of seven will eventually emerge as APC flag bearer. Each of them has prepared themselves to accept this political reality. As painful as this outcome may seem, their respective followers must also condition their minds to accept this inevitable reality.

Conventionally, the supporters of the losing candidates may lose faith in democracy or the democratic institutions, even after a non-contentious election. When a preferred politician or party loses, resentment is often inevitable. Hence, a democratic bargain is so important to avert unnecessary trouble and tension.

Pastor Ize-Iyamu believes that our goal going forward is for whoever wins the party selection process to assure and encourage all APC membership that he will not suppress followers of the other remaining aspirants. Meaning, the followers of the other aspirants in the party selection process must be accommodated and absorbed by the winner. This will include assigning significant roles to them in the main primaries campaign and subsequent Edo 2020 gubernatorial elections. This will help to ensure the runner ups unequivocally accept the legitimacy of the mini selection process.

To mitigate the negative effect of a spoiler-prone voting or a stalking horse phenomenon in the on-going Edo State 2020 gubernatorial elections, Pastor Ize-Iyamu Support Organisation admonishes APC leadership to adopt a strategy to winnow the prospect of the aspirants before the primaries.

Besides, they must likewise ensure only the best candidate among the six wise men is selected to run against Obaseki to stand the chance of unseating him in the elections. APC must also grapple with the realization that anything short of a united front would handover victory to Obaseki on a silver platter.

Were the aforementioned outcome to happen, it would be the worst possible scenario for everyone involved in this struggle this far.

Politics is a scientific endeavour and it is not an emotional plateau or imaginings. The fundamental objective is to win Edo 2020 gubernatorial elections by putting our best foot forward. Notwithstanding our ambition, affiliation, and loyalty to any of the six wise men on this matter, we must be guided by the realization that "united we stand, divided we fall".

Therefore, if we cherry-pick or decided not to be a unified and cohesive team by supporting the first preference candidate from the party selection process, we are collectively doomed to failure. We will ultimately be defeated, disgraced and completely ostracised by Obaseki from Edo State politics for at least four years.

Everyone who has resolved in this struggle to remove Obaseki must accept that every other contingent matters are inconsequential and only incidental to achieving our primary vision and goals.

Irrespective of the outcomes of the party selection process, we must collectively dance like there's nobody watching, love as if we'll never be hurt, Sing like nobody is listening, and live like its heaven on earth. We must develop the winners or efficacious mindset because losers and unsuccessful people make their decisions based on their current situations whilst winners and successful people make their decisions based on where they want to be.

Pastor Ize-Iyamu Support Organisation believes the contestant’s destination is Osadebey Avenue, let's rest assured that all the seven wise men in this contest are divinely gifted and mentally equipped to get us to the Promised Land safely without blood, toil, sweat, and tears.

After the party selection process is over, it is incumbent on all of us to ensure there are remarkable healing and solidarity on all sides, in so far as there is a lot of grace among us to solder on and lift each other with one voice, one accord, one destiny, one goal and one vision to defeat and terminate the tyrannical rule of Governor Obaseki in Edo State.

Edo State Must Move Forward

Dr. Charles Omorodion (Doctor of Transformational Leadership and Strategic Management, London South Bank University)

#POI
#Pastorosagieizeiyamu
#Edo2020
#Simpleagenda
#Edomustmoveforward

5th May, 2020

The Chairman
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
Procurement Fraud Section,
Headquarters, Jabi
Abuja

Dear Sir

PETITION OF FINANCIAL MALPACTICE ON CENTRAL BANK LOANS AND ALLEGATIONS OF FRAUD AGAINST EDO STATE GOVERNMENT

SAFE EDO MOVEMENT is a Non-Governmental Agency and a pressure group set up to ensure that Citizens of Edo State are adequately catered for and government resources are judicially and judiciously dispensed.

BACKGROUND

Food security in the African continent has been one of the enduring concerns following the outbreak of COVID-19 and the broad restrictions imposed by governments across all levels to slow its spread.

Specifically, in Nigeria, to prevent mass starvation and crime, state governments have been tasked to begin to formulate policies and make critical interventions to help rural farmers prepare for the approaching raining season and boost harvests to achieve self-sustenance in the area of food, particularly common staples.

Edo state government is not exempt from this challenge. Several organizations have urged the Obaseki-led administration to provide support for the state farmers, most of whom are in rural communities.

In joining our voices to that of these groups, and more importantly, to ascertain the condition of things in that sector and why there is a seeming shortage despite previous claims of the government to have made breakthroughs, we looked into the situation and records of preexisting activities in the agricultural sector and, unfortunately, found disturbing statistics and inconclusive initiatives begging urgent resolution.

These discoveries and the disorderly nature of the important but abandoned initiatives complicate and challenge the possibilities of success for any idea or policy conceived or aimed to be implemented going forward. For this reason, we feel obligated to draw the attention of not just Edo State citizens, but all concerned stakeholders to the dire nature of things in the agricultural sector and the seeming corruption bedeviling its growth.

Ever since the year 2018, various interventionist initiatives and policies, backed by funds from Nigeria’s prime economic institution, the Central Bank, and the global World Bank, have been pumped into Edo State. These policies, initiatives, and funds, although channeled towards agriculture, have all gone largely unaccounted for and totally incomplete.

Majorly loans obtained under the guise of boosting agricultural productivity, these funds do not end up in the hands of farmers who are in severe need of support. Rather, sadly, they go missing or end up in the pockets of private hijackers. It is the ambition of this address to call the attention of the World Bank, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Federal Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning to this series of unresolved cases pointing towards corruption. We hope that a team of competent investigators made up of Civil Society Organizations, Public Officers, and the EFCC to investigate the misappropriation of loans given to Edo State between 2017 and 2020.

NEED FOR YOUR URGENT INVESTIGATION

Establishing a tentative link to corrupt practices, the method and process of obtaining these loans were shrouded in secrecy, but below, we have listed some of these initiatives that beg transparency and account and having not enjoyed both, warrants investigation:

1. In 2017, the Central Bank of Nigeria gave 2billion Naira loan to Edo State for the production of maize, under the Agripreneur program. The last known and traceable activity with this fund is that the Edo State Government transferred it to SARO Agro Sciences Limited to cultivate and, as well, manage the 5,000 hectares maize farm at SOBE on behalf of the State Government. After this known activity, the whole initiative has disappeared into thin air, and to this date, nothing has been heard of it. We implore the CBN to spearhead a thorough investigation that will inform Nigerians how the fund was spent.


2. In 2019, the CBN gave Edo State a loan of an undisclosed amount, urging that the fund be spent in support of the state’s Agripreneur program through the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL). This fund, the CBN conceived, should aid the cultivation of the 5,000 hectares of rice farms in Agenegbode, Warrake, Iguomon, Illushi, and Iguoriakhi. However, at the start of the farming season which began July 2019, each farmer was tentatively given the sum of 1.3 million naira which was distributed and held in accounts at Sterling Bank and can only be accessed by NIRSAL. Yet, even though this rice was cultivated and later harvested the same year’s October, the farmers are, to date, still to receive their monies lodged in the Sterling Bank accounts. The last probing that was answered had the Edo State Ministry of Agriculture stating that the rice paddings were from Agenegbode to Abakiliki in Ebonyi State for processing because Edo State does not have a rice processing mill (despite all the agricultural investment in the state).


3. In the same 2019, the CBN approved the sum of ₦65 Billion naira for the Edo State Oil Palm Program (ESOPP), which would definitely be used to support Ellah Lakes PLC, managed by Mr. Chuka Mordi, who fronted for Governor Godwin Obaseki. Already the Governor has ceded State-owned lands in Igwelaba Community to the company. Yet, this date, no tangible progress has been made on the project, neither is there a public update to that effect.


4. In what appears to be a reinforcement of existing progress, in the year 2020, an additional 5 Billion Naira loan was approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the Agripreneur program. This wouldn’t have drawn the ire of the public except that there is no ongoing activity or progress on the said Agripreneur program. This draws curiosity on the seeming bottomlessness of this program that fails provable evidence and refuses completion.

Having studied the transactions, we are convinced that the records and history of the handling of these funds are not impressive, as they are tainted with series of disjointed records and secrecy. Put mildly, the continued loan approvals even in the face of obvious misappropriation, amounts to insult of the intelligence of Edo people. It is imperative to note that, besides mere speeches given at the impulse of the moment on political occasions, there is still practically nothing to show for loans granted. Edo people are asking why the CBN continues to give loans to Edo State Government, when it is clear that these loans end up in private pockets, except that some vested interests benefit from the mismanagement of these loans, despicably, to the detriment of Edo citizens, while the relevant government institutions (ICPC and EFCC) are yet to react.

All of us at the Safe Edo Movement, therefore, by our devotion to the advocacy of the good of the common Edo people, feel obligated to bring the grumblings and dissatisfaction of the people to the notice of the Central Bank Governor, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. It will serve the utmost purpose of social justice and restoring public confidence in the concerned institutions if, as we requested, you investigate all loans given by the CBN to Edo State Government from 2017 till date, and objectively inform the public of its findings. In line with best practices, we strongly recommend that for now, while the investigation lasts and possibly subsequent prosecution, further disbursement of loans to this suspicious state government should be paused. This will ensure that there are no further complications and/or further avenue for enjoying what the government has been indicted and suspected of, which is unmitigated fraud.

We respectfully join our voice with the voiceless Citizens of Edo State to invite all Stakeholders to protect our common wealth from the hands of those who have refused, ignored and rebuffed our genuine concern for the State; and we kindly appeal to your most esteemed office to deployed the resources at your disposal in investigating, ordering the arrest of Persons directly and remotely involved in this financial malpractice. We shall make available all relevant details to assist your investigation upon invitation. Thank you.

Yours faithfully,


CHRIS OSHOKHA ETHUAKHOR, PRESIDENT,
SAFE EDO MOVEMENT
CC:

1. The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria
CBN Headquarters, Central Business District
Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria

2. The Chairman
Independent Corrupt Practice Commission (ICPC)
CBD, FCT, Abuja


3. The Country Director
World Bank
Plot 102 Yakubu Gawon Crescent
Asokoro, Abuja

…...demand Obaseki to account for N350bn
…....want Obaseki to provide video evidence that more than 50 people gathered in Edo


All Progressives Congress, APC leaders in Edo State on Thursday described the Governor of the state, Godwin Obaseki as a serial liar for dragging the name of the party’s Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole into the mock primary that he was not involved.

Apparently peeved by the governor’s comment calling on the Federal Government to hold Oshiomhole responsible if he fails to curb spread of the Covid-19 in the state.

The leaders poopoohed his claim declaring that despite collecting N350billion from various sources yet there’s nothing on ground to show.

The leaders said, “We, the underlisted, represent the several thousands of APC leaders, stakeholders and members In Edo State whose determination to replace Mr Godwin Obaseki in the forthcoming gubernatorial election is unwavering. Not every leader deserving to endorse the following statement could have their names included hereunder for want of space.

“Our attention has been severally drawn to publications by Governor Godwin Obaseki and his agents in a section of the press, alleging that the National Chairman of APC, organized a “mock primary” in Edo State on April 30, 2020, purportedly to pick a candidate for the Gubernatorial election in Edo State. He further alleged that the meeting had over 50 persons in attendance, thereby flouting his government’s directives on the fight against Covid-19 pandemic in the state.

“We hereby vehemently deny any involvement of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole in our activities. We also state emphatically that there was no crowded meeting of 20 persons or more by this body of APC Leaders anywhere in Edo State in recent time. We hereby challenge Mr Godwin Obaseki to prove his allegation of a crowded “meeting of more than 50 persons” by releasing a video of such event. A look at the list of those who issued this statement on behalf of our teeming members will expose the rudeness in describing us as puppets of Oshiomhole by Mr Obaseki in the statement under reference.

“The twisted narrative by Mr Obaseki, is meant to drag the National Chairman, Comrade Oshiomhole’s name into our activities in order to blackmail him. This is an ongoing but over used strategy for his ill-fated campaign for second tenure. We state unequivocally that we are not intimidated by Mr Obaseki’s hackneyed bashing of and disrespect for the former Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, whose excellent performance in government remains the selling points for our party till date.

“Contrary to the resort to personalised attacks by Godwin Obaseki on the National Chairman, who is not contesting any election, we are confronting Mr Obaseki with the evidence of bad governance, mindless embezzlement of state funds, destruction of democratic culture, wicked demonization of those on whose backs he rose to power and systematic destruction of APC, the platform that brought him to power.

“As at April 2020, Edo State Government under Godwin Obaseki has netted about N350bn ( Three hundred and fifty billion Naira). The bulk is made up of Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) disbursements and Internally Generated Revenue, all amounting to about N300bn, Bail Out fund N17.5bn and Paris Club Excess deductions Refund, enhanced by exchange rate differentials, making up the balance.

“Against this huge funds, never seen before in Edo State, there are practically no projects to justify the expenditure of the huge receipts.
All promises, celebrated signing of MOUs, deceptive adverts inviting tenders and even inviting the Vice President on state visit to flag off construction of INDUSTRIAL PARK, came to nothing. There is not a single project worthy of commissioning as Mr Obaseki moves towards the end of his tenure.

“Even in the current fight against Covid-19, he does not care about the sufferings of the people but he is busy converting the opportunity for embezzlement, embarking on political campaign in the 192 wards under the guise of personal sensitization campaign against coronavirus. The state was shocked when he announced they had already spent over One billion Naira on the pandemic within two weeks. Till today there is no lockdown in Edo state in order to avoid spending on palliatives. Yet he moved markets to school premises in the entire state with a promise to fumigate the markets statewide. No fumigation has been carried out and the school premises are fast becoming Refuse dumps. Huge crowds are crammed into whatever space in the schools without social distancing. He ordered people to wear face-masks but his government did not provide any for the poor masses. The number of infected people is growing exponentially, he doesn’t care.

“House of Assembly elections were held on the 9th of March 2019 and APC won all 24 seats, but till today Mr Godwin Obaseki would not properly make a proclamation and facilitate the orderly swearing in of every member. He spirited away 10 of the members who were cajoled to choose his preferred member as Speaker. A caricature of the solemn event was conducted at night for those 10 who were funnily clad as shown on social media. 14 members-elect have been debarred from exercising their mandate till today. Thugs were deployed to hound them into exile, for insisting on doing the right thing democratically. Worse still, he has killed the democratic principle of check and balances in Edo State Government rendered 14 state constituencies unrepresented.

“Any one who disagrees with Obaseki in Edo State is endangered. Thugs are deployed at will and agencies of government are sent as hounds to make life miserable for such persons. Bombs have been thrown into people’s homes resulting in massive destructions but curiously no arrests were made.

“Mr Obaseki attempted to annex the party secretariat as a department of his Government House and the dispute arising from that, led him to unilaterally purport to change the party executives. He and his government have refused to be guided by the party’s constitution and he rushes to court to procure injunctions to frustrate party discipline without exhausting internal mechanism for resolution of dispute. He has actively frustrated the admission of new members from time to time.

“Given these and many other destructive tendencies, We, as respected leaders of the party are consulting among ourselves and we will come up with one of the many Aspirants, whom we will mobilize and vote for at the forthcoming primaries in June to replace Mr Godwin Obaseki.
Lies against and even blackmail of Comrade Oshiomhole by Mr Obaseki will not stop us from rescuing our dear State from his misrule.”

Signed:

Engr Chris Ogiemwonyi,
Former Minister of State Works

H.E Dr Pius Odubu,
Former Deputy Governor

Gen. Charles Airhiavbere Rtd,
Former Governorship Candidate

Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu,
Former SSG, and Former Governorship Candidate

Hon. Saturday U. Idehen,
Former NDDC Commissioner

H.E Rev. Peter Obadan,
Former Deputy Governor

H.E Lucky Imasuen,
Former Deputy Governor

Sen. Francis Alimikhena

Rt. Hon. Pally Iriase,
Immediate Past Deputy Chief Whip, House of Reps

Rt. Hon. Peter Akpatason,
Deputy Leader, House of Reps.

Rt. Hon. Johnson Oghuma,
MHR.

Hon. Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, OON, MHR

Gen. Cecil Esekhaegbe Rtd

Barr. Henry Idahagbon,
Former Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General

Chief Francis Inegbeniki

Rt. Hon Barr Patrick Obahiagbon

Hon Barr Ken Ihiesenkhien

Rt.Hon. Thomas Okosun,
Former Speaker, EDHA

Rt. Hon Patrick Ikhariale,
Former MHR.

Man still missing 7-years later

Seven years after the eldest son of a traditional ruler in Edo State was declared missing and feared killed, family members are lost for words.

Close family sources say that the missing man, Bright Nosa Godspower was engulfed in a land dispute with some elders of the Amiagba community in Ikpoba-okha local government area of Edo State, who wanted the outright sale of the community land to an oil company instead of a leasehold.

He was said to have received several threat messages, and was physically attacked and molested by unknown persons because of his stance against selling the community land before he suddenly disappeared in 2012.

It was gathered that the father of Bright Nosa Godspower was murdered under mysterious circumstances in 2011 near his farm by unknown assassins while his corpse was later found along a bush path after several days.

According to some residents, the murderers of Bright's father must have been trailing Bright himself over the protracted land dispute in the community and may have decided to abduct him or even killed him.

Efforts to get the Edo State Police Command's Missing Persons Unit confirmation about the whereabouts of Mr Bright Nosa Godspower were not successful.

Sources however, say they were working with Mr Bright Nosa Godspower to unravel the mystery behind the dastardly killing of his father last year before he suddenly disappeared.

Edo state APC chairman and secretary of the party in the state, Col. David Imuse and Lawrence Okah, has faulted Governor Godwin Obaseki’s stance on the National Reconciliation Committee,  saying, “APC in Edo State dissociates itself from the decision of the governor and his cohorts.” 

According to Imuse, “The attention of the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State has been drawn to newspaper advertorials and reports by the Edo State Government, wherein Governor Godwin Obaseki rejected the newly-constituted National Reconciliation Committee set up to address the problems bedeviling our party in some states.

“For quite some time now, we have cried to the world that Governor Obaseki is the problem APC has in Edo State but some persons whom he, unfortunately, brainwashed listen to his lies. However, Edo people, who are the voters, know the truth about Obaseki.

“It will interest President Muhammadu Buhari and other leaders of our party that this is the fourth time Governor Obaseki would reject trouble-shooting committees on Edo State and decisions made by respected institutions in this country.

“First was the decision of the House of Representatives, calling on the governor to issue a fresh proclamation letter after he inaugurated nine out of 24 members of the State House of Assembly at 9:30 pm. Governor Obaseki bluntly rejected that decision and accused the respected members of the Green Chambers of carrying out the bidding of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.”

Col. Imuse recalled the senate’s resolution, which also advised the governor to do the right thing as earlier directed by the House of Representatives, noting that instead tne governor flouted the resolution and went further to get a court injunction restraining the NASS.


He added: “Rather than embrace peace like the Governor of Bauchi... Governor Obaseki ‘s ego did not allow him do that. Today, he and his cohorts have dragged the NWC, NASS and the state APC through the courts.

“He had further gone ahead to declare vacant the seats of our 14 House of Assembly members who went to court in total disregard to the pendency of these issues before the court.”

Listing other acts of intransigence by the governor, the Edo APC chairman declared: “The NWC decided to set up a peace committee headed by the governor of Kano State. Again, Governor Obaseki and his clique went to court to restrain that committee from carrying out its functions. That matter is still before the law court.

“Just a few days ago, our teeming supporters across the nation celebrated the setting up of a National Reconciliation Committee, which was the idea of our party leaders, including President Muhammadu Buhari, at the last NEC meeting. Governor Obaseki has, again, condemned the constitution of the committee, which is ably led by our respected Senate President, Senator Ahmad Lawan.

“We are, indeed, aware that this committee was not only set up to look into the crisis in Edo APC but also in other states where we have issues such as Rivers, Ondo, Zamfara, etc. Remarkably, none of the leaders in these states have condemned the committee but Obaseki, who is always speaking from both sides of the mouth about the search for peace in Edo APC.”

Our intention of coming back home to #APC in #Edostate is not to escalate the problem or to be deterred by the problem. We know there are issues but they are not insurmountable, because we believe that with #sincerity, they can be resolved. All we need is to get people who can talk to the parties involved and everything will be reconciled. We have had this kind of political crisis in the past and it has happened elsewhere and it was resolved...POI

Hi my name is agbaks

"We do not believe there are factions in Edo APC. As long as you have one APC at the national level, there can be no faction at the state because, invariably, it is those the National recognises that will be the authentic group. We have been joining the APC at the grassroots and have no problem of integrating because at the ward level they have no problem; there are no two Ward Chairmen or Secretaries. So the issue of faction is exaggerated. The APC is one. We have come to bring everybody together, not to join any faction because we believe in one APC family". .#PastorOsagieIzeiyamu

"We do not believe there are factions in Edo APC. As long as you have one APC at the national level, there can be no faction at the state because, invariably, it is those the National recognises that will be the authentic group. We have been joining the APC at the grassroots and have no problem of integrating because at the ward level they have no problem; there are no two Ward Chairmen or Secretaries. So the issue of faction is exaggerated. The APC is one. We have come to bring everybody together, not to join any faction because we believe in one APC family".#Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu

Why is the Edo State Fire Service always caught napping whenever a fire disaster happens anywhere in the state? It is because it lacks basic facilities, vehicles, water, personnel and it is poorly funded.

To this extent, many in the state would not mind if the Fire Service, ESFS in this year 2019, is honored with a medal for regularly responding poorly to fire disasters and other distress calls in Benin City, the state capital.

Recently, blasts which ignited fire disasters have burnt Uwelu, Santana, Oliha markets and Ekiosa close to the state property authority complex all in Benin City led to losses in millions of Naira. In all distress calls to the Fire Service ended up in distress.

Ironically on November 6 2019 @GovernorObaseki closed obe of the affected markets, the Santana market, promising to support traders for relocation. He cited the lack of basic amenities for proper operations of an open market in the vicinity for His decision.

The governor said that new guidelines for the operations of open markets in the state would soon be made public. Soon after His Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr. #CrusoeOsagie, said the state government closed the market because the location was not suitable for a market of such size. Some of the additional reasons he gave for the closure of the market included unavailability of basic amenities such as parking space, functional toilets, potable running water, provisions for relevant facilities to support emergency response, and the spilling of the market to the road, which causes traffic gridlock.

“A market of that size is deficient in a number of ways, some of which make it unable to run smoothly in the vicinity. There is no parking space neither is there provision for facilities for emergencies. Sanitary facilities are also lacking. These are basic amenities that are necessary for proper functioning of a market,” Osagie said.

He explained that the state government is finalising a document in collaboration with local government councils that spells out the minimum requirements for operations of open markets across the state which would ensure a pleasurable experience for traders and their customers, and forestall disruptions and disasters.

That document is yet to go public.


Before Santana In August 2019, Governor Obaseki paid an on the spot assessment to the Benin Auto Spare Parts Market, in #Uwelu, in Benin City, and assured traders in the Auto Spare Parts Market, whose businesses were destroyed by fire, of government’s support to get them back to business.

The governor echoed his now familiar refrain that a committee would be set-up to unravel the cause of the inferno which destroyed goods worth millions of naira.

“I will hold a meeting with the Head, Edo Fire Service; sister agencies which helped in putting out the fire; members of the State Executive Council and officials of Egor LGA ... and a team will be set up to investigate the fire outbreak.”

“The team will also advise the state government on measures to put in place to ensure that fire outbreak in markets are minimised and prevented, where possible,” he added.

In his remarks, Chairman, Motor Spare Parts Association, Uwelu Market, Mr Augustine Osaretin, said the late arrival of officials of the Fire Service ensured the entire market where over 100 shops were burnt, was not completely reduced to rubbles.

In a statement, later, his Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr. Crusoe Osagie, said, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Political Matters (Edo South), Hon. Osaigbovo Iyoha headed the committee and had one week to turn in its report in line with the terms of reference it was given.

He added that plans to procure new trucks from Innoson Motors for the Edo Fire Service are at an advanced stage and the integrated revamp will correct the observed gaps in the response rate of the state fire service to emergencies.

The committee report is still being awaited.

Officials of the Edo Fire service at the sites of these disasters told reporters that though their chief gets all distress calls, assembling the aged firemen from around the city to take a dilapidated fire-fighting vehicle to disaster site is an agony.

They say matters are not helped by the fact that the fire service vehicles have limited capacity for water supply and in desperate bids to get water they often miss taking action which often sees properties consumed by the inferno.

We gathered however that the problems of the Fire service borders around lack of political will on the part of the state government to build a standard fire office equipped with relevant facilities for the state.

The service boasts of lots of obsolete fire fighting equipments. It has no ambulances. Apart from aged vehicles, most if not all lack Hoses, brackets, rescue lines, vests and overalls, axes, boots, helmets and official uniforms.

At its Benin City office its total stock of vehicles is unknown but many lie dead.

Among the list of the service woes is the ban on employment by the state government. There are also very few firemen on the service pay roll. Out of this small number over 85% are said to be due for retirement. The last employee is said to be 30 years old on the job and approaching 65 years.

At the present time the Edo Fire service is said to be the oldest in the country. Each LG fire station in Edo called watch, which is a branch of the headquarters supposedly located in Benin City do not have a fire fighting vehicle, personnel or an ambulance.

Since 2016 when Governor Obaseki took office, and despite his promises, Edo fire service has not increased its fire staff. Compared with Delta state which always responds to distress calls in Edo, it has no firemen scattered in all of the 18 LG councils of the state.


The Nigerian Conference of Fire Service Directors, NCFSD at a time lamented the parlous state of fire-fighters and equipments in a state like Edo and called on the Edo State government to expedite action in:
-Approving recruitment of more fire fighters
-Funding for their training
-Funding purchase of fire fighting equipments

The conference suggested that all Local government councils should be made integral parts of the State Fire project with the purchase of at least two fire fighting vehicles to be stationed in their council headquarters. It says if the LG councils can pool resources and buy vehicles for the Police which is not a state outfit then it can be done for the fire service

Nice

Disgusted, the young woman was driven home and told never to speak to her fiancé again. Six months later, he was married off to a fellow Aimuolinmhindede member.
The black envelopes had been invitations to a special meeting to sabotage her engagement to her old lover who brought her into the group in the first place.
“I felt like I was in a home video,” she recalled. “I didn’t realize the kind of power that the Aimuolinmhindede had.”
Juba Kebob was 28 when he found himself among a dozen young men in a secluded nook of the Ikpoba Hills. He had received instructions on what to pack for the three-day trip reserved only for special members of the “Road Patrol.”
The troop was led by two “believers”, ex-police officers who taught the youngsters how to track route, the basics of camping and other endurance skills. He didn’t realize the training would include firing catapults into darkness.
“The belief is that there were always enemies out there and we would have to defend our people and safeguard our food and supplies always,” recalled Kebob, now a 68-year-old zoo keeper.
“We shot the catapults at least twice,” he said. “We were told enemies were imminent, seconds or minutes away. People on this trip wouldn’t have drink water because they thought, ‘Why bother?’ ”
Kebob was born into the group and worked 3 years for Oguda Imazagbon’s transport company in Benin City, which employed many members. “I felt like a prisoner,” he said. “I felt like a bonded slave.”
He stayed through the tenures of two Aimuolinmhindede leaders across several years — each with his own agendas and “personal beliefs.”
Chief Ojo Imade, chairman during the 1980s and ’90s, taught Kebob that once the enemy attacked and world ended, people would not but die but be transported’ ‘live’ to another planet. There, they would be one sexual category.
Kebob said leaders had one thing in common — they tried to encourage lesbianism, which they considered “good for women”.
The meetings would begin, when the leader announced, “Greetings, friends.”
He said,”They are brainwashed. They’re obsessed…you were always told if you leave the Aimuolinmhindede, you will cease to breathe.
“They don’t give you any sources. There’s no dogma you can reference. It’s just word of mouth,” an ex-member said.
“You just believe what you’re told.” Aimuolinmhindede chairman instructs followers to obsessively look for the reverse ‘V’ symbols in dreams and their everyday lives”. Friends and families were not to know about the group except they want to and must join once they show interest.
Kebob finally worked up the guts to leave the group in the 2015. The last straw was a member spying on him as he dined with a male friend who was not a member.
“How dare you bring a blind man here?” the member seethed. Non-members were said to be blind; only “Road” members had sight.
Kebob left a letter in the leader’s home notifying him he was done.
“I didn’t start living until I left” he said. “I want people to know it’s OK to leave, to reclaim their freedom of contemplation and pursue their own life ideas.”
Another ex-follower, who requested anonymity, said he was booted from his home at age 17 because he questioned the teachings and refused to throw away his Bible.
“Their beliefs are weird” he said, adding that fathers were to initiate their sons at birth and ensure they inherited all their memorabilia at death and follow the Road rules for their funerals. “Once you get to a certain level, they start to tell you these things”.
“They think they are saints,” he added. “They carry themselves like they’re spirits. . . they’re not Human, everybody else is filth and [they] don’t want to relate.”
He endured brutal beatings by his parents, who he believes were instructed by the Aimuolinmhindede leader on how to deal with him as a first son. “I had this reputation of being a bad kid when I wasn’t,” said the ex-member. “I was an abused kid.”
“Everybody is brainwashed in this thing,” he said. “They’re conditioned to think and behave in a certain way, and it starts in childhood. Children are taught to dread life” The Road also teaches that children aren’t human until they reach the age of 16, he said.
Aimuolinmhindede solution to his sister’s defiance was to marry her off to a homosexual in his 50s. “She was a gorgeous 19-year-old, and they married her off to this lunatic,” the ex-member said.
He said, “If they want to clear their name of suspicion, they need to start answering questions,” he said. “They should maybe have a sign out in front of their building if they want to be listed as a church.”
Another ex-member said he and his grandmother were forced to have sex with all members watching for missing a meeting. Shortly after, the member was kicked out for marrying a woman who refused to join.
He remembers the leader announcing Aimuolinmhindede would convert into a church to be taking offerings.
“There was always so much turmoil when someone chose a partner from the outside world,” he said, adding that parents often married their children off to other members in the group.
“It was not uncommon for girls as young as 15 marrying men who were quite a bit older,” he said.
The exiled follower said it took many years for him to get over the occurrence and that he has never shared more than phony details with his adult children.
“It still stands out as the worst time of my whole life,” he said. “But I was lucky enough to have people still in my life that loved me and helped me throughout.”
In a previous interview Imazagbon, a amiable and sharply dressed man who carried a pipe he hardly smokes and believes he was a King in a past life, was quoted through an interpreter, as denying the group is a “cult.”
“We’re not a cult. We’re what a church should be,” he said. “The principles are to have an upright, normal and hale and hearty life and to be responsible for our own actions.
“You can’t do that in one life,” he added. “It’s impossible.”
He denied that Aimuolinmhindede supports punishment by deprivation of water for weeks and walking about the streets like a lunatic naked, with homosexuality, but said, “If I want to discipline my children, it’s no one else’s business.”
He said all members are his children and they aren’t indoctrinated until they are eighteen and that if a child dies before age 13, it’s because they committed suicide in a previous life.
Aimuolinmhindede he says is not a secret cult but registered as a business with the Federal government as a nonprofit. The foundation’s address he said is public knowledge along Ikpoba slope in Benin City and many other locations as members are well-known.
Aimuolinmhindede revenues he said are in billions with investments in assorted stocks.
“It’s not a cult. It’s not a scam,” he said. “You can come 1,000 times and you’re not going to have to pay one Naira to join.” (Odalo is a journalist who lives in Benin, Nigeria)

Former "Ajoor” or Aimuolinmhindede" member, Edafe Uhunamure said members of "the society" couldn't have crucifixes, religious paintings or trinkets in their homes unless it contained a skull or the letter, 'V' reversed on it.
Aimuolinmhindede as many prefer to call them, is a secret society that is popular in parts of Edo and Delta states that claims its followers descended from a, "hermaphrodite' who once lived in the local river.
It is said that as members, all can engage in Homosexuality, but lesbianism is forbidden. Worship of objects like stones, dedicated plants and animals like geckos, metals and even devotion to the dead are some of the practices.
Some male and female devotees have undergone starvation and deprivation for 5-days prior to initiation to prepare for them for membership. Once a member, no one is expected to renounce and stay alive. It is a lifelong membership.
Punishment is by deprivation of water and sex for 4-weeks in addition to walking about the streets like a lunatic naked, for a week. At death, members are obliged to donate some of their vital organs to the group to be cooked and “eaten’ by new inductees.
Aimuolinmhindede is said to be the “owners’, of the many cult groups that are outlawed on university campuses across Nigeria like the Neo-black Movement or “” and the Jezebels made up of female undergraduates, who engage in orgies with men for rituals and many others.
Through these practices members, men and women hope to end up famous and rich but could have their lives cut short mysteriously. Young people, who cannot get jobs and do not want to learn skills, are often married off to older but rich spouses who are widows or widowers in the group, former members say.
But this cult isn’t hidden away in some rural ditch - it operates openly among the young and old out of an old dilapidated hut along a popular street in the ancient city of Benin.
The group is not registered by any known local, state and Federal government agency and has no official documents and to outsiders, the group is called Aimuolinmhindede. To members, it’s just, "the Road.” The group is said to have about 300 members in Benin City alone, and there are congregations in Warri, Asaba, and Ughelli.
Dozens of congregants line up at dusk, on the street beside the nut to be ushered in for the group’s fortnightly meeting. The leader of the flock, Oguda Imazagbon, 73, teaches from a pulpit in the center of the dark room, reading from a wooden slate that is said to be several centuries old.
Members don’t have any scriptures texts to follow and aren’t allowed to take notes. They leave their phones at the entrance and do not wear shoes, once inside.
“It’s the cult next door to every Bendel person, and no one even knows that it’s there,” said an former member.
The former worshiper, a musician, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she fears retribution, joined the group in 2010 while dating a younger man who was raised in it.
“I was curious and just wanted to know what was going on,” she said, adding that her boyfriend assured her it was “nothing special. . . just the simple tenets of all traditional religious beliefs.”
The more she got deeper, the more confused she became. She spoke of fighting bad people in weird dreams and was told that AIDS, cancer, Hepatis and other illnesses were caused not by health habits, genetics or environment but by one’s actions, in the past.
She noted Imazagbon's obsession was breasts. He adored young women with nipples pointing out of their dresses. He was said to have a harem of over 20 wives.
Aimuolinmhindede, sources say, dates back to at least the 1940s and have met in the same location from time, though members are taught that the group dates back to the 14th century. Much of what the group believes is shrouded in secrecy, though former members say it has a lot to do with sexual rituals, heredity and wealth.
The former worshiper was shocked that attendance at fortnightly meetings was compulsory; absences for illness were not excused. When she asked a fellow member if her boyfriend would attend a church service, the woman responded: “What do you mean? He’ll go to the church. He has to attend all meetings.”
She was warned not to share the news with others, and she kept her membership secret from her family and closest friends.
“Everything is complex,” she said. “And if you ask, you’re told, ‘You just don’t remember. You’ll remember when you’re supposed to. . . Try to control your thoughts and dreams, and tonight you’ll remember a something unusual.’ ”
But she wouldn’t stop asking questions. During a midyear meeting, everyone was handed a black envelope - except for her. The next day, she joined her man friend, who had since become her fiancé and his parents for dinner.
The food wasn’t even served before her fiancé’s mother stood at the table and announced: “If you think you’re marrying him, you must be mad. I remember you from 5,000 years ago, and you tried to kill my husband ".
“We are launching a spiritual campaign to save him” the would-be mother-in-law said.
TO BE CONCLUDED

Stakeholders in the Arts and tourism Industry have charged government at all levels to give priority attention to investment in arts and tourism for purposes of wealth creation and employment generation.


Director of Black Passionate Art Galary Ltd, Mr. Ugo Emmanuel Chidi made the call during a three day art exhibition programme taghed , "Art and Wine", concluded at the weekend in Benin City.


Ugo, noted that the event was among others designed to promote the work of local artists, which an aim to bridging the gap between artists and the general public.

Put together to facilitate the improvement of Art exhibition both locally and internationally.
he called on government to expedite action in its efforts to grow the economy by considering investment in the arts and tourism sector.

According to him, Art and Wine, the theme, is one of the concepts ,"that will enable us to bridge the gap between art and the people by bringing those who naturally will not have interest in Art to see some good works of Art and feel the taste".

"The Art and Wine exhibition are avenue of expanding the frontiers of art product and creativity because art and wine are both products of creativity that it takes a lot of creativity and diligent to produce art and good quality wines.


In his words, “Wine mature with age same thing with art and now you can see the both have similarities. We are using this medium to break the barriers and expand the frontiers.

"On the other hand, we are using art and wine exhibition to launch and unveil bigger project called face of art coming up soon. Face of Art is a concept that will be seeing us creating and projecting Art in global platform for the promotion of Africa art particularly, Nigeria Art".

An exhibition artist Usman Alvin at the exhibition said his desire is to showcase his works of art which would give him opportunity to tell the world what they are made off.

Another participant at the exhibition, Mr. Eugene Omoruyi, said mixed media Art in painting, also gave more insight about the exhibition as a way for society to appreciate arts.

More than 100-days into office, a crisis of confidence is brewing between the 18 elected chairmen and the Edo state government over deduction of funds accruing to their local councils.

A source close to the state chapter of the Association of Local government councils, ALGON say undue interference in council affairs by top state government officials and wanton deductions of assorted amounts from their allocations is at the root of the crisis.

An ALGON official said, "Councils in Edo have been reduced to parastatals of the state. The chairmen only get salaries to pay their workers while the state government pockets the balance. That is what is happening".

"The state Governor Mr Godwin Obaseki said he saved N2billion for the councils before the elections...yet no council in Edo has received a kobo from that amount since they were sworn, three months ago. Instead the state government is aggressively taxing and extorting councils".

The official added, "For example the state is using council workers to collect N800 as revenue but paying only N200 to the councils. Why is the state government keeping the balance? For what?".

" Since they were sworn in , no council chairman has been given official cars. Many are using their personal cars or cabs to move about. The state government has also fallen into a habit of making illegal and unwarranted deductions of huge sums and at source every month, from council allocations".

The official said, "They deducted N2million from each council to buy Hilux vehicles sometime ago, but as we speak, they are yet to be delivered. Even for the Saturday APC national convention at Abuja, I can tell you that the sum of N1million each was forcefully deducted from the 18 councils recently. The councils were also charged to give N75, 000 to each of their 7 delegates to the convention. What is all this?".

" By far the most annoying is the frequency with which council chairmen are summoned to Government House for meetings. If it is not the governor, it is his deputy , the secretary to the government, chief of staff, commissioner for local government or the chairman of local government service commission. Where do they find the time to work?".

On the issue of security vote, the ALGON official said that whereas the state government gets close to N500million monthly, the councils get nothing, with the problems of herdsmen and farmers clashes and boundary disputes being pervasive in many border local councils.

Contacted an aide to Mr Jimoh Ijegbai, the Edo State Commissioner for Local Government , on telephone, denied the claims credited to the ALGON official, adding, "what you heard is complete fallacy. Why did your so-called ALGON source not identify him or herself if they are sure of their facts?".

Edo awaits Obaseki’s promise of 200,000 jobs
When he made the promise to create 200, 000 jobs, as part of his electioneering campaign in July 2016, the All Progressives Congress, APC flag bearer, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, the businessman turned politician and now Governor of Edo state did not leave many in doubt of his ability to deliver. However, close to two years in office, official figures of jobs so far created, is way off the mark in this analysis

On 16th July 2016, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in the Governorship polls in Edo, promised to create more than 200,000 jobs, if elected as governor. He made the pledge before a huge crowd and at the launching his campaign at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City when he said that the focus of his administration, if elected, would be job creation, entrepreneurship and industrialization.

Obaseki explained that most of the jobs would be created not in th estate civil service but through agriculture and skills acquisition, adding that agriculture would be moved from subsistence to commercial agriculture even as his administration plans to make Edo the agriculture hub of the country.

By November 21, 2016, elections over, while taking the oath of office as governor, Mr. Obaseki declared, “Today, as we begin our journey to build a new Edo State, I want to repeat and affirm that promise to create 200,000 in the next four years”.

He said, “…we will achieve this by leveraging our comparative advantages and our key factor endowments in production and commerce. We will focus on commerce and agro-business value chain, entrepreneurship, investment in industries and technical and vocational skills”
.
Long before the promise, and as head of the Edo state Economic team Mr. Obaseki obviously aware that he would be the APC flag bearer said that he will create the 200,000 jobs essentially outside the civil service system. He said, “Mark my words. I will create jobs but not in the civil service. You cannot create 200,000 jobs in the civil service. The civil service is not where the bulk of the jobs in the society are created.

The jobs are created in the private sector by expanding the economy. I would specifically identify where the jobs would be created. Our government’s role is to enable things to happen. That’s the principle function of government. What you do is to look at the activities centre and you create what we call stimulants to happen”.

He disclosed that agriculture would create a large number of the jobs he promised, as the state government issued out C of O (Certificates of Occupancy) to 12 large companies “who have expressed interest to come and cultivate various crops in Edo State on a total of 150,000 hectares of land.

“These are companies that are going to be involved in large scale commercial farming. The rule of thumb is that if it takes about five people to cultivate an hectare using tractors, different implements and activities, what will be the multiplier effect of the number of people working in 150,000 hectares of land in four years?”

Few months into office the state government announced that it had employed 4,200 youths across the state under the Edo state public works programme. In addition he approved the engagement and training of 50 civil engineers to supervise the programme, across 45 inner city roads selected under the special window.

At that time, the governor promised to engage another set of 4,200 in August 2017, under another window for the construction and maintenance of another set of 55 roads, culminating in almost 100 kilometres across the state.

By June 2017, the Edo state Universal Basic Education (SUBEB), declared 77 vacancies and called on interested individuals to apply for employment, noting that the vacancies were only open to current staff of the Edo State Civil Service as well as those who registered in the ongoing Edo Jobs programme.

The Office of the Governor revealed that applicants interested in the appointments were to apply to the Office of the Interim Chairman, State Universal Basic Education Board, Benin City with 5 copies of their applications, which should contain a typewritten cover letter detailing sustainability for the position and curriculum vitae.

It would be recalled that Edo State also called for unemployed citizens of the state to register in the ongoing Edo Jobs initiative, which was established to collate bio-data of unemployed people in the state and match them with jobs when available. This was pursuant to Governor Godwin Obaseki’s promise to provide at least 200,000 jobs for unemployed citizens in the state.

In November 2017, the government reiterated its determination to create more jobs through entrepreneurship and the development of small and medium enterprises using skill acquisition. This was the State Commissioner for Wealth Creation, Cooperatives and Employment, Mr. Emmanuel Usoh speaking in Benin City.

Usoh said the state government would utilize skill acquisition centres across the state to empower as many youths as possible, stressing that Edo State government is prepared to support those who are willing to acquire skills and remain relevant in the ever dynamic world.

He expressed delight that the group’s vision is in sync with the state government’s job creation plans and empowerment especially at the grassroots aimed at making people self reliant. He said the state government would do all within its reach to sustain the partnership with those who are prepared to become entrepreneurs through direct funding of small and medium scale enterprises by the development partners like the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN), Bank of Industry, among others.

Usoh also used the opportunity to reiterate the state government’s commitment to create 200,000 jobs within the first four years of the present administration led by Governor Godwin Obaseki as a way of empowering the youths.

Keen on keeping his job promise on the front burner, Obaseki approaching his second year in office has promised that his administration would facilitate the job creation process he campaigned about by establishing several job incubation centres in the state. He said this aims to upgrade the skills of job seekers to meet the needs of what he called the present day labour market.

He said the job incubation centres would be located within the industrial parks/estates, which his administration is setting up in the state. He added, “We want to create several job incubation centres/hubs, where job seekers will be trained and employed by the companies that will be located in the several industrial parks, to be established in the state”.

The groundbreaking of the first major industrial park in the state also took place in November 2017 as the governor marked one year in office and at a time the first 50,000 jobs were due. The park valued at N200billion is located at Iyanomo on the outskirts of Benin City and according to the governor will create 170, 000 out of the projected 200, 000 as direct and indirect jobs, upon completion.

Governor Obaseki said the industrial park which is a public-private partnership initiative is the first in the series to establish in the state to make Edo an Industrial hub. He added, “I promised that if I become the governor of Edo State I will create the enabling environment for businesses to thrive and improve the quality of lives of our people. Our goal to industrialize Edo is already yielding results and our hope is to create employment for thousands of people in the state.”

He also said that the gas that will power the industrial park already exists within the park’s location and assured that the park would be built within 12 months even as he said that the private sector would contribute about 74 percent share of investments to the industrial park and will host about 1000 companies when fully completed at a future date.

“We have also commenced the design of an industrial park and incubation centre on the premises of the Benin Technical College, which will house technology and data companies. The third industrial centre will be located at Ikpoba Hill area of the state and we have concluded plans to partner with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) to build a 2MW hydro plant that will produce electricity from Ikpoba River dam to power the industrial estate to be located in the area,” he explained.

Obaseki said that his administration would not relent in formulating the necessary policies and programmes that would empower youths to fit into the emerging economy that his administration is creating. “We have the potential to create all we want as we have the base materials, so we have to prepare our youths to fit into these new jobs we intend to create via training,” he said.

He added that his administration would also key into the emerging employment opportunities in agriculture, housing, education and health sectors to create jobs for the youths.

Outside the parks, the government has commenced a pilot scheme code-named “Edo Jobs”, where it hopes to create jobs for over 200,000 job seekers. The EdoJobs initiative trained a batch of 500 youths late last year, and also supplied over 4,000 people trained by the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) this year.

“EdoJobs” is an employment initiative of Godwin Obaseki-led administration to train and retrain graduates with post-secondary school certificates on business writing, workplace ethics, problem-solving skills, emotional intelligence and managing conflicts, among others. The initiative gives applicants the opportunity for job placements in companies across the state.

The portal provides the state government with data of applicants, which it uses for planning skills training for the job seekers in collaboration with companies requiring skilled labour. Officials says the unemployed could potentially register under the scheme and promised to operate it through a decentralized system. The scheme hopes to encourage residents across all the local governments in the state to register in their local government councils to, “broaden the programme’s reach and attempt to involve everyone in the state”.

The scheme the officials added is for the “jobs” that are available in the areas of Agriculture, revenue collection officers, traffic management and waste management. In addition the government has since advised participants who do not have interest in these areas to still register and indicate their areas of interests as they would be invited when such jobs are available. It added that the registration process would include collation of biometric data for all Edo residents while the minimum age is 18. No maximum age has however been set.

Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr Crusoe Osagie, the governor said the portal which was shut down at a time would extend the window of opportunities for more youths to be captured in the state’s jobs database, assuring that the Obaseki administration is committed to fulfilling the campaign promise of creating 200,000 jobs for the teeming unemployed youths.

Obaseki spoke about the portal himself when he said, “The reopening of the job portal is to capture more youths in the state, who are to undergo employability and capacity building training. After their training, these youths will be matched with employers of labours, who have indicated interest in employing young people.

“It is clear that we have a crisis of youth unemployment and we are making frantic efforts to address it. There are various options the applicants on the jobs portal can choose from”.

However not a few doubted the capacity of the businessman turned politician to make good on his campaign promise. Among the lot is Pastor. Osagie Ize-Iyamu. Soon after Obaseki made the promise in 2016, the clergyman and PDP governorship candidate in the same election that brought Obaseki into office urged Edo people not to be deceived by the promise.

He said, “when Governor Adams Oshiomhole assumed office in 2008 with the APC governorship candidate, Mr. Godwin Obaseki as the Head of Economic Team, he promised to create 100,000 jobs in each year of his administration, meaning that 800,000 new jobs would have been created over eight years.

“But Oshiomhole did not kept his promise. The governor and his economic team have not succeeded in replacing those they retired from Edo State Civil Service. What more? Almost all the thriving business — Bendel Breweries Limited, Okpella Cement Factory, Ewu Flourmill, Michelin, Edo Transport Service, which the APC inherited from PDP, have collapsed because of the suffocating business environment Oshiomhole and his economic team deliberately created in the state in the last seven and a half years.’’

He added that data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show that Edo State presently has one of the highest rates of youth unemployment in the country adding the present high rate of unemployment in Edo State is largely responsible for the predominant incidence of youth restiveness and crimes in the state.

At least 4,000 Edo youths have been repatriated from Libya where they had trekked to in search for greener pastures since 2016 when Obaseki made his promise. The Edo state PDP chairman Chief Dan Orbih said the state government’s failure to fulfill it campaign promise of creating 200,000 jobs for the youths was responsible for the massive migration of Edo youths to the North African country and other countries in search of greener pastures.

Orbih noted that Edo people were experiencing extreme poverty, hunger and neglect due to Obaseki’s failure as he alleged that the economic challenges and security issues faced in Edo were as a result of Obaseki’s government failure.

Pay Attention To Protecting Lives Of Nigerians Than 2019 Campaigns – PFN Tells Buhari

The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) has again bemoaned the state of insecurity in the country.

The PFN in a press statement endorsed by the National President of the body, Rev. Dr. Felix Omobude and made available to newsmen in Benin City, totally condemned the recent killings of scores of innocent Nigerians in Plateau and Zamfara States.

The PFN which called on the federal government to be more committed to safety of lives and property of Nigerians, note that any government that cannot protect its people does not deserve to remain in office.

“President Mohammadu Buhari should immediately bring the mindless killings going on in the country to a halt because Nigerian lives, whether Christians or Moslems are very important. The perpetrators of these dastardly acts must be fished and punished appropriately,” Dr. Omobude stated.

He called the President and the ruling-All Progressives Congress (APC) to rise up and fulfill one of their major campaign promises of securing the lives of Nigerians, adding that actions are better than mere assurances.

“Never in the history of Nigeria have the lives of Nigerians been so very cheap. Today, people in any guise can kill with impunity and get away with it. Hundreds of people are being slaughtered at regular interval and the criminal elements seem not to be brought to justice?

“There is need for our government and security forces to be proactive instead of reactionary. They should learn to be on top of the situation by acting before the criminals strike. Besides, there is need for an urgent review of the nation’s security apparatus so as to make it more effective”, the PFN national president said.

The PFN urged the President Buhari and other Politicians, particularly those in APC to attach same vigor and seriousness they are giving to 2019 campaigns, to issues relating to the safety of lives and property of Nigerians.

“How can we be campaigning and singing with 2019 general elections in the country when the nation is on fire with several innocent Nigerians being killed on a daily basis?

“Furthermore, the federal government should not relapse in its attempt to get Leah Sharibu, the Dapchi Christian school girl, released from the Boko Haram captivity.

“The federal government had made the promise to get her freed but up till now, nothing seemed to have been done about it and the little girl is still suffering in Boko Haram captivity”, Rev. Dr. Omobude added.

The PFN which condoled with the families of the bereaved, however enjoined all Nigerians to be peace loving, eschew bitterness and refrain from reprisal attack to enable the government perform its constitutional responsibilities.