One of the governorship aspirants in Edo State, a member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Dr. Don Pedro Obaseki has set the record straight on the believe that Edo State is an APC state.
During a deliberation on Standpoint, a TVC program, the aspirant stressed that his position is due to the numbers of the PDP who are senators, and members of the House of Assembly.
Obaseki said: “I don’t really consider Edo State an APC state because if you are, as a former academic, everything to me is a thesis. I look at differently as others will look at it. We have an APC governor, but in a state where we have two PDP senators, and six out of nine members of the house of reps being PDP, you will be a little economical with the truth to outrightly call the state an APC state.
“I also think that after Jonathan lost the Presidential election, there was a 127,000 vote deficit two weeks later, people who voted in the March 28 election that did not vote in the April 11 election. If they had all come out to vote, it could have been a kind of voter apathy. I am saying this so that APC don’t go to bed thinking that this is going to be a Frisby. This is going to be a serious battle and the best way to win a war is to be strategic rather than be tactful.
“On a strategic level, I don’t see myself as a being in a vantage position as an APC member. I think the APC shouldn’t be complacent that the state will go straight to them.
On the speculation by some people that the governor, Adams Oshiomhole has not done enough, Don Obaseki put the record straight reminding the main opposition in the state, The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, that Oshiomhole tarred the roads the PDP could not address over a decade.
He said: “Anybody who thinks Oshiomhole has not changed the political environment is being economical with the truth. I see call the Moses of our time and I call myself Joshua to lead us to the promise land. Before now, PDP grip on Edo State was like Pharaoh’s grip, seriously. We never knew roads could be tarred.
“The roads that Oshiomhole came to tried to tar were roads that were left in a serious state since the time of Ogbemudia, he left power since 1975. So for us to say that Oshiomhole has not done well, the person is over playing the political game, you are playing with the mind of the people and that is where the battle is, so people look for reasons why he tarred 20km while he should have tarred 25km, that is where the problem is. Has he done enough not has he done well? He has done well if you take into consideration where the state was prior to when he came into the office.
The confident aspirant publicly told other of his contenders that he would beat them during the governorship election.
He said “I will beat anybody, I am beating everybody not because of money. Money is not part of my political calculation for this. The truth of the matter is, I told them, change in Edo State, first we change our state of mind. If we don’t change in all its ramifications, we are just going to have cosmetic exchange.
On how he intend to triumph over his other political contenders, Don Obaseki said “Anybody who is in Edo State already has a copy of my blueprint, my EDO agenda – Empowerment, Development, and Opportunities, almost everybody. And since I started our Edo People Assembly about two years ago, we have mobilised and gone from school to school, door to door, we are knocking on every door on every floor, we talking to every face in every place.
“As someone who is a child of tradition, I am who I am because of tradition not in spite of tradition. In Benin, one of the biggest industries outside the rubber you spoke about that my family used to involve in, the other modern industry is basically the Benin film industry. As one of the free four founders of Nollywood, I made sure I started shooting all my movies in Benin. The first international movie, Eziza was shot by me in 1999 and in 2011, the Oba of Benin award me for excellence. I am the only Edo man Oba Erediauwa award for excellence every year ever since. Galvanizing and mobilizing the youths on the street has become my own personal crusade.
“The youths are the problem because of the fact that they seem hopeless and that hopeless of despondence seem to make them think in naira and kobo. A good leader must be a dealer in hope, so that is what I am giving to everybody, for us to move forward, for the average little Edo boy and realized that he is a little much more than he used to be, and free government from being the primary provider of employment, and government is meant to create the right environment for businesses to thrive and I am doing that and selling it from place to place, I think that stand me in good stead.
“We need someone who has not been in government, we need someone who understands how to turn something from nothing, we need someone by nature is upstairs ordinary, who has slept in Molue in Lagos, and the one who on the side of the average man.”
Don"t consider Edo as an APC state - Don Pedro Obaseki tells his party
