A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State, Mr. Martins Osakue, has said well-meaning politicians in the state chapter of the APC are solidly behind Governor Godwin Obaseki, admonishing the governor to ignore the tantrums of a handful of self-serving politicians, who are hellbent on cornering the state’s funds for themselves.

Osakue, who is the proprietor of Paragon Demonstration Group of Schools, insisted that only enemies of Edo State will deny Governor Godwin Obaseki a second term in office.

Osakue said this during an interview with journalists in Benin City, adding that only a handful of greedy politicians are against another term of office for the governor over his refusal to settle them with monies meant for the development of the state.

According to him, “Only an enemy of Edo State will say Obaseki doesn’t deserve a second term. Governor Godwin Obaseki is perhaps the best we have had. Those against him are people he told he can’t share Edo money to, and they are angry. This state has more than 4 million people and those of us in politics are not more than 5 percent. The governor was elected to serve everybody and that is what he is doing. God wants him to serve the majority. The opposition will even vote for the governor with his performance.”

He said there was no denying the governor’s sterling performance, which has astounded many in the state and beyond, noting “There is no doubt that Governor Obaseki has performed wonderfully well. It is not only the quantity of project that he has delivered but the quality. You can deliver 100 projects without having ten good ones. But Obaseki has not only delivered so many projects within a short time but he has delivered on projects qualitatively.”

He continued, “There are roads in this City that we thought could not be executed by any state government, one of which was Lucky Way. It is not a question of concentrating in one senatorial district. It is unfortunate that we don’t value what we have.

“Some are saying some of the roads are being built by development agencies. When a good king is on the throne, the chiefs will behave appropriately. Did we not have Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and State Employment and Expenditure for Results (SEEFOR) in the state before? They were just there, sitting idle; they construct roads today, the next week the roads are washed away. The governor has worked in Edo North, South and Central. He is constructing roads in Ekpoma, Ewu, Afuze.”

On the governor’s tax reforms, he said not only do people pay directly to government with the new reforms because of the governor’s insistence that things must be done right, but the taxes are also paid electronically and the instance of double taxation has been eliminated.

According to him, “What is Governor Obaseki guilty of? In Oredo, where I come from, women used to pay N900 for every stall daily. Today, they are paying N200. 90% of the funds collected in the past went to private pockets. But Governor Obaseki said no, the people elected me, let them pay to government account. That is the right thing.”

PHOTO CAPTION:
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Proprietor of Paragon Demonstration Group of Schools in Benin City, Mr. Martins Osakue, during an interview in Benin City, Edo State.