The
Governor Godwin Obaseki-led administration is forward looking and has since
moved on with result-oriented governance, backed by millions of discerning Edo
people, the Special Adviser on Media and Communication Strategy, to the Edo
State Governor, Mr Crusoe Osagie, has said.
Mr Osagie who said this on Tuesday, explained that “unlike the opposition
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that is still stuck in primitive, archaic and
medieval governance style, the Obaseki-led APC government has since moved on to
Alaghodaro.” Alaghodaro which is a Benin word for progress, was the thrust of
the just-concluded investment summit which held from November 10-12, in Benin
City and attracted global and local business leaders to the state. Commenting
on the PDP’s appraisal of the summit, which received commendations from the
international community, the federal government and other state governments,
Osagie said: “The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) again demonstrated its lack of
capacity to appreciate the new direction the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led
administration is taking the state, with the opposition party’s consistent
embarrassing comments on the well thought-out programmes of the All
Progressives Congress (APC).” He noted that the very few people still left in
the ragtag drowning PDP have shown that they are stuck with their medieval and
archaic approach to governance, by attempting to tarnish the rising profile the
state has earned with her lofty programmes, especially the Alaghodaro
Investment Summit organised by the APC-led Edo State Government. “We wish that
the PDP remnant will follow their former members who have evolved from stomach-seeking
politics, have come to terms with the new people-oriented governance and have
found a place in the APC. It is not surprising that to see that the feeble PDP
remnants cannot see the benefits of an investment summit that assembled over
5,000 business leaders from across the world in Edo State to discuss the
opportunities that abound in our state.” According to the governor’s spokesman,
“these are companies that are investing billions of dollars in Edo State,
including the chief executives of BUA Group whose $1billion 3million tonnes
cement plant was inaugurated by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo recently in
Okpella, Edo State, the President of Dangote Group, that is kicking off a $1
billion cement factory in Okpella, to expand its cement production in Nigeria,
Mahindra Group that is collaborating with the Edo State Government to build the
N200billion Benin Industrial Park and Tolaram Group to mention a few.” He added
that the PDP is wallowing in ignorance because “You cannot give what you do not
have. The PDP clearly lacks the capacity to see the opportunities in the
governor’s investment drive because of his profile as an investment banker. His
dexterity is currently on display at the Edo Chemical and Fertiliser Company
which was a drainpipe for the PDP to siphon state funds, but is now up and
running and producing fertiliser to Edo farmers and Nigerians at large.” He
expressed sympathy with the PDP ignorance and said that “our governor is open
to sharing his ideas and knowledge and is particularly willing to teach the
remnant PDP members, what it takes to deliver measurable, concrete and
verifiable investments from business trips, unlike their widely reported
globetrotting that pauperised our people when they held sway.” Osagie stressed
that “It is rather unfortunate that the same PDP, which is the cause of all the
mess that the APC government has been clearing in the past nine years in the
state, is now begging the question by providing shelter for officials of the
Edo State Traffic Management Agency (EDSTMA).” He further said “we have
received the shelter without thanks to them because we know that the funds used
in procuring those items are a fraction of our common patrimony which they
plundered with reckless abandon. A dignifying act would be to bring back the
looted billions so that the APC can fast-track the development of the state.
“The PDP has always been known to thrive through the misrepresentation of facts
and the telling of outright lies. But Edo people are much more sophisticated
than the PDP and know that their claims of the state’s indebtedness are all
lies and should be discountenanced.”
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