Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
The Oredo Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Campaign Council has given a clinical views of all the political parties that have fielded candidates in the forthcoming governorship election in the state, just as it said the only party that has the structure to win the election is Dr Asue Ighodalo and the PDP.
Addressing a press conference in Benin City, the Chairman, Publicity Committee of the campaign council, Crusoe Osagie who was flanked by other members, said the race would be a three pronged race made up of the PDP, All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Labour Party (LP) but said that the candidates of the APC, Sen Monday Okpebholo and that of the LP, Olumide Akpata lacked the needed capacity to lead Edo state.
Osagie said “So that leaves us with one person, Dr Asuelimen Ighodalo an accomplished lawyer who built one of the biggest law firms in Africa Banwo and Ighodalo, they have the largest number of lawyers in the country, they pay perhaps the highest wages to lawyers, he has been chairman of many blue chip companies, he has led peoples destinies aright, he has established successful businesses, he has contributed to the development of this state pro bono providing advice and guidance to government from the time of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole till today.
“So, we believe that, that is the only candidate that is viable so we are calling on all Edo people to join us in Oredo because we know we are going to give the PDP and Ighodalo a landslide victory in Oredo local government. We are certain about. We are calling on all other local government areas to join us and do the right thing.”
Analysing what he said were the deficiencies of the other candidates, Osagie said Akpata of the LP is an inexperienced private sector practitioner that has never done anything in government before and that his coming from Edo South when the people wanted somebody from Edo Central also showed his political insensitivity.
He said “He is not very sensitive otherwise he would have put the interest of a whole senatorial district into consideration above his personal interest. He believed that he is accomplished and he must run but I think he should run a sensitive race, you should consider the fact that Edo Central Senatorial district for over twenty years has been excluded from the governorship political calculation and they deserve to be given the opportunity to be on the table otherwise there is not going to be equity, there is not going to be fairness, there is not going to be justice and it won’t work and on the grounds of that, Olumide Akpata should have waited and put the interest of a whole senatorial district into consideration.
“Just because you know that I can try it does not mean that you should try it, you must look at the room, you must try to understand the sentiments, what the people are saying right now after all it is the people you are coming to lead.”
For Okpebholo of the APC, Osagie had no kind words for him saying he could not differentiate between a zoo and a museum and does not have the capacity to govern over four million people of Edo State.
“Even though he is from the Edo Central, he also does not have the requisite persona, intelligence, brightness, to be a governor.
“We always hope that our leaders should be more intelligent than us because we are giving our lives to them to lead so how can we give our lives to someone who doesn’t know that animals are supposed to be in the zoo and not the museum? How do you give your life to such a person, I don’t have any business with him as a person, he can be a successful businessman but not to be the governor of our state, we cannot put the collective destiny of over four million people into his custody to that extent, he is not qualified to be our governor.”