ADAMS OSHIOMHOLE’S DESPERATION

BY BEN NANAGHAN
Adams Oshiomhole’s court victory proclaiming him Governor of Edo State on November 11, 2008 was greeted with shouts of hosanna, uhuru and eureka. What! To have a great incorruptible, fire spitting, no nonsense national labour leader in the hue of the saintly Michael Imondu was perhaps well beyond the expectations of the people of Edo State whose finances were converted into the personal property by our former plea- bargaining governor.
And this writer was one of those who shouted Hosanna waving palm fronds and with his only garment spread on the street for Governor Oshiomhole to ride on, comfortably seated on the golden ass we provided for him. My article in the Guardian of Dec., 23, 2008 testifies to the mistaken confidence I placed on the governor in 2008.
Governor Oshiomhole’s inauguration speech which won many hearts over was laden with the best a sugar-coated labour unionist could offer. The Governor’s greatest emphasis was on qualitative and compulsory education up to secondary school level. His other areas of emphasis then were flood control and erosion, pollution and garbage disposal, decent and affordable housing, security of lives and properties, health care, tackling unemployment, the environment and a good road network. None of these was achieved after 4 years.
The Governor’s qualitative and compulsory education up to secondary school level was a ruse that camouflaged the Governor’s innermost intensions of taking the intelligent people of Edo State for a ride because this programme never took off at all. It is my strategic thinking that when a man abandons education, he abandoned everything. The great Greek philosopher posits that “if the citizens are well educated they will readily see through the maze (difficulties) that beset them and meet emergencies as they arise”. Plato also emphasizes that “if education is neglected, it matters little what else the state does”. Aristotle who was plato’s most outstanding student puts it brutally thus “educated men are as much superior to uneducated men as the living are to the dead”.
It’s a great pity that Governor Oshiomhole missed the vital role of education in nation building and instead discouraged interest in education by skyrocketing school fees in tertiary institutions in Edo State as in all ACN states.
I am not aware of any qualitative value added to education in Edo State. For instance, Governor Oshiomhole’s declaration that every Edo State child will have free compulsory and qualitative education up to secondary school level was a story meant for the marines.
For instance, education in all the Ijaw speaking areas of Edo State did not get any boost or improvement. In Okomu, especially where the people saw a glimmer of hope in the emergence of a labour leader as governor, there was no improvement whatsoever. Okomu is one of the oldest towns in Edo State and yet it does not have a secondary school. The people of Okomu made several attempts to dialogue with their governor but the retinue of Etsako personal assistants and aides frustrated all such attempts. And today Okomu is even worse off before Oshiomhole’s arrival. And so are all Ijaw-speaking communities in Edo State like Ajakurama, Ofunama , Abere, Gelegele, Gbelebu, Ejide, Nikorogha etc.
The propaganda machinery of Gov. Oshomhole’s re-election campaign singled out a “good network of roads” as the governor’s flagship of achievements. But most of these roads are in Edo North, Etsako to be specific because the governor hails from there. For instance, in all the coastal ijaw-speaking areas of Edo State, there is not even one road project either completed or in progress. The roads to Ajakurama, Ekenwan, Ofunama, Safarogbo, Abere, Gbelebu are like a trip in a nightmarish odyssey.
The road to Okomu is now completely impassable.
But by far Oshiomhole’s greatest achievement as governor of Edo State is the fear of Oba Akenzua of Benin. Nigeria since its inception in 1914 has never had a state Governor who dedicated most of his reign to the propagation and execution of the ideals and aspirations of an Emir, Oba or king. For Governor Oshiomhole, the fear of the Oba of Benin is the beginning of wisdom and key to continous electoral victories. The Governor is like a paid public relations consultant of the Oba who works so hard highlighting the superhero qualities of the Oba just to keep his consultancy job going.
And this is the main reason why Oshiomhole will never extend development to Edo’s coastal areas because the Oba of Benin has on several occasions referred to the Ijaws in Edo State as slaves, strangers and settlers depending on his mood or frame of mind. The late Prof Ambrose Alli tried to be friendly with the coastal dwellers but he paid dearly with his life.
With the gubernatorial election just by the bend in Edo State, Governor Adams Oshiomhole has become very jittery because of his unicentric and ethnocentric programmes as all his reforms are centred around Benin city and his ethnic Etsako base. Even his neighbours in Edo North like the Akoko Edo and Owan areas are very furious with the governor for his parochial programmes.
Another black spot in Oshiomhole’s government is his ethnic chivalry. Most of his personal assistants, aides and advisers are from his ethnic Etsako area of Edo State. Edo state is a multi-ethnic state but Oshiomhole’s cabinet does not reflect this as there is no Ijaw speaking representative in the Governor’s cabinet either as a commissioner, Special Adviser or Personal Assistant.
The Governor should borrow a leaf from President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan who is from Bayelsa State but has one of the most detribalized personal staff regime. The president’s Chief of Staff is from Edo State and his chief spokesman is from Ogun State. The Governor who has an array of Etsako sons and daughters should feel challenged by the Presidents commendable example. Governor Oshiomhole has become more desperate recently as he has invited the dreaded Niger Delta militant, Alhaji Asari Dokubo of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF) to shore up his campaigns base with a mouth watering sum in hundreds of millions of naira.
And Asari Dokubo has promised to invade Edo State on election day like a tsunami. He said he will mobilize his militants to take over Edo State on election day to check rigging by the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).
So Asari Dokunbo has won a multimillion naira contract from Oshiohole to deliver Edo State to the Action Congress Party of Nigeria (ACN)?
But does Asari Dokubo know about the plight of his Izon brothers and sisters under the Oshiomhole regime in Edo State? Or has Asari Dokubo’s mercenary mentality deprived him of rational thinking to the extent of aligning with an ‘enemy” of the Ijaws in Edo State because of filthy lucre?
Asari Dokubo who is both nationally and internationally most famous for bursting oil pipelines and taking hostages for ransom may not after all be a strange bedfellow to a governor who has mainly betrayed the masses’ confidence and hoodwinked a gullible and trusting electorate who have became so impoverished while the Governor gets wealthier and wealthier. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should please take note and be vigilant to ward-off the Asari Dokubo threat and ensure a rig-free gubernatorial election in Edo State.
Nanaghan writes from Lagos
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