`’What Oshiomhole taught me during the campaigns’
He was recently appointed as the Chief of Staff to
Governor Adams Oshiomhole, after the victory of his boss in the July 14,
2012 governorship election in Edo State. Patrick Obahiagbon
(Igodomigodo), a former Majority Leader in the state House of Assembly,
became a national figure while representing the people of Oredo Federal
Constituency in the House of Representatives. He is a man of bombast..
In this interview with SIMON EBEGBULEM, in his usual way of expressing
himself, he speaks on his new job, the vision and mission of Oshiomole,
as well as the 2015 election, among other issues.
Excerpts:
There appeared to be an alteration between you and the
Esama of Benin, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion, at the Benin Airport, when the
Sultan of Sokoto visited Benin City last weekend. Can you shed some
light on what actually happened?
Did you say altercation? I beg I no know book oooo (I am not literate
o). But let me asseverate (explain) that my brief from the comrade
governor was very pellucid (clear) and it was an executive request to me
to proceed to the Benin Airport and accord all the protocols to the
Sultan of Sokoto. I was to lead him to the Government House as a guest
of the governor. I was also copiously in the know against the backdrop
of the concatenation of colloquy (discussions) between His Eminence, the
Sultan of Sokoto, and the comrade governor that there was a consensus
between the Edo State government and His Eminence that the state
government was to play host to the Sultan whilst he was in Edo State. I
had no difficulty therefore in executing the governor’s request with
clinical finish and political blitzkriegism (alacrity).
So how has it been transiting from a lawmaker to the Chief of Staff to the Governor?
It has it been interesting, challenging and quite titillating. Whereas
the ambience (responsibility) of parliament was laisser-faire, it’s a
different kettle of fish here in Osadebey Avenue. The comrade governor
is an incredible workaholic who has no patience for indolence, hedonism
or opportunistic razzmatazz. To a large extent, I would say he is a
perfervid (incurable) perfectionist. You will understand therefore why
we need to be in daily attunement (touch) with the cosmic forces to
enable us keep pace with his boundless energy and stupendous verve.
The job of the Chief of Staff is, of course, quite more demanding in
terms of the application of the regime of mental magnitude than when I
was in parliament. You can choose when you go to parliament or not. In
fact, some members of parliament really don’t even show up until pay day
even though I can hardly remember a day I was not part of parliamentary
sittings in my unbroken twelve years in the legislature. But as Chief
of Staff, who are you not to be at work on a daily basis when you are
working with a governor that is at work every day by 8am (or even before
8) and don’t get home from work until about 8pm,most times (or even
much later)? Don’t forget that the office of the Chief of Staff is
supposed to be the clearing house of government which means I have to be
on my toes to catch up with the comrade’s burning desire to put Edo
State on the indelible map of transformation. It would interest you to
know that even on weekends, the comrade governor is at work and that is
precisely the fundamental reason Edo State is working again.
You went through the length and breadth of the state during the campaigns. How was it?
The campaigns really afforded me the opportunity to appreciate the
compassionate and down- to- earth side of the comrade governor. I was
particularly touched most times when the governor eagerly entered the
rain in a no-holds barred manner to address the people. On one occasion
when he attended the passing out ceremony of Youth Corps members in
Okada, it rained donkeys and cows (cats and dogs) but the governor got
into the rain and addressed the Corps members for over one hour,
drenched and, of course, myself and his security aides could not but
stand in the rain with him and this happened most times in the course of
the campaigns. This endeared him further to me as a man that had a date
with history.
The campaigns also made me know that the comrade governor has a
passion for coconut especially coconut water which re-energizes him for
more action after every sip, and he passionately shared with me, his
security aides and the television camera guy anything he ate or drank,
especially the period of the campaigns when we did the helicopter round.
These were emotional and touching moments indeed.
You people used helicopters during the campaigns;
sometimes you flew into Benin at night even when the weather was not
pleasant. Were you at any point scared that something unpleasant might
happen?
Those were breathtaking moments when the pilot alone was in charge of
our lives, but I had no fears for a second because I believed that
there were the hands of God in the emergence of the comrade governor in
the affairs of Edo State. Don’t forget that the way the governor emerged
and took suzerainty of Edo’s political turf speaks volumes of the
mysterious workings of divine providence and my mystical anchorage left
me not in doubt that “as it is above, so it is below”. The good Lord of
Hosts is always by those who give their all for the collective
upliftment of the people. The governor himself, I must mention, also
displayed a commendable sense of intrepidity (courage) even in the face
of mercurial weather convulsions.
Some persons were shocked that you agreed to work with
the campaign train even after you lost the House of Reps ticket in the
ACN?
No doubt that most of my political fidus achates (associates) and PDP
faithful endeavoured to capitalize on the fact that I did not get my
ticket to get back to the House of Representatives as an intervention
point to sway me back to the PDP, but they were those who did not know
me well and have not followed my politics intimately. My political
peregrination has had all the trappings of progressivism from my student
union days; so, to me, coming to the ACN at the time I did was not all
about the politics of political ticketocracy (of just getting ticket to
contest election). The comrade governor is just a phenomenon in the
politics of Edo State and I am delighted that he has offered me the
opportunity to be part of his salubrious and revolutionary vision in
taking Edo to the next level and, for that matter, from the epic piazza
of his political sanctum sanctorum (inner recess).
But there is this fear in some quarters that the comrade
governor may not perform in his second coming, like many second term
governors?
Let me state emphatically that the comrade governor is not only aware
that he was democratically invested with a pro- Edo mandate, he is also
conscious of the historical and sociological responsibilities that such
a leviathan mandate commands and he is consequently poised not only to
consolidate on the gains of yesterday, but to also turn Edo into an
agricultural hub and an industrial sub and super structure. I therefore
urge all Edo citizens not to be in tenterhooks, but be ready to be in
utilitarian cahoots with Mr. Governor as he takes Edo steadily and
surely to the next level.
Vanguard
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