By: Oteghe Adams
It
seems that the Edo PDP governorship candidate Osagie Ize-Iyamu wants to
destroy the lineage of logic in his desperate bid for power; Ize-Iyamu
is corroding and insulting the intelligence of the Edo State electorate
by engaging in retrograde history and prescribing poisonous potions of
amnesia for some innocent voters in the 2016 governorship elections. The
PDP candidate who claims to be running on the mantra of ‘’ experience’’
is simultaneously fleeing from his own history; he does not want to be
judged on the chronicles of his (non) performance in the government of
Lucky Igbinedion where he served in two major capacities. First as a
Chief of Staff between 1999 – 2003 and later as the Secretary to the
State Government between 2003 – 2007.Unfortunately, these years of
service constitute the major basis of the’’ experience’’ that Ize-Iyamu
is trumpeting in his campaign propaganda.
Indeed, Lucky
Igbinedion directly referred to Ize-Iyamu as the ‘’ clearing house’’ of
government while being sworn in as Secretary to State Government (SSG),
other knowledgeable persons referred to Ize-Iyamu as the de facto
governor in view of the almost permanent absence of Lucky Igbinedion
from office. The indestructible narrative is that Ize-Iyamu was
effectively the “captain in the engine room” of the (plundering) ship
that was PDP’s government. Why then does Ize-Iyamu want the electorate
of Edo State to down play this section of his curriculum vitae? , and if
they do, his entire resume especially the ‘’experience’’ part, will be
hauntingly empty. It must be recalled that under the ‘’captainship’’ and
mastermind of Ize-Iyamu, the office of the then Deputy Governor
Ogiadomen was rendered useless, Ogiadomen was reduced to laughing stock
in the Government House. The infallible truth is that whenever the
Governor travelled, the commissioners and big conspiring contractors
were instructed to report directly to the diabolical “Capo’’. And so the
control of some substantial resources and the shaping of the economic
destiny of the people of Edo State were frequently under the control of
Ize-Iyamu.
But the former ‘’Captain’’ now seem to be telling the
people of Edo State that he was a mere errand boy in the kitchen
beneath the luxurious ship’s deck. So scandalous it is that the PDP
candidate has almost degenerated to the point of invoking the equivalent
of the infamous Nuremburg War Crime plea by the Nazis: the hollow
excuse of ‘I was only carrying out the orders of my superiors’, Edo
electorate could not dare ask Ize-Iyamu questions when he wallowed in
the tower of power. Now in this 2016 election, from the teachers to the
civil servants and students who suffered undue hardships under
Ize-Iyamu, this is the time for them to regain their voices. It’s time
for the vegetating pensioners and all the citizens whose lives were
traumatized by Ize-Iyamu to constitute a public jury at the campaign
grounds and try the ‘’co-governor’’ for his economic crimes against the
people of Edo land. I hope that Ize-Iyamu will show the same courage he
had as SSG and step forward to render full account of his stewardship in
the years under reference.
History must have consequence. There
must come a time in the lives of individuals as well as communities
when they must courageously confront some unchangeable truths as they
construct dependable channels for their forward march in history. Oddly
here in Edo State, Ize-Iyamu’s campaign is advocating a return to PDP
failed years; the former SSG is trying to bully his way back to the
Government House without adequate response to the several troubling
questions still lingering from his previous years in power.
This
issue is far beyond propaganda, it’s a matter centrally germane to the
economic and political survival of Edo people. The two major candidates
must submit themselves for intense scrutiny. Godwin Obaseki of APC has
persuasively articulated the essence of progressive continuity: that the
people of Edo State will see the consolidation and expansion in the
gains established during Governor Oshionmhole’s tenure in essential
spheres of the lives of the people - that the legacy of regular payment
of salaries will continue, that the construction and maintenance of
roads will remain a priority, that the welfare of teachers and building
of schools will be accelerated and that the state-of-the art hospitals
established by the Comrade-Governor will be well equipped and kept at
international standards. In addition to all of these, the APC candidate
has solidly pledged to make Edo a national pride in
agro-industrialization and to stimulate the creation of 200,000 jobs
within the first four years of his administration. This is the reality
of the future that Edo people yearn for.
While the APC candidate
stands proudly with Comrade Oshionmhole at rallies and other public
places, Ize-Iyamu hardly mentions the name of the Governor under whom he
served as Chief of Staff and SSG for an aggregate of eight years. The
PDP candidate fails woefully to point to any concrete achievements while
he held sway at the government house. Observers have listened and
watched Ize-Iyamu at public lectures and rallies where he conducts
reviews of the achievements of governors that preceded Lucky Igbinedion
and those after, but he would “miraculously’’ skip the Lucky Igbinedion
years. If there are records of some achievements of that period, why
won’t Ize-Iyamu lay them out instead of engaging in diversionary
campaigns. Edo people will not surrender to political skullduggery.
In
the topography of Comrade Oshionmhole’s iconic achievements, we see the
footprints of Godwin Obaseki following closely as the chairman of the
State’s Economic Advisory team. In mournful contrast, to Oshionmhole’s
inspiring landscape, we can still perceive dark smokes rising from the
piles of burning files of Ize-Iyamu last days as SSG as he tried to
conceal the crimes of their government , we hear the blood- cuddling
cries of Edo grand mothers whose children’s career dreams were turned to
nightmares under Ize-Iyamu era of mismanagement. Edo was plagued with
the imageries of the biblical pestilence in the years of 1999 - 2007.
“Pastor” Ize-Iyamu as a clergy must understand that a group of people
who have crossed the “red sea’ ’will not wish to return to Egypt. The
educated electorate of Edo State will not embrace a retrogressive
paradigm; rather they will follow the lineage of logic and massively
vote for progressive continuity as epitomized by the APC. The Edo
electorate will send a clear message to the rest of the nation that Edo
is not the political theatre for the glorification of impunity; the
peoples’ verdict will be accordingly resounding
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