2015: Why We Formed APC, by Oshiomhole

 

The Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, Wednesday explained why the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and other opposition parties came together to form the All Progressives Congress (APC), stressing that it was to enable Nigerians have a robust choice from which to choose in the governance and development of the country.

Oshiomhole, who spoke when members of the Igbo Community Union (IGU) in the state, paid him a courtesy call at Government House, Benin City, said if democracy was not capable of ushering in a change of parties that could form government at all levels, such democratic structure should not be worth championing for.

According to him, “the good news is that in our neighbouring countries, they have shown that it is possible for a government to recognise the ultimate right of the people to determine who governs them.  They have been able to have different parties at different time, forming the federal and other levels of government.”

The governor said: “Nigeria cannot continue to play leadership of the African continent if we don’t get our politics right and it is also the business of those in the other parties to recognise that when we pool resources together, it is better to be a small fish in a big pond than to be a big fish in a small pond in which you cannot even swim.  I am hopeful that all of us will continue to commit ourselves to democracy and in all, recognise that power without purposes is meaningless.

“We must be politic on the basis of commitment to use political power and allocate resources in such a way that it is pro-people, pro-development, pro-employment, and pro-welfare. The statistics that government rolls out not just for the fun of it are statistics that actually reflect on the quality of life of the man on the street.” 

Oshiomhole disclosed that: “In the state, we try everyday not to celebrate abstract achievements. When we say we have delivered, it is something the people can witness.”
On the request of the Igbo community for a reduction in the hours of market sanitation exercise from the current 7a.m. to 12 noon to 7a.m. and 10 a.m. on Mondays, Oshiomhole said: “I am persuaded by your argument that we do not need to shut down the commercial life of the city five hours on Mondays. If you take the environmental sanitation seriously between 7a.m. and 10a.m. and three hours of hard work is enough to clean up the market.

“The whole idea is not to cripple business it is to make the market clean enough that even the middle class people will like to go there, if the place looks dirty the middle class and upper class people who have the resources will not want to go there. I want to appeal to you to continue to encourage your members to pay attention to waste management. As soon as waste is generated ensure that they are properly cleaned up.”

The governor also approved the request by the Igbo community to appoint additional 51 persons to the 49 Igbo indigenes in the Edo Youth Employment Scheme (Edo YES) as a proof that no one was regarded as a settler or discriminated against in the state.

Earlier, the chairman of IGU in the state, Chief Luke Abass, thanked the governor for supporting the Igbo community, by giving employment opportunities to Igbo youths. 

He also thanked the governor for sponsoring an Igbo youth, Miss Queen Onwunaje, to the United Kingdom for a corrective surgery, which, he said, was successful