By Sunday Ani
All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant in Edo State, Hon. Ehiozuwa Agbonayinma in this interview, speaks on his ambition to succeed Governor Godwin Obaseki. The former member of the House of Representatives, who represented Egor/Ikpoba Okha Federal Constituency spoke on various issues here.
How confident are you that you will win the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and how confident are you that your party can take back Edo State from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)?
My records and my report cards definitely will prove to how strong and confident I am, having done all that I could in everywhere that I have worked as a former senior aide to Governor Adams Oshiomhole, having been a former board director of the Nigeria Railway Corporation, having worked diligently and able to put things straight to the glory of God because you cannot talk about Nigeria Railway today without the effort I put in it to see how far we can go in our dear nation.
Apart from that, I went to contest for the House of Representatives and the good people of Egor/Ikpoba Okha Federal Constituency came out en-mass to support me and at the end of the day, I became a member of the House of Representatives. I did a lot; not just sponsoring bills or moving motions, I was able to bring to bear to the doorstep of my people, infrastructure development, skill acquisition, multipurpose hall, women empowerment, youth empowerment and ICT centres across the local governments that made up the constituency.
Let me also let you know that one of the local governments which I represented, today has most of the electorate from that area which is Ikpoba Okha precisely. And when you look at it, a lot of people are talking about running for the office of the governor of Edo State but this is a serious business. This is not the old game that we have been playing in the past, where people buy votes and give bags of rice just to buy their way out. The era has gone, so we need to be serious.
What we should be talking about is what we need to do to change the narrative and make Edo State one of the best states in the country. It is possible and doable but it requires the collective efforts of Edo sons and daughters home and abroad. It is not just because I have lived in America for over 31 years. If you look at the former President of the United States, Bill Clinton, what made him popular and to do well in all ramifications was as a result of his being able to bring to the table like minds and those who are willing and have the desire to do something differently and that is what I want to do.
We have a lot of brains abroad and I know a lot of them. Now, coming back home, I have seen good things, the social structures, social amenities and being able to have that mindset that whatever opportunity you are giving, it is a service to humanity. People will say that democracy in Nigeria is upside down because the people that we are supposed to serve are not seeing what is supposed to be on the ground. All we hear now is on the pages of newspapers, on radios and television and saying things that are not on the ground but all these years, there is nothing to write home about.
Is it in the area of education and agriculture? there is nothing to show for it. So, we need someone with the willingness and the commitment to drive and say Edo State must change, not this type of system where we have found ourselves with nothing happening. Let those who want to contest for the governorship show us their report cards and what they have done lately. For me, I have a report card to present to the people of Edo State because they love me and they know me as a homeboy and I have done well in all ramifications.
You talked about the politics of sharing money and rice; are you making a commitment to the people of Edo State that you will never share money and rice to voters in Edo State?
I have made a vow to my people and God Almighty that this time around, sharing food and money is simply buying their conscience. If the people are looking for good service and somebody willing to serve them, let them not think about money or one bag of rice for another four years. It is not about money or a bag of rice.
I’m telling you that the politics of rice and pepper soup is over in Edo State. We must stand now and call a spade a spade and let’s get serious in the real business. I’m committing because if they are looking for a good candidate, let them look at me and I’m not going to give them money or buy their conscience.
What is the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Edo State; the current state of the state’s revenue and what would you do about it?
I read that the GDP is about N25 billion but there are so many speculations. They said that they will employ 200,000 Edo sons and daughters, but nothing of such has taken place. So, what you see is all speculation. What they are telling us about internally generated revenue of the state is nothing to write home about and they are not the real figures.
If you are elected, what will you do about it?
First of all, is to change the narrative by building infrastructure, constructing roads to the rural areas, opening the rural areas, supporting the farmers for them to be able to bring farm produce to the city and giving of soft loans to the market women to do business. What makes a state viable are the people and we have a good number of people to drive the programmes.
How would you assess the current governor’s performance in the area of job creation and internally generated revenue, and what would you do differently?
I will start with the local governments because the local governments are closer to the people. Using a caretaker committee to run a local government is unconstitutional and a breach of the law. There are three tiers of government, federal, state and local governments. We need to empower the local governments because they are closer to the people.
So, the money that is coming to the local governments should go straight to the local governments. And for you to be able to attract investors to your state, you must have to address the issue of insecurity. The state must be attractive because it is a question of give and take.
How would you tackle insecurity in Edo State?
My background is intelligence gathering and issues concerning security are not discussed in the public domain. First of all, the traditional institutions are key factors in the fight against insecurity but they have been neglected. So, there is the need to bring everybody together, the good, the bad and the ugly because in every society, you are going to have the bad boys but why are there bad boys? It is because of idleness.
You must be able to create an enabling environment for businesses to create jobs because the government has no business doing business. The government is in business to create an enabling environment and attract investors to come and invest in the state. Beyond rhetoric, to bring investors to Edo State is simple because the state has crude oil, gas, rubber and cocoa, which are the things that gave us so much impetus while growing up.
My father was a cocoa farmer and owned one of the biggest cocoa farms in Edo. So, at the end of the day, you can have quarterly town hall meetings to interact with the people, bringing in all the traditional rulers, youths and market women together to discuss all the issues because this is not a one-man show. Being a governor, you are just the administrative head.
The current governor is from Edo South and you are also from Edo South; do you think that the people would want to vote for someone from Edo South after eight years of the current governor?
Why not because everybody has a right to aspire! That Governor Godwin Obaseki is from Edo South will not stop me because when Oshiomhole contested for governor, people from Edo Central and Edo South contested. So, nothing stops anyone from contesting because it is their fundamental human right to aspire for any public office.
The truth of the matter is that the people know me and they know what I have done in the past. I’m not a stranger to them because I’m a homeboy and I have been there with them over the years. They have listened to me and they have supported me.