FREEPRESS – Mr. Joseph Edionwele represents Esan West, Esan Central and Igueben Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives. In this interview, he says Edo people have passed through pains under the APC administration, expressing optimism that the Peoples Democratic Party,PDP would be victorious in the forthcoming governorship election in the state.
In the next few months, Edo people will elect a new governor. How prepared is the PDP for the exercise?
It is not an issue of how prepared we are. In Edo state, we are ready for change. We have passed through a lot of pains and troubles. PDP will take over certainly by September. Governor Adams Oshiomhole has not done anything. Nothing has changed. On roads, nothing has changed. In the health sector, nothing has changed. There is no legacy the governor is leaving behind.
But people have been praising the governor. What is your take on that?
What are they praising him for? Is it that he paid bursaries to students? Or that the university is running well? Or workers are being paid? What has he done?
What are the things you think will work against APC in the election?
The taxes are too high. Everyone is under the burden of heavy taxation. There is no employment in the state. Pensioners are not being paid. There is no infrastructure whatsoever in the state. There are no industries, either new or deactivated. Capacity to employ: There is no sector you can point at and say Oshiomhole has performed well. Even in the health sector, there is nothing. We have less than three surgeons in the whole of Edo state.
What are the programmes the PDP intends selling to the electorate?
Edo State is an agrarian society. In the area of agriculture which ought to be main stay of the state’s economy. Oshiomhole has not done anything. You know that the sector has the capacity to employ a number of people in the state. Even the Okpella cement factory is right there in his domain. The last we heard about it was that Dangote was going to take over. We do not know what the situation is right now. Oshiomhole has not built any hospital. Even the ones he said he is building are collapsing everyday. The only major road he is doing is Airport Road in Benin City and that road was not in bad shape.
On loans: It is not just enough to take loans. He should be able to tell us what he did with the loans. When you are leaving government, you should be able to tell us one thing you did. Even the Lucky Igbinedion they are blaming, he established so many polytechnics and colleges of education. He built hostels in the state university and built roads in the school. He built a library. He built the biggest hospital in the state that was named after Stella Obasanjo. Where are Oshiomhole’s projects? The only thing he is trying to do is the establishment of another university in his own village. Is it that we do not have a state university already? That is after increasing the school fees of Ambrose Alli University. I even wrote a petition to the House of Representatives committee about the loan he applied for. Beside, it was not a new loan. The truth is that it is a good loan. What we have issues with is the implementation. The first one he took, what did he do with it? It is a good loan that would have helped stimulate the economy. But the manager of the loan is our problem.
How united is Edo PDP ahead of the polls?
There is no crisis in Edo State PDP. We just did our congress and a new chairman emerged. He was re-elected. We are set for the election. We are trying to prune down the number of contestants because we are very sure that we will win the election. The people of Edo State are tired of Oshiomhole’s government. In the next two months, we will come out with our own candidate.
How will the party manage the issue of zoning?
I am Edo Central and it ought to be our turn, but the reality on ground shows that Edo South should take a shot.
Motions on extortion of our youths
They are more in number. We sat and set up a committee. It is a consensus. It will not affect our chances. We consented to it. Wining is the issue. It is not good to zone it to a place where you will not win.
How have you impacted on your constituents since your election?
If you were in the House, you will notice that we have raised motions that border on our roads. We have raised motions on extortion of our youths looking for employments. We have raised a motion on juveniles being kept in regular prisons. We have also raised a motion on pensioners that have not been paid. So, we have raised a number of good motions for the wellbeing of Nigerians. In this budget, we have made provisions to ensure that some of our roads are fixed. We have made some intervention funds available whereby some of our schools will be renovated and our women will be empowered. Our youths too will be empowered.
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