*Says Edo AC leaders discrediting PDP were ex-govt’s supporters

Mr. Lucky Imasuen is the immediate past deputy governor of Edo State under the administration of Professor Oserhiemen Osunbor. Before becoming deputy governor, he was two-time governorship aspirant and chief of staff under the administration of Chief Lucky Igbinedion.

Since the Appeal Court in Benin-City sacked the Osunbor-led administration in November last year, Imasuen has been silent but he broke his silence after he read an interview in Sunday Vanguard with the special adviser to Governor Adams Oshiomhole on political matters, Mr. Charles Idahosa. Imasuen responded to the allegations levelled against Chief Tony Anenih and the PDP by Idahosa in the interview and also spoke on life outside office. Excerpts:

By Simon Ebegbulem

BY next month, it will be one year since the Court of Appeal sacked the   Professor Oserhiemen Osunbor administration which you were part of. You have been quiet since then, how has it been?
First and foremost, I want to thank God Almighty and the people of Edo State for giving me and Professor Osunbor the opportunity to serve the state. Yes, we left government, suddenly, but I have not really been silent, I have been at home, involved in my private activities.

I believe that we have a new governor and he needs time to settle down and proffer solutions to the problems of Edo State as he promised during his campaign.
When you were in government as deputy governor of the state, you did describe

Oshiomhole as your friend.  Is he still your friend today?
Yes, he is still my friend. Although I disagree with his policies, that does not make him my enemy. We are not in the same political party but we are good friends. And as a good friend, you have to tell your friend when he is doing something wrong. As things are today, I disagree with the way he is running the affairs of the state.

It is widely believed that you people lost the governorship due to internal wrangling in your party.  Do you agree with that claim?
Not at all. All I can tell you is that we did our best under the situation we found ourselves in then. When we came in, in 2007, infrastructure in the state were completely in decay. The roads were in bad shape, the schools were all leaking, hospitals were reduced to mere consulting clinics. We immediately embarked on developing the state.

We embarked on the improvement of water supply, the roads in the three senatorial district were receiving urgent attention. But Oshiomhole won at the Appeal Court and we left. We accepted the verdict because we respect the rule of law. Internal wrangling in the party has nothing to do with us losing the case.

It is not only in Edo State that the PDP lost appeal, it also happened in Ondo. I strongly believe that we won that election in 2007 and the voters of the state know that Osunbor and Imasuen were duly elected as governor and deputy governor respectively. But the court said otherwise. We wish Oshiomhole well.

When the PDP crisis started while you were in power, your boss, then Professor Osunbor, was leading a faction while you were in the faction led by Chief Tony Anenih. But, today, both of you are in the same camp.
Well, Professor Osunbor, Chief Anenih, Dr Ogbemudia, all of us are together now. You see, the little disagreement that existed then is not surprising to any one. A party as large as the PDP, you must disagree with people. The disagreement is not the issue but the issue is the ability to resolve the problem. Things have been straightened, Dr Ogbemudia and Chief Anenih are both leading us well. We are members of the same family, we are trying to re-build the party in the state so that we can take over in 2012 and finish the job started by the PDP.

Many people in the state felt you betrayed your boss, Professor Osunbor, when you decided to pitch tenth with Anenih in the heat of the crisis?
I do not know what they meant by betrayal while others said I was too loyal. But I was on the side of those who said I was too loyal to him because Professor Osunbor was a great man that meant well for the state and I said I would assist to make his dream a reality. But I am a man that believes in the supremacy of the party.

The PDP gave us nomination to become governor and deputy governor, so I felt we should not abandon the party that gave us recognition. Both of us worked harmoniously in spite of whatever happened then. But now, we are looking forward to develop the state and rebuild the party. We have two great leaders in Chief Anenih and Dr Ogbemudia and they have never failed us before.

People believe that your party, the PDP, lost the recent House of Assembly re-run election in Akoko Edo because of factional crisis in the party and, after the election, you people cried that it was rigged by the AC and a lot of people wondered why the cry; after all while the PDP was in power in the state they dealt with the opposition parties?
Yes, we raised alarm because the rigging was too much. As a peace maker, Chief Anenih, prior to the election, summoned PDP leaders and asked us to take our campaign to the people and not to be involved in any sort of malpractice.

And we went from ward to ward and campaigned. Out of that five wards, it was clear that PDP was going to win 90 per cent of the votes there. Chief Anenih made it clear that if any one in PDP is found carrying arms in that election such person will be dismissed from the party.

But to our greatest surprise, a night before the election, we learnt that thugs from neighbouring states like Kogi, Ondo and Delta had been imported by the AC for the election. We raised the alarm to the national leader that government officials used their pilot vehicles to flood the council with thugs armed with guns. Not that the PDP was not prepared but we listened to our leader and, besides, we felt it will not be nice to be involved in any violent behavior.

I am from Edo South, we were all told to stay away if you are not from Akoko. But that day, the governor’s chief of staff, his SAs, his numerous aides and more than four thousand five hundred people were all in Akoko Edo. Mind you, before the election, we asked that it should be cancelled but they refused because they were bent on  rigging it.

If you recall a day or two after the election, some armed thugs were arrested and guns were recovered from the home of an AC leader in Akoko Edo. Those people were arrested and taken to Abuja. The IG paraded them and it is our hope that these people are prosecuted.

But it is being said that it will be difficult for the PDP to win any election in Edo State because they misruled the state for almost ten years that they were in power.
Let me tell you, as a former deputy governor under Professor Osunbor, we were in power for a year and a half and, during that period we tarred almost 30 per cent of the roads in Edo Central. We worked on the Auchi township road, Lampese-Bekuma-Ososo Road, NEPA-Otaru-Poly Road, we were working on Ojirami Water Dam. In Edo South, we worked on Adekpanu Road, over N1.3billion, Ihama, Upper Sakpoba, there were many roads which contracts we awarded that jobs commenced before our removal. And now they have been abandoned.

Yes we had the plan to relocate the markets, what Oshiomhole is doing trying to move the market women into the market is not wrong. We had it in our own plans. But what we wanted to do was to collaborate with the local government councils and then build modern markets and then push every body into the market. The markets will have toilet facilities, every thing that is required.

Benin City was too dirty and we had a master plan. So trying to relocate these people in the markets is not a bad plan, but what is wrong about it is that he has no plan to build toilet facilities for them in the markets. We were already working on Akpakava, Mission Road, the Ring Road and most importantly, we were focusing attention on areas like the Teachers House, Upper Sakpoba.

But you will recall that you people got more money when you were in power than the present administration because the financial melt down started after Oshiomhole was sworn-in and that eventually reduced the allocation accruing to the state…

He is getting more now. Periodically, the Federal Government shares excess crude money and even, while we were in government, allocation would drop some times. And while we were there, we were generating over N300million as IGR monthly but today he is making over a billion. I know it is his effort, and I am not against it. It is good for us to pay our taxes, but we should know that the N1billion is excluding the monthly allocation from the Federation Account.

The question is, what is he doing with the money? It is not all about beautifying the Ring Road with street lights and flowers. You cannot say that embarking on other projects should wait because you are tarring Ring Road, it is not done like that.

Chief Anenih and Governor Oshiomhole had been very close and Anenih described Oshiomhole as his son until penultimate weekend when Anenih described the AC as air conditioner without compressor at a rally in Ewohimi.  What do you think is the problem?
I do not know why people attached so much important into that statement, ‘my son.’ We are all Africans and elders call people their sons while we call them our fathers.

After the verdict of the Appeal Court, Chief Anenih called all of us and asked us to cooperate with Oshiomhole, that the development of Edo State is paramount. Chief Anenih loves Oshiomhole but it does not mean that when Oshiomhole is doing something wrong, he will not caution him or point it out.

Ghadafi recently called Obama his son but they have nothing in common. I know Anenih still likes Oshiomhole but the state is falling apart and he wants the people of Nigeria to know that Oshiomhiole does not practice what he preaches.

Charles Idahosa’s reaction to criticism of Oshiomhole
Charles Idahosa is my friend and he is somebody that says what he believes, he does not hide his feelings. But I disagree with him. They are saying that PDP ruined Edo State for ten years, who are the AC members?  Were they not in the PDP before they left? Mind you Charles Tempo was in the PDP until few months before the AC primaries.

First, he was appointed by the Igbinedion administration as director of public affairs; from there, he became the commissioner for information, mouth piece of the PDP.  From there he became member of the NTA Board under a PDP administration. The people in AC today were all PDP members.

The Oshiomhole you are talking about was a PDP member; it was when it became clear that he was not going to get the nomination in PDP that he went to the AC from Labour. Ize-Iyamu was secretary to government under Igbinedion for several years but today he is in the AC.

Chief Tom Ikimi, a leader I respect, was in the PDP, infact he was the one who moderated the convention where Obasanjo emerged as PDP candidate. Then Omoaghe the state chairman of the AC was a leader of the PDP.

The secretary of AC Gentleman Amegor was in PDP. So when they accuse the PDP I laugh, it is just the old wine in a new bottle. Chief Anenih did his best as minister of works, he was not the president.