GOVERNOR Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State is getting very paranoid and this is understandable.  It is just dawning on him and his court jesters that to win re-election is now an almost impossible task.

All the endorsements he has received for his second term bid so far are mere pieces of comedy meant to entertain the hapless Edo citizens, who have endured the pains of arbitrariness, arrogance, cronyism and humiliation for over three years.

Imagine this scenario: Barely two and a half months to his re-election bid, a governor who just exhausted himself at a failed campaign rally, feeling angry and agitated, jumped into a vehicle and decided to drive himself against all known protocol: took control of the steering, and led a convoy that is reputed for its recklessness.  He sped off and the security vehicles gave hot chase, “normally” chasing other road users from the opposite direction into the bush. The long convoy followed at top speed all trying to catch up with the Governor- turned driver.

Suddenly, the convoy arrived at a very sharp and blind bend at the same time as a truck driven by a poor driver. There was confusion at the bend of the single lane road that was fully occupied by a convoy. The truck driver was scared and lost control; so also the vehicles at the head of the convoy.  The rest was history.

Three innocent journalists and a driver were killed instantly and numerous others were badly injured and rushed to hospitals.  Not sure how to account for the death of innocent souls and the injured, he remembered that there was an opposition party that must take the blame for his own indiscretion and misdemeanour.  Surely, this was the case of Boxer in George Orwell’s  Animal Farm.  There must be a scapegoat.  Napoleon can do no wrong.

His Commissioner for Information, Louis Odion, and the Director of Media and Publicity of his campaign, Prince Kassim Afegbua, otherwise respected journalists, who cheated death in the encounter, joined in the wicked propaganda against the souls of their departed colleagues, and against those innocent souls now groaning in pain in hospital beds. Oshiomhole and his prostrate subordinates must believe that Edo people and the rest of the world are fools.  The blood of the dead journalists must seek revenge.  The blood of all the injured must cry to heaven for revenge.

The leadership of the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers, where Oshiomhole was once an apprentice tailor and later their Union leader, who did not witness the accident, and who is impatient to wait for the report of the Police investigation, jumped to an irresponsible conclusion, in a national daily that: “A suicide lorry deliberately veered off its track faced the Governor’s staff car and missed it by the whiskers.

It later rammed into the vehicles conveying the security details and Government House Press Crew.  This tragic event came after a similar cyber-orchestrated criminal personal attack and open threat on Oshiomhole by the opposition over his so-called mansions”.

This is from a press statement by the General Secretary of the Union, Mr. Issa Aremu, published at page 48 of the Vanguard newspaper of Tuesday, May 1, 2012.  If we may ask, are the Iyamho mansions of Governor Oshiomhole so-called?  Has Oshiomhole spoken out since the scandal hit the world?  Has he taken up the challenge thrown by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, that he should organise a guided tour of the scandalous estate under construction to put a lie to the allegations?  Does the noise about his fabled performance qualify him to tamper with the taxpayer’s money so crudely and so blatantly? We shall come back to this very shortly.

We must ask of the whereabouts of the driver who is said to be a card-carrying member of the ACN and driving a truck said to be owned by an ACN member, according to claims by the PDP in Edo State.  We hope the driver is safe in police custody?   We hope Oshiomhole and his aides have not done anything funny to the poor man to destroy evidence?  They should not tell us that the man escaped.

We can assert that Oshiomhole’s desperation is not simply about winning a second term ticket.  The prospects of moving from the state house to the other side is staring him in the face and he is very scared.  Is Oshiomhole ready to truly account?  We must insist on knowing how much all the eighteen local government areas have received, by way of Federal allocations, since he came to power and how much he actually released to them.

We must know how much has accrued to the state by way of Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, and how these have been expended.  We must know how much loans Edo State has taken since Oshiomhole came to power and how these have been invested.  We are also interested in the amount of grants the state has received, from where and how they have been invested.  We will do a proper evaluation of all the projects he has executed and get a proper costing.  What else is due process? What else is accountability and transparency?

Oshiomhole has long abandoned issues and gone personal with General Charles Airhiavbere, his PDP opponent. He wants a public debate and so on.  These are all fine.  The place to start is for Edo people to know how Oshiomhole has managed their lives and resources since he assumed power so as to know if they can trust him with their lives and resources for yet another four years.  These are the issues.  Public debates at this point are mere distractions and no one will oblige Oshiomhole.  He wants equity.  We must certify that his hands are clean.

Back to Oshiomhole’s growing mansions in Iyamho.  This matter cannot go away, whatever the guerilla tactics Oshiomhole and his handlers intend to employ.  There can be no cover up.  The world must know that we have a pseudo-comrade as a people’s governor.  Unless he is fully exposed, he will continue to hoodwink our people. President Jonathan says he has zero tolerance for corruption.  From everything he has done so far, we believe him.  Edo will offer another opportunity for our President to prove a point.  All the wolves in sheep clothing must be exposed.  Oshiomhole must be fully investigated.

Indeed, the results of the last general election in Edo State have deceived Oshiomhole into thinking that he is firmly in control of the state.  Apart from the underhand methods he employed in the elections, he must know that the people voted for their sons and daughters that they know.  Now, they know Oshiomhole.  The students know him.  The youths he gave bogus employment letters know him.

The teachers know him.  The workers know him.  The farmers and market women know him.  The pensioners know him.  Private school and hospital owners know him.  The traders and artisans all know him.  This time round, there is no hiding place.

This paranoia over Edo governorship, this desperation for re-election will take Oshiomhole nowhere.  All the comic endorsements will amount to naught.  He knows it.  July 14, 2012 will tell.

Mr. CALLISTUS OMOREGIE, a public affairs analyst, wrote from Benin, Edo State.