By Gabriel Enogholase

BENIN—AHEAD of the July 2016 governorship election in Edo State, three of the five governorship aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have pledged to support who ever among them wins the party’s governorship primaries to ensure that the party takes over the reins of government in the state.

The aspirants, Chief Solomon Edebiri, Matthew Iduoriykemwen and Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, spoke in Benin, during an interactive session at a dinner organized by an Edo PDP social media group known as Unity League.

They pledged to ensure that the interest of the party superseded their individual interests even as they described the performance of the incumbent, Governor Adams Oshiomhole, as poor,  insisting that a lot needed to be done to re-position the state economically, socially and politically.

The aspirants, who spoke on their visions, missions and plans for Edo State, if elected governor, noted that there was the need for all of them to work together in their collective bid to salvage Edo State from its present parlous state.

First to speak was Chief Edebiri who noted that all the industries such as Bendel Insurance, Edo Line, Bendel Brewery and Agbede Farm among others, established by previous administrations were all gone, promising that his government would tap into the state’s human and capital resources to turn things around.

“Today, those things are no more. Many people have lost their jobs and Edo State is no longer an industrial state. We have become beggars and nothing has changed. To bring those things back and develop the state, we will create a one local government, one crop policy.”

On his part, Mr. Iduoriyikemwen said, “I have touched the lives of people around me. I have created opportunities for them and I will do the same for Edo State. We must count Edo State first. I believe in this state and I have the capacity to rule.”

In his remark, Pastor Ize-Iyamu, who is a former Secretary to Edo State Government and former South-South Vice Chairman of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, noted that he towered above other aspirants because of his experience in government and the “network to reach beyond our party to the other parties to ensure that we win this election.”