By Ozioruva Aliu

THE governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Sen. Monday Okpebholo has carpeted the planned nationwide protest for August 1 but rather appealed for calm saying one year was too short to score President Bola Tinubu’s government low.

He however said that some politicians including the governor of Edo State were urging the planners on by their silence to score political points even as he carpeted the Governor Godwin Obaseki administration on the way he said he has run the state to only his advantage and that of his few allies.

Okpbeholo stated this in Benin City on Tuesday during an interactive session with the Correspondents Chapel of the Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).

He said “The protest they are planning for August 1 is not necessary. Is it President Tinubu that is just one year on office that they are blaming for what is happening? There is a global economic challenge that is not peculiar to Nigeria and some people including Governor Obaseki want it for political reasons which I am sure will all fail.”

On security, Okpbholo said from the day he resumes office as governor, the issue of insecurity would be tackled as he took a swipe on the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Asue Ighodalo who he said has been disconnected from his people until he wanted to contest election. “When we win by the grace of God, we will go after them, they will relocate from this state.”

According to him, “I never knew Obaseki’s godson, Asue who claimed to have come from my Senatorial District (Edo Central).

“I only got to know of him when someone drew my attention that a chairman of bank donated N100,000 to Esan security architecture.

“I raised the bar of the donations and even donated vehicles for the local vigilantes when I discovered that what was donated was not enough. So, find out where these people have been?

“My records are there to speak for me and all these we will replicate in the entire state. As we speak I am doing an “operation light up” Edo Central with 3,000 street lights to be mounted, we are still rebuilding schools, not less than 49 boreholes have been sunk even before I became a senator.”

He said it was embarrassing that Edo Line Transport Service which was the pride of the state and Bendel Breweries with both capable of employing thousands of Edo people have left unattended to by the Obaseki administration “What we hear are rhetoric, anything that will give jobs to our people particularly youths, they will not bother about it, our youths are  being used for evil because they are jobless, the people are hungry because there are no jobs.

“When Comrade Oshiomhole was governor, our monthly allocation from the federation account was not more than N3.5 billion at its peak but last month, the allocation that came to this state was over N11 billion yet the debt profile of Edo State is over N500 billion naira in the same period that the IGR has increased so what have they done with this money? These are questions Edo people should ask them. The money that comes to the state, they take them outside the state, he money we have in circulation are money from our Diaspora brothers and sisters that they send to their family members here, all these we will change because Edo people’s money must be used for the people of Edo state and in Edo state.”

He said serious infrastructural development stopped with the Oshiomhole administration but that as governor, he would go back to development of critical infrastructure which he said is the quickest way to bring development to the people.”