…APC not using Federal Might, will win with its popularity

By Clifford Ndujihe

Mr. Nosa Adams, a lawyer, is a chieftain of the All Progressive Congress, APC, a member of Senator Monday Okpebholo Campaign Council for the Edo State Governorship election and former chairman of Egor Local Government Area.

He was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Legacy Group until recently. In this interview, he speaks on the chances of the APC candidate and why Edo voters should unite against Governor Godwin Obaseki and the PDP Candidate, Dr. Asue Ighodalo.

What are the chances of your party in the Edo governorship poll?

Very bright to the extent of the government’s misdemeanor against the people. Very bright to the extent of the governor turning against all those who voted for him, people that gave him their mandate, and all political gladiators. Principal stakeholders in the Edo politics have all resolved to give the next governorship election to APC. Obaseki and his PDP, for eight years, have failed woefully. So the voters, political leaders, traditional institutions, Christian community, and civil service want a change. There’s a general consensus to change the government of Edo.

The governor has performed so poorly and disappointingly that he cannot be allowed to bring his successor. More so, when the person he is parading as a PDP candidate was part of the kitchen cabinet of the outgoing government.

APC will win the election especially when the Governor and his kitchen cabinet, including Asue Ighodalo have declared war against the traditional Institution in Edo State. The government doesn’t take advice from anybody. So, Saturday’s election is a victory for APC. Monday Okpebholo and Dennis Idahosa, his deputy, will be coasting to victory very comfortably.

On comments that Okpebholo is not well educated…

Those saying so don’t know his pedigree. He is educated enough and meets the requirement that qualifies him to contest election today. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been cleared by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. Besides, he holds a first degree and a Master’s degree. He is an ICT expert and an entrepreneur who employed over 100 workers before he became a Senator. Currently, he is a serving senator. So, it’s just part of their political propaganda and gimmicks to say he’s not educated. Okpebholo is just a simple, easy-going fellow who had a very humble beginning like most of us. He’s very reserved, coordinated, calculative and straight to the point. All he wants is to remove us from this shackle we find ourselves. He wants to save us from the precipice and take us to a greater height.

On APC’s alleged use and dependence on Federal Might, the INEC and security agencies to win the poll…

Those allegations are baseless. I must tell you, INEC is a neutral arbiter as far as elections are concerned. The police are doing their work as a professionals as enshrined in the Nigerian constitution. The PDP wants the police to just close their eyes and allow them to start intimidating and harassing and terrorizing the residents of Edo State. No responsible law enforcement agency will allow that to happen.

When Governor Obaseki set up the Edo State Security Network or security corps, we were all happy, and jubilant with high expectations that at least the issue of insecurity in Edo State will be tackled headlong. But it turned out that he was using the personnel of the security network to terrorize political opponents. As we speak, no fewer than 30 persons are hospitalized as a result of attacks by the so-called security corps. He recruited known thugs and cultists as members of the security network. He was using that network to terrorize every perceived opponent and the police will not allow that to continue. You’re aware how the personal police escort of Okpebholo, was shot and killed in cold blood at the Benin airport, when the APC candidate was coming out of the airport? Many people have been seriously beaten, maimed, and they’re all taking treatment at the hospital. The police went after those that carried out that very act, and they are crying wolf.

In the last House of Assembly and local government elections, their boys moved from unit to unit, polling booth to polling booth, beating people and collecting the ballot boxes, and carried them to Government House, after filling all the forms and declaring the result, they called the Edo State Independent Electoral Commission, SIEC, to come and announce the result. That is what Obaseki wants to do. No police will allow that. He can’t do that again.

When the policeman said, ‘no, you cannot continue like this,’ he said the police are biased. He is talking of federal might. Where is the federal might? Is it federal might that is asking him to be using school fees for rallies? Is it federal might that is asking him to stop opponents from erecting billboards across Edo State? Is it federal might that is asking him to stop opponents from using the Edo State Broadcasting Service?

INEC called for stakeholders’ meeting and they said that police arrested their people, he would not sign. Police only arrested those that killed the police inspector. Police went after them based on court warrant. There is a warrant from the court of competent jurisdiction that the people who carried out the killings should be arrested. Are you saying because there is an election in Edo State people should commit offence and go scot-free? So because he is the governor of the state and enjoys immunity, his supporters, and killing squads should also enjoy immunity? He’s talking of INEC being biased, his cousin is working in INEC, his Attorney General just left INEC as federal commissioner. When he contested, that person was in INEC as a federal commissioner. He didn’t accuse anybody of using INEC. The state chairman of PDP’s wife is a very senior staff of INEC. Nobody is saying because his wife is a senior staff of INEC that they’re using INEC. So where is the federal power? Let the law take its course. If you commit crime as long as you don’t enjoy immunity under the constitution you will account for it.

Obaseki is only crying wolf because everybody in Edo State that really has a stake in Edo State is not happy because of his state policy. Starting from the Oba of Benin, to the Catholic Bishop, pensioners, civil servants, and students are not happy with him. Is it federal might that said he should stop the Oba of Benin’s allowances and entitlements? I’m a full-fledged Benin man both by ancestry and by birth. A typical Benin man which he claims to be should know that there are norms in Benin that we don’t play with. I’m sure you must have heard that in Benin kingdom you don’t drag with the Oba, you don’t equate yourself with the Oba. You don’t make enmity with the Oba, you don’t boast with the Oba. Above all, Oba owns the Benin. These things are as good as basic law. When you’re growing up in Benin you’re taught all these things, no matter how educated you are. Those days when you commit infractions against these norms it is your family that will hand you over to the palace for execution. But we are in the modern world, if you do these things these days nobody will kill you but you will pay direly for it. that is what will happen to him on Saturday. Those who did it paid direly for it.

Do you feel the election will be peaceful considering that the PDP refused to sign the peace accord?

Signing the peace accord is not a statutory command. So, you have the moral obligation to sign and if you choose not to sign it shows that you don’t want to commit yourself to a peaceful and orderly conduct of the election

He is planning to unleash mayhem on the opposition and we’re waiting for him but the police will not fold their hands.

On threats posed by Labour Party’s Olumide Akpata to the APC….

The Labour Party candidate is my cousin but unfortunately he cannot win the election because in Edo State, there’s this general consensus that the Binis have had their eight years, in fact they have their 16 years. We have three senatorial districts -Edo South, the Bini speaking area; Edo central, the Esan speaking area; and Edo North, the Afemai speaking area. The Esans are the only ones that have been left out so there was this consensus that this time around, we should let the Esans from Edo central have a shot. That consensus is building up on a daily basis because in Edo State we’re all one. We’re all under the great Benin kingdom that is why the Oba is supreme in Edo State. We’re all under the great Benin kingdom so, we all agreed that our brothers should at least have a shot because we cannot afford to be so unfair to them as to deny them the opportunity to serve the state. If you deny them that opportunity it would not be fair, just and equitable. Akpata is from Edo South. On the other hand, the Peter Obi phenomenon that was rampaging everywhere is not there again. More so when the Labour Party is already Balkanized. As we speak now the state chairman of the party doesn’t go to campaign with him. They don’t have leadership at the state level so the Labour Party is out of it.

Coming to the PDP that would have been a force to reckon with, Obaseki and his Lagos boys have totally killed the PDP in Edo State. We have all resolved that anybody that calls himself a technocrat, will never have anything to do with us again in Edo State. Or any Lagos boy, sorry to say that. If you want somebody who is a ‘localite’, who grew up with us, who knows the feelings, who knows the yearnings of the people, that is why senator Okpebholo is so popular in the Edo state. Senator Okpebholo is a serving senator. He sleeps in his village as a senator. Before he won the election, after he won the election. His deputy, Idahosa is a serving member of House of Reps. He sleeps in his village. We want a Government that lives with us, understands our yearnings and our aspirations.