By SIMON EBEGBULEM
FORMER governor of Edo State , Prof.Oserheimen Osunbor, yesterday, officially declared his intention to run for the 2012 governorship election in the state, describing the administration of Governor Adams Oshiomhole as “cosmetic”.  According to him, “this deliberate creation of illusion of grandeur must be reversed”.

Osunbor, who appealed to those he may have offended during his tenure as governor,  carpeted  Oshiomhole administration when he declared: “ I have come with a message of restoration of a government that understands that Benin City, our historical capital, needs many good access roads rehabilitated, beautiful and attractive to tourist, instead of the endless expansion of three faultless roads to semi highways of questionable quality and costs in three years, going to a terminal fourth year, leaving a greater part of the city to regress in progressive degradation and abandonment”.

But, in a riposte, Oshiomhole, who spoke through the state chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Mr Thomas Okosun, described Osunbor’s claim as laughable. Okosun added: “It is on record that those roads Osunbor claimed he constructed have all been washed away. I know he is a gentleman and I don’t expect him to see darkness and say it is light. He will be lying to his God if he dares to compare Oshiomhole’s three years and that of his administration because Edo State today is working”.

Osunbor told PDP supporters at the rally: “ I come with the promise to restore a government that believes that roads should start from your door step, your house and your locality. I do not believe that it is the right thing for our people to wake up in their homes, walk over difficult terrains, or have their cars destroyed because of abandoned roads only to get to the city center to gaze at refurbished federal highways like tourists from villages, in their own city.

“The focus must shift from cosmetic beautification of federal roads to restoration of state roads which have fallen into severe state of disrepair”.

Okosun stated: “Let Osunbor get the ticket of his party first, that is only when he will be able to tell Edo people what he did in the one and half years he stole Oshiomhole’s mandate. The people of Edo spoke in 2007 by voting massively for Oshiomhole. Now Oshiomhole’s works will speak for him while PDP’s failure in the past ten years will haunt Osunbor and his cohorts. The days of stealing other peoples mandate are over”.