Gov Adams Oshiomhole of Edo state rolled out palliatives for the people of the state to cushion the effects of the removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government last week. But again, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state described his action as a deceit.

But in this interview with Saturday Vanguard, the state chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and Speaker of the state House of Assembly Mr Thomas Okosun, reacts to the criticism against the Governor  over his stand on the removal of petroleum subsidy and the forthcoming July 14, 2012 governorship election in the state.

Excerpts:

After the announcement of palliatives Edo state by Governor Adams Oshiomhole, the state PDP described his action as mischievous, that the Governor was only trying to implement the Universal Basic Education (UBE) law to the letter and not palliatives. What is your take on that?

Governor Oshiomhole

They are trying to mislead the people of the state. First of all, they are completely ignorant of the UBE law. UBE law covers only primary school to junior secondary schools and does not have any thing to do with senior secondary school. The palliatives as provided by the Comrade Governor now have extended free education to senior secondary schools.

Even the UBE does not ban parents from doing anything they want to do for schools if they so wish. But the Comrade Governor is saying no, let no parent carry any burden at all in the form of Parents Teachers Association contributing to the development of the school or even the welfare of their children in schools. The state government took responsibility of all these. I think that the PDP people should go back and read the law that established UBE, you will realize that it does not cover senior secondary schools.

Today’s education is now free and extended to both junior and senior secondary schools beyond the provisions of the UBE law. I think this requires commendations by the PDP and everybody in this state. I thought that when they saw good things, they should acknowledge it. Being in opposition does not mean that you should oppose everything that is good that government has done. Being in opposition is simply to say look government is doing badly in any particular area and you point it out. Now they have found that the Governor has extended the free education to higher level, taking away financial burden from parents, they ought to say thank you to the Comrade Governor and ACN in this state.

Secondly, they are complaining that the Comrade Governor reduced school fees in Ambrose Alli University . We have a government that said look, there is now going to be increase in revenue accrued to the state, so If it is going to accrue to the state, it is not for the Comrade Governor to put it in his pocket. It is for the welfare of the people. Therefore, the Comrade Governor in his own wisdom, having calculated  how to cushion the effects of the subsidy removal for the people of the state, has now reduced school fees by reducing minimum of N15,000 from every student in the institution. I want to say that the students of the university, parents, have today acknowledged the gesture and commended the Comrade Governor for it. Instead of the PDP to also acknowledge this again they are castigating the Comrade Governor. Again it shows that they have never cared for the welfare of the people of this state. PDP if they were in government in this state would have done otherwise. They would have received greater and bigger allocation and would have shared it with their political god father rather than investing the money on the welfare of the people of Edo state. Now that they see a government that is interested in the welfare of the people, they are not happy.

They are not happy because the money is not entering into their private pockets or they do not have the opportunity to take the money outside this country. But the Comrade Governor said no, what ever accrues to the state must be invested and spent for the people of Edo state. The PDP people are just wasting their time. They cannot come back because it is very clear to us that they are indeed the enemies of our people, if they are not happy for the reduction in school fees in Ambrose Alli University, if they are not happy that free education has been extended to secondary schools, I wonder what they want to do for the people of Edo state. And I asked them if they don’t have any thing to do, they should just clap their hands and support our party.

The Governor has also been criticized for failure to conduct LGA elections?    

They are talking about Local Government Caretaker Committee being in existence in Edo state.

The Comrade Governor has replied them on one occasion that the PDP established the law which made the use of caretaker committees legal. The law was not put in place by the ACN government, it was the same PDP that amended the law then. Now that they are not in government they are feeling bad about it. You cannot establish a law to create caretaker committees to run the Local Government Councils and you are now crying that you don’t want it to happen. If they don’t want it they should go back to the House of Assembly and ask their members to amend the provisions of the law so that there will be no caretaker committee. They have some PDP members in the House. So they should do that instead of complaining.

They should also ask their members to fast track the passage of the law that will enable the State Independent Electoral Commission (EDSIEC) to conduct Local Government election. The state government is not afraid to conduct LGA election in the state. ACN is prepared to participate in the Local Government election any time the EDSIEC says it is ready. The people that will fail and will continue to lose in this state will be the PDP. Whether we do elections in the Local Government Councils 10 times, the PDP will still lose because they are no longer in touch with the people of Edo state.

The Governor’s  stand on the removal of fuel subsidy may   affect his re-election.

Those who understood the Governor’s position bears no grudges against him. It is only the PDP people in the state who are secretly sponsoring some write ups to paint the Comrade Governor black in the eyes of the masses. I am happy that today the Governor is being vindicated with what is happening. Clearly, the Comrade Governor said government must first of all find out the cabal that has been stealing our money in the name of fuel subsidy and probe them. Today it is clear to us that indeed there has been serious corruption in the system. You can see the revelations at the National Assembly, that last year when they said they paid N1.3trillion for oil subsidy, you can see today that the money was actually stolen. And this is the stand of Comrade Oshiomhole that we must bring those people to book. You must have the courage to stop them and the basis that provides them the opportunity to steal this money must be blocked. And what was that, the subsidy. Stop this money that they have been stealing, channel this money to the welfare of the masses.

And that was what Oshiomhole asked for. The difference was that the President went on to implement it even before this investigation. Comrade’s stand was that these people should be investigated, punish them then remove this subsidy so that the common man will have a better future in this country. The difference was the timing. The truth is that Oshiomhole stood on the side of the masses, those criticizing him are being unfair. The first question you will ask is who owns the money that these people are stealing. The money belongs to the masses, now that the money is coming back now, who is the money going to be spent for? The masses. The money is not going into Oshiomhole’s pocket, it is going into various states for various projects. Now the N1.3trillion which they stole last year, this year they can’t steal it, this money will now be divided across the three tiers of government. Again, the question is who even resolved the crisis? Is the same Oshiomhole because if not for him I am sure we will still be having protest today. Nigeria may have been sitting on the keg of gun powder, that is if the nation would have still been existing. You know the lives that were lost within those few days? There was serious dislocation. What does that portend? Anarchy and chaos for this country. Oshiomhole did not relent, he was able to discuss with members of his constituency Labour and told government clearly that this is not right, the timing was wrong. You can see peace every where now. So I want to say that he is still on the side of the people. Oshiomhole can never abandon his constituency which is the masses of this country. He became Governor with the assistance of the masses and Labour and that is why even when any governor can think of providing palliative for their citizens, he took the lead and others are following now. We are aware that members of the PDP here in the state are secretly sponsoring those criticisms against the Governor but they are wasting their time because the Comrade Governor will win again in a landslide.

Today, nobody can point fingers at the governor that he is a corrupt man. Every kobo that he earns he ploughs back to the development of the state. For example, you are aware that parents took away their children from our public schools before and sent them to private schools where they pay exorbitant school fees. Today they have started returning their children back to public schools. Who is the ultimate beneficiary? the public. So I want to assure you that as the people continue to pay their taxes, we will continue to develop the state and the state will be a better place. Taxes were not introduced today. We did not introduce school fees in AAU . What was the result in the last election? Even when it was not the Comrade’s election, you saw it that we have two Senators as against PDP one. We have seven House of Rep members as against PDP two. We have 19 members in the House of Assembly against PDP five. So what is the comparism? You can see the marginal difference. Again people will ask, who are the candidates in PDP that can match Oshiomhole?

Among the six or seven of them that are parading themselves as aspirants, tell me who amongst them that has the record of doing any thing meaningful for our people in the past.  Is it Prof Osunbor who became Governor through the back door and yet he could not execute any quality project in the state? Or  Ken Rice who thought the problem of Edo people is rice? Tell me who they have to challenge Comrade? .