By GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE

Pharm. Matthew Urhoghide, one of the most prominent political personalities to have arisen since the advent of civilian rule in Edo State is presently the State Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in the state. Urhoghide is indisputably well informed in the politics of the state having passed through the major political parties in the state.

In this interview in Benin, Urhoghide accused the state governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN of being responsible for the tension that has lately engulfed the sate ahead of the July 14, 2012 governorship election.

He also accused the governor of attacking his party and its leadership in his electioneering campaign even as he insists that the PDP would resist the use of the old Voters Register in the election. Read this and more in the interview. Excerpts:

What is responsible for the tension enveloping the gubernatorial contest in Edo State?
First and foremost, let me say that the political situation as it exists in Edo today is not unexpected. When two parties or more are striving for a position, the tendency for one to outdo the other is there. But the issue in our own is that we have left the substance and have deviated from the sole objective of winning election and putting in place a government that will be able to meet the yearnings and aspirations of our people.

And I see that some of these actions that are being taken are deliberate efforts on the part of some politicians who have become too desperate about these positions. It has become an opportunity for some people to want to maim, to kill just because of election. And I want to say that the tense atmosphere today is not because the PDP is too desperate at getting the governorship position because we believe that position cannot be equated with blood or with the life of any individual. And in which case, we must play the game within the law or the rules.

I want to say that the man who symbolizes the leadership of the ACN, that is, the Comrade Governor, who is supposed to be the Chief Security Officer (CSO) in the state, must prove in very clear terms that whatever becomes the lot of the state; he should be the first person that would be held responsible. He has no business whatsoever trying to show such level of desperation.

He is the governor, (but) he must not say that it was through fight, killing, or shedding of blood that he became governor. And this desperation that we are seeing by way of this misdirected, misguided and profane accusations of PDP and its leadership for all these dastardly acts that have been perpetrated in the state in the last few weeks, we consider them as unbecoming of a governor.

If you may ask, it smirks of irresponsible behavior of a state Chief Executive and of course, a party that is supposed to be a national body, that is created to provide a platform for throwing up government. We believe that until a few of these things are cleared, the Edo public will not know the truth; that people believe that there is express need for investigations to be concluded in some of these things so that the truth can be told.

I want to say that the PDP as a party, in fact to the utter surprise of the people in the state, has shown a lot of maturity in the face of the provocations that we consider to be very cruel. I want to say that we are going to maintain our dignified silence until the truth is known and made public.

I want to say too, that where investigations have not been completed honestly and fairly for Edo people to know, the PDP as a party will take an exception to it because, it has happened before in this state that false accusation that were leveled against even the person of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole by a former governor in the state turned around to be a misplaced accusation and they apologized to him.

And I think this time around, Oshiomhole as a governor is going to apologize to the PDP for all these cruel accusations that he has made against the party. The PDP, we must say has tested power in this state many, many times and for it to have gone to court and lost the governorship in 2008 was not a sign of weakness, but a display of maturity for a party and this is why we believe the governor must follow suit.

Mr Urhoghide

He must subordinate himself to constituted authorities. There is a constitution that rules this country, there are parties too that rule this country, there are laws and he is not superior to the least law of the land. If anything, the only way that he can show that he is truly a leader and that he is a governor is to obey and follow the rule of law.

But why is this election campaign not really issue based?
I want to say with every element of seriousness and responsibility that I was very expectant when the campaign rolled-off and when it was mentioned that politics of issues was going to take the front burner. A lot of us were very expectant. But, since campaign began, you see a governor on a podium, just as he went to Afuze and for 47 minutes on the podium, he used the 47 minutes to abuse the national leader of the PDP, Chief Tony Anenih. Are those issues?

He went to the Museum ground to flag-off his campaign in Oredo Local Government Area and on that day, he used all the time to abuse the person of Chief Tony Anenih and he called the PDP governorship candidate, Major Gen. Charles Airhiavbere (rtd), all sorts of names and only for him to completely forget about the issues of infrastructure or development of the state. I thought he was going to talk on issues that would better the lot of our people.

We have a complete compilation of all his outings and I want to say there is nowhere he has mentioned any issue pertaining to his stewardship in the last four years and what he intends to do in the next four years. He has not expressly told anybody how he is going to create jobs, he has not told anybody how he is going to combat crime; he has not told anybody how many health facilities he is going to improve upon; he has not told anybody how many education facilities he is going to improve upon; or how many more roads he is going to build.

When we say building new roads, not rehabilitation; he has not told anybody, in fact, the general insecurity and the uncertainty of the future are the only things that pervade his campaign. This is very unfortunate. We want you to see too that on newspapers, radios and television Major-Gen. Arhiavbare has been talking on these issues.

He has never opened his mouth one day to abuse the person of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole or impugn on the integrity of his office. That is maturity. We are equally cataloguing all these utterances of the PDP governorship candidate and we are going to make them public very soon, so that we know who is actually talking about issues and who is not.

There seems to be a sharp division among the parties on the capacity of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to conduct free and fair polls?

Issues pertaining to the meeting yesterday called by INEC are issues that are completely constitutional. INEC, by virtue of the constitution and the electoral Act, 2010 as amended has said that it is their constitutional responsibility to upgrade the voters’ register. The reasons of upgrading the voters’ registers are; One, those who were not of voting age, 18 years in the last general election that have come of age need to be registered so that they would be able to exercise their franchise.

Two, those persons who have relocated from one place to the other have rights to exercise their rights when the time comes, and more so the electoral act says in section 91, 35 and of course section in section 10 that the sole responsibility of continually updating the voters register and not only that, there is even a provision that 30 days to election, INEC too must update their register and that is what they must do so and the body is saying this must do it.

What the PDP is saying is that it is not our responsibility to enforce the law, what we are saying is, if the law is not enforced it can work against us, so it is our responsibility too to make sure that INEC does its job. It will be irresponsible on our part to allow people to subvert the position of the constitution and the electoral Act. We are not going to allow it; INEC is going to do its duties not minding whose ox is gored and if the ACN and those that want to collude with them because they don’t want the exercise to go ahead.

We will insist on it, we are going to stand our ground and of course, we will let the world know that the issues of law must be taken into consideration; the provisions of the law must be taken into consideration and INEC has to do the right thing and they must abide by it.

If it is resolved to use the old voters register, will the PDP accept the decision?
If that is done, a lot of people will be disenfranchised. It will be wicked, inhuman for persons to be disenfranchised. There is no way that Nigerians who are of voting age in the election will be disallowed. If INEC does that, it is going to be the first ground that will be very ripe for election petition because a lot of persons would have been disenfranchised. I know the parties are aware of this and I know the issues pertaining to electoral litigation, we are very vast in it and we will have no option but to take to that.

What are your chances in the July 14th 2012 Governorship election?
Well I think if you want to put it simply, we are ready and what we have to do is to be prepared. We have sold our programmes to the Edo people very responsibly and it is they that will decide, by the grace of God, their decision will be binding on us as a party. But our programmes are what we are; we are going to sell it to Edo people irrespective of the distractions that we are getting.

Those who come to the market to sell must be able to put their leaves on their product so that they can be distinguishable. But of you don’t have anything to sell, for God’s sake, don’t pollute the air that is pervading in the market. Rather, carry your ware and leave the market, so, if they believe that they are causing all those distractions that we are seeing as the only thing that can make them win the election, we are going to resist it because Edo people will be the ultimate decider.

What do you think should be done to ease tension in the polity as the July 14, 2012 draws nearer?
First and foremost, as I told them in the state security meeting is that the person who is perpetrating this tension is the governor and the ACN. They are wrongly accusing the PDP; for instance if the governor said he knew those who killed Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde, and you have told the people that the PDP are the killers, why do you put N10 million for anybody who will provide information concerning the killers of Olaitan?

You should go to the law enforcement agents and give them sufficient information on how the PDP killed Olaitan. Then if you know from you heart of hearts that it was a false accusation, then you should apologize to the party. So, that kind of accusation can create tension and indeed, it has created tension. Your convoy had an accident and you accused the PDP of being responsible, did that not create tension?

If he makes good his threat that he was going to take the law into his hand and strike back at PDP and its leaders, and it now happened that the state is in ungovernable and a state of emergency is declared, who will be at loss? The president has the right to approve a sole administrator and all that he has now will no longer be available. So, what we are telling him is that if he makes the state ungovernable, he will be the utterly loser.