NEWS about events in Edo State have dominated the air waves and captured the front pages of newspapers in the last few weeks. Unfortunately, they have been, generally, news of negative happenings and fatalities, such as the accident involving the convoy of the State Governor, the murder of his Principal Private Secretary and the death of a number of people during the demonstrations on the security situation and against the purported conspiracy between INEC and the PDP to rig the forthcoming election in the State.

Although the news coming out of the State may be unsavory, it is not out of tune with the propensity of the Edo State Government to run its affairs and development programmes in the electronic and print media. If the government of Adams Oshiomhole is to be appropriately described, it would be that it is a government of cosmetic development, held together by massive propaganda.

For the over three years he has governed Edo State, Oshiomhole has regaled the world with tales of his development achievements. The media has been recruited and well used to give the impression that he is a hard-working Governor who is committed to transforming the lives of the people of the State. The reality, however, is different.

While Oshiomhole exerts himself in shouting to the high heavens about his achievements, any casual visitor would easily see that neither the physical infrastructure in most parts of the State, nor the living standards of the people have been appreciably improved. His development strategy has been to embark on cosmetic projects such as the dualisation of the Airport Road, the beautification of a few areas, and refurbishment of a few schools and the resurfacing of some popular highways.

In contrast to these highly publicised and acclaimed achievements, Edo State remains a story of massive under-development.  In the capital city of Benin, most roads are impassable while most areas of the city lack the rudimentary infrastructure of modern urban existence, with poor drainage, lack of sewage system, lack of water, poor garbage disposal system and almost total absence of street lights.  The story is far worse in most of the rural towns.  This is the reality which Oshiomhole is confronting in an election year!  He is, tragically, like a farmer who planted 20 heaps of yam and brags to his neighbours that he has planted 200 heaps.  When he has harvested the 20 heaps, he would be hard-pressed to explain the whereabouts of the remaining 180 heaps. Desperation and shame are bound to set in.

Oshiomhole is a desperate man who has engaged, for years, in the propaganda of development and now has to confront the people who have been the victims of his lies and who are, most likely, to reject him at the polls.  To make his predicament more complex, the people, not only know that he has been economical with the truth about his so-called development projects, but also that he has been appropriating funds meant for their collective good for his own enrichment.

The exposure of Oshiomhole’s multi-billion naira investment in the construction of a massive estate in his home of Iyamho near Auchi has shown to all the people of Edo State that the so-called people’s Governor is nothing but a wolf in a sheep’s skin.  Having been unmasked, but still desperate to continue in office and consolidate his programme of deceit, Oshiomhole has found it convenient to milk the tragic incidents in the State for political advantage.  Indeed, it would not be far-fetched to suggest that some of these incidents, at least, the accident involving his convoy, might have been contrived to divert attention from the scandal of his multi-billion estate.

The recent deaths in Edo State are tragic and unfortunate. To Oshiomhole and his cohort, however, they seem to provide great political advantage.  They have seized the obvious sense of sorrow in Edo State to try to redeem their image, badly battered by under-performance.  They have, obviously, decided to dance on the graves of the dead to electoral victory.  Clearly, Oshiomhole is using diversionary tactics in their most unscrupulous and sinister dimensions.  In the infamous tradition of fascist regimes, Oshiomhole is raving and ranting against scapegoats whom he prefers to identify as godfathers.  The idea, of course, is to shift the focus of attention from his own incompetence to the activities of some imaginary persons who are attempting to make the State ungovernable in their bid to wrest power from him.

Governor Oshiomhole is a sinking man whose days in Edo State Government House are numbered.  He has been exposed for what he is: An incompetent administrator and a ruthless exploiter.  No amount of propaganda and exploitation of the tragic deaths in the State can save him from defeat and disgrace.

Mr. EDWIN ERIAGBENE, a public affairs analyst, wrote Lagos.