(Text of a press conference addressed by Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole, Edo State Action Congress Governorship Candidate)  

Protocols

Introduction of Hon. Pius Odubu as Action Congress Gubernatorial Running-mate in the 2007 Elections
I am delighted to welcome you to this press conference, which has been organised to formally present to you my running mate, Honourable Pius Odubu. I also intend to share with you our vision and priorities. In addition, we will intimate you with how we intend to approach the 2007 Edo State Governorship electioneering campaign.

Honourable Odubu is currently a member of the Federal House of Representatives, representing the Orhiomhon/Uhumwunde Federal Constituency. He is an accomplished lawyer with about twenty-one years experience in practice.

I have chosen Hon Odubu after consultation with political leaders cutting across the various political parties in our alliance in Edo State . As a member of the Federal House of Representatives, he has demonstrated remarkable courage in expressing his conviction on critical issues bordering on the democratic development of Nigeria . He will be bringing on board great experience as a grassroots politician and a good team player. I am convinced that together, we can provide for Edo State the quality and transformative leadership that our people deserve.

Eight Years of PDP Rule - the Sad State of Edo State
Now is the time to get serious about the challenges that confront Edo State . Under the ruling PDP government, the situation in Edo State is decadent, ugly, shameful and even annoying.

For eight years, the PDP government has driven the vehicle of Edo State with the gear in full reverse. As such, Edo State has lost much ground in all spheres of life – employment, education, health, security, economic production, public service, agriculture, the rural economy, roads and other infrastructures.

The gains we have made from the time of the Mid-West Region and Bendel State have been eroded under the PDP government. In those days of Up Bendel!, we were known for excellence and pre-eminence in education, sports, infrastructures, food production and industries.
In the good old days of the Mid-West and Bendel States , we were a proud, reasonably prosperous and resourceful people, who helped other parts of the nation to address the challenges of development.

The ugly state of Benin-city today symbolises the decay that eight years of PDP’s misrule has inflicted on Edo State . The roads are impassable; nightlife is impossible; the people are ravaged by poverty and unemployment; there are schools but no knowledge is being imparted into our children; there are hospitals but no healthcare. Benin-city, a capital city of about forty years, is now only a capital by virtue of its size. If Benin is hell, we can imagine how bad the other parts of the state are.

Our Vision
Although the PDP government has destroyed everything in Edo State , it has not been able to quench the abundant energy, spirit of industry, resourcefulness and entrepreneurship of Edo people. Our vision is to create an enabling environment that will tap the energy, creativity and spirit of industry of our people for the development of the State.

I can say with modest pride that we have the democratic credentials, courage, integrity and skills to engage and mobilise the people of Edo State towards making Edo work again. Even our harshest critics concede to us that we have what it takes to engage the people and to mobilize them for the challenges of development.

Our Priorities
During the formal declaration of my candidature on September 6 2006, I had indicated some of the priorities we intend to pursue if given the mandate. We have continued to develop these ideas even further.

Our major priority will be employment creation. In the first month of assuming office, we will commence the Edo Youth Empowerment Scheme (Edo YES).

Edo YES will be a massive public works programme targeting mainly young people. The essence is to use a labour-based approach to carry out our urban renewal programme, especially in the areas of basic road rehabilitation and maintenance and sanitation. This will serve as an intervention measure to address the unemployment crisis.

In the first two months, we will commence the rehabilitation of township roads using the labour-based approach as an interim response.

The problem of water remains critical. Again, in the first six months, we will sink boreholes across the state to alleviate the suffering of the people. We will also reactivate the existing water board such that water will flow in all the urban areas.

A serious challenge is the security situation in Edo State , which needs to be tackled in a creative way. The starting point is to appreciate that crime is caused largely by poverty and unemployment. Therefore, the most enduring solution is to put the people to work. The EDO YES is partly part of our response to addressing crime. We will also explore a mass and community-based approach to Policing. This is in addition to helping to firm up the operational capacity of the Police.

Although the Nigeria Police Force is a federal agency, we do appreciate that if its limitations are to be addressed, the State Government must help in various ways, including the welfare of the officers and men.

We have enunciated an education renewal programme that is anchored on updating the physical state of our primary, secondary and tertiary institutions. Premium will be placed on improving the morale and welfare of the teaching and non-teaching staff. We recognise that the teacher or lecturer is the candle that burns, so that others may enjoy light. Under our stewardship, Edo teachers will get good value for the vital services they offer.

We will seek to alleviate the burden on parents. On our first day in office, we will abolish all frivolous levies and charges in all state-owned institutions.

There is so much we can and must do to make life better for students of tertiary institutions. Our students are usually on empty stomachs because they are on the 0-1-0 feeding formula, which translates to one miserable meal a day. Our students live in crowded and dirty hostels and take lectures while standing. We plan the immediate expansion of facilities for learning and leisure, especially classroom and hostel accommodation.

Together with the students unions, we shall develop and operate the Learn, Earn and Thrive (LET) Programme. Under the LET Programme, students can be involved in public works to improve their income, appreciate the dignity of labour and contribute to the development process.

Under our stewardship, the State will create an enabling environment for the people to express their entrepreneurial acumen. One area that has impeded entrepreneurship and prosperity is the poor power supply situation, including low and unstable voltage. Our studies have shown that the situation can be improved in some areas with the provision or upgrading of transformers. In the first six months, we will make efforts in partnership with the Power Holding Company of Nigeria Limited to provide transformers to improve the situation. This will in turn improve the business climate and empower small and medium scale informal sector operators in the state.

We appreciate that some of these measures are short-term in nature. However, if the patient must not die, he or she needs first- aid before the full treatment. Given the magnitude of the crisis, we need some immediate remedial measures, especially in the area of employment-generation and poverty-alleviation.

We will Combat Corruption
Let me say loud and clear that corruption will have no place under our stewardship. I believe that there is so much this country can do for its citizens if public funds are not stolen and if leaders given honest and transparent service. Particularly on corruption, I will be different because I will be firm and demonstrate zero tolerance.

When elected Governor of Edo State, our state and its people will be in safe hands. I have demonstrated capacities that convince the ordinary Nigerian that we can make a difference in governance.

The People will Lead and give the Orders
When we are elected, the ordinary people will be the policy and decision-makers. Government policies will be designed, implemented, reviewed and evaluated in active partnership with organised labour, farmers, market women, the self-employed, small-scale businessmen and women, students unions, professional groups, community development associations and other popular organisations.
We promise that our government will ensure that the okada rider will be as important as a commissioner in government; the market woman will be no less important than a councillor; the voice of the farmer will be heard and will be effective, just as the voice of the lawyer or student.

Under our stewardship, the people will lead; the people will be in power and the people will give the orders. We will institutionalize opportunities for the people to actively drive the development and governance process through regular town hall meetings and engagement of the people through popular organisations.

We will convene an all-inclusive Edo Development Summit in the first two months in office. The summit will involve interaction by our government with critical interests (all branches of business, traditional rulers, political parties, workers, farmers, transporters, opinion leaders, intellectuals, development partners, self-employed, service-providers, women, students, pensioners). The idea is to use the summit to evolve a development blueprint based on our programme. Involving the people in the summit will help to bring on board all segments of Edo State and tap from their vision and ideas.

We will accord respect to Edo traditional rulers under our exalted Oba of Benin and empower them to contribute to the development process through an active public policy partnership with the State. In particular, I consider the person and institution of the Oba of Benin as a pre-eminent asset to Edo State .

I believe that dialogue and collaboration among political parties is necessary to generate the consensus and stability that the development and democratic process require. Under our stewardship, we will encourage dialogue and collaboration with other political parties both within and outside the current political alliance.

Relations with other Arms of Government
Under our stewardship, the legislature will enjoy maximum cooperation as an autonomous arm of government, while its right to oversight will be respected.

I believe that democracy, good governance and social justice require an independent and effective judiciary, which can dispense justice impartially and expeditiously. However, the judiciary needs to be respected, properly equipped and remunerated. We are committed to ensuring judicial independence and will provide adequate remuneration and equipment for judges.

Our Approach to the Electioneering
Together with the coalition of political parties and social movements behind us, we will run a campaign that is people-driven. We want to demonstrate that politics is about the people. Therefore, in this electioneering, we will aim to bring the masses of our people into the mainstream of politics.

For too long in our country and our State, politics has tended to exclude the people because the traditional politicians have devised tools of getting into office in spite of the will of the people. This time, this will not happen.

We wish to appeal to the electorate and people of Edo State to ensure that they vote and stand by their vote. We appreciate the frustrations and bitterness arising from the rigging of previous elections. Our people must not give up or allow the frustrations of the past to dampen their spirit. We the people can and must organise to vote and defend our vote.

This time around, there will be no job for those who are waiting to write fraudulent results. Those who are preparing to steal ballot boxes or stuff them with fake ballot papers should find other things to do, because in Edo State , they are already out of business. We will play fair and according to the rules. We will not cheat but we will not be cheated; we will not rig but we will not be rigged.

We have a message for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party at national and Edo State levels – it will be unwise, dangerous and futile to rig the 2007 gubernatorial elections in Edo State .

I wish to assure INEC and the other agencies involved in the conduct of elections of our cooperation and support. However, it is legitimate that we expect in return that INEC and other relevant agencies, including the Police, will act fairly, effectively and lawfully during the electioneering period and in the conduct of the elections proper.

Your role as the media is especially crucial. You have both a professional and civic duty as journalists to expose those who are breaking the rules.

Edo People are one people
Our party, the Action Congress, with the Labour Party and the other parties in our alliance intend to run an issue-driven campaign. Therefore, the time is up for those who seek to whip up ethnic and other primordial sentiments to divert attention from the real issues. This time, ethnic sloganeering will not work. Our people now appreciate that leadership is about the right qualities and not at all about the ethnic origin of those in office. This election will therefore not be about ethnicity.

For me, it is fraudulent and mischievous to speak in divisive terms about Edo State and Edo people. Edo people are one people united by a common ancestry, common culture, common history and bound by a common destiny.

Edo people are even more united now by a common experience of the cumulative bad governance imposed by a succession of incompetent military rulers and compounded by an incompetent ruling party – the PDP.

However, there is one major division in Edo State , namely the division between the people on the one hand and the PDP government and clique on the other hand.

It is noteworthy that with my candidature, the PDP has been trying frantically to reconcile its various bickering factions, but they simply cannot reconcile themselves with the people. The PDP may well succeed in its attempt to put its house in order in Edo State , but we all know that the PDP lacks what it takes to put Edo State in order.

Edo people are ready for the Revolution
Finally, let me say once again that I am in this race because I am convinced that together, we can re-build Edo State from the ashes of the old.

The rot that the PDP government has created in Edo State requires nothing short of a total revolution. Edo people are prepared for this revolution because we all want positive and people-driven change.

With humility, we offer ourself to provide the qualitative, courageous and participatory leadership that this revolution requires. We assure you that when elected, Edo State will be in capable and safe hands.

I thank you all for your attention.