Segun Atanda/
A Labour Party leader in Edo State, Chief Friday Toyin Ibadin, has urged stakeholders to ensure that a governor of Esan extraction emerges in the upcoming 2024 election.
Addressing party stalwarts and members at the secretariat of LP’s Edo Central Senatorial District in Uromi, Edo State, Chief Ibadin listed reasons why a governor of Esan extraction should be in Osadebe House in 2024.
He said, “We have a major election this year 2024. Any moment from now, the party guidelines will come out. This is why we should sit as a family, and as party members to discuss and know the direction we are going in this party.
“You are also aware that we have so many aspirants in the Labour Party, but Osadebe House is only for one person. Today, we have not less than 18 aspirants from the party, and I do not think everybody can be there. We need to start talking so that we’ll be able to streamline this number of aspirants for one candidate to emerge at the end of the day. We will all rally around that candidate to give him our support. With God on our side, we will be in Osadebe House.
“The foundation of LP is built on Social Justice. Social Justice means equal distribution of resources, goods, and services, including opportunities. With what is unfolding in the political structure of today, as it concerns our people in Esanland, don’t you think we have many things to think about?
“Edo State stands on a tripod politically. That is Edo South, Edo North, and Edo Central. We in Esanland are in Edo Central, but if you trace the history of politics since 1999 till date, I don’t think Esan people have been treated fairly.
“A governor of Esan extraction was there for maybe one year and six months. Even at that, the court or tribunal nullified that election. If the election is nullified, it means that he was never there. That’s our case.
“Edo South has been able to produce governors for over 16 years; Edo North has given us a governor in this state for 8 good years. We were all parties to the emergence of those governors. What is the crime of Edo Central? We cannot say yes, we have been able to produce one governor for this state, and we all belong to the same state.
“If you look at it senatorially, we are all equal. Each senatorial district has equal sharing and allocation in the state. So, what is wrong? Some people may ask if you have the people, the masses, and all. Yes, we have the people. Yet we are not asking for what we are asking as a right. We know that in politics, we negotiate. We make appeals. That is why we are appealing to our brothers in Edo North, in Edo South to see reasons why a man of Esan extraction should become the governor in 2024 in Edo State.
“If they say we don’t have the population or the number, I’ll take you back to 1979 when our brother, Professor Ambrose Alli became the governor of the then Bendel State that was Edo State and Delta State put together. Where did they get the figure then? A man from Esan was governor of Bendel State.”
Chief Ibadin also urged LP members to shun what he called money-bag politics.
He said, “Money-bag politics is no capacity for building party structure in a political system. It is fraudulent and it encourages corruption in the political process. At the end of it, the man who had spent all his money today will descend on the state treasury to get his money back, and society suffers at the end of it.
“Politics should be about capacity, intention, honesty, and service. And, when you want to serve somebody, you don’t need to influence me or buy me for you to be able to serve me. I think something is fundamentally wrong there. All the aspirants from Esan are eminently qualified to be in Osadebe House. Today, it is the turn of Esan. It is our turn. We are tired of this psychological oppression.”
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