Pat Stephen/
A human rights activist, Osamudiamen Osakpamwan, has warned Captain Hosa Wells Okunbo not to smear the good name of Governor Godwin Obaseki in the build up to the September 19 Edo State governorship election.
Osakpamwan, also an environmentalist, who was reacting to Okunbo’s recent interview in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, declared it was unfortunate the billionaire businessman has allowed himself to be used by former APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, against the ‘hardworking governor’.
He said, “Despite the obvious truth that Governor Obaseki’s re-election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is a certainty and 4 + 4 is non negotiable, Okunbo has decided to go against a mass movement. He will realise that his partisan position is a wild-goose-chase on September 19.”
Insisting that the governorship election ‘is bigger than one man’, Osakpamwan declared that voters will speak loudly on September 19 and reelect Obaseki.
He said: “This election is beyond Godwin Obaseki as an individual, it is beyond Captain Hosa, Adams Oshiomhole or Ize-Iyamu. The election is about the people. It is about the sustenance of good governance which the people have witnessed in the past four years of the Obaseki administration. The people are not willing to go back to the days of CDAs and EDSTMA’s harassment. The people are not willing to go back to the reign of terror where thugs rained fire on market women and commercial bus drivers, and ‘agberos’ held sway on the streets of Benin. Obaseki’s legacies must be upheld and consolidated on.
“A thousand endorsement of Ize-Iyamu by Captain Hosa cannot withstand the people’s resolve, just like a hundred thousand headlights cannot match the Milky Way.
“Edo people will resist any attempt to smear the good name of Godwin Obaseki even if Captain Hosa presents himself as a willing tool to that effect.
“Captain Hosa Wells Okunbo used to be a pride of the Benin nation, a jewel in the savannah, the Holy Grail required to soothe the injuries of the Fisher King, until recently, like an infamous villain who has lost his paradise, his waxen wings rose above his reach, and the heavens themselves gradually conspired his overthrow.
“How a man so loved and cherished by folks both home and in the diaspora could singlehandedly orchestrate his own fall from grace, bewilders even the wisest of men. The luciferic fiend and the misleading spirit of the partial air that have made Captain Hosa to stake his ‘hard earned’ reputation on the candidacy of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, a man, according to Oshiomhole, with no political reputation and lagging in integrity, must be held in chains.
“Or was it all pretence? Is Captain Hosa Wells Okunbo driven by the same avaricious disposition which has become characteristic of most Nigerian politicians?
“With immense consternation, we read the sad excerpt from the interview granted by Captain Hosa Wells Okunbo recently, where he openly declared support for the candidacy of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu; one of his reasons being that Governor Godwin Obaseki has his projects or programmes only on paper.”
He added: “If Godwin presents to you his plans for Edo State on PowerPoint, you will kiss his feet… And as we progressed, all those packages that he presented, none was done. I learnt most of them are all on paper and they continue to be on paper and consultancy services attached to most of them. Of course, as we speak, most of those projects are not on the ground and as for me, I can’t be deceived. Some can be deceived, but I cannot.”
“The above excerpt from the interview clearly portrays unequivocally and without any form of ambiguity or iota of doubt, that Captain Hosa Wells Okunbo has lost his will to seek out the truth and stand for it. It is disheartening that he could join the chorus and cacophony of singers leading the songs of ignorance feigning, and the enslavement of Edo people.
“Is Edo BEST initiative, which is a birth child of the Godwin Obaseki administration and has become the envy of other states within Nigeria and abroad, only on paper? Is Ossiomo power which is a fruit of one of Obaseki’s MoUs only on paper? Is the Edo Modular refinery, one of the outcomes of Obaseki’s MoUs, currently being developed in a public-private partnership with Peiyang Chemical and Equipment Company of China (PCC) and its Nigerian partners, Africa Infrastructure Partners Limited (AIPL), also on paper only? What about the Edo Innovation Hub and the Edo Production Centre currently equipping the teeming workforce with technological expertise, skills and employment opportunities?
“In the health sector, Obaseki has placed Edo State on both the national and world map, with the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) currently rating her, second, in the fight against the COVID-19. Edo tertiary education is currently undergoing restructuring and the economy of the State is on a persistent rise, as a result of the business friendly environment created by the Obaseki administration for investors. Edo workers are constantly and promptly paid and pensioners are no longer dying in search of their pensions.
“How Captain Hosa Wells Okunbo could get sleep at night after granting that interview, beats the imagination of every person. How could a reputable businessman turn politician all of a sudden, a demagogue to be precise? Whatever was done to this once nobleman must be reversed. He was a beloved son in whom we were well pleased.”
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