Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State says the transformation agenda of the present administration has failed to make any meaningful impact on the country, and rather than transform the country, President Goodluck Jonathan’s transformation agenda has rather deformed the country.
Speaking after a road walk tagged “March for Buhari” which started from Oba Ovoranwen square, the city Centre, and culminated in a mass rally in the New Benin area of the state capital, Monday, Oshiomhole said Nigerians have the opportunity on Saturday to vote out the government which has failed them in the past 16 years.
Oshiomhole said the Jonathan administration has abused the trust of the people and should be voted out. He said: “I have seen the huge gap between the promise and the reality. Nigeria today is 16 years into democracy. Governments have come and made promises, they have abused the trust of our people.
“On Saturday, Nigerians are being called upon, there will be a referendum, a referendum of every Nigerian from the age of 18 and above who is equipped with his PVC will have to make a decision that will define the future of our great nation and indeed the future of the black race.
“What are the issues? We have two items on the menu chart. One group insists that they want continuity. They even insist that Nigeria has been transformed and we have another group of people who say that Nigeria needs change. Change to a better future.
“Now people are asking, what is the content of this change, what are we changing to? What are we changing from and like those who want continuity, transformation, what have we transformed?
“For those that say they want continuity, what is it we want to continue with? 16 years into democracy, Africa’s most populous nation, most naturally endowed nation under one party for 16 years even the poor are using generator, the rich are using generator, even the villa is using generator. For 16 years, PDP failed to deliver on one of the most fundamental issues in the Nigerian economy, the issue of power supply.
“Without power supply, nothing will work; the local woman cannot grind her cassava except there is a generator to power the grinding machine, the local businessman who tries to start a small scale business needs a generator to run his business. Who wants us to continue in the dark? Are they saying we should continue living in darkness?
“NEPA does not give you light for months and yet they ask you, a democratic country, a free country to pay fixed charges even when they deliver fixed darkness. Who says we should continue with this condition?
“The primary purpose of government is to protect its citizen. When the Nigerian Government offers protection to private people to extort money even in the dark, that is a crime against humanity. Even in the days of dictatorship, we were never so ruthlessly exploited.
“Today, Nigeria is importing petroleum products. As we import these products, NNPC tells us that they are subsidizing your kerosene for N50. They ship about $30 million taxpayer’s money, they give it to themselves at $10 million and they pocket $20 million and share it among themselves. Today a litre of kerosene is sold for N150 yet NNPC says they are subsidizing it to N50.
“When a government allows the poor to be so ruthlessly exploited, from Edo State to Lagos state, to Bayelsa state, to River state, to Sokoto State, all over Nigeria. Do you want this to continue?
“Where is the transformation? They have transformed refineries that were working when General Buhari was the Minister of Petroleum to refineries that are not working. This issue is about common sense. When the Warri refinery was working, many of our people were working there, earning good salaries, adding value. When General Buhari was head of State, all our refineries were working. He refused to take the IMF Loan. N1 was equivalent to $1 but today, $1 is N230.
“There was no single reported case of kidnapping in Nigeria before PDP took over power in Nigeria. I ask you on Saturday to make a choice. I have made my choice. Who wants to continue with unemployment where Government invited young people to apply for job in the Immigration service and everybody was compelled to pay N1,000. That money is illegal. Somebody made N800 million out of poor Nigerian youths. If government will not protect the unemployed, who will protect them?
“We want to change the story. We want to change from darkness to light so that when you put on your light, it works. If Ghana can achieve 24 hours of uninterrupted power supply, why can’t we do it? We want to change from generator that is noisy, polluting the environment to power supply that is reliable. We want to remove the fraud that was committed in the name of privatization and they disrupt power supply.
“Fixed charges will be abolished in APC government. General Buhari will not allow any body to be made to pay when power is not delivered. No light, no pay.
“When people have done bad things and you ask them to account, they resort to ethnicity and religion. I ask you to find courage to interrogate all those miscreants who are preaching message of hate, who wants to pitch Christians against Muslims. They say Buhari will Islamize Nigeria. General Buhari was a military Head of State with both Executive and Legislative Power, did he Islamize Nigeria?
“It is true he sent some people to jail but did he jail innocent people? He jailed corrupt people and he will jail corrupt people again. There is no running away from it. That is why they are afraid, that is the message.
“So I ask you to stand up. You must be on your feet.
“Yesterday, I read in the newspaper that some people are doing a show of force but today we are doing a show of the people’s power.”
