All Progressives Congress (APC) flag-bearer for the September 10 governorship election in Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, speaks to Special Correspondent, TITUS OISE, on his preparations for the race and other issues affecting the polity.
Running as a technocrat against the PDP flag-bearer, Osagie Ize-Iyamu, a core politician, in the September 10 governorship poll
Every person is a political animal. To say that I am a technocrat when I have been in the corridors of power and politics in Edo State, I think, is creating the wrong impression. Yes, I have done other things in my life outside politics. I have been an investment banker, asset manager and a stockbroker. I have another address. So, if that is what you are saying, yes I accept, unlike some other people who have done nothing else in their lives except just partisan politics.
To that extent, I don’t agree that somebody who has been a partisan politician all his life and done nothing else has advantage. If anything, it is a disadvantage because he cannot offer anything other than raw politics, particularly the politics that has been practised in this republic, which is the politics driven by greed and violence which, I am happy to say, is not what I believe in.
Expection on September 10
Come September 10, from what is on the ground, clearly I will win the election. But what I am expecting is that as I go round, I am able to have a better understanding of the needs of our people; I am able to build consensus among Edo people, so that with that consensus we can quickly accelerate our economic growth.
Addressing the issue of absence of industries in Edo
We have started already. People just see that the comrade has built infrastructure. But he built the infrastructure for what purpose? We built roads so that we can have access; we built schools so that we can train quality human beings. The reason for building schools is to improve the quality of the human being, for us to have a very productive workforce. The first phase is what the comrade has done, which is laying the foundation for our economic growth. The next phase is where I will take off from which is to begin to attract the investors; continue to ensure that there is security of lives, properties and assets, so that people can come into the state and locate their businesses in the state; produce goods and services in the state using the labour, materials and other resources found in the state.
Reconciling with co-aspirants ahead of the election
We all have agreed that we are one party. We have all accepted to work together as brothers and sisters. All the aspirants have integrated into my campaign team. They are members of my campaign organisation. They have asked their followers to support me. We are one family. We have spoken with all our followers. If you go to places like Orhionmwon, Uhunmwode and even Edo Central Senatorial District where some of the aspirants come from, you will find out that we are in sync now, that we are all speaking with one voice.
Running with Philip Shaibu, a youth
Being a youth is one of the reasons. But if you think about it, he has been part of this administration, part of our government. We started together with the comrade governor (Adams Oshiomhole). We are like two sides of the same coin. While they were focusing more on legislative matters in the legislature, I was with the comrade governor, working on issues on the executive branch. The combination of somebody with his kind of political skills and legislative experience added to my understanding of policy and what to do with such a fantastic combination. When you are planning, you want to bring as much resources to the table as possible. You don’t just go and carry the same type of resources for your use. You will not have that diversity to help you reach out to a much larger audience. We had to think very carefully the type of person to be deputy governor.
Achievement as chairman of the state’s economic team
What exactly has happened in Edo State which I have not been part of? What are those indelible things that have happened that I have not been part of? Is it sourcing the money required to build everything you see? Is it the ground-breaking Azura Power Plant which is the only project of its type on the continent today? Is it the 2010 to 2020 economic plan on which the state is running? Is it the financial planning and reform which led the World Bank to offer the state a budget support facility which it has only offered to two states on the continent of Africa? Is it the restructuring leading the state to lend to micro businesses in a sustainable way? I mean, I could go on and on. So, what has happened in the state in the last seven and half years that the economic team has not contributed to? That we are paying salaries today, that we have a robust financial management system that is helping the state to meet its obligations is an output of the work we have done. But we thank God and the comrade governor for being able to provide the leadership for us to do all of that. He set up the economic team in the first place and gave us the latitude to work. The credit goes to him more than me.
Assessing Oshiomhole
How do you rate a very successful person that Edo people are agreed on in unison? You saw what the market women did for him the other day; coming out to say they want him to be their life patron. How do you rate a man like that? Edo people know that before him there was nothing like him and we just hope that after him we will be able to sustain what he has done. He has been one of the most successful governors of his era. There has been a unanimity on that.