An aspirant for the September 10 governorship in
Edo state on the platform of the All Progressives
Congress (APC), Blessing Agbomhere, has vowed
to probe Governor Adams Oshiomole and send
him to jail, if elected governor of the state.
Agbomhere, a kinsman of Oshiomole , from
Fugar, Etsake Central local government area of
the state, made the vow on Tuesday in Benin,
while addressing on why he decided to contest in
the election.
“I am running, not because I am from Afemi, not
because I am from Esan, not because I am from
Benin, but because I am from Edo state. I am
running because I am from the camp of those
that have been deprived of leadership for too
long, the youth.”
“My government will abolish corruption in Edo
state. That is why the programme we have is to
ensure that all our past leaders are probed.
Whether they like it or not, we will ensure that
whatever they have taken from Edo state,
whatever they have wasted from Edo state, they
will bring back. And I will start from Comrade
Adams Oshiomole , the present governor of Edo
state.
“We will visit all the projects he has done to
ascertain how much he has spent on the projects
and if we see that Edo state has been sub
charged, we will ensure that such monies will be
refunded to the account of Edo state.
“We will also visit the Airport road project. We
have been getting petitions from different groups
and organisations on that projects, how [the first
contractor] abandoned the project and left some
money unrefunded to the state.
We will go into that issue to ensure that we get
into the truth of it and if it is true that he did
that, we will ensure that he refund with
immediate effect, the money into the account of
our state.
We will no longer allow our state to be killed by
those who put their interest ahead of the state.”
Commenting on genuine patriotism to the
state, Agbomhere said, “I tell people I am not a
comrade, I am a patriot. I don’t know the
meaning of comrade. In the Nigerian law, we
don’t know anything like comrade.
What we have in Nigerian law is patriotism. So
we young Nigerians should focus our
intellectualism, our capacity and our capability in
being patriotic to our state, not in being
comrade.”
The governorship aspirant also berated Governor
Oshiomole for “abandoning the state-owned
Nigerian Observer newspapers limited but spent
millions of naira elsewhere to printing
government letterhead papers and other
documents when he needed less than N200
million to refurbish Observer printing press.”
When asked how he hope to get the nomination
of his party to fly its flag at the election even
while threatening to probe the incumbent
government sponsored by the party, Agbomhere
said the APC constitution is against corruption,
and so he will probe the present government the
same way President Muhammadu Buhari is
currently probing the immediate past
government.
“We are probing because there are so many
allegations of corruption against the present
government and the allegations are hampering
the chances of the party in the state,” he said.
Besides, he said he has consulted widely with
delegates of the party, adding that more than
2,600 delegates are already behind him.
“We believe this is our time to take over the
leadership of the Edo. We have consulted with
Edo people in diaspora. These young people have
resolved that it is their time to take over
leadership.
We have what it takes to build Edo and take it to
the next level. This is the time for the change Edo
people have been waiting for. I am the new face
of that change.”
The governorship aspirant promised to invest
heavily in the mineral resources that abound in
the state “for the development and engagement of
the people of Edo state.”
