Although the September 28, 2016 governorship ballot in Edo State came and went with massive victory for Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki, the election would also be historically indexed for the worrisome pockets of isolated incidence which is not entirely unexpected in an election of this magnitude.
Yet against this background, Godwin Obaseki won a resounding victory, Obaseki secured what has passed as one of the most comfortable triumph for his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). He recorded 319,483 amounting to 51.3% of the total valid ballot in all the 18 local governments of Edo State. His main rival Pastor Ize-Iyamu of PDP had a low 253,173 count.
Other official results showed that CPC, KOWA, NCP, LP and ACPN put together with PDP’s they came nowhere what APC got. It was not an unexpected outcome, given the great performance posted by the All Progressives Congress (APC) led by Oshiomhole administration. Edo State and its citizens had been transformed beyond their wildest dreams.
Oshiomhole and his team has dealt with the perennial flooding problem and the bad roads by cleaning up the streets. In so doing he had in one swoop wipe away a major anxiety of the masses and road users. Benin, the famous ancient city, now has several six-lane roads, with functioning street lights here and there. How about the educational sector? The public schools are much more attractive than they were before the advent of APC administration.
The structures are better than the private ones, with teaching practice and provision of instructional materials and the laboratory services meeting the best industry standards. Such has been the impact of changes in public schools that the citizens of Edo are moving their children from private institutions back to government-owned ones. Now there is a plea that the government should adopt the shift system in public schools in order to accommodate the astronomical rise in pupil
and student population.
How about the issue of public water supply? Before the coming of APCadministration, the general perception was that, like electricity, it was impossible to make water available to the people, especially in Edo Central. But the APC government banished that notion. The Govt. procured drilling rigs that can dig deep down as far as 2,500 metersfor water. This has made it possible for the citizens not to go far to search for water as it used to be. In Ekpoma for instance, there was an overhead tank that had been there for 30 years but without water. It was the same in Iruekpen and virtually every contiguous community. But now the APC government has provided what it calls “industrial boreholes that are working and supplying water everywhere.
The health sector also witnessed vast changes. The Central Hospital built in 1903 is a typical example of the impact of government’s interventionist policy. The Oshiomhole machine saw its derelict state and demolished it and put a brand new one in place.
The government was able to do all these because it cut costs by reversing the budget arrangement that existedbefore. Thanks to Governor elect Godwin Obaseki.
This is how the Governor elect put it himself: “Our promise to build a state anchored on a productive economy that will transform and empower our citizen is sincere.
I am compelled to reflect back to these unassailable achievements of APC government because in the weeks and months leading to the 28th September poll, there were orchestrated acts of violence meant to engender voter apathy. The opposition tried to trigger a crisis that would not only discourage interest in the election hut also tend to suggest that the APC government was the cause of the perceived insecurity.
It started on Saturday 3oth April, 2006 in Auchi during the campaigns for the gubernatorial election in Edo State when Deputy Governor Pius Odubu narrowly escaped assassination attempt on his life.
The hullaballoo that follow the assassination attempt had hardly died down when Godwin Obaseki was also attacked by gunmen in Owan.
The state of panic and insecurity the enemies of Edo and haters of progress wanted to create in order to abort the 28th of September ballot and deny APC victory never came to pass as the exercise took place and gave the citizens the opportunity to show gratitude for the sterling performance of the APC administration.
The electorate and people of the state were dogged in their determination to vote back to office an achieving government and
remain partners of an administration bent on sustaining its iron-will drive to transform the state. Despite the evil propaganda of the opposition, Edo people voted overwhelmingly for Obaseki.
For the government, it must be stated that it was undeterred by the pre-election acts of provocation that sought to force it to resort to precipitate decisions that would have denied it the sympathy and cooperation it had been enjoying from Edo citizens in particular and Nigerians generally. All along, the government displayed uncommon maturity and patience in the face of opposition provocation.
This spirit of long suffering paid off eventually: On 28th of September, 2016, the people rewarded Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki and his deputy Philip Shaibu with a sweeping constitutional mandate for continuity.