Tag: Adams Oshiomhole

From his first day in office, Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, has been in the eye of the storm. Even after winning a bruising second term election his actions continue to provoke controversy. He explained to SAM OMATSEYE in this interview that anyone interested in changing things will face attacks. He speaks on the challenges of governing the state, his recent run-in with members of the national conference committee and sundry issues.

Edo is a kind of mini Nigeria in that we have different peoples within Edo, and we have the different religions but that has shown some kind of homogeneity under you. Now, can you in any way speak to the issue of larger Nigeria and how to handle matters like this in terms of approaching the issue of ethnic and religious crisis that is at the bottom of the so-called Nigerian question?

This is a very interesting question. When I said Nigeria is probably one of the easiest countries to govern; this is what I had in mind. You know the normal beer parlour talk and even talk in some high places is that we are detained by some ethnic issues and the country is controlled by ethnic champions. People simply proclaim themselves as ethnic leaders, they were never the result of any formal selection and they appropriate the powers to speak for and on behalf. In Edo we have our own fair share of that, the issue of where the governor should come from used to be a big issue. In fact in my last election; there were groups, my political opponents, they had adverts on television in which they described me a stranger because I come from a part of the state that account for about 35 percent of the population and the Benin kingdom accounts for between 50 and 53 percent and so my opponent who had sworn that he must produce a governor that is of his own choosing that must come from around this particular area of the state has a final pay off for his political services. Because of the way we had handled the issues of mobilizing people on development, he felt that the only way now out, he has to swallow his pride, purge himself of that illusion and because I have become his main enemy, he felt that it doesn’t matter who now the person is, which for me was good that he now recognize that he cannot single handedly choose someone from around his family or his in-law because his initial commitment was that he must make his son-in-law a governor but he recognized that he could no longer do that and the only fall-back project for him was to play the ethnic card and they explicitly put that card on the table and they went for a guy whom they believe or who was described as deep pocketed because he had worked in the army, finance and admin where he was the cashier general and so he felt that the guy has enough money and he comes from the Benin kingdom where they account for 53 percent of the population and they believe that once he plays the ethnic card, the people will then be reminded about where they come from and the need for people to vote according to their tribe but they were shocked. In the TV advert which we can always replay and it was couched in Benin language, they described me as a stranger and then they went on to say that in Benin language that a stranger will always remain a stranger and that whatever he does, when he is going, he will go with it. So people should vote for one of themselves. I couldn’t change where I came from, so I didn’t have any ethnic response to that, but what I was humbled by the fact that even little children in those schools that we have built were also saying in the television that ‘if they say the comrade is a stranger, when he is going, he will go with what he has built, is he going to carry away our school?’ Those who drive on the way said is he going to carry away the airport road? Will he carry the Apkakpava road? Will be carry the streetlights?? Will he carry away the fountain? Will he carry the Oba market? So the people themselves were responding and above all, and I remain ever humble and grateful that easily one the most outstanding royal father we have in this country is the Oba of Benin and he was not persuaded by this sentiment of those who were arguing on ethnic basis and it was instructive what he said the day I went to ask him for blessing to seek a second term. In tradition, his royal majesty speaks through any of the chiefs that he so entrusted to speak and he said the Benin interest means a Benin candidate is the one who will address the needs of the Benin people, not necessarily Benin by blood but Benin in heart, Benin in action, one understands the issues and is determined to address those issues and he believed that by my actions I have proven much more than that and I think the third chief in rank speaking on behalf of the Oba that day says if at old age, a father sees his children messing up his edifice and devaluing it and abandoned the house to rust and someone came and he rebuild the house, he has re-roofed it, is redecorating and then the children come and say ‘drive this man away he’s a stranger’, no responsible father will listen and that what we are doing and what we have done in Benin shows that this governor is more Benin in heart than some of the people who were claiming and preaching Benin. In any case they have had a Benin governor before and it is easy to compere. Now this is the people speaking not me, I am just humbled that people can see that the issue is not where you come from; the issue is what are you able to do for us? I also think that part of the issue why ethnicity assumes such prominence in our political discourse is also the narrow mindedness of our leaders. In my first budget, I made the point, I think I spoke to it earlier, I said we will devote 80 percent of our capital project to Benin City because it is our capital. Every local government is very well represented in Benin city, there is no local government which doesn’t have it people here, living here, some don’t even go home, they only know or they were told when they were born but they have all been living here. So if you touch the life of this city, reposition it, build schools, build road, deal with generational crisis, there is a way in which you can genuinely claim that you have touched every one because every community is represented and so we will start from here and I said the last place I will work, according to my own work plan will be what I call my accident of birth place. I said so in a town hall meeting, they came to me they said ‘ you don’t talk like that, you have to start from your village’ and they gave me examples of leaders who did such a thing. ‘Start from your village because at the end that is where you are returning to. Charity begins at home’ and I said but my villagers could not make me a governor because we have only one polling booth. So if people entrust me with a position of responsibility, I think it is an act of stupidity, not just ingratitude to think that, okay, now you are here, I know where I come from. These people knew where you come from and they entrusted you with their commonwealth to manage. If leaders by their actions show that regardless of your location you will be affected positively by government decision, it will not matter where you come from. Just imagine if you wake up today and you no longer need to buy diesel, you no longer know the telephone number of your generator’s mechanic and you can calculate how much you are saving, not for your employer now for your own house. A government delivers that to you, then somebody comes tomorrow and say that president is not from your area, you don’t even want to know where the president is from but you know that he is someone that dealt with the issue of power and you can see how much you have saved, and how much you are saving and how you are able to use that to deal with other domestic challenges that you have and in the case of your employer, he can see how much it is now much more competitive, the cost in his production cost and he will want to sustain that. If anybody comes and said because the man who did that doesn’t speak your dialect and therefore you should oppose him, you will think that the man is a fool, he is trying to fool you. For me therefore, the weapons against ethnic champions is performance and Nigerians are able to see through that and am not saying it for the first time, when I was in the NLC, it used to be the case that people argue when you want to mobilize against authority that they will use tribalism to divide your rank and file but I was president for 8 years and to start with, those who elected me as president, not up to 10 percent of them are from Edo state, in terms of the population of Nigerian workers. When I had opportunity to call a strike, people in Sokoto, Calabar, Madiuguri, Lagos, nobody ever asked where does comrade Oshiomhole come from to decide whether to follow or not. The Yorubas complied as much as the Hausas complied, as much as the Igbos complied as much as the minorities complied. I remember once at Hilton hotel I met …I BELIEVE he is the son of former president Shagari and he called me out and he said this is comrade and they were all full of praise words when we had photo opportunity and they said ‘you know what comrade, when it is you, you are like Nigeria football, nobody cares for your tribe because your message is so powerful and everybody can connect with it that it will be become an …..to say where is he from? Wherever he is from he knows what our problem is and he is articulating it and he is consistent on it then it doesn’t matter where he comes from. I think the problem of Nigeria is, leaders who are bereft of ideas unable to sufficiently motivate and inspire the people fall back to ethnic sentiment as a defense line. When you are in trouble, rather than account, you appeal to ethnic sentiment so that your tribes’ men will now form a wall around you and you then replace the issue with ethnic sentiment. There was a time, and this for me was the height of this when an MD, I believe it was the MD of NNPC, many years ago under the military he was charged for certain corrupt practices and people from his area went to Lagos with placards …even if the man stole money is he the first person to steal? Now because he is from our area, that is why they are prosecuting him. They never disputed the fact that the allegation against him are weighty and that they should allow the court to determine whether he is innocent or guilty but he has gone home to say that he is being charged because of where he comes from and the people said yes everybody has been stealing, just now that our son who is also doing what others did, why should he be the one that should be prosecuted? So it is those who have no alternative who fall back and because of the level of illiteracy, sometimes, some people believe, but also I believe that when those who are involved in the consternation, both of them are bereft of ideas, they also engage each other based on the ethnic issues and so the only thing on the agenda therefore is not who you are but where you come from.