Asue Ighodalo, a lawyer, is a governorship aspirant on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State. In this interview with reporters in Benin City, the state capital, he speaks about his aspiration to succeed Governor Godwin Obaseki. Southsouth Bureau Chief BISI OLANIYI reports.
What motivated you to leave your comfort zone, from certainty to uncertainty?
I will not lie to you, it was a tough decision. Not because of the certainty and uncertainty, but coming from a comfort zone that puts you in the forefront of corporate leadership and looking at that comfort zone, the corporate strength, and the corporate foresight, and you put all of that down to say you want to do good for your people, it is a tough decision, but if your love for your people supersedes your interest, and it is not a cliche, there’s no company in which I sit on the board that employs 5.2 million people. Edo State has 5.2 million people. So, as the governor of Edo State, I can positively impact the lives of 5.2 million residents. No company affects people directly. So, I can do many things for many more people. I have been blessed by God Almighty.
In all honesty, if as a human being, you are thinking of legacy, you have been blessed, and some of those blessings, you must put to use, especially in an environment where many others are not so blessed.
How ready are you to navigate the murky waters of politics, considering your coming from the private sector to the public sector?
Who plays politics? Are they men and women like you and me? Do they bleed if you catch them? Are they human beings or spirits? Honestly, I think in a way, our politicians have been slightly misunderstood. I think we all need to put a lot more focus. What we all need to do, and I tell people at the party level, we need to force our politicians to choose the best among them. So, if we have four or five parties, each party chooses the best, it does not matter who we all then select, the person will be good for us, but what we have seen over time is that for some reason, we do not choose the most capable. So, it is not the fault of the politicians alone, it is also the fault of us the citizens who have not worked on our politicians to choose the most capable.
Are you not worried about the crisis in the PDP in Edo State?
I truly see myself as the unifier for the PDP, and I can put myself in a position where everybody should be able to trust me. I know some people are carrying so much rumour that he is this person’s candidate; he is that person’s candidate. Still, by the grace of God Almighty, I am nobody’s candidate, but I am not going to be shouting and arguing it with anybody. I will allow my person, my character, the way I approach issues and the way I speak to work for me. In my work so far, I have tried to interact with every political leader in the PDP in Edo state. I am still going to see a few that I have not seen. My story to them is this, we cannot allow ourselves to continue making the same mistakes; a divided PDP lost the national elections in 2023, and lost the national elections in 2015.
If we love the people of Edo State, and we want the PDP to provide continuous service and development for Edo State, the only way the PDP can win is to come together as one party. My focus is to unify the party. Where there are disagreements, we are all sisters or brothers, if we love the people of Edo State, there should be no ego. We should be able to forgive one another, forget what has gone past look forward to the future and work for the future and work for the people of Edo State. That is the message that I am bringing.
We cannot afford to continue to make the same mistakes, because of ego. The PDP loves the people, it is the vocal, strong party, it is a party of the people, and so we always make that count.
So, I am working at making sure we come together as one people, as one party for the betterment of the people of the state. We just need to bridge a few gaps and cross a few distrust points, and it is not that difficult. If there is a sense of purpose, there is a trustworthy perspective, and if people can forgive and everybody needs to give and take, there must never be a win-win, there must be give and take, and people must be ready to respect one another’s views. If we come from that perspective, I do not see a problem. We will keep working on it.
You have been in government in Edo State since 2008; if elected, what would be your priority?
My priority will be those policies of this government and of previous governments that worked well. I will focus on them like the civil service reforms, agriculture and investment attraction. I will continue to ensure that those things they are doing that made them work well, I will continue. I will also immediately focus on those things that do not appear to have worked well; infrastructure, particularly roads, the problem with roads in Edo State is very peculiar, and to an extent unfortunate. We have a lot of bad federal roads in Edo State, and because of the pressure and the badness of the federal roads, many heavy vehicles are using the state roads, so they put pressure on those roads. One of the things we will do is to find effective ways to ensure that our federal roads get effectively repaired. This will reduce the pressure on state roads.
I will also pay attention and continue the works of the present government on the issue of industrialisation and opening up the economy on a digital perspective and digital scale. One thing that has worried me is the fact that the level of poverty in the state is rather high. So, we will look at those things we need to do to drive our people out of poverty, from an agricultural perspective, from small and medium-scale enterprises perspective, and from a trade perspective. So, we will ensure that our people are brought out of poverty, which is critically fundamental. Water and electricity are essential. Security has improved greatly in Edo State, I will continue ensuring, working with the federal government, and working with our local security providers to ensure that we have a safe state, where every man and woman is safe, where our investments are safe, and where we can travel from one place to another in safety and where we can go to our farms in safety. If we have that environment, Edo State is ready to go.
We will also try and ensure that we create an enabling environment; the way Governor Obaseki has been able to attract investments, particularly in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government, and other parts of the state. We will ensure most definitely that we drive investments. We will ensure that the investments are appropriated by various local governments in Edo State.
At this moment, I am working on doing a study on economic and social study on the comparative advantage of each local government, and we will enhance that comparative advantage and be sure that the appropriate economies, appropriate corporate and appropriate businesses and appropriate agricultural-based industries from those comparative advantages are there to enhance them.
How do you hope to get the resources to do all that you have outlined?
When I look at the total balance sheet of Edo State, I can understand sometimes why we have difficulty in doing some of the things we need to do. But, you know, if you look at Governor Obaseki’s value for money, things he achieved in fairness to him, regardless of what other criticisms they have about him, and the administration, you will see value for money, and that goes to show how he has been able to use his economic and financial mind to stretch small money into big projects.
I do not have any problem with stretching money or borrowing money, the issue is what you use the borrowed money for. If you borrow money for capital expenditure, that is not a problem. If you use borrowed money for wasteful and recurrent expenditure, that is the problem. The problem we have had as a country is that a lot of times, we use earned money, and borrowed money on wasteful recurrent expenditure. So, I am clear in mind that we will borrow money, and Edo State can borrow money, but for proper capital expenditure that will build value and create an economy as the first world economy. We will create an Edo State that attracts even more investment sources, to strengthen the base of our economy and bring direct investment flow.
In lifting people out of poverty, we will create a taxable base, not increasing taxes. We will create a wider taxable base, more people that can pay tax. We need to create a wider tax if people are not earning, they cannot pay tax. But, if there is economic rejuvenation, people can then pay tax. One of the major sources of inflow to our state is remittances from the Diaspora. We will make them more committed to their remittances. We will create an environment in which they will not send money for family upkeep, but they will send money for investments so that they can diversify their investment pool.
I see light, shining light; I see prospects; and I see glory. Let us just take palm products, if we continue working on research, which we are working on, in the next few years, Edo will top palm production in Africa and in six to seven years, we will be competing for number one in the world. That is just one. So, if we look at every area of investment, where we have a comparative advantage, we will build something.
What are your plans for the youths of Edo State?
In my law office, and in every place that I have worked, my commitment to the development of youths is first class. In Edo State, we will have a government that consists of a large chunk of youths, because they have the energy, they have the new wisdom, the new intellect and they are for the future. A majority of my cabinet members, my advisers and those who will work with me will be younger people, and we will work together as a strong team. They will bring their creativity and a new way of doing things. If you see what is happening in the world today, it is the youths that are driving the economy. We must not make them lose hope in our country, and our state, because it is the loss of hope that is making them to Japa (relocate overseas). So, we will make them stay here. The youths form the fulcrum of our government. Edo State is ready to take off.
