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Tag: Obahiagbon

  • My plans for Edo South, by Obahiagbon

    Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Edo South Patrick Obahiagbon has said he is contesting for the senate to change the political narrative.

    Obahiagbon promised to hold robust engagement with the people of Edo South in line with organs of the party to know the problems to tackle.

    The candidate, who spoke at a rally in Egor council, promised not to repeat the mistake of his first term in the House of Representatives.

    Obahiagbon said the outcome of the debate would determine projects to be attracted to the constituency, even as he promised to work with other lawmakers to ensure that projects meet the people’s needs and expectations.

  • 13 parties adopt Obahiagbon

    Thirteen political parties in Edo State, under the auspices of Progressives Registered Political Parties (PRPP), have adopted Patrick Obahiagbon and Mr. Washington Osifo as their candidates for next year’s election

    Obahiagbon is seeking to represent Edo South in the Senate, while Osifo is seeking to represent Uhunmwode Constituency in the House of Assembly; both are vying on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Spokesman for PRPP Ogbodu Orlando, who chairs the Independent Democrats (ID), said they had followed Obahiagbon’s political career and were happy with APC.

    “We stand here today to adopt Patrick Obahiagbon for Edo South Senatorial district and Washington Osifo for the House of Assembly. We believe in Obahiagbon because we have watched his antecedents from being a councilor to the House of Assembly and then House of Representatives. We believe in him, and know that he can perform.”

    Obahiagbon, who praised the people for allowing democracy to thrive, assured them that the joint partnership would be cultivated, and he would also deliver on dividends of democracy.

    His words: “I am delighted to have been endorsed by 13 vibrant political parties. They decided to on their own, adopt my candidacy for Edo South, and Washington Osifo for Uhunmwode Constituency in the House of Assembly.

    “This shows we are popular outside our party. These are popular people and we know that this will translate to victory for us in the elections.”

     

  • ‘Obahiagbon deserves a seat in Senate’

    If I had thought that Honourable Patrick Obahiagbon, the son of Igodomigodo, was not a very popular brand, that thought would have perished on December 16, 2017, when he stormed the ancient city of Owo in Ondo State, at my behest, for the celebration of my mother’s 85th birthday.

    As he alighted from his black Prado Jeep at the venue of the event, you could see the spontaneous reactions by some youths on seeing him. I could not believe that in some corners that seemed far flung from “civilization”, the Obahiagbon persona would resonate with the kind of enviable approbation that it elicited.

    The youths launched into a frenzied adulation of him; and, in his usual sedate manner, he acknowledged the cheers and the chants. He became a cynosure of eyes as he sat quietly, taking in the atmospherics and the nuances of the idyllic setting. He would later titillate them in good measures during his opening address as chair of the occasion.

    All through the event, as he is wont to do, he carried himself well. The natural, unobtrusive swagger, with his gravitas, was accentuated by his sartorial elegance. Although, he did not don his characteristic royal Benin regalia on this occasion, the beads were writ large on his simple top (buba) and a pair of trousers (soro).

    There is no doubt that Obahaigbon knows what he wants; and, having kept his eyes sharply focused on the ball, with accolades pouring in, he is very well content and dancing to the rhythm of his soul. To be clear, that is setting targets and meeting them. He once said that, while growing up, he determined to be popular and great in life; and, he set out to find out how to accomplish that.

    His impressionable mind would later be affected by some inspirational lines that he stumbled on. The lines recommended book reading and search for knowledge as a sure path to greatness and popularity. Pronto! He turned himself into a voracious reader, burning the midnight oil.

    A man who has deliberately put his nose to the grindstone to chart a trajectory in life and, also, to define his eon by the magnitude of his profound mind cannot be said to be unserious because it is not an easy task to accomplish in a society where reading culture is poor. Besides, it is one thing to read and it is another thing to deploy the benefits to utilitarian modes.

    Employing the facility of English language, sometimes with a blend of Latinate expressions, to convey messages in a most profound manner is an exertion only for the highly fecund to appropriate and indulge in. This has become the forte of Obahiagbon, who once told me that he studies all versions of the English dictionary at his disposal for at least one hour on a daily basis. Such discipline is rare.

    To whimsically dismiss such sublime disposition as comical performance could only have happened in the political space in a bid by the other camp to further an unconscionable resort to jejune and iniquitous de-marketing of Obahiagbon who is contesting February 16, 2019 Senatorial election in Edo South on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    He goes into the contest adequately prepared. With twelve years of legislative practice in his kitty -eight in the Edo State House of Assembly and four in the House of Representatives- Obahiagbon is well experienced and qualified as a ranking legislator if experience and ranking are what his people in Edo South Senatorial District want from whoever would be voted to occupy the senate seat in Abuja.

    If vocal voice, which cannot but be listened to, is the requirement, then Obahaigbon’s stentorian voice is capacitated enough to endear elements in the National Assembly and the Executive to him. Such affection could translate into some positives in terms of approvals for projects in the zone that will be salutary to the people’s wellbeing.

    Promoting imbalance in the projection of Obahiagbon on a scale that is lower than the man he seeks to dislodge in the race for the Edo South Senate is an unkind enterprise. Without denying anybody’s achievements, Obahiagbon’s traducers have discounted their own electioneering strategy by deliberately failing to point out that, while in the House, he also executed a number of projects in his Oredo Federal Constituency.

    Therefore, if performance is what his people are looking for, Obahiagbon performed creditably in and out of the House of Representatives. His contributions to debates on motions and bills on the floor were deep and robust. Even though, they are not within the remit of legislative mandate, Obahiagbon also constructed a number of school buildings and roads.

    Remarkably, he attracted solar street lights to his constituency; assisted constituents to get employment into the civil service and attracted empowerment programmes for youths and women. He was also responsible for providing youths in the constituency with motorcycles and women with grinding and sewing machines as parts of their democracy dividends.

    By and large, the swanky politician cannot be denied his sense of humanity. No amount of stratagem and propaganda can diminish his essence and politics. A politician with a grassroots appeal, his pro-people disposition has become more sharpened by a combination of his luminous epochs as a legislator and chief of staff to the former Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.

    To cap it all, that frontiers have been expanded by becoming a positive rallying point of sorts via his profound interventions in the media especially the new and digital media where he shares the same passions and operates on the same wavelength with the millennials and those who were born within three years after 1994 who are now 18 years and qualified to register to vote.

    Now, it is significant that his electioneering catch phrases speak volumes about the direction he seeks to emphasise this time round as senator: such catch phrases as “A vote for Obahiagbon is a vote for the voiceless”, “Obahiagbon: The voice of the people”, “Obahiagbon: The man of the people”, et al, have been carefully couched and crafted to strengthen the promise of acquaintance between him and the people in the unfolding political cum social contract.

    Then consider these undeniable lines: “Do you want a vibrant and articulate legislator to represent you in the Senate? If yes, vote Patrick Obahiagbon for Edo South Senatorial District seat.” He is a lawyer and, in the legal parlance, they say res ipsa loquitur, meaning the fact of the lines speaks for itself.

    Indeed, the inimitable master of bombast, the medium through which he has transmogrified into and become a veritable bugaboo to his lazy traducers who indulge in “peppersouping, bigstouting, facebooking, instagraming, whatsapping”,  et al, while he continues to exert himself intellectually, is sure-footed and single-minded to clinch victory in the forthcoming election.

    Going into the battle on APC’s political platform from where he has been reaching out to the teaming youth population, women, farmers, artisans and the elite with his programmes is a solid advantage, with Edo State being predominantly controlled by the governing party. However, beyond the strategic nature of the political party platform, Obahiagbon is a good material. He can deliver if voted into the Senate.

    • Ojeifo, a commentator, contributed this piece from Abuja.

     

  • Obahiagbon, serving lawmakers pick APC tickets in Edo

    Former House of Representatives member Patrick Obahiagbon has emerged All Progressives Congress (APC) Edo South Senatorial candidate at the party’s primaries yesterday in Benin.

    At the primaries, which held in the three senatorial districts, also returned Ehiozuwa Agbonayima, incumbent House of Representative member representing Ikpoba-Okha and Egor Federal constituency as candidates.

    Serving House member Henry Okhuarobo was retuned unopposed as the party’s candidate to represent Ikpoba-Okha constituency in the State House of Assembly.

    Mr. Christopher Okaeben, incumbent member representing Oredo West, was returned unopposed, a serving House of Assembly member, Mr. Osaigbovo Iyoha, emerged as the candidate for the House of Representative, Oredo Federal Constituency.

  • A man of impeccable character- Obahiagbon

    A man of impeccable character- Obahiagbon

    The Chief of Staff to Edo State Governor, Hon Patrick Obahiagbon, has described the late Oba of Benin, Omo N’ Oba Erediauwa, as a man of impeccable and unimpeachable character.

    In a tribute to the late Oba, the former lawmaker said the late monarch always stood on the side of the people when confronted by the military and politicians.

    He said: “You cannot gloss over the fact that Omo N’ Oba Erediauwa, Oba of Benin, was a man of impeccable and unimpeachable integrity with the resilience of a Royal salamander. In him you found a coruscating display of that apothegm which holds that noblesse oblige.

    “This sui generis quintessential quality of his came under bold relief especially during the locust and philistine years of the military militocracy. He was practically the only triton among the minnows of Royal hierarchs that resisted and stood up to the military rascality and apacheism that characterized the Abacha era. He stood at all times with the people, eyeballing political and military demagogues and damning their treacherous hooey and blarneys. It won’t be erroneous and superfluous therefore to pontificate that his integrity was altruistically integrious if you permit me that neologism.

    “Omo N’ Oba EREDIAUWA,Oba of Benin was a cornucopious emblematization of the rich heritage of the Benin culture both in his modus vivendi and modus operandi. He left no one in doubt that he was the spiritual and traditional agglutinating anodyne that offers a centripetal canopy for the Benin ethnic nationality into one harmonious and synchronized armada and of particular interest to me here was how he was able to bring this about especially against the backdrop of modernism and attenuating cum corrosive forces of religious petulancy and perfervidism.

    “Its in his cosmopolitan and cerebral mien that is situated the Alladins lamp that gave him the enablement in striking a delicate equipoise and hence at a meeting of the ‘Benin Anglican Dioscesan Synod on June 3,1980,the revered monarch posited thus ….’The conflict between traditional religion and Christian religion is not supported by scriptural teaching. But must Christian religion condemn and push out the traditional? Must traditional worship and Christian worship not be seen as complimentary?’

  • Edo South: Obahiagbon’s ambition upsets calculations

    Edo South: Obahiagbon’s ambition upsets calculations

    The entrance of Patrick Obahiagbon, Governor  Adams Oshiomhole’s Chief of Staff, into the Edo South Senatorial contest has redefined the game ahead 2015, reports Associate Editor, Dare Odufowokan

    The battle to decide who represents people of Edo South Senatorial District at the National Assembly is gathering steam as more politicians declare interest in the seat.

    The contest promises to be interesting indeed. Although nearly all the major political parties are jostling to field candidates for the senatorial contest, pundits say the battle is mainly between the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    However, the entrance of present Chief of Staff to Edo State Governor, Hon. Patrick Obahiagbon (aka Ighodomighodo), into the race has sent tongues wagging as many observers of the politics of the state posit that his coming may redefine the entire contest from the primary elections to the general poll.

    Ending months of speculations about his political future, the former member of the Federal House of Representatives has thrown his hat into the ring saying he feels he still has a lot to offer the people of Edo South in the area of robust representation at the National Assembly.

    Given that the race is already a crowded one, the aspiration of Obahiagbon, who is famous for his eloquence and earth-moving vocabularies and who had represented the Oredo Federal Constituency between 2007 and 2011 on the platform of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), is seen by many as a move by the ruling party to ensure that it put its best foot forward in the looming political contest.

    The lawmaker, who was denied a return ticket on the platform of the PDP in 2011, decamped to the ruling APC and played a prominent role during the re-electioneering campaign of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole in 2012. He afterwards emerged as the Chief of Staff to the state governor upon the Comrade Governor’s re-election.

    Before his election into the lower chamber of the National Assembly, he was elected into the House of Assembly in 1999 under the PDP. He served for eight years as a state legislator.

    Perhaps as part of effort to ensure that he does not suffer the fate that befell him in 2011 that saw his losing to Hon. Razaq Bello-Osagie, The Nation learnt that Obahiagbon is currently reaching out to political and community leaders with a view to marketing himself to constituents.

    “With Obahiagbon in the race, the contest is bound to take a new shape. We all know he is not a politician to be shoved aside in any contest that is political. By the time you add his current position as a serving Chief of Staff to the governor, you will understand what we are talking about.

    Yes, a lot of people are in the race, even before him. But his aspiration can easily be used to guess the body language of some powerful forces within and outside his party.

    If that happens, then the entire race will immediately assume a new dimension,” a chieftain of the ruling party said on Friday.

    “Edo South Senatorial District requires someone like Obahiagbon with not just charisma, depth, huge local following but also national visibility to make impact. To stem the current drab sessions at the Abuja Chamber, he is the man we should send to the senate in 2015.

    You will recall that respected national figures like the Sultan of Sokoto, General Ibrahim Babangida and even Bishop Mathew Kukah are known to have openly begged Comrade Oshiomhole at one time or the other to release Obahiagbon to serve Edo and indeed the nation in Abuja come 2015. So, we are urging the governor to do that right away,” Hon Elias Oduware, APC youth leader in Uhunmwode Local Government Area of the state submitted.

    Senator Ehigie Uzamere currently occupies the senate seat in contention at the Green Chamber in Abuja. Uzamere, who was re-elected into the senate on the platform of the ruling APC in 2011 after he was denied a return ticket by his then party, the PDP, recently dumped the ruling party and staged a return to his former party, the PDP.

    Analysts say Edo South is APC stronghold in Edo State. If this turns out to be true, then pundits who have been giving victory to APC in the forthcoming senatorial battle would be right and Senator Uzamere, who is reported to be seeking a third term in the senate, may not be re-elected.

    Aside the current senator who had to switch political party platforms to get re-elected, no other person has been re-elected into the senate from the district since 1999. His predecessors – Senators Roland Owie and Daisy Danjuma – both served only a term each between 1999 to 2003 and 2003 to 2007 respectively.

    Aside Obahiagbon and the current senator, also in the race is the APC Minority Whip in the House of Representatives, Hon. Samson Osagie. He has been a lawmaker for 16 years.

    Osagie was a member of the Edo State House of Assembly between 1999 and 2003 before moving to the House of Representatives. He was elected thrice on the platform of the PDP. In 2011, he joined the ACN and was re-elected into the lower chamber of the National Assembly.

    His critics urge him to seek an executive office haven been a lawmaker for 16 years. But, Osagie says he is well equipped to proceed to the senate in 2015. He says only a credible and tested person is fit for the job. The Speaker, according to his associates, is very keen about getting the nod of his party to represent the district in the senate and is working seriously towards this.

    “He sees himself as the candidate to beat and is not thinking of jettisoning this ambition come what may,” an aide told The Nation.

    But pundits say with the entrance of Obahiagbon into the race, the permutation in the Speaker’s camp would have to change.

    “Given the closeness of the two and the fact that they are both trusted allies of the governor, there are no way the calculations will not be altered. These two people cannot engage themselves in blind politicking. Even the governor will not allow that to happen,” a chieftain of the party said.

    In the PDP, apart from Senator Uzamere, other political heavyweights gunning for the ticket include Hon.Victor Edos Ebomoyi, currently the Chairman of the Governing Council, Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti. He served Governor Lucky Igbinedion as chief of staff. He was also a commissioner before becoming the chairman of Oredo Local Government Area. Viewed by his supporters as loyal to the party, they believe he would be rewarded for his loyalty by the party.

    Hon. West Idahosa and Matthew Urhoghide are other aspirants on the platform of the PDP. Both are believed by their supporters to have what it takes to get the ticket of their party.

    While Urhoghide, who is the Publicity Secretary of the PDP, joined the PDP ahead of the last general elections after he felt cheated at the ACN primaries won by Senator Uzamere, Idahosa, a three-term federal lawmaker, was among APC members that defected to the PDP after the APC congresses.

    Observers say it will be a keen competition among those that have remained loyal to the party and those that left the party and defected back alongside Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu.

  • Re: To praise or bury Obahiagbon

    Re: To praise or bury Obahiagbon

    SIR: I am compelled by simple reason to strongly express my disapprobation with the piece titled: “To praise or to bury Obahiagbon.” It was authored by one Gilbert Alasa on page 43 of The Nation of February 20. The writer clearly anchored his caption on ‘ignoranti facti’ and miss-information because empirical fact supports my claim that the caption should have been: ‘To praise Obahiagbon’. I strongly defer to the forgoing caption in view of Obahiagbon’s dexterous and acrobatic use of the human language with effortless precision. It is on record that Obahiagbon’s popularity rest on the oasis his unbeatable idiolect and mellifluous dialectal delivery.

    Such admirable feat can only be attained by self intellectual effort as opined by Saint Austine in one of his mantra that: “The heights that great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling in the night.’’ Therefore, I think we  should not blame Obahiagbon for the inability of his audience to grasp his thoughts at times because while he makes all available etymological dictionaries his ‘vade mecum’ in the dead of the night, others retire into deep slumber and ‘doclce farnient’(pleasant idleness).

    The writer must concur with me that Obahiagbon deserves not only a ‘million’ praises but infinite praises for having that sagacious capacity in expanding the scope of world vocabulary. The writer also misfired when he wrote: “My concern is the recurring infusion of Latin and Greek terminologies in his discuss as well as verbosity…’’ To be candid, this writer, from my own estimation, does not know the beauty and dynamic nature of language coated in neologism, poetic licence and ‘register’.

    To him, the infusion of Latin in a speech made by a lawyer negates the principles of communication; then, why were we taught ‘register’ in school? But I will excuse my friend. Perhaps the school he attended never taught him ‘register’ as a basic form of communication. I also wish to remind him that verbosities are not necessarily bad in oral communication because they are necessary lexical ‘lubricants’ that oil the wheels of oratory. He can run a check on speeches made by great orators if he doubts the veracity of my submission. The writer went on to announce to the world that he was conferred with the sobriquet ‘Obahiagbon’. If true, I think the raison d’être for that sobriquet was to praise him for his grammatical wizardry. Since his peers did not burry him, then it will be an unforgivable sin for him to contemplate burring the political cum legislative lexicologist (Obahiagbon) of our time.

    The writer relied on Reuben Abati’s cliché which states that “we seem like in a generation in a hurry; we hurry to live, to love…” to straighten his point. Yet he fell prey to the force of ‘hurriness’ as shown in his spelling of the word ‘Crinkum – Crakum’ as ‘Krikum – Krakum’ in his piece. He also erred in his peroration when he wrote: “But what we have failed to understand is that oratory seems to have been lost especially in today’s Nigerian political sector”. I wish to admonish him to always listen to the like of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, Governor Babangida Aliyu, Pat Utomi, Peter Esele and the great Obahaigbon again and again. God bless Nigeria.

    • Ehi Godfrey O.

    Benin City

  • To praise or bury Obahiagbon

    Oratory is perhaps one of the oldest forms of art. Men who possessed this gift stoked civil actions. They made women fall in love. They made the hearts of kings merry and quaver. Some, in their creative guile, made truths out of lies; they made puritans out of the lascivious and conferred innocence on the guilty. Through their high-flown fireworks, they inspired reverence for what was considered lofty and revolt for whatever did not dignify humankind.

    From the dawn of the Grecian civilisation to the present day, man has employed the instrument of language, metaphors, allusions and captivating imageries to inspire patriotism or sway public opinion. History reminds us how oratory was highly regarded in ancient Rome. It was taught in schools and citizens were expected to show their public speaking skills during their comitias. Knowledge of history, vocabulary, philosophy, gods and religion, were vital weapons of these orators.

    The British House of Commons was equally notable for its influential array of orators. A four-time leader of the opposition, William Gladstone, popularly referred by Benjamin Disraeli as “God’s Only Mistake”, was renowned for his adroitness in the art of oratory. Even Winston Churchill once described Gladstone as “a sophistical rhetorician, inebriated with the exuberance of his own verbosity.” Till date, some scholars argue that his wordiness was one of the reasons he had poor rapport with Queen Victoria. There were the vestiges of Timothy Healy, Tony Benn, FE Smith, Lloyd George; all regarded as parliamentary orators of choice. Even though one may not agree with their positions on issues, they were like a thriller, arresting and caressing the soul to submission.

    Great writers are aware of this ageless secret. They are skilled in deploying a language laced with deeper literary properties to address the human condition and consequently demonstrate the straw of their artistry. Ask William Shakespeare. Ask Joseph Conrad. Ask Wole Soyinka. Ask Balzac. And of course, ask one Nigerian columnist that has influenced my writing, Sam Omatseye.

    But there is always a clear boundary between a rousing orator and a rabble-rouser. You see it from the pulse of their breath. You perceive it from the acuity of their gaze and the dilation of their eyeballs. You can smell it from the calmness that springs forth from their soul, stoking the humanity of their audience. You can feel it from the fluidity of their discourse and their creative capacity to be poetic, sensual and yet ideologically satisfying.

    Since his stint as a law-maker at the House of Representatives, Hon. Patrick Obahiagbon never ceased to grab headlines. A lot of his colleagues at the hallowed chamber had great difficulty understanding the “krikum krakums” that riddled his commentaries. In my first year in the university, my phone was replete with various footages of his musings. Till date, some folks still label this writer as Obahiagbon.

    I was taught by Dr. A. S. Moye that communication is only effective when the message is comprehended by the receiver. Since many Nigerians find it pretty hard to understand his dialectics, should we conclude then that Obahiagbon is not communicating? Does that confine him to the class of rabble-rousers? Why the usual disconnect associated with his communication style?

    One, many of us have no appreciation for subtlety, style and depth. How often do we pour into books to learn new grammatical structures and words? We are not even meticulous enough to properly spell out our words. You see that hastiness in our text-messaging. You see it in our commentaries on the social media. Even lecturers have had to grapple with a generation that has no regard for proper articulation of thoughts and basic communication skills. Like Reuben Abati once noted, we seem like a generation in a hurry. We hurry to live, to love, to marry, to travel outside the shores of Nigeria. We hurry to die.

    In my opinion, Obahiagbon has all the trappings of a fine orator. He possesses the grit and grace to become the Cicero of our time, exuding what Churchill called the “inner-God”. But my concern is the recurring infusion of Latin and Greek terminologies in his discourse as well as his verbosity that sometimes turns a heated social issue to a comic spectacle. Though, some scholars crooned that every orator is likely to be verbose at some point. So, Obahiagbon may need to take a cue from Churchill, knowing “where every noun and adjective would go and how every piece of punctuation would bed into the speech”.

    But what we have failed to understand is that oratory seems to have been lost, especially in today’s Nigerian political circles. We have an army of persons who just vomit dim-witted remarks when they face pressmen. A lot of them lack the charm to draw us to the sublime, the lofty and the idyllic. It reflects the extinction of nobility, ideology and awe associated with political power. A renaissance in oratory could be all we need to redefine the business of legislation. That rebirth has to shine through on every page of our public life.

     

    Gilbert just graduated from Foreign Languages, UNIBEN

  • The widow incident stands Oshiomhole out as a statesman -Obahiagbon

    The widow incident stands Oshiomhole out as a statesman -Obahiagbon

    Hon. Patrick Obahiagbon is the Chief of Staff to Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and a former member, House of Representatives. He spoke to Osemwengie Ben Ogbemudia yesterday on the widow and Oshiomole, his political ambition in 2015, and the PDP political misfortune in Edo state.

    Do you think the widow saga has diminished the personality of Governor Oshiomole?

    Not at all. If anything at all,it has brought to the fore the indubitable and irrefragable fact that the comrade governor is quite sensitive to public opinion and responsive to the whirligig of societal dialectics.Certainly nobody has faulted the fact that the widow in question was in clear breach and consequently ran foul of extant laws.Nobody has faulted the fact that the comrade governor is deservable of eulogisation and even panegyrics for leaving the comfort of his office to supervise the adherence of environmental laws which in itself showcases him as a governor that strips himself of Olympian aloofness to governance issues no matter how routine they may be.The only sore point in that concatenation of events was the manner of the ventilation of his righteous indignation for which he has since robustly rose to the occasion as a statesman that he is by apologizing to the lady,releasing her confiscated goods to her,offering her employment and empowering her financially to grow her business.That for me is what leadership is all about.The ability for a leader to say I am sorry for an act of omission or commission in deference to societal expectations is the fundamental and diaphanous difference between a politician and a statesman.So for me,that incident has stood him out as a statesman than a politician.

    Your contributions are been missed at the National Assembly by all and sundry.Is it true that a lobby group is drafting you to contest the Edo South Senatorial seat?

    (He laughed out loud) Lobby group? I dont know of any such group my brother.I however thank all those who have always had something nice and pleasant to say about my contributions when I was at the National Assembly but let me quickly say that electoral ambition for me is too early just now.I am enjoying and savouring my duties as chief of staff to the comrade governor that I have not even given the idea of the next elections as it affects my person any thought.But even more fundamental is the fact that I cannot have any electoral ambition that is not authorized by my principal.That is my own understanding of loyalty.For me,its no longer possible as the chief of staff to the comrade governor to begin to galvanize towards any electoral seat that does not have his explicit,tacit and absolute imprimatur.When we get to the bridge and he wants me to contest to become the next councillor to represent my ward,so mote it be and if in his wisdom,he also wants me to contest for the Senate seat or wherever and whatever seat pleases him for me,so mote it be.One step at a time my brother.I am a robot in the hands of God.

    The PDP believes they are going to win back the state in 2015 and 2016. Do you see this as a possibility?

    I don’t know what has possibly changed in Edo state since the comrade governor had a landslide victory in the last gubernatorial elections to the extent that he emerged victorious in all the eighteen local governments in Edo state, to warrant been in tenterhooks.If anything has changed at all,it’s that the APC government in Edo state under the political argus eyes of the comrade governor has intensified its revolutionary drive in the development of the state in all its facets.The people are still driving and leading the process of continuously transmogrifying Edo state into a manageable and salubrious whole where mans happiness shall be optimized.The gains of the last four years are vigorously consolidated upon.New projects are sprouting up across the three senatorial districts by the day.The caterpillars and bulldozers are still dancing “azonto” on the streets.Strip of the spasmodic goebbelian harangues of adversarial polyphony,i remain supremely sanguine that come 2015 and 2016,Edo state shall remain an APC state.

  • Obahiagbon to host FOZ Concert

    Obahiagbon to host FOZ Concert

    With the buildup to the Fire of Zamani concert, former lawmaker and Chief of Staff to the Edo State Governor, Patrick Obahiagbon has been named host.

    He joins the list of high-profile guests, including United States-based Grammy award nominated rapper, Wale, who is set to perform in Nigeria for the first time. The concert has been described as a big-budget occasion put in place to commemorate the release of Ice Prince’s critically-acclaimed second album.

    Urban United Kingdom artiste and petite rapper Chipmunk will also be performing at the Fire of Zamani concert with Jude Abaga aka MI.

    Known for his high-sounding and extremely jaw-breaking words, Obahiagbon was announced as the host of the Fire of Zamani Concert on Tuesday, November 19.

    The event has been slated to hold at the Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, on Saturday.