Former Imo State Commissioner for Trade and Investment, Simon Ebegbulem has expressed his optimism that the All Progressives Congress (APC) will win the September 2024 governorship election in Edo State. He said that his optimism is anchored on the fact that “since Oshiomhole left office as governor of Edo State, the people of the state have not witnessed any meaningful development. They now are used to hearing stories about the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with nothing to show for it.
Ebegbulem, who was the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, which was later renamed Ministry of Trade and Investment, stated this in a chat with reporters in Owerri, the Imo State capital.
He said: “Currently, APC has two senators in Edo out of three, six House of Representatives seats and nine House of Assembly members. So, APC is solidly on the ground in Edo State.”
About the seeming crisis in APC, the former commissioner said: “Much crisis is in the ruling PDP and even Labour Party. The crisis in Edo PDP is worse than ever and they will not survive it. Most of the aspirants in APC are die-hard party men. They have been tested in the past and have impressed the party. So, I expect that at the end of the primaries, others will support whoever emerges as the winner in the interest of the party and the state at large. I am very confident that Edo will return to APC after the election in September.
Debunking accusations by some governorship aspirants in Edo APC that Governor Hope Uzodimma manupulated the primary in collaboration with the Leader of the party in the state, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, Ebegbulem said: “In any contest such as this, people will try to insinuate that people are planning evil. A person alleged that Comrade Oshiomhole wants to use Governor Uzodimma to impose a certain candidate on the party. You know some people like playing to the gallery. The same Oshiomhole made this guy the Southsouth zonal secretary of the APC, against all odds. He did not accuse Oshiomhole then of imposing him on the party.
“People should stop making spurious allegations. Comrade Oshiomhole, who is the leader of the party in the state, is making all efforts to ensure that the party fields the best candidate for the election. He is determined to make the state an APC one as before. Oshiomhole and Governor Uzodimma are both democrats. The frenetic effort of the leadership of the party in Edo State to prune down the number of aspirants from 29 to about six is commendable.
“It was a sincere effort to eliminate the unserious ones because some of those aspirants cannot win elections even in their families. Some were sponsored to cause crisis ahead of the primary, while some are even being used by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). On the achievements recorded by the Uzodimma-led administration, Ebegbulem said the administration has recorded tremendous success in the past four years.
He expressed his happiness that the state has an industrial policy which will help to drive the industrialisation quest of the state in the next four years and beyond.
Ebegbulem, who also was the former spokesman of the former National Chairman of the APC, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, also noted that last year, the Uzodimma administration flagged off the Orashi River Dredging Project which is geared towards connecting the Orashi River to the Atlantic Ocean. It is also meant to connect the waterways to the hinterlands as well as expand Nigeria’s shipping and agriculture sectors.
Ebegbulem hinted that the project, which was initiated by the administration of Governor Uzodimma will be executed through Public Private Partnership (PPP) and will create thousands of employment opportunities for the people of Imo State, even as he stated that Imo State is a fertile ground for investors and the administration has laid solid foundation for investors to leverage.
To buoy up investors’ interests in investing in the state, the former commissioner said the administration of Uzodimma has eliminated all forms of illegal or double taxations, even as he added that the state government is ready to allocate lands to willing investors to establish industries. This, he said, will make doing business in Imo.
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Uzodimma, Ebegbulem said, has the vision and mission to make Imo great again. He said that in the past four years, Governor Uzodimma has done extremely well.
On infrastructural development in Imo State, the former commissioner said it is one of the cardinal concentrations of Uzodimma’s administration.
Citing the 10-km Bola Tinubu Drive inaugurated by President Tinubu during his visit to the state during the swearing-in ceremony of Uzodimma, Ebegbulem said: “Encomiums have continued to trail the naming of the 10-kilometre at the Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport after President Bola Tinubu. President Tinubu had commended Uzodimma for the peace his administration has brought to the Southeast state, promising that the Federal Government will continue to partner with Imo to sustain the peace.”
Describing Uzodimma as a listening governor with a complete grasp of what Ndi Imo want, he commended the governor for naming the road after President Tinubu, which he said is in line with the mood of the people.
