DEMYSTIFYING SEEMING CENTRIFUGAL FORCE(S) MILITATING AGAINST MEANINGFUL, CONSPICUOUS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN IKPOBA-OKHA LGA

DEMYSTIFYING SEEMING CENTRIFUGAL FORCE(S) MILITATING AGAINST MEANINGFUL, CONSPICUOUS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN IKPOBA-OKHA LGA AND THE ATTENDANT BENEFITS OF SUPPORTING COMPETENT, DEMOCRATIC-ORIENTED CANDIDATES IN THE OVERALL SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE LOCAL COUNCIL – BEING A PAPER DELIVERED BY THE PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, EWEKA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FORUM (ECDF) AT THE PUBLIC SENSITIZATION CAMPAIGN FOR EDHA2015 LEGISLATIVE ASPIRANTS FOR CONSTRUCTIVE REPRESENTATION OF IKPOBA-OKHA CONSTITUENCY, 6TH SEPTEMBER, 2014

Ladies and gentlemen of goodwill, may I humbly crave your indulgence to permit me to duly observe all existing protocols.

I am pleased to respectfully welcome the esteemed presence of everyone here-present to this august occasion to throw light on the challenges that stares at us in the bid to move our age-long Local Area to the promised land of Eldorado for our men, youths, women and children who on a daily basis are utterly and deliberately denied basic humanistic infrastructural delicacies as a result of seeming insensitivity of lackluster leadership drivers resident within the shores of our Council.

It is time for Ikpoba-Okha to enjoy huge government presence in all areas of development, as it is often said to be an isolated area within the shores of Benin, especially the Upper Sakponba axis where the administrative secretariat of the Local Government is sited.

I daresay for the records that our dear Local Government Area remains one of the largest and most viable revenue-generating Areas in Edo State, but over the years, it has witnessed wanton underdevelopment and backwardness, which the Eweka Community Development Forum want to fearlessly ascribe to long-standing underrepresentation, God-fatherism-order and anti-people elements that have held sway in the overall Ikpoba-Okha politicking; this has no doubt set the entire Local Council on a backward pedestal.

As concerned stakeholders in the Local Government, we are amazed at the snail-speed developmental efforts being ventilated by successive governments on the LG; hence, we want to state categorically that we refuse to be cajoled to continue to throw our weight behind unpopular, destructive candidates or representatives who do not have the moral credentials and needed courage to project the Council in the overall State development policy formulation.

Consequently, we will go thus far in search of aspiring candidates who have proven themselves more grassroot, constructive and productive than otherwise, and possess the needed articulative-firepower to drag and attract developmental efforts to the Council once elected and inaugurated Member, EDHA, Ikpoba-Okha in the coming election year 2015. We cannot stand akimbo and watch evil thrive where noble men exists; at least not in our time.

ECDF is not a political organization, neither is it a support-group for anyone or government, however, one of its major engagements is to forensically analyze the dexterity of elements who aspire to represent Ikpoba-Okha LG within the socio, economic and academic parameters as these forms the overall developmental lag in the Council which Forum is desirous to see to a positive U-turn in the scheme of things.

Where the Forum is able to establish the developmental leadership acumen of aspirants, it goes all out to rally round, mobilizing sister organizations to do same; all in a bid to salvage what is left of a near-comatose LG. All that is required for evil to flourish is that good men stay silent. After wide consultation and clinical analysis of the character and integrity of men and women jostling to represent Ikpoba-Okha at the Pa Anthony Enahoro Complex in 2015, the Board of Trustees and members of ECDF have only been able to painstakingly approve and endorse a well-known figure in person of Aiyamenkhue Collins Edokpolo for the job; while analysis and endorsement process continues, we hope to showcase more aspirants in the coming days and months; our searchlight is fully beamed.

ECDF's endorsement of Edokpolo should not be considered a rubber stamp; rather, it is a fall-out of his proven and impeccable track record in the overall propagation, promotion and projection of the needs, yearnings and aspirations of Edo people. Considering the achievements of Benin National Congress, founded and ably led by Comrade Aiyamenkhue Edokpolo, as we pried into the achievements of BNC which ranges from crisis management, damage control, employment generation and exploration, communal crisis settlement, public orientation and enlightenment, recognition and appreciation of deserving public-private operators via the annual Benin National Merit Award (BNMA), pursuit of justiceable tendencies and practices, promotion and propagation of the socio, cultural, economic and intelligentsia values of the Benin nation in particular, Edo and Nigeria in general, etc, which of course has accorded the Benin nation in particular increased relevance in the scheme of things in our nation, this unarguably has endeared Comrade Edokpolo to our Highly Revered Oba, Omo n' Oba n' Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Erediauwa CFR, the traditional home of the Benins, the Palace and the amiable people of Benin Kingdom, one cannot, but release an Apostle of Peace, a dogged human-face administrator and a descendant of the famous and highly respected Archbishop J.E. Edokpolo family, a prominent rubber-merchant and politician who shouldered the people's responsibility in his entire life the needed accouterments to offer Ikpoba-Okha wholehearted GRASSROOT CONSULTATION, DEMOCRATIC ARTICULATION and CONSTRUCTIVE REPRESENTATION in the Edo State House of Assembly in 2015 all in the bid to carry-on the selfless disposition as have been consistently demonstrated over the years.

While the election year gathers momentum, BOT and members, ECDF wish to passionately appeal to the good people of Edo State to continue to join hands with Omo n' Oba, our indefatigable Comrade Governor in sustaining developmental-driven governance, and also political leaders in Ikpoba-Okha who work hard and long with the State government in general to ensure that Ikpoba-Okha LGA remains uppermost of Areas in dire need of meaningful development, constructive and productive representation.

On behalf of the board and members of Eweka Community Development Forum, I feel deeply honoured to humbly wish everyone of you journey mercies back to your respective destinations.

Long Live Ikpoba-Okha
Long Live Benin City
Long Live Edo State
Long Live Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Oba gha t'kpere, Ise.