‘rice And Garri Politics Is Over’, Oshiomhole Mocks Pdp
BEVERLY HILLS, January 09, (THEWILL) – Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo state has mocked the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying the people of Edo State will no longer be swayed by rice and garri politics.
Speaking at the 2016 Auchi Day celebration, Oshiomhole declared that politics of rice and garri was out of fashion as the people now prefer politics of development which his administration has introduced to the state in the last seven years.
He made the statement after a gubernatorial aspirant of the PDP in Edo state, Mr Okharedia Ihimekpen, alleged that bags of rice released by former President, Goodluck Jonathan, meant for distribution to the people of Edo State, to sway votes in favour of the PDP in the last general election in were not distributed.
The event, held at the palace of the Otaru, Alhaji Haliru Momoh, Ikelebe 111, witnessed a mammoth crowd of natives of the town and invited guests.
“We thank God that today, in the Auchi Erosion site, we can now locate two, three football pitches of Olympic standards in those areas that erosion had claimed,” he said.
“The PDP Federal Government awarded the Auchi erosion contract to one of their own; in the name of Auchi erosion, they enriched themselves and abandoned even the tractor in the erosion site, compounding the erosion problem. You wrote petitions and those letters were read and ignored but we thank God for using me.
“We have shown that government needs not lament, that government can listen and when contracts are awarded, they are meant to be done, not to provide avenue for them to deepen their pockets and use out of it to buy rice once in two years.
“I am glad that, Otaru, it will go down in the records that it was under your reign that God used us to dualise the Auchi road which your highness has kindly named Oshiomhole way and I am humbled. At night, we now can have street light in spite of the challenges of power arising from PDP mismanagement of billions of naira that was voted for power.
“As you drive here, you see red roofs of schools that Auchi children can now attend and this year before the end of my tenure, the remaining schools in Auchi will wear red roofs. We will do that because your highness, you deserve it and I will try to discharge only part of my debt obligations to you.
“Every commitment that I have made, I will do, including the ones we are already doing. We will sustain them, we will complete them before the end of my tenure. My government will never lament. When others are not paying salaries, we paid before Christmas because my task is to make things happen, not to cry,” he declared.
Oshodi Market Demolition: Igbos In Lagos Cry Foul
Some Igbo traders in Lagos have cried foul and accused the government of being insensitive to their welfare.
This comes after the Owonifari market, Oshodi, was demolished last Wednesday, on orders of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode.
Speaking with THEWILL, they claimed that the government only served them a 21-day quit notice, which had not expired at the time of the demolition, telling them to relocate to Isopakodowo, Bolade also in Oshodi.
“Where they said we should go at Bolade is uncompleted, small and cannot contain all the traders in this market let alone attract the patronage we receive here,” a trader simply identified as Afam told THEWILL.
“They sealed up the market. They did not allow us come in to pick our goods. If they don't want the Igbos in Lagos, they should come out to tell us,” he said with tears.
“How can they demolish the market without allowing us to remove our goods? It is inhuman,” another trader, Ngozi, another trader questioned
“Many of us traders had different goods in the market. At a time when people have spent all what they had to re-stock preparation for business in a new year, it is wicked,” she said.
Another trader who preferred anonymity was angry and called the governor unprintable names.
“Some of us have already travelled. Even if they want to chase us away, they should have allowed us pack all our goods. Is this the change they promised?”
“My brother just arrived from Dubai with goods, they have destroyed everything, they have killed us. 'Ndi'ojoo' he said in Ibo, meaning 'wicked people.'
The traders told THEWILL that they will reject the relocation to Isopakodowo market, now Oshodi Resettlement Market, citing structural instability and space as their reason for the rejection.
“We don't want that market because of the incident that happened two years ago when a part of the market sunk. The foundation is weak, that is why the place has never been used. Now the want us to go and die there,” another trader, Samuel Olisa, said.
Isopakowodowo Market, where the affected traders were asked to move to, was commissioned by the former governor of the state, Babatunde Fashola, on January 7, 2014.
It comprises 571 shops, 64 Closed Circuit Television Camera, CCTV and 22 toilets.
Investigation by THEWILL show that the market had never been opened to commercial activities since it was commissioned and had been under lock.
THEWILL observed a relocation notice at the security post for displaced traders of Owonifari and other traders with procedures to apply for market stalls.
It reads: “This is to inform the general public/Owonifari electronic traders that all applicants of shops and Klee-Klamps at Isopakodowo electronic market (Oshodi Resettlement Market) should submit their registration forms with allocation letters, Lagos State Resident Registration Agency, LASRRA registration slip and two passport photographs.”
THEWILL also gathered that Landlords in the area were already increasing rent, for up to 100 percent, due to the increase in demand for shop.
The traders called on their Igbo elite to speak up for them and help them overcome their losses.
“We call on our people to help us. They should speak for us and fight for us. Infact, they can give us money to start our business again because we cannot continue like this,” Nene Adaugo, an elderly woman, told THEWILL.
Efforts to speak with the Lagos state government was rebuffed, but a Lagos State official told THEWILL that the government would speak in due time.
Bayelsa Decides: Violence Heightens As Dickson, Sylva Battle
There has been reports of violence in Ekeremor, Bayelsa as suspected militants took over the community, unleashing mayhem and attacking former Speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Rt. Hon. Boyelayefa Debekeme.
Brandishing dangerous weapons including guns, machetes and cudgels, the marauders ignored the presence of security operatives and descended on Rt. Hon. Debekeme and others with machetes and other weapons.
Chairman of Ekeremor local government, Hon. Billy Tobiye and the PDP ward agent, Tams Alari as well as other notable members of the PDP were also attacked, but the traditional ruler of Ekeremor, HRH Agbodo Gbaseimo barely escaped.
Debekeme received deep machete cuts on his head and other parts of his body, while Tams Alari and Billy Tobiye were beaten to stupor by the rampaging militants who claimed to be acting the script of their master.
Rt. Hon. Debekeme is said to be receiving treatment at a hospital in Torugbene, while Alari and Tobiye are receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital in Bomadi, Delta state.
THEWILL recalls that the house of the Speaker of Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Rt.Hon. Benson Friday Konbowei, in Korkosei, Southern Ijaw Local Government, was also recently attacked and bombed.
The recent acts of violence in the state has been linked to the Governorship tussle between Timipre Sylva of the APC, and Seriake Dickson of the PDP.
For the third time in two months, both men go head-to-head in the last round of the Bayelsa Gubernatorial election.
Analysts believe that a winner will emerge on Saturday unlike the situation in the last two contests.
The governorship election, first held on December 5, 2015, was moved to December 6 in Southern Ijaw local government by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), because the exercise could not hold there due to violence.
INEC, displeased by the spate of violence cancelled the exercise in the local government on Monday December 7 and declared the entire election inconclusive.
Thus far, incumbent Dickson has recorded a significant lead, with 105,748 votes to Sylva's 71,794 votes from results in seven of the eight local governments in the state with 120,827 voters registered in the pending Ijaw local government.
If things go as planned, it is either Dickson defeats Sylva again, as he did in 2012, or Sylva overthrows Dickson. But who says another cancellation is unlikely?
Oputah David