EDO 2012: INTERNAL DEMOCRACY AS PDP'S WATCH WORD (2)
IT is on record today that within the 18 months of his truncated four-year term Osunbor increased salaries twice and salaries were never owed even for one month as the state experienced industrial harmony for the period.
He paid accumulated pensions to the pensioners who had recorded deaths on queues waiting for their dues in previous governments and they were the first to be paid even before serving civil servants.
Operational vehicles were bought for all governmental agencies that hitherto operated with public transport immediately he mounted the saddle.
Above all, Osunbor brought peace and for the 18 months he reigned, security was upper-most in his mind as all the bandits relocated from the state because a Godly man was on the throne.
During the Yuletide of 2007 not even a gunshot was heard in the ancient city of Benin as Osunbor ensured that the security agencies were fully mobilized to the teeth but unlike what obtains today with armed robbers and kidnappers running almost riot here.
His loyalty to PDP has remained unshakeable despite the venom poured on him while in government and outside government because of his strong belief in true fiscal conservatism.
The PDP is presently championing internal democracy and what else does it need to do to people in the mould of Osunbor who had remained in its fold than to give them what they deserve.
Osunbor does not deserve less; he has remained steadfast working for the party at both state and regional levels.
He was an advocate of government money must be properly accounted for as the first thing he did barely one month in office was to establish a due process office to monitor government spending.
People never liked this development but it went a long way in making him come out of office without blemishes.
Several attempts made by the present government to rubbish him via orchestrated plans to drag his name to the mud failed because the man lived above board while working for the upliftment of Edo State.
A God fearing man and dedicated party man who had remained loyal in the face of untold confrontations that normally would have made any Nigerian to change base, the man remained steadfast and had worked for the party at both regional and state levels.
A man whose credentials is far taller than the resume of all other candidates that had openly declared their intentions to run under the platform of PDP.
This is an opportunity for all elders and youths of Edo who want the state to excel in all SPHERES human endeavours to rally round an Osunbor who had patiently waited on the sideline to rightly take back what rightfully belongs to him.
The world is watching as the drum beats of the primaries gets louder and louder, whatever dance steps the party adopts will go a long way in determining the fate of the Heart beat, the only Niger Delta State in a fringe party.
If PDP wants to reclaim its lost Edo State or better still the Heartbeat of the nation, Senator Osunbor is the man to lead the rally.
Nigerians now look at the credentials of candidates they vote without necessarily considering the platform with which they launch themselves. But in the case of Edo, PDP remains the party to beat not any other party because of its large followership in the Heartbeat.
This followership may toe a different line of action if the wrong candidate emerges on Saturday .
The era of money bags brandishing naira to win primaries is over; Nigerians want credible men and women to rule which the PDP has in abundance.
Mr. OSAZE OSAZUWA , a political analyst, wrote from Benin