_...Governor Obaseki will be accorded the right of first refusal for his sterling performance_

Ikponmwosa Kingsley Osamede, a Senior Special Assistant to Edo State Governor and a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has reiterated the need for the continued resistance of godfatherism in the state and the continued support of progress and development as championed by the Governor Godwin Obaseki administration.

He stated this while interacting in a program _Politics Today_ on Independent Television in Benin City on Saturday 4th of January, 2020. The discourse was aired live on television and radio. Osamede, who highlighted the good works of Governor Godwin Obaseki said it was unheard of for a supposed father to become a cause of disunity and disaffection in his home, adding that the situation in Edo’s polity was as a result of a few people’s greed and penchant to fleece the state’s treasury.

According to him, “We all supported the election of a national chairman of our party with the intention that through the office, more dividends of democracy will come to our state, but as it stands now, same people are using the office to disrupt the peace and progress of our state.“

“The good people of Edo has fought the war against godfatherism in the past and the Edo people won. I am confident that the people will win this fight again against godfatherism,” he added.

The Senior Special Assistant to the Governor listed the good works of the Governor to include, payment of salaries as at when due, construction of major and link roads including TV Road, Lucky way and others equitably spread across the three senatorial districts.

He continued, “Edo under Governor Godwin Obaseki has seen payment of backlog of inherited salaries and pensions. Roads are being constructed daily and our mothers are no longer being beaten at the market places due to the haphazard method of revenue collection in the past.”

He decried the rot in the various local government councils in the past characterized by low revenue remittances which saw the most part of the revenues getting into the hands of private and non state actors, leading to the inability of local councils to carry out their constitutional duties.

He said, “Oredo which is in the heart of the city was the worst hit in the past administrations as more than 90% of their revenues got into private hands.”

He also added that considering the good works of the Governor, he ought to be accorded the right of first refusal in the primaries.

“Now in Edo, it is visible to the blind and audible to the deaf that Governor Godwin Obaseki has performed very well. It behooves on the party to reaffirm this by according the Governor the right of first refusal. It is not the first time it is happening, it happened in the second term of the former Governor, so why shouldn’t it be accorded to the present governor?”

He concluded by expressing confidence on the re-election bid of the governor adding that the governor remains the leader of the party in the state and is not perturbed by the intrigues in the polity currently.

“The Governor is not distracted by rabble rousers in the State. Going by the New Year message of the Governor, more developments will come the way of Edo people. As leader of the party in the state, his sterling performance and his priority of the people’s interest above some individual’s vested interests, his re-election is sure.”