The candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the September 21, 1024, governorship election Edo, Olumide Osaigbovo Akpata, on Monday bemoaned the state of affairs in the state as “desperate situation in need of serious intervention.”
He, therefore, promised to turn things around for good and uplift the people’s living conditions, if elected governor.
Akpata make the remarks while speaking to journalists in Benin City about the party’s experience after campaigning in the nooks and crannies of the 18 local government areas of state twice, to assess what the state of affairs in the state is and to know what the people are encountering as citizens of the State.
The LP candidate noted that from his tour of the state, he discovered that several communities across the state lacked basic social amenities of life, citing Urhonigbe and Eme-Ora, which he lamented had not had electricity for the last 10 and four years, respectively.
His experience on the field, he added, indicated that many of the communities lacked roads, schools, health centres and other facilities.
“The situation we saw is nightmare but this is the situation of the Edo people on a daily basis, the farmers are unable to evaluate their produce to the markets. The situation is not only in the hinterland, the approach to Benin City, the State capital, all the roads are a nightmare, flooding everywhere.
“The state of affairs I have presented is the misgovernance of the APC and PDP that have been in the helm of affairs of the state for the past 25 years”, he said.
Akpata regretted that poverty had been weaponised such that it had made politics to be monetised, citing many of the communities the party took its campaign to, where the people demanded for provision of transformers, construction of their roads and other facilities before they could give the party a listening ear.
He said contrary to the claim by the state government of sitting health centres in every ward of the state, “our visit showed the government fell short”, just as it disclosed that “We have seen schools that are in such decrepit conditions”, adding “Government at all levels have become transactional and abandoned their responsibilities to the people”.
Speaking on the scale of violence that is trailing campaigns in the state, Akpata said “In the course of our travel, we also have been victims of violence at Uhumora, the home of the Edo Speaker. Violence of any type, I abhor. These guys are not for the people, they are for themselves. If it is about the people, they can’t be killing themselves”, he said
He said Labour Party was worried that it would become the target of attack in the coming election, adding that it was disingenuous for anyone to link the party to violence, disclosing that he had already laid complaints to the police at Abuja, urging the police to be proactive and nip every threat of violence before and during the election.
