Former governor of Edo State and the senator representing Edo North in the National Assembly, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole on Sunday said Governor Monday Okpebholo inherited a state that was abandoned for eight years.
He however said that in one, Okpebholo was already fixing back the state and making governance all about the people.
Oshiomhole spoke to some journalists in Benin City on the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) claim that Okpebholo’s one year has been a sham and his term so far in the senate.
He said former governor, Godwin Obaseki’s EdoBEST programme which termed to digitise and unify lesson notes of teachers and revolutionised the mode of teaching was a scam as there were no electricity to power the tablets purported bought for teachers and no internet facilities in the public schools to enable the tablets work.
He described the PDP as a dead party speaking from the grave adding that virtually all the projects Obaseki initiated were either terminated at the level of MoUs or used to milk the state.
Oshiomhoole said Governor Okpebholo’s humility, firm leadership and ability to hire and fire when necessary have restored discipline in government adding that the governor has allowed his achievements to speak for him as ‘action speaks louder than voice’.
He accused the previous administration of endless ground-breakings that yielded no meaningful projects.
‘You (journalists) had a meeting with PDP ancestors, because that party is politically dead. In this part of the world, when you are dead, you join the ancestors.
‘What did the PDP accomplish in their first year?
‘They performed numerous so-called groundbreakings—Gele-Gele Port that mysteriously shifted into Benin when it rains, housing estates, and many others.
&They broke the ground so much that Edo almost became an earthquake zone. Fortunately, God designed our soil well’, Oshiomhole added.
The senator highlighted the revival of Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, which he said almost collapsed due to inadequate subvention under the past administration.
He commended Okpebholo for raising the institution’s monthly subvention to ₦500 million, resolving long-standing academic disruptions.
Oshiomhole also applauded the restoration of subvention to Edo University, Iyamho, increased from zero to ₦250 million monthly, describing it as a strategic investment in higher education.
He stressed that as a federal lawmaker like his collegaues, he is a national representative whose decisions must serve all Nigerians.
He said although senators come from specific districts, their legislative duties extend to the entire country.
He explained that all motions, bills and appropriations passed in the Senate must be designed with national application, adding that his focus has always been on contributing meaningfully to Nigeria’s development.
‘You will also recall that during my campaign, I stated clearly that the most important federal project I wanted addressed was the Benin–Auchi–Okene road.
‘When I was growing up in Iyamho, it took about an hour and a half to get to Benin City. At one point, it began to take about seven hours, and if you were unlucky, you could even get trapped and sleep on that road. With the heavy movement of trucks, the situation became worse.
‘That is why, as soon as I got to the Senate, the very first motion I moved was on the Benin–Okpella–Okene road.
‘Working with the then Senator Monday Okpebholo, now the Governor of Edo State, we mounted pressure on President Tinubu to think outside the box on how to fund and complete the road’, he said.
