Mr. Dan Orbih is the chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Edo State. In this interview with HENDRIX OLIOMOGBE, he said Oshomhole's government is not known outside Benin City. He promised that the outcome of the election would favour his party.On Oshiomhole's AdministrationWE are looking forward to the July 14 election. During our aggressive grassroots campaign, we have discovered that most of the rural communities, far out of the urban centres are totally neglected. The people are ready for a challenge.I am not the one assessing Oshiomhole. It is the people's assessment of Oshiomhole's government. Everywhere we go, people express their disappointment over the failure ofAdams Oshiomhole's government to address the problems facing the various communities.In Benin City, people are lamenting the demolition of their houses without adequate compensation paid to them. This demolition was aimed at creating walkways in already existing roads. These are not new roads. The mere creation of walkways has denied thousands of residents in Benin their rights to own properties within the metropolis. This indeed is a big disappointment to the people.They are lamenting the punitive taxation policy of the government. The most painful part is that people are made to pay taxes whether they are making profit or not. In fact, the tax is targeted at the right of people to create a means of livelihood because the government is not interested whether what these people are doing can earn them a living wage, but only in taxation.The people are paying the taxes but there is nothing to show for this money the government is collecting. Unfortunately, we now have a situation in Edo State, where the government internally generated revenue has hit an all-time high. We also have a situation where the government is collecting statutory allocation. What they are getting now is far higher than what any government before it got.Only recently, the government announced a reduction of the exorbitant school fees at Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma. Few months ago, at the approach of the election, the government hurriedly announced a reduction. The case is like that of the legendary supermarket owner in Benin who in a Shylock style increased the prices of his products far above the reach of the ordinary folks, only to announce a reduction in form of a bonus at the approach of Christmas. Of course, a critical look at the prices of goods in the supermarket and the Christmas discount shows that even the new prices are still far above the correct prices. This idea of increasing school fees to 70,000 Naira only to reduce it by 18,000 Naira at the approach of election is comparable to the action of the supermarket owner. Everywhere you go you see deceit and fraud.No Due Process on contracts awardI can tell you that almost all the contract awarded by this government never followed due process. They are never advertised like is done in other states. We just see contracts awarded to companies that don't even have the competence to execute these projects.Let us take the case of Airport Road. That contract has been awarded and re-awarded. It goes to show that the original contract that was awarded did not follow due process. It was the governor who said he was bringing Julius Berger. He awarded the contract and terminated it and gave it to another contractor, to the extent that the original asphalt that was laid had to be excavated and a new one laid. What is the cost to the state' These are the issues that people must talk about. The government must come out and tell the people the exact cost of that job that has taken it over three and a half years to execute and yet it is not finished.This is a road that is not more than seven kilometres. Today, the road is regarded as the most expensive road contract ever awarded in Africa. There are conflicting figure as to the cost of that road. While most people now put the cost based on the original contract that was awarded and paid the old contractor and the new amount, people now put the total contract sum at over 11billion Naira.Take the case of the Ring Road/Oba Market Road, which is just a distance of .7 km, which Oshiomhole admitted in his own report card that he spent over 2.1billion Naira to construct, a road that is less than one kilometre. So these are the kind of roads the man is celebrating. People are beginning to ask questions. At what cost is he doing walkways and expansion of existing roads; how many new roads have been built by this government' How many new development areas have been opened by this government, because I have never seen anywhere in the world where you have to destroy existing houses that were duly approved by the relevant housing authorities before this government came into power' It means that for every new government, you have to destroy houses before you are able to build roads. The proper thing to do is to create new settlement areas and put all the facilities that will attract people to those areas. A reasonable government should also open new development settlements, rather than destroying houses and expanding existing roads.If you go to London today, the streets are narrow. They don't destroy houses that were built over a hundred years because they want to expand roads. We have a government that has misplaced priorities and people are now yearning for a change. We are re-assuring them that we will soon bring in responsible and responsive government.On Oserheimien Osunbor's endorsement of OshiomholeAt the approach of election, there are bound to be movements, especially among those who will have reasons to effect those movements. That does not affect us as a party. The situation today in Edo State is that, the governor celebrates any movement to his party; even former councilors are celebrated by the governor. We are receiving thousands of people into our party from the various wards at the grassroots without making noise about them. I am sure that the result will reflect what we have been able to do in the last few months.I don't have any record to show that Osunbor has written any statement endorsing Oshiomhole. However, he is a citizen of this state and has every right to support whoever he wants to support. As at today, we don't have any record to show that he has endorsed Oshiomhole.On the tense political situation in EdoThe police may have records to show why they are raising this alarm, but going by the utterances of some ACN members, it is clear people are warming up to subvert the due process of electing a government through the democratic process.For instance, there was a demonstration to INEC headquarters in Benin recently. The demonstration was to the effect that INEC should not register people. We all know the law of the land which states that those who were not of voting age as at the last election are eligible to vote at subsequent election when they come of age. That is when they attain the age of 18, which is the prescribed voting age. There is no doubt that between now and the last election, there are a whole lot of people who have attained the voting age and so should be allowed to register so that they can exercise their right to vote for whoever they want for the next government; but the governor raised an alarm and INEC chickened out. Democracy should not be doctored to the satisfaction of those who made the loudest noise. There are laws governing the process.
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