Edo
State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, has made his stand known against
members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who defected to rival
party.
Punch reports that the state governor said he would not
apologise in any way to former members of the APC at the presentation of
staff of office to Alhaji Jackson Etokhana as the Oghieavhianwu of
Avhianwu.
Oshiomhole, who described how traditional rulers need
to be at alert so as to identify politicians who do not have the
interest of the people at heart, said: “So, those who defect because I
do not put money in their pockets, let them continue to defect; no
apology. Everybody will be remembered when they write the history of
politics in Afemai land.”
“We must use every opportunity to
educate our people. This afternoon, your Royal Highnesses, I am not
asking you to go and carry party cards. I only ask you and your chiefs
to educate our people to distinguish politicians, who will stand only
when it is good for their family, not when it is good for the larger
community.
He further continued by saying: ”I want it to be said
that when I left office, our people started distinguishing thieves from
real politicians. Our people must learn to begin to interrogate all
manners of political miscreants, who come wanting to cash in on the
poverty of our people. I always say that to be poor is not to be crazy.
So, we must be clear.
“Those who called for Afemai Agenda
believing that when an Afemai man becomes the governor, he will carry
state money and share to them. And once they do not get it, they abandon
Afemai Agenda and now they have turned only to the agenda of their
stomach infrastructure. “You will always be governed by politicians,
whether you like it or not, but you must carefully select your
politicians on the basis of those who understand that state power is not
for the private comfort of those around the state operators.”
However,
Oshiomhole promised that neither him nor his administration would
interfere with traditional matters as he has great respect for the
culture of the land. He further used the opportunity to clear himself
saying he would not “sponsor anybody to write a petition against any
royal father,” hence, the need for all traditional rulers in the state
to be in harmony with his administration.
He assured the newly
installed royal father, Alhaji Jackson Etokhana, as well as the entire
people of Avhianwu Clan, of government’s continuous support in the
provision of infrastructural facilities to the community.
It
would be recalled that just recently, the Edo State government, in a bid
to keep the people of the state in a healthy state, has set up a
committee over the Ebola Virus Disease rampage in the country.
An American doctor who contracted Ebola treating victims of the deadly virus in Liberia has been released from a U.S. hospital.
