Lots of wounds covered with bandages
are being disclosed as the Edo State people prepare to vote in the forthcoming
gubernatorial election in September, 2020. In this no-hold-barred Interview
with SUCCESS DAMIAN, the flag bearer of the National Conscience Party (NCP),
Pastor Peters Osawaru Omoragbon, it is now public that Edo State is gasping for
breath over a whopping N282.288 debt incurred by PDP and APC on behalf of the
state. Excerpt:
How do you see your emergence
as the NCP governorship candidate in Edo State?
My emergence as the flag bearer for the National Conscience Party in the
forthcoming Edo State Governorship Election is a wake-up call for all well
meaning people of Edo State to ‘OPEN THEIR EYES to the opportunity God is
providing through the NCP for the best alternative for Edo State in the person
of Pastor Peters Osawaru Omoragbon. We are all witnesses to the current show of
shame of the two actors in the opposing parties-APC and PDP in Edo State as
they continue to recycle themselves from their parties interchangeably.
What
this goes to prove is that there is no difference between the APC and PDP in
Nigeria. They are two sides of a coin. Therefore, my emergence is to restore
hope and confidence in governance in the people of Edo State with the assurance
of an accountable and transparent government. It is to provide the genuine
change missing from the rule of PDP and APC since 1999 in Edo State. My
emergence is to transform the living standards of the people of Edo State above
their current below poverty level by implementing our Party’s Ten Care- Plus
One Programme that will abolish poverty from Edo State.
Your party was among the 79
deregistered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). How far
has it gone to ensure that it is enlisted again?
It must be
recalled that the NCP was a product of the efficacy of the Rule of Law in any
egalitarian society, when in 2002, by a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court
affirmed the rights of all Nigerians as enshrined in section 40 of the 1999
Constitution to form and belong to ANY political party of our choices, by over
ruling INEC’S REFUSAL to register the NCP under the then Late Abel Guobadia .
As a result, and as law abiding citizens, we have gone to court to challenge
the unconstitutionality of the action of INEC under the current dispensation. By
a suit filed at the Federal High Court in Lagos, with Suit Number
FHC/L/CS/544/20, we have challenged INEC’s current decision to omit our Party’s
name from the political parties fielding candidates for the election in
September in Edo State. Defendants in the current case are: The Attorney
General of the Federation and, The Independent National Electoral Commission.
One of our
reliefs being sought is A DECLARATION that the action of the Defendants without
an order of a court of competent jurisdiction, is unlawful, arbitrary,
oppressive, repressive, partisan, undemocratic, an abuse of power and office,
and a breach of the Plaintiffs’ right to fair hearing guaranteed in section 36
of the 1999 Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended (hereinafter referred to, as “the
Constitution”), and Articles 2, 3, 4 & 7
of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and is accordingly, null
and void and of no legal consequences whatsoever.
Your name was omitted by INEC
in the provisional list for the Edo governorship election. Are you and your
party not bothered about the development? What are you doing to ensure that it
is included in the final list?
We are not
bothered because we are already in Court and no matter how long it takes for us
to get justice, any outcome of the September 19, 2020 Edo state governorship
election without myself and the NCP will be a nullity. Remember Adams
Oshiomhole became governor well after Osunbor was sworn in as governor almost a
year in 2008 by the ruling of the law court? If we are in agreement that INEC’s
action by their crooked reliance on Section 225 negates our fundamental rights
of Freedom of Association enshrined even in the amended Constitution of
Nigeria, and is currently in Court, then what better way to test the last
‘hope’ of the common man, which is the judiciary by putting political action to
our legal action?
Why do you think you will have
upper hand in the election over the candidates of APC and PDP?
As at today as far as Edo State is concerned, the All Progressive
Congress candidate-Mr Obaseki and the People’s Democratic Party candidate,
Pastor Ize Iyamu have lost their credibility before the good people of Edo
State. In 2007, Pastor Ize Iyamu decamped from PDP to join the APC until 2016,
when he decamped again to PDP when he could actualize his governorship under
the APC. Mr Obaseki was chosen above him by their political godfather-Comrade
Adams Oshiomhole. Now in 2020, Mr Obaseki was denied his ticket for second term
by the godfather and Pastor Ize Iyamu was now the preferred candidate by
leaving the PDP to APC. What did Obaseki do? He too decamped to PDP using the
resources of the Edo State to buy his way and that of his deputy, Mr Shuaibu.
Here is the catch-22: Legally Obaseki will be disqualified even if he
wins because by the recent ruling of the Supreme Court, you cannot contest for
nomination in two different political parties in the same election. Secondly,
the entire social media is abashed by the confessions of the three dramatis
personnel on their corruption-that is Oshomoihle, Obaseki and Ize Iyamu. Edo
State is not made for only PDP and APC nor is it the birth right of Obaseki,
Ize Iyamu or Oshomoile.
Another reason why I will be better off is the implementation of our
Party’s Ten Care Plus One programme. Finally is my experience in the Civil
service, the grassroot as leaders within the civil society movement both
nationally and globally and my experience from the Diaspora, as I intend to
transfer my knowledge and experience of the best practices to Edo state. By the
end of my Eight years as governor, Edo state would become the role model for
every state in Nigeria.
What are the things that
Governor Obaseki did not do well, which you will change or improve upon if you
win the election?
The problems confronting the Edo people did not start with Mr. Obaseki. As
such, it is not what he did not do well or did, but what the government of both
PDP and APC failed to do since 1999. One major problem these sadistic political
parties have foisted on Edo people is the rising debt profile from 1999 to
date. According to the 2019 report of the National Bureau of Statistics, Edo
state domestic debt was N86,820,254,212.61 (A) in stocks and N69,904,633,299.09
(B) as loans. Whilst the external (foreign) debt was $279,029,896.21 that is @
the rate of N450/$ = 125,563,453,294.50 Billion! (C) Million. Cumulatively in
Naira: A+B+C: =N282,288,340,805.20!!! Can you imagine that? That is the total
debt incurred on behalf of the state by both PDP and APC. Tell, what have the
people to show for it? Nothing. Instead, you have people in government building
bullet proof houses, ridding on bullet proof cars, spending billions of naira
to purchase ticket to run for public office, someone owing private jet, private
universities, building an entire estate that you barely live in maybe once or twice
a month, no good roads, erosion has destroyed half of the state, all health
institutions remained mere consulting clinics, no program of engagement for the
youth after school other than employ them as party thugs. How can we suffer in
the midst of plenty.
With our Ten Care Plus One Program,
the NCP government under my watch shall address these inequalities and
inequitable distribution of our collective wealth. The details would be made
public and distributed and promoted through the mass and social media in all
languages in Edo state. I shall restore the peoples’ confidence back again to
the government by making public in my first 30 days in office, the entire
income and debt profile of Edo State from 1999 to 2020. I will lay bare to the
people of Edo state what the PDP and APC have done to our collective psyche and
I can assure you under my watch, we shall set up a Judicial Panel of Enquiry to
recover all ill gotten wealth by any public officer from this state. That is
one sure way of ending godfatherism and godmotherism in Edo.
Would you say the defection of
Governor Godwin Obaseki has really ended godfatherism in Edo State?
The answer is NO. You know what would end godfatherism in Edo state?
Pastor Peters Osawaru Omoragbon will end godfatherism in Edo because by the
time I am sworn in as governor, my godfathers and godmothers would be the
people in Edo state. My emergence would have been the repudiation of the status
quo under the PDP and APC by the people in Edo State with their votes not with
the amount of money I am able to share because I have none stolen from the
collective wealth of the state or from illegal sharing to party faithful by
every ruling party in Nigeria.
What are your agenda for Edo people?
Our agenda for Edo State is based on
the Party’s Ten Care Plus One Program. For the people to appreciate how these
programs would work, it is good for them to understand how we got to where we
are today. The experience of the masses since 1999 has not brought about any
fundamental change. Governance has remained for the interest of a few
individuals in the state. The people are justifiably shocked at the utter
contradiction of abundance and poverty. Whereas the rulers swim in abundance
and engage in ostentatious living, the citizens wallow in abject poverty. It is
not only poverty that torments Nigerians; it is the fact of poverty amid plenty
and natural bounty. This is a source of internal sadness to many. As a result,
we have wrapped our agenda under a carefully crafted Ten Care Plus One Program
as follows: Employment Care, Food Care, Health Care, Housing Care, Education
Care, Water Care, Electricity Care, Transportation Care, Telecommunications
Care, Security Care-Plus one is the Ecological Care-this will take care of the
environmental degradation as a result of erosion and climate change. That is
our Eleventh Care program.
NCP and AAC have a working understanding in Lagos. Do you see that
possibility in Edo State during this coming election?
We are prepared to work with everybody,
in Edo State irrespective of party affiliation except PDP or APC. Any member of
the APC and PDP who decamps and embraces our program as a party will be
welcome, but we will never work with the party structures as organs.
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