Obaseki, the defender of the oppressed in Edo

By Joseph Osaru

Since Governor Godwin Obaseki took office in 2016, he has deployed a deft approach to governance aimed at providing succor to the weak, oppressed, marginalized and vulnerable members of the society with a focus to addressing their needs.

Edo people will not forget in a hurry the days when thugs wielded giant whips, flogging poor mothers struggling to eke out a living in markets and harassing and oppressing commercial bus drivers who toil night and day to cater for their families. These criminal elements perpetuated this in the guise of revenue generation, with over 90 percent of the said ‘revenue’ collected ending up in their private purse.

Today, the story has changed for the better and sanity has been restored to the Benin metropolis on the back of the governor’s innovative revenue collection system.

Not many would forget how the people of the State were subjected to subjugation and exploitation in the hands of killer community gangs who perpetuated their evil in the guise of Community Development Associations (CDAs) until Obaseki sanitized the system.

That era when one ‘strong’ man was selling a parcel of land to 20 people amid a myriad of attacks on the State’s real estate developers by notorious criminal elements who hounded genuine investors and halted development in the State.

But the governor changed all of these. He introduced nuanced land administration reforms, proscribing the activities of these CDAs and criminal gangs and creating the State’s Geographic Information Service, which today delivers C-of-Os to property owners in less than five weeks, and at an affordable price.

Can we forget in a hurry the pitiable sight of our pensioners wearing black and black, sitting, walking, running across major Streets within the Benin metropolis, protesting their unpaid pensions and gratuities? When our mothers, fathers and older citizens were oppressed and subjected to extreme suffering and severe hardship, with many of them dying without getting their entitlements despite giving their all in service to the State?

Today, Edo is the darling of workers and pensioners. It is unsurprising that these pensioners who are invariably the happiest in the country have now become ardent lovers and supporters of the governor who has kept to his promise of paying them their pensions as and when due. The governor has also harmonised pension and started to clear gratuities of retirees in the State.

For the political scene, the governor has also made manifest an undying commitment to ending oppression in all its guise and form. He has enthroned equity and fairness across the State, creating opportunities for marginalized areas to attain political ascendancy. The examples of this abound.

The people of Owan had suffered long-standing political marginalization as they never got the opportunity to occupy any leadership position in the history of the State but for the first time Obaseki ended this form of political relegation, giving the Owan people an opportunity at leadership through their son, Blessing Agbebaku who currently serves as the Speaker of the 8th House of Assembly.

For the Esan people, who have not had any significant representation in the governance of the State since 1999, except for the short reign of Oserheimen Osunbor as governor between 2007 and 2008, it was Governor Obaseki who initiated the idea of ceding the position of the next governor to them, in the spirit of equity, justice and fairness.

Today, a successful son of Esanland, Dr. Asue Ighodalo is the governorship candidate of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). That was what also forced the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) to cede their party ticket to an Esan man.

Akoko Edo, which is one of the oldest local government areas in Nigeria, had not also had an opportunity for fair representation in government except when the governor appointed their son, Taiwo Akerele, to serve as his former Chief of Staff.

The governor also most recently shattered the age-long jinx of marginalization and political exclusion of the Akoko Edo people with his decision to appoint 37-year-old Omobayo Marvellous Godwins as his new deputy following the impeachment of his former deputy, Philip Shaibu by the State Assembly.

Is it not clear that Governor Obaseki is the defender of the oppressed? People-centric, the governor has continued to pursue an agenda to provide succor to the weak, marginalized, oppressed and vulnerable members of the society. This is more than enough reason to be grateful to Governor Obaseki.

Osaru, a freethinker, writes from Edebiri Street, Oredo LGA