A former Commissioner for Information in Edo state, Prince Kassim Afegbua is set to declare his intention to contest the Edo 2024 governorship election under the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Afegbua, an ally of President Bola Tinubu hails from Okpella in Etsako East Local Government in Edo North Senatorial District.
Though he is yet to officially declare, lots of stakeholders in Edo APC are asking him to throw his hat into the ring.
Last month, traditional rulers in Edo North adopted the state’s Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, as their candidate for the forthcoming governorship election.
The traditional rulers disclosed this at the palace of the Ogieneni of Uzairue, Alhaji Kadiri Imhonikhe, Omogbai IV, when their counterparts from Edo Central Senatorial District led by the Onogie of Uromi, HRH Anslem Aidonojie, visited them to seek their support in producing the next governor of the state.
Afegbua who is popular among Edo youths and highly connected in Nigeria’s political circle has been critical of Governor Godwin Obaseki’s governance style, saying the governor has rubbished the good legacies of his predecessor, Adams Oshiomhole.
In a recent article titled ‘Edo Rots And The Missing Artefacts’, Afegbua said “when Governor Obaseki abandoned his statutory responsibility of providing governance for the state, to face the issue and logistics of stolen artefacts as a pre-occupation, one readily knew he had an agenda; the Lagos boy was at it again. He decided to carry on added responsibilities to his abandoned statutory ones; Busybody”.
“The roads that were done by Adams Oshiomhole are still the only ones helping the people and their mobility. The projects that he ought to have continued, he abandoned: the storm water project that ought to be sustained to reclaim Benin and its flooding has been abandoned, the red roof revolution that Oshiomhole started and worked hard on to revamp the education sector, has been ignored and so many others; the state is gradually descending to the lowest rung of the ladder all in the name of petty politics and technocracy; cheap charlatans and quacks are running the place”.
“The current Edo State Government is very predictable; waking up in the morning, what one sees are Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) in series knocking at one’s door to salute our appetite for good governance. Too many MoUs are walking the streets of Benin with undiluted relish”.
“To say the least, real governance is on holidays in Edo state. Recently, I saw a report that the World Bank commended the governor for his investment in education across the state. I was bewildered, like the back of my hand I know how badly education is decaying in Edo state. There are dilapidated school buildings, not just in Benin City, but across the entire state and a wide deficiency of teachers in the system; teachers are not attracted to the job because of the misery of the job”.
“Those projects that Oshiomhole was unable to finish, have decayed and are decaying at exponential rates because of abandonment. Obaseki must have decieved the bank somehow. I am yet to reconcile how a Governor can be that dishonest about the state of affairs under him”.
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