Nigerians should insist on credible polls so that they would have the moral right to call leaders to order once they are elected, Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole said yesterday in Ekpoma.
Mr Oshiomhole, who spoke during the commissioning of heavy capacity drilling rigs that could go as far as 1,400 metres, said his administration promised the people of the area that he will deploy the latest technology that would give them water since they have suffered from low water level for a long time.
“We have said in Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) that power must return to the people, the people shall never again be held in captive and no one godfather shall ever again be permitted to depose the political fortunes of individuals,” he said. “Politicians who want power must respect their people. As they say in a democracy; if the people are like dwarfs, whoever wishes to be a king must go to the level of the dwarfs otherwise he will not be crowned. The beauty of what we are doing today is that we recognized that our political future is in the hands of our people. If our people are happy, we are happy, if they are not happy we cannot be happy.” He advised the people of the area to be ready to defend their rights and not be taken for granted. He said his administration will not just lament the poor state of facilities but work with the people to find means to correct them.
“We want people to challenge them on what they achieved in the 10 years of their rule and we want to tell them what we have achieved in two years of our administration; the facts must speak for us,” he said. “Wherever they said there is no water, we have said there must be water. Water is life and therefore every responsible government, whether of the right or of the centre or of the left must see water as one of the key things government must provide for its people. We tried to understand how we got here. After all here in Esan land, water flowed before.”
Fulfilled promise
He said it was a tragedy that places like Uromi, which had potable water some years ago, no longer enjoyed access to clean water as things simply degenerated. “The only people who now have water are people who are highly placed who create boreholes for themselves or at the very best extend it to their hotels but certainly not for the community,” he said. “I did promise that government will not join the people in lamenting the impossibilities of getting water to our people, but government will find the will and the resources to deal with that problem on a sustainable basis, today I am here to fulfil that promise.”
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