I will build on foundation laid by Obaseki – Ighodalo

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party for the September 21 governorship election in Edo State, Asue Ighodalo, on Thursday, said his government will continue the infrastructural drive of the Godwin Obaseki administration.

Ighodalo, who was speaking at the flag-off of the PDP statewide governorship campaign in Ubiaja, Esan South East Local Government Area of the state, also pledged to give incentives to farmers and scholarships to students in Edo State.

He bemoaned the economic situation in the country, adding that Obaseki had been trying to shield the Edo people from the harsh situation created by the Federal Government.

He said, “We are ready to continue where our governor stopped. We will take Edo State to the next level. If a man wants to build a house, he has to start from the foundation. Governor Obaseki has started the foundation and we will continue from where he stopped. The work that has been done for the past eight years will soon begin to show.

“By the next one year, we will begin to miss the governor, but Ogie and I will do our best to maintain his good works. We all know the suffering on the ground and the problem in Nigeria.

“They said something in Abuja in January, and our lives have gone down since then but the governor has been trying to shield us from the harsh conditions created by the APC  and that is what Ogie and I will continue

“Before you can leave your house by 2 am, but it became impossible due to insecurity until when Obaseki came and stopped it. Now you can go out and do your business, but that is what we will continue to improve on in Edo State.”

The PDP candidate said, if voted to power, his government would ensure that Edo State was monitored from the situation room, adding that his government would sustain and improve the EdoBEST.

He added, “The work that he has done in agriculture, we will continue from there; we will give incentives to cassava farmers, oil palm producers. Edo has been the number one in oil palm since Obaseki came to power.”

In his remarks,  Governor Obaseki said he had known Ighodalo for the past 40 years and he could vouch for him.

He said Ighodalo had done well for himself as a lawyer and that his coming into the governorship race was a sacrifice for the people.

“When we approached him to come run for governor, he said it was a great sacrifice for him to leave his business and come run for governor. But I told him, it would be unfair for him not to come serve his people.

“For somebody to give up so much, he is not looking for money, he is not looking for fame, he is not looking for fortune, he just has the love of his people at heart.

“Asue and Ogie will do it. Others said, they would destroy EdoBEST, because it is Edoworst. That is the problem, if we had started EdoBEST earlier, we would not have produced that kind of candidate who does not know how to read and write. He would have known how to read, write and think,” Obaseki said.

Meanwhile, the Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Blessing Agbebaku, said Ighodalo was far more intelligent than the candidate of the opposition All Progressives Congress, Senator Monday Okpebholo.

“We cannot afford to have a ‘loading brain’ as our governor. Asue’s brain is not loading, but packed with ideas,” the speaker said.