Our Next Governor Will Be A Home Boy – Osakue
A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and businessman, Martins Osakue, has said being a technocrat or international consultant is not a prerequisite for governance or leadership.
He stated this while speaking with newsmen in Benin City, his comment follows issues relating to Governor Godwin Obaseki’s successor.
Osakue added that Governor Obaseki alone cannot produce his successor from the PDP insisting that he must consult with leaders of the party to bring an acceptable person that he insists must be “a homeboy.”
On the next kind of governor the state deserves, Osakue said: “Experience has taught the PDP leadership that being a technocrat or international consultant is not a prerequisite for governance or leadership.
“What we need is what I have called a ‘politnocrat’. He is somebody who has experience in politics, who is home to the culture of the people, and who has experience in human and economic resources management. That’s a ‘politnocrat. Somebody has called the person a homeboy.
“Our next governor will be a homeboy. The person who will be governor will combine the qualities of Samuel Ogbemudia and Ambrose Alli.
“How do you do this? You will take the visionary, developmental approach of Ogbemudia. His developmental vision, his tenacity, and his selfless distribution of amenities and projects across the state. That was what Ogbemudia was known for.
“Then you come to the UPN, Governor Ambrose Alli. You take his selflessness, his humaneness, his compassion, and empathy.
“These two qualities- compassion and selflessness, are needed. The combination of these two has been absent for a while now. We need the sagacity of an Ogbemudia.
“When we are looking for a governor we are looking for somebody who grew up among us; who knows the value of Edo State as a transportation hub in the country; who knows the value of Edo State is a link between the West, the East and the North;a governor who is compassionate and empathetic enough to make sure that the Benin – Auchi Road is never bad; a governor who will make sure that whether it is federal or state the people who live here are the voters; that your first priority is the welfare of these voters.
“We have one father, that is the Oba of Benin. A governor who will see the Oba of Benin, without being prompted, go on his knees whether it is at the airport in London or anywhere. That’s the governor. It’s not subservience. A man who does not recognize the dictates of his culture is not a man because you’re a product of your culture.”
“This idea of creating emperor governors has been the greatest undoing of the 1999 constitution. The constitution didn’t provide for it but gradually we started seeing governors having more powers than the President.
“It should not continue. Mark my words. It is not that a governor should not have a say in who succeeds him but he should not be the determinant.
“He should not be the one to say it must be this person. The person you choose will determine the support you have. If, for instance, we chose a world banker as governor in the last eight years and he has transformed Edo State, the first thing people will suggest is that let’s go for another international consultant. Esan will get special attention if they bring any good person from there.”
