Edo: What hope for Igbanke Community As Next Political Dispensation Beckons? -By Isaac Asabor

As a journalist and public affairs commentator that has since the flag off of the campaign of the gubernatorial election that is scheduled to hold in Edo State on September 19, 2020 been commenting on the strengths and weaknesses of key political aspirants that have clinched the tickets of their respective parties, I have for the umpteenth times being inundated with telephone calls and inboxes on Facebook by some of my kinsmen and friends on why am I so obsessed with the candidacy of a Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu (POI), and not the one they preferred? I have always responded by telling them that as a citizen that I have the constitutional rights to make free and informed choice among various policy options and aspirants that would participate in the upcoming election. I have in that light told them repeatedly that I do not owe anyone an apology as to who I will support in the election; it is a constitutional right that I am entitled to.

Be that as it may, one of my kinsmen called at very odd hour, precisely at midnight on Thursday, and quarrelsomely asked, “What is your business with the forthcoming election? “Why are you canvassing for the support of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu? I must confess that none of the interrogating questions moved me to give him a pleasant reply except when he asked, “With 14 political aspirants jostling for just one gubernatorial position in the forthcoming election in the State, what do you think Igbanke as a community stands to gain from any of the aspirants? Simply put, he meant to say “What hope for Igbanke as next political dispensation beckons?” To me, he asked a very salient question as what inspired him to ask such question couldn’t have been farfetched to me when seen from the perspective of the disappointment the incumbent governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki left the people with.

For instance, Igbanke community has been under intense neglect from each passing political dispensation after the eras of Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia, who was a two time governor of the former Midwestern State, and later Bendel State. As two-time Governor in the State then, which comprised present-day Edo and Delta states, he brought strong foundation so much so that he set the stage for infrastructural, social and economic development of both states, particularly to Igbanke. It is sad to mention here that after his exit from government that Igbanke began to suffer in turn in the hands of consequent governments.

Without any iota of exaggeration, the age-long margalization and neglect of Igbanke community was somewhat ameliorated during the administration of the former Governor, Adams Oshiomhole who remembered the community through construction of roads that linked all the villages that constitute Igbanke community. They cut across Omolua, Obiogba, Idumuiru, Igbontor, Idumodin, Ake, Oligie, and Ottah.

But alas! The neglect has unprecedentedly become worrisome since 2016 under the ongoing government led by Governor Godwin Obaseki.

Without any scintilla of magnification, virtually every infrastructure implemented across the communities that made up Igbanke town, particularly the General Hospital and Schools have been fast dilapidating due to age-long neglect, particularly by the present administration.

At the moment, schools in Oligie and Omolua,respectively are not conducive for learning. Without any iota of exaggeration, the schools are reminiscent of piggery, and there is a governor that pledged to serve the people who are invariably Edolites.

Permit me at this juncture to buttress my view with a portion of the inaugural speech which the governor delivered in November 2016. He read, “Dear friends and fellow citizens of Edo State. I stand before you this morning, honored and elated by the opportunity and privilege that the people of Edo State have given me by your collective democratic decision to guide the ship of our Great Edo State for the next four years as we set new sails into an unknown but promising future. But before I go any further, I wish to specially give glory to God for seeing us through a very peaceful election where the true will of the people has prevailed.

In the same vein, it is expedient in this context to partly quote the governor’s speech right from the portion that specifically made reference to infrastructural development. He said, “We take that leadership responsibility seriously with total commitment and with a full and sober understanding of the enormity of doing so. We have come a long way under my predecessor. Many of the fundamentals for major socio-economic development have been put in place. We need to strengthen and expand the infrastructure that has been established so that we have a solid foundation on which to build the New Edo State of our passionate dream. By infrastructure I refer not only to the physical infrastructure, namely the roads, utilities and facilities, but infrastructure in its widest sense. We also need to build and sustain a robust human, intellectual, philosophical and even metaphysical infrastructure for without them it is virtually impossible to attain significant progress and derive the extraordinary value that we desire from our efforts so as to build the Great Edo State we all yearn for. To this end, during the campaign I declared that my mission was to achieve prosperity for our people by progressing the work of those who have come before me”.

For anyone with a dispassionate, non-partisan and apolitical mindset, the performance of the governor against the backdrop of his inaugural speech, particularly to the people of Igbanke in this context is there for all to see.

It is really paradoxical and disappointing that despite the massive support which Igbanke people gave to Obaseki that we are today begging him to help us. It is not an overstatement to say that Igbanke with its massive number of registered voters gave Obaseki all the electoral support he needed at the poll in 2016.
To me, the decision by the governor to neglect Igbanke people is a ploy designed to play on the collective intelligence of the people. The foregoing can be buttressed with the fact that it was deliberately done in order to widen the infrastructural chasm so as to serve as bait or basis of campaign promises in his second term bid.

Unfortunately, it may not be uhuru for him this time around as a proverb that says, once bitten, twice shy would unanimously be brought to bear on September 19.

Be that as it may, “Nothing spoil” as they would say in street parlance. By virtue of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu participating in the upcoming election and with the strong optimism that he will come out victorious, permit me to appeal that he should not forget Igbanke people. He should try as much as possible to rehabilitate all decaying infrastructures across Igbanke within few months into his first tenure.