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MY ADVISE FOR EDO PEOPLE IN THIS COMING ELECTION….. DR. SAMUEL OSAIGBOVO OGBEMUDIA

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Former two-time governor of old Bendel State, Dr. Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia is an elder states man. Many people have been waiting to hear from him to know his stand on this forth coming election in Edo state. In this Exclusive Interview with SUNDAY ADEBAYO, he expresses his belief and assessments of the present Edo state government, and also analyze the likely outcome of the coming election… Excerpt.

 

 

 What is your assessment of the present Edo state government?

Well having been there by qualification, assessing them is that I have been there before and I know the problems and I understand some of their approaches taking the totality of what I know, the man, Adams Oshiomole has performed extremely well and that is why I decided to defend him, and that is why I give him all my support and that is why whatever he does, I look at it against the background of the difficulties which myself passed through. So from the point of view of development, he has done the best he could, but that doesn’t mean he could not do better maybe because there was not enough money.

 For those ones that you think he has not done well, was it that you were not able to brief him about the major problem of the Benin people when he came in?

There is no one that he has not done well, there is nothing I asked him to do that he didn’t do, after looking at the totality of the problems of what I experienced myself, Oshiomole has done wonderfully well.

 Looking  at the activities that trailed during the APC primary that lead to the emergence of Obaseki, do you think the party is united enough to win this election?

Well I cannot speak on that because I was not at the primary, secondly I only read about it in the newspaper and perhaps the rumor here and there by people who attended and those who didn’t attend and there was great variation between the story being tabled by those who attended and those who heard it, so we don’t know which one to believe, but my believe is that if people appreciate goodness in anybody, they should appreciate what Oshiomole has done in this state because if other previous governors have done as much, he would have gone higher than he did now. So far as I am concern I think that people if they look at what Oshiomole has done against the background of what people did in the past, they will vote for APC.

Now Obaseki promised that if he comes in, he is going to provide over 200,000 jobs but people were now speculating, asking the question that when he was the head of economic team in Edo state, he was not able to provide anything of such. Do you think in your own opinion, looking at the present governance with your approval of Oshiomole great performance, do you think Obaseki is up to the task of the promise he is making?

Firstly, Obaseki is not  in my view a politician, he is not a professional politician, he is a technocrat  and in his position as a technocrat, he has information on all the affairs of government, as to whether he could have done that as technocrat, advising the governor, the ultimate responsibility for the job to be done is that of the governor, he may have recommended and the governor did not see it as a priority, so you cannot blame him, when he comes from what I have had in discussion with him and I was convinced that he knew where the pendulum was swinging, he knew where he was going  because his objectives were very clear to him and he’s also not mindful of the fact that while he is looking straight at the objectives, there are many intervening obstacles, diversional obstacles on the way, and he is prepared to negotiate them. So it is that ability that gives him credit over his opponent.

Looking at when you used to be the governor of the old Bende, bringing together Edo state, Delta state and the couple of other states that you manage then, Things were going right, there was no much complain about running the government, but now what is your assessment of the crisis rocking PDP in Edo state right now?

The only word I’ve always used is mismanagement of victory, when a political party of substance going to election whether win, victory or defeat, must set up a committee to access their performance and see where things went wrong, whether PDP did it or not, I don’t know but not to my knowledge if they did, that notwithstanding its management of victory was not and I think too that the people themselves were tired of hearing the same voice every day, the issue of change came into focus.

Do you think pastor Osagie Ize Iyamu had the political sagacity to perform better than Oshiomole if he eventually becomes the governor of Edo state?

Pastor Osagie Ize Iyamu is my son, his father was my own father, so when the man was leaving, he said look after your son for me, pastor Osagie has tremendous energy unquestionable in credentials that he can use, but he is on a shaken platform, probably if he was in APC, there would be no problem, he would by now be celebrating, if he was in another party, probably he would be celebrating. But first, he had to kill two birds with one stone, he had to reactivate the reputation of the PDP and then take advantage of it to ask them to vote for him but he cannot do the two together because correcting the hills of the past and calling them to order, by the time they finish, the vote is over. But as a person you can’t beat him, he is a first class fellow and I will go with him anywhere.

So what you are telling us now is that come this election which is drawing close by, if past Ize Iyamu Can rectify some loop holes that you think  are the problems of PDP in Edo state, do you think he has a higher chance of becoming the next governor of Edo state?

If there are two people that he has to do this to, he has to do this to the elites who at their drinking base, they criticize not himself but his party, then he have to do it to the population, and those population, the majority, card bearers who can vote, the elites their voice he will hear so loud every day, they are minority, so it is not something you can do in one month or two month if he still remain in PDP correct the hills of the past, he will be on top but whether he can do everything together before next two month election is what I don’t know.

Okay recently when the PDP want to have their gathering at Ogbemudia Stadium, there was an information that the governor instruct that they don’t have their campaign at that stadium, do you have any idea ?

No I never heard , the truth is this that as at today the government is the caretaker and trustee of the  stadium, the stadium belong to the people, so it is for them to say yes, this man coming to the stadium, will it be in our own benefit or against us? So they take a decision and that in the decision influences the reply to its letter,  that is what it is. But I believe that when government refuse to allow them to organize at the stadium, the generality of the people who would normally have gone to the stadium didn’t feel too good about it, so they might decide to punish government for it, so you don’t know where the pendulum is swinging but its important for people like us, it should not have been rejected the refused to the use of the stadium because that will not add any much value to whatever they are doing, but by refusing it, it has added value to it.

How can you compare politics in Edo state, the way it is practiced now and the way it was practiced when you were priviledge to be at the realms of power?

Yes remember I was the governor at a time when I was a military officer, I was only on posting by the supreme headquarter to Benin. I didn’t win any election but when I came back and decided to seek election I won because I told them to allow me finish the unfinished job and they agreed and I won so comparing the two, you will find that there is quite monumental difference

What is your advice for Edo people in this drawing near election?

My advice is this, if what they told me in the past and with my experience that they want development, they don’t want their money to be spent paying lawyers and going to court every day, then they must pick the person whose chances are better because every person has a way of accessing , for example I had a meeting here yesterday and I said to them, here is a paper for about 200 people, write down which party you think we should affiliate with, since we are not in politics, they all wrote down, over 100 voted for one party, six voted for one, two voted for one. So if you sent such people to the poll, they will all vote for A, what is in their mind is different, and they will go there.

How far will you tell us you have gone with Samuel Ogbemudia foundation?

Good, over the years I have been a victim of diabetic and from tablets, I progress to insulin injection and I started this 1970 and I started injection 1980 and I didn’t want other people to suffer the same thing because of lack of information, more importantly the diet that can easily cure the problem. So I got together experts who are prepared to help, some of them in America, some in Canada and some in Great Britain. So we set up Ogbemudia foundation to purely accomplish three things, the first is good governance, the second is youth empowerment and detect its non-communicable diseases, from the diabetic information we are putting together and talking to people on what they need to know. Sometimes I address people and at the end of it, I tell if they have diabetics.  And it is going on gradually. But those who are going to help me are yet to come.

Since the beginning of the foundation, how much assistance or donations or help have you received from people that you have sent letters to or you can call to help curb fight the pulse?

We have not gone out, but the present Delta state government has been helpful. When he was coming, he brought a cheque of five million to the foundation, Oshiomole promised to help and am hoping that once the problem on hand is sorted out, he will do something. There are many people we’ve talk to, but we have not asked for help, and when I have got all those information and those visitors have come and put down what they can do, then I will know what I need and ask people to assist us.

So far will you say you have been receiving response from people in terms of visitation, and feedbacks?

Oh yes, a lot of people, our doctors go about talking to people, counseling them on what to use, and what to kind of food to eat because not everybody  can afford insulin of 11,000, to avoid insulin you must take diet that will perform  the same function.

 A diversion from the foundation now, if anybody look at you some people will still think daddy is 70 or 75, but even looking at your present health condition over the years and the fact that you can no longer walk and run the way you used to do some years ago, what would you say you’ve been doing that is making you looks so good like this sir?

Well, credits goes to that lady (pointed at his wife Mrs Yetunde Ogbemudia), but apart from that, In 1953, I was  admitted into hospital and the doctor diagnosed me of Amoebic dysentery  and I spent twenty one days, but when I had my accident in August 5, 2010, I break my leg and I have to move from one operation to another, and apart from that leg, well so far am alright, I can see, I can move about with my walking stick but better than it was a year ago, so gradually the thing is coming up, because the doctor told me that I am suffering from incurable disease and when I asked him, he said old age and he asked me whether I’ve seen anybody who cured old age, I said no then he must keep off with it.

Looking at how far you have come, when you were born till now, what would you advice the younger generations who are aiming higher to be in the position of good health and proper understanding with their creator, what will be your advice for them?

My advice is simple, when I was a boy, an elder cousin of mine pass his junior Cambridge, we had a wake keeping to thank God that he was able to get to that standard, but since then, there have been PHDs, nobody worries about it, we have made tremendous progress to the young men of today to be able to  catch  up and keep himself and family together, he must educate himself, because education has no age limits, that is the invoice of continuing education and it means that there is no end. Sometime ago, I witnessed the graduation of open university in London and one of the graduates was 94 years old, and when the press asked him at the age of 94, what are you still doing? He said I have always wanted to be educated. Sometime in 1969, I was the sole administrator of the Nigerian Airway and I advertised for an accountant and twenty five thousand people applied and we set up a criteria to screen the application  and we finally came to a hundred and we have to be looking for criteria to reduce it. But finally out of that hundred, there were six with master’s degree, there were two with a PHD, so what do you do, do you leave the PHD and take the first degree.  Nigeria should no longer rely on first degree; they should go further and specialize , when I was the governor, I told the  ministry of education , inform all the student ,anybody who comes out of the college with good result in WAEC because one boy from AGBOR had 7As and that’s an automatic scholarship, if you got a first class from a university degree, you get automatic scholarship to study for higher degree because the Nigeria of tomorrow is going to be very competitive and it has started, so the youth must learn to concentrate on their studies, stop fighting until they have reach the ultimate.

Would you say you are fulfilled in life?

I am fully fulfilled in many ways, first I never thought that I will ever get here till now. One gentle man brought his insurance paper to me in 1960, he said it will mature in 1975 it was 15 years away and I said I wont take because fifteen years is too far , but eventually I was quest to pay into bank in order to insure myself , on a date in 1975 I received a letter , it said your insurance is due, where do you want the money to be paid into, I regretted not putting  more but I never thought I will witness it mature, two, I never dreamt that one day I will be a governor of a state, Benin state for that matter. three I never thought when I join the army I will be a general , I merely go there to go and do my own work  and God was kind to me and they move me forward and fast. I have had children and God has been kind, not one of them has ever been admitted in the hospital, no one is sick. Where I live, this house I inherited it from my mother and I live here, I did my governor job from this very table so what else do I want, all I have gotten didn’t mean anything to my children because they all live at home but my other colleague were told to handover the government house within 24 hours to the new governor, but it didn’t happen to me because I just took my own briefcase and return back to my house where I operated from.

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Court reschedules hearing in Ganduje bribery case

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The Kano State High Court in Kano, North-west Nigeria, on Thursday, fixed 15 April to hear objections to the charges pending against a former governor of the state, Abdullahi Ganduje, who is the current national chairperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The Cable reports that, in the case, the Kano State Government charged Mr Ganduje; his wife, Hafsat; son, Umar Abdullahi Umar; and five others, with eight counts of bribery, misappropriation, and diversion of public funds.

The rest of the defendants are Abubakar Bawuro, Jibrilla Muhammad, Lamash Properties Limited, Safari Textiles Limited, and Lasage General Enterprises Limited.

Based on defence lawyers’ request on Thursday, trial judge Amina Adamu-Aliyu rescheduled proceedings for the hearing of the notices of preliminary objection filed against the charges by the defendants.
Earlier at the proceedings on Thursday, the prosecution led by Adeola Adedipe, told the court that he was ready for the hearing of the defendants’ notices of preliminary objection.

Mr Ganduje’s lawyer, Lydia Oluwakemi-Oyewo, similarly expressed readiness for the hearing of the applications.

However, Adekunle Taiye-Falola, the counsel for the 3rd and 7th defendant, said he was not ready to move his preliminary objection.

He said he needed to first regularise his client’s processes filed out of time.

On the other hand, Sunusi Musa, the fifth defendant’s lawyer noted that he had also filed a motion on notice for extension of time since 7 January. He urged the court to grant the application.

The sixth defendant’s lawyer, Abubakar Ahmed, said he filed a notice of preliminary objection as far back as 9 September 2024, and was ready to proceed.

Also, the eighth defendant’s lawyer, Ibrahim Aliyu-Nasarawa, told the court he was not ready to move his application, adding that he intended to file and reply on points of law.

Following this scenario, the trial judge granted all the applications for extension of time and postponed the matter to 15 April for hearing of all pending preliminary objections.

The Kano State Government accused Mr Ganduje in the charges of collecting $210,000 bribe from “people and entities seeking or holding the execution of Kano State Government contract and or project for the remodelling of Kantin Kwari textile market as a bribe through one of the contractors (agent)”.

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Alleged N12 billion Fraud: EFCC demands Otudeko’s physical presence in court

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The counsel in the case of alleged fraud charge brought against the Chairman of Honeywell Group, Oba Otudeko, on Thursday, filed several preliminary objections to the suit before the Federal High Court in Lagos.

The preliminary objections from the accused were contested in court Thursday just as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) demanded Mr Oba Otudeko’s physical presence in court at the next hearing.

The applications included those challenging the court’s jurisdiction to entertain the case, those asking for stay of arraignment, and those seeking quashing of the charge.

The EFCC had preferred a 13-count charge against Mr Otudeko and a former Managing Director of First Bank Plc., Olabisi Onasanya.

Also charged is a former member of the board of Honeywell Group, Soji Akintayo, and a firm, Anchorage Leisure Ltd.

The N6.2 billion fraud charge is marked FHC/L/20C/2025 and before Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke.

The case was scheduled for arraignment on 20 January, but the defendants were absent on the grounds that the EFCC had not served them with the charge.

Their counsel had argued that they only got “wind” of the case on the pages of newspapers.

The court consequently directed service of the charge by substituted means, and adjourned the case.

On Thursday, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN) announced appearance for the EFCC and Wole Olanipekun (SAN) announced appearance for Mr Otudeko, while Olasupo Shashore (SAN) appeared for Mr Onasanya.

Kehinde Ogunwumiju (SAN) appeared for Akintayo, while Ade Adedeji (SAN) aanounced appearance for Anchorage Leisure Ltd.

Babajide Koku (SAN) announced appearance for the nominal complainant, First Bank of Nigeria.

Mr Olanipekun informed the court of an application he filed on behalf of Mr Otudeko and dated 28 January which he said was served on the EFCC on 29 January.

He also told the court that there was an affidavit dated 1st February which gave details of Mr Otudeko’s absence in court.

Other defence counsel briefly introduced their applications before the court.

In response, EFCC counsel told the court that he had complied with the court’s directive on substituted service of the charge on the first, third and fourth defendants and had attached a proof of service.

He also told the court that he received processes from Mr Olanipekun confirming that Mr Otudeko was not within the court’s jurisdiction.

Mr Oyedepo added that he received a “harvest of motions” from defence counsel in the suit, objecting to the suit.

He said it was important to know when the parties could return to the court for arraignment of the defendants since the first defendant was absent.

In response, Mr Olanipekun informed the court that he had served an application on the prosecution on behalf of Mr Otudeko, adding that the EFCC had seven days to reply.

He argued that a court had to, first, decide whether it had jurisdiction to entertain the case.

He urged the court to give a date for hearing of the defendants’ applications.

In response, Mr Oyedepo argued that the arraignment of the defendants ought to be taken first before any applications.

He cited the Court of Appeal’s decision in the case of Yahaya Bello as well as the provisions of Section 396(2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015.

He submitted that the court should adjourn the case for arraignment of the defendants.

In further response, Mr Olanipekun argued that it was important for the parties to refrain from “pulling cases by a strand of hair”.

Citing judicial authorities decided after the enactment of the ACJA, including Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN) versus Idahosa and Shema Ibrahim versus FRN, he argued that the court dispensed with the appearance of the defendants in both cases.

On his part, counsel to the third defendant, Mr Ogunwumiju, also argued that it was important for the court to first take the objection by the defence in the interest of justice.

Citing the provisions of Edet versus State as well as Section 412(3) of the ACJA, he submitted that arraigning the defendants before hearing their objections would be prejudicial.

In the same vein, counsel to the second defendant, Mr Shashore, urged the court to hear the applications of defence.

According to him, the fourth defendant seeks an application staying arraignment, and another quashing the charge.

He argued that it would be unfair to insist that the court take the defendants’ pleas to a charge that might eventually be quashed.

He added that it was important for the court to first decide whether there was merit in doing same.

Counsel to the fourth defendant, Mr Adedeji, argued on the authority of Nwadike versus FRN that court processes must not be made to oppress citizens.

He argued that the case of Yahaya Bello as cited by the prosecution was not relevant to the suit, neither was the provisions of Section 396(3) of ACJA.

Mr Adedeji said the defendants ought not to face fraud trial for a civil transaction.

In reply, Mr Oyedepo said the cases cited by defence counsel were out of context and did not reflect the charge.

He urged the court to make an order directing Mr Otudeko to be present in court on the next adjourned date.

At this point, Mr Olanipekun informed the court that Mr Otudeko was under medical review and was advised to remain in the United Kingdom until a comprehensive review and medical advice.

He urged the court not to make such an order but to adjourn the case for hearing of the applications.

The judge adjourned the case until March 17 for ruling on the arguments.

(NAN)

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14 escape death in Third Mainland Bridge auto crash

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No fewer than 14 commuters escaped death in an accident that involved a commercial bus and a private car along the Third Mainland Bridge on Thursday.

We learnt from a statement by the Director of Public Affairs and Enlightenment Department of the Lagos StateTraffic Management Authority, Adebayo Taofiq, that the accident occurred at the Iyana-Oworonshoki area of the bridge when the commercial bus rammed into the private car.

Taofiq blamed the cause of the accident on excessive speeding by the commercial driver which led to a loss of control and the eventual collision.

He said, “The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority has again demonstrated its unwavering commitment to public safety by swiftly rescuing 14 accident victims following a devastating road crash at Ilaje, inward Iyana-Oworonshoki, along the Third Mainland Bridge.

“The incident involving a Mazda commercial bus (XN 997 KTU) was triggered by reckless speeding, resulting in the driver losing control and forcefully colliding with a moving Toyota Yaris (11150 DLA). The impact led to multiple casualties, necessitating an immediate emergency response.

“LASTMA officers, in collaboration with the Lagos State Ambulance Service, acted with commendable urgency, extricating 14 individuals, including the commercial bus driver, from the wreckage.”

He added that the victims who sustained some injuries were rescued at the Gbagada General Hospital by the Lagos ambulance team.

Reacting to the incident, the LASTMA General Manager, Olalekan Bakare-Oki, extended sympathies to the injured victims while stressing the need for speed limit compliance among drivers.

“Upon successful evacuation, the rescued victims were promptly handed over to LASAMBUS personnel, who swiftly transported them to Gbagada General Hospital for immediate medical attention.

“General Manager of LASTMA, Mr Olalekan Bakare-Oki, underscored the pressing need for both commercial and private motorists to comply with officially sanctioned speed limits to avert needless road fatalities.

“He extended his deepest sympathies to the injured and wished them a swift and complete recovery,” Taofiq concluded.

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