Edo State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, has told Edo people to expect real jobs, as against the phony MOUs of the Governor Godwin Obaseki era.
“My administration will create real jobs,” he declared in a statement “not phony ones that exist only on paper, through investments in the agriculture sector.”
The candidate said the Obaseki era of empty MOUs forced Edo farmers to a “massive” protest in Abuja last July, where they called for the probe of the N144 billion agricpreneur loan, that had vanished into thin air.
He said by this crashed agricultural scheme, Governor Obaseki “has mismanaged the sector and impoverished our farmers. I am going to reverse all of these,” he pledged.
Pastor Ize-Iyamu noted that though agriculture had the capacity to create sustainable jobs for Edo youths and farmers, the fiasco of the failed Sobe agricpreneur project was another proof of Obaseki’s empty MOU approach to job creation.
“The result of that Sobe investment – or better still, non-investment – is out: you can drive to Sobe to see the land and interact with the farmers in that community to hear what they say”, adding that was after Obaseki had wasted over N2 billion on the project.”
But such monumental waste of scarce resources, he argued, was the reason the Edo should snatch their state from a shifty amateur, to a seasoned, trusted and stable leadership that knows exactly what to do.
“Testy times require sturdy and capable hands at the helm,” he declared, “not an amateur and rudderless leadership, that runs for office without any manifesto or guide, and only rushes to manufacture one at the eve of election for another term.”
He said such “sincere and competent” leadership was what Edo needed to rebuild again, after the ruins of the Obaseki era, adding that was what his candidacy presented.
The APC candidate said the September 19 election was the beginning of a race against time to save Edo.
He therefore asked the people to make the best of their vote, give him their mandate and prepare to be part of a new partnership to rebuild Edo State.
