The Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, has said that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, President Goodluck Jonathan, will not secure the votes of the people of the state in next month’s presidential election due to what he described as the abandonment of the state.
Oshiomhole argued that President Jonathan did not fulfil his promise to contribute to the development of the South-South state, despite enjoying 95 per cent of votes of Edo people for his re-election in 2011.
The governor spoke at separate rallies of the All Progressives Congress in Ehor and Igueben, in Uhunmwode Igueben Local Government Area on Saturday. He explained that in spite of several letters to the Federal Government to assist the state on erosion challenges, the Jonathan administration neglected Edo after persuading them to vote for him as their brother in 2011.
He said, “The last time, we voted for President Jonathan. He got 95 per cent of the total votes in Edo State. Yet, I cannot think of any meaningful thing he has done in the state.
“Last year, President Jonathan gave N2bn each to some PDP states even where he lost election to deal with erosion. Those that don’t have flood erosion were given money for desertification but we in Edo State that voted for him got nothing. I am not lamenting this. We have learnt from it and are determined not to repeat our mistakes.”
Oshiomhole also accused the Federal Government of failing to prosecute “those indicted” in the ill-fated immigration recruitment exercise in 2014, adding that it “is a clear indication that President Goodluck Jonathan did not care about the welfare of the Nigerian youths.
“People lost their lives. Last week, the relatives of those who died in Benin were protesting to us that the Federal Government have not given them even the jobs they promised.”
He, however, expressed confidence that Nigerians would vote for change at all levels in the country, adding that “I believe that with Maj. Gen. Buhari, Nigeria will be in a safer hand beginning with security.”