4th April, 2013
JETHRO IBILEKE/Benin
Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu said the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the people of Edo State taught the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) a lesson on how to deepen democracy with the victory of Adams Oshiomhole in the 2012 elections.
The Chief Servant of Niger State said this Thursday in Benin at a lecture titled “Deepening Democracy and Enhancing Public Welfare,” organised to mark the 60th birthday of Governor Adams Oshiomhole.
He said the PDP had come to Benin with their governors and leaders to oust ACN, but were disappointed when Edo people stood their ground, insisting that they wanted Oshiomhole back.
“When my party PDP and the federal might came to Edo to oust the ACN, with some people like Dr. Uduaghan here who is the neighbour, to crush our friend, our Edo people said, ‘no!’ God has given us a good thing, and because God is good, we will continue to hold our good thing. That was the time when adamant Adams, became the resilient Adams. Many of us who started fighting against him in the godfatherism war did not understand at that time. But with what happened here, even if you want to have a godfather, you have to do it with rules and regulations,” he said.
On his part, national leader of the ACN and former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who berated the formation of the PDP’s Governors’ Forum, said it was shameful that President Goodluck Jonathan was the person who championed the formation of the Forum.
“As a result of the formation of the PDP Governors Forum, the agency we all depend on for the sustenance of democracy in the country has been polarised. The constitution of the PDP Governors Forum is shameful,” Tinubu said.
While commending Comrade Oshiomhole on his sterling performance, Tinubu said “good governance is about accountability, good life to the people, one man one vote. That is what we have come to celebrate today. No matter your talents, a leader amounts to nothing when he cannot foresee the dangers or disintegration of his community; when he has no vision for the welfare of his people. It takes extraordinary leadership for democracy to exist, to be sustained.
“Oshiomhole is a hard fighter. No matter how hard, he fights anything that stands against the people. If he has not performed, he would have organized protests against himself until his government performs. On this you have scored A plus, and I count you as one of the leaders of the ACN.”
Former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, in her lecture, said it was high time governors of the non-oil producing states in the country stopped complaining about the discrepancies in the revenue allocation formula because “ultimately, the incentives of producing result is greater than those considerations.”
Also contributing, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Hassan Kukah, said he held no aversion to the issue of granting amnesty to members of the Boko Haram, because “Jesus Christ never forsake talks about reconciliation.”
In an earlier speech, Speaker of House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, who commended Governor Oshiomhole for being the champion of one man one vote campaign, made case for an independent INEC, just as he pointed out the need for checks and balances in the judiciary, executive and legislature.
According to Tambuwal, an independent umpire will deepen the nation’s democracy.