By Olusegun Olanrewaju
Ahead of the governorship election in Edo State in 2024, various political groups and interests have continued to mount pressure on personalities within and outside the State to join the governorship race.
While some have yielded to this call, many others were yet to make up their minds. Those that have made up their minds are not limited to the core politicians in the state.
A pressure group, Better Edo Forum (BBF), has taken theirs further with a call on the former Governor of Edo State, Prof Oserheimen Osunbor to publicly declared to contest for the 2024 governorship race to succeed the PDP-led administration of Governor Godwin Obaseki.
The group in a statement made available to newsmen in Benin and signed by its state Coordinator and Secretary, Odion James and Osaro Idemudia respectively, said the Professor’s short stay as governor of Edo witnessed massive development across the state.
The statement noted that the 18 months Osunbor governed the state saw massive road construction, school rehabilitation, and several other projects that were aimed at transforming the sorry state of things at the time he took over the reign of Edo State.
The group also pointed out that the rule of law became the order of the day within the 18 months that Osunbor held sway as the governor.
According to the statement, “Osunbor can best be described as a workaholic who did everything humanly possible to change the fortune of our dear State from the very sorry state he met a badly govern State.
Odion said the 2024 governorship election offered yet another opportunity for the loyal, dedicated APC leader and the former governor to deliver on his plans for the Edo people.
“We saw him embark on unprecedented massive road construction across the three senatorial districts. Some of these roads exist as we speak.
“He also embarked on other projects that catalyse the state from its state of economic doldrums to that of prosperity the State has started to witness before the court judgement that put paid to his development strides.
“It is as a result of this that we, along with millions of Edolites, are calling on him, Prof Oserheimen Osunbor to declare interest to contest the 2024 governorship seat.
“As a group, we will support him in whatever capacity by mobilising human and material resources to see that this dream come to fruition.
“We know what Osunbor is capable of and that is why we call him Mr Capacity. We want him to come to re-enact the work he started and what Oshiomhole built on before the present administration took the State to the dark days.”
The group appealed to the APC party leadership to adopt Osunbor as their consensus candidate to fly the party’s flag having shown and demonstrated strong capacity to change the fortune of the state when he held sway.
Recall that Osunbor’s tenure as Governor was truncated on the 11th of November, 2008 by an Appeal Court judgement that upheld the earlier decision of an election tribunal that adjudged Comrade Adams Oshiomhole the winner of the governorship election in 2007.
