Simon Ebegbulem
16 November 2008
It was jubilation galore in Iyanmu Uzairue, Etsako West Local Government Council of Edo State, where Governor Adams Oshiomohle hails from. To them, Oshiomhole's victory at the Appeal Court and his subsequent ascension as the third governor is still like a dream. They believe it was the handiwork of providence because Iyanmu is one of the smallest communities in Edo North senatorial district.
Therefore it was a pleasant surprise to the people that this little community that lacks the presence of any government project, as Sunday Vanguard observed, produced the first governor from Edo North senatorial district.
The district has never produced a civilian governor inspite of the fact that after Edo South senatorial district, it ranks second in population. They only produced a military governor in the person of Agbazika Inni. All their sons who tried in the past to contest for the position were allegedly manipulated by the powers-that-be.t
The closest person to clinch the job from the area is former aide to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Professor Julius Ihonvbere, who received support from majority of leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South district for the position but was denied the ticket at the Samuel Ogbemdia Stadium after the leadership of the party led by the former chairman of the party's Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih, agreed that the Central Senatorial district should produce the governor last year.
The Central had produced Professor Ambrose Alli before then while the South district produced the first civilian governor, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and later Chief Lucky Nosakhare Igbinedion. The north district had always cried of marginalization. Ihonbvere was the first person to lead a revolution against the godfathers prior to the 2007 governorship election when he refused to step down for Professor Oserheimen Osunbor at the primary held at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium.
He insisted that his people (Edo North) were yet to taste the position, therefore he should be allowed to contest. Ihonbvere is from lluleha, in Owan West local Government Council. However, Oshiomohle who remained dogged in pursuit of his mandate, gave the PDP a run for their money. And unfortunately for the PDP, they have a divided house which could not contain the onslaught of the opposition Action Congress led by the former Labour leader.
Iyanmu community: Sunday Vanguard visited Oshiomohle's ancestral home, last Thursday, and found that the people of the area were Binis who settled there to farm because of the fertile soil. According to the vice-chairman of the community, Jibrin Haruna, who narrated the history of the place, "we came from Benin. When we came, we first settled at Jatu, which is the clan head of Uzairue.
One man called Erhunse, he was a hunter, he was farming in this area and discovered that this place is habitable, so he organized some of our people who are now know as Iyanmu and we now settled here. We are very hard working people. We are farmers and through farming we achieved all we got today." The poor community that was never reckoned with has now produced the governor of the state.
Octogenarian mother of Oshiomhole, Hajia Aishatu, was ecstatic when Sunday Vanguard visited. Almost all the women in the community were in her compound which is few meters from where Comrade Oshiomohle's mansion was located. The grave of Alhaji Aliu Oshiomhole, who died in December 12, 2000, was situated behind her simple bungalow.
The mother of eight children, four boys and four women, lost one of her children few years ago but she gave glory to God for being alive to see this day. She attributed the long legal battle fought by the son to what she described as the undemocratic principles of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. She declared that "even all he tried to stop my son, carrying Osunbor, God has done it today. He will be in Otta and see my son transform Edo State". Any one who got in contact with Hajia Oshiomohole will know where the governor's doggedness came from. She is fearless and declared to Sunday Vanguard that only God owns life and nobody else.
Sunday Vanguard also spoke to Oshiomohle's political mentor and his ward leader.
The mother first: How do you feel today seeing your son become the first civilian governor of Edo State produced by the Edo North senatorial district?
I am so happy and it is God's doing. I am a politician from the days of the NCNC. I love politics but I never knew that any of my children will be a politician. All I had always said is that if any of them decides to join politics I will not object. So when my son decided to join politics after his tenure as NLC president, I encouraged him to go into it.
Can we know how you were able to bring him up while he was a kid?
Right from his childhood, he has always worked hard for every thing. He is very clever. Each time he returned from school, he would not play like other children and that is why he never took second position in school. He was always taking first position.
He looks like a stubborn person. How were you able to cope with that?
Yes, he was stubborn but each time you gave him any assignment, he would not play with it, he will always carry it out. And that is why he was always taking first in school. One major problem he had that time was that he always found it difficult to take his bath. So one day I went to his school and reported the matter to his teacher. But to my greatest surprise, the teacher said he would not flog him because of his intelligence.
Habit of bathing: He said after teaching and you call Oshiomhole to come and repeat what he was taught last week, he will recall every thing and so will not flog him just because he refused to bath. The teacher said that rather than flogging him he would pet him so that he would develop the habit of bathing. He now advised that we should buy soap for him and that when the time comes he will change. And actually he started bathing even with out asking him to bath. He changed.
While he was the president of the NLC, were you ever scared that he might be hurt while he fought for the welfare of workers?
I was never afraid because I knew he was fighting for the masses and he believed that it is the same soul that he has that others are having, therefore he had to fight for them. It is not as if he does not have the money to buy fuel but he believes that others may not be able to afford it, so he fought the government. So I believed that God was with him because he was fighting for the masses and the same God will always protect him, so I was never scared.
Who sold the idea of joining the governorship race to him?
It is a long story. The truth is that our people were begging him to join the race so as to help bring change in Edo State. Particularly, there is this Ekperi man living in Kano, the principal in one of the Islamic secondary schools in Kano. The man was the first person that came to me, that was about seven years ago. The man told me my son was the only person they felt will be able to lead them in Edo North senatorial district.
The man said that in Ekpoma, when Ambrose Alli was governor, he developed the area, then when Admiral Akhigbe was chief of general staff, he developed Fugar, his area, so he now said that in Etsako West, we are under developed and that if Oshiomohle agreed to join the race, he believed that he would win so that he could develop the area.
That man was here on several occasions but he never met my son. I think at that particular time my son was either in Abuja or abroad. Both of them never met. The man said that all our people in Kano wanted him to contest as governor and lead the people of Edo North who had been denied of governorship by politicians from other areas. The man even took photographs with us so that when comrade returned, we would show him the picture.
The man was very optimistic that if he vied, he would win. And when comrade came back we delivered the message to him. He eventually joined the race but he was rigged out by evil people but the good people were more than the bad ones and their prayers for him gave him victory at last. So we thank God for every thing, He performed his miracle.
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