Gabriel Enogholase
1 December 2008
COMRADE Adams Oshiomhole, Governor of Edo State at the weekend in Auchi, Estako West Local Government Area, said that he was poised to unite the people of the state irrespective of their political affiliations, saying that the task ahead was enormous and deserved the cooperation of all.
Besides, the governor who spoke at a grand reception held in his honour by the Afemai people, warned members of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Headmasters and Principals of primary and secondary schools to immediately stop illegal collection of levies as his government would not accept such collections.
"My first challenge is to unite the good people of Edo State. We must dissolve, we must wash away those things that tend to divide our people. We have a common ancestry. Whether you are from Edo South, Edo North, Edo Central, Esan or Afemai, we are first and foremost Edo people and we have a common past and we have a common aspiration.
"Across the state, you have been victims of bad governance. We are united over the period by a common idea, to build a state whose citizens can go anywhere and compete".
"Therefore, all the divides, all the Berlin walls which the politicians have helped to build, which they create between Edo South, Edo North and Edo Central, we pray that God will use us, because we are committed to remove the walls so that our people can be united because as they say, united we stand, divide we fall".
"There is so much we can do together as a united people. There is nothing that is good for Edo South that is not good for Edo North, there is nothing that benefits Edo Central that is injurious to Edo North or Edo South. So, we must be united by our determination to consign the past history and open a new chapter of hope in which every Edo man or woman is respected wherever he goes.
While appreciating that politics could be divisive especially when played by primitive politicians, Comrade Oshiomhole insisted that politics should be played in such a way that recognizes the right of the other man to differ and think differently since the essence of politics was the ultimate good of the society.
On why government stopped illegal collection of levies in the state, the governor emphasized that government owes it a duty to protect the weak and the poor from the excesses of the rich.
"I took that decision because all those who have been milking and sucking the blood of our people in the name of illegal collections and levies must be put out of business."
"I am a union man and I recognize that the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) has a right to collect union dues. But collection of union dues must not be the same thing as extortions. Therefore, I will not accept a situation where vehicle owners are asked to pay such ridiculous sums of money, sometimes as high as N500, N1000, or even N1,500 in order to be allowed to ply the roads". "Such roads are built by government.
They are maintained by the government. Therefore, I must warn that no one under the guise of anything can extort money from vehicles that plies those roads".
"Edo State under my leadership will not accept this. Any of those illegal collections not backed by law will not be allowed. The business of government is to empower the citizens".
"Any of those illegal collections including the ones by teachers in schools, primary and secondary schools, all those unauthorized levies which they imposed on the PTAs, if we say education is free, freedom has only one meaning, it must be free of levies".
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