As the September 10 governorship election in Edo State draws nearer, more aspirants have emerged as the candidates of their various political parties in preparation for the poll.
One of the governorship candidates is Bishop Amiemenoghena Akhalamhe who emerged victorious at the end of the primary conducted by the People for Democratic Change and monitored by the officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Benin, the state capital.
The Acting State Chairman of the PDC, Mr. Erhunmwunse Joseph, said that the party’s decision to uphold the election of Akhalamhe, through voice vote and endorsement as the consensus candidate of the party ,was in line with the directives of the national leadership of the party.
Bishop Akhalamhe, in his acceptance speech, decried the present economic problems confronting the country, which, he said, had also affected the people of the state.
He promised to revive the economy of the state through industrialisation with focus on critical income generating infrastructures.
He assured that, if elected the next governor of Edo State on September 10, he would continue from where Governor Adams Oshiomhole would have stopped, adding that his priority would be industrialisation.
The PDC governorship candidate noted with dismay that the lack of industries had contributed to the alarming rate of criminality among the youths in the state.
Similarly, a former Edo State Chairman of the Social Democratic Party, Prince Frank Ukonga, who dumped the party for the New Nigeria Peoples Party, has won the governorship ticket of the NNPP in the state.
Ukonga has, however, promise to ensure a more healthy relationship between the government and workers in the state, if elected governor.
“In the aspects of labour and workers of the state, I promise to pay salaries as and when due, ratify all promotions and pay local government workers promptly and also to employ more than 50,000 new workers into the civil service of the state,” he said.
Also, ace broadcaster, Mr. Thomas Sado, who emerged as the candidate of the Progressive People’s Alliance in the just-concluded primary election of the party in the state, declared that his programmes of action for the state would be anchored on a sevenpoint agenda aimed at ensuring a positively and totally transformed state that would alleviate the protracted sufferings of the masses in Edo State.
Sado said, “In line with the PPA’s manifesto, my agenda will cut across health, education, agriculture/ employment, industrialisation, infrastructure, security and housing, where I and indeed, the PPA, have a positive difference to impact on our treasured, hardworking, resourceful and cultureendowed Edo people.”
PPA State Chairman, Mr. Dave Esokpunmwu, said the party was fully prepared and strong enough to contest and win the governorship race.
“But we are strongly in it to win, believing that, come September 10, 2016, the PPA will be on its way to Dennis Osadebey Avenue Government House.
“And as vividly enunciated by our candidate in his acceptance speech, Edo State will be better off for it, going by the laudable programmes of PPA government for the good and hardworking people of Edo State,” the party chairman said.
