By Amos Isibor
The stage is gradually set for the ultimate senatorial slot for 2023 general election as Ehia Olu Akhabue declares pragmatic stake for Edo Central Senatorial District.
The uniqueness of his ideas for equitable representation, his seminal thoughts on prodigious community development, his forthrightnesss in articulation of our collective aspiration and the tellingly magnificent road map for actualising it is more than enough to endear the humane people of Esanland to his vision.
His experiences, spanning over two decades in management of human and industries, home and abroad signposted him as the ‘primus inter pares’ and clearly a shining star in the political wilderness of the Nigerian State.
Interestingly, history has been magnanimous with the Esan people, having endowed them with the best and brightest as demonstrated by the likes of Chief Anthony Enahoro, Ambrose Alli, Chief Tony Anenih, Christopher Abebe, Comrade Elijah Okougbo of blessed memory and many more.
Without a doubt, his senatorial aspiration has changed the dynamics of the political superstructure of Edo Central Senatorial District where in recent past, our sons and daughters have been hoisting themselves up for political offices without integrity, required principles and solid agenda for viable and enduring community development.
For him , he has resolved to pursue and prosecute the objectives contained in his evergreen Manifesto of Service which is critically built on four fundamental pillars, namely; provision of Water Supply In Edo Central Senatorial District, Formidable Security Architecture to meet the challenges posed by criminal elements, Investment in manpower development/Skills Acquisition, lastly, linking Rural Communities to Urban Centres thereby promoting rural – urban Integration.
Many of the rural communities in Edo Central have no good roads, infact, they are such in a terrible state of disrepair that farmers face serious difficulties in getting their produce out of the communities to market places in urban areas. The implication of this is that the communities are almost cut off from cities. Akhabue’s mission in the Senate is clear on this, which includes but not limited to ensuring that many roads across Esanland are rehabilitated and reconstructed with the allocations for the constituency projects across board.
In the past, part of the drawbacks have been that meagre resources allocated for projects are not equitably and fairly distributed in all the five local government areas and this has somewhat created apathy and mistrust between the electorate and the politicians. That is part of what he is out to restructure to the utmost benefits of everyone in Esanland. Once that is done, in addition to the water project, the people would have achieved a reasonable level of rural – urban fusion.
Interestingly, his thorough study of every inch of Esanland has laid bare the factors militating against rural growth and peace and stability as there can’t be peace in the midst of chaos and poverty. He has mapped out development strategies for the district to be better managed as soon as he’s elected into the Senate, using data to aggregate the numbers of households, streets, communities and the cities put together, comprehensively.
This is where Akhabue’s mandate is a collective one and truly altruistic. Having used data for several organisations to improve community planning and delivery of public and private services, as well as help measure progress toward Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) elsewhere, domesticating same for our people in Esanland has become his primary objective as we progress gradually towards 2023 general election. And for Esan people – baring our history – can’t ask for less.
