The Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, has said that what the state needs is practical and not experimental governance.
He made this known to newsmen on Sunday in Abuja as he kicked off his campaign for the upcoming election.
Shaibu, who had been at loggerheads with his principal, Governor Godwin Obaseki, said the decision to run was not his but that of his constituents.
Speaking on the requirements to govern Edo State, he said: “With the 2024 Edo governorship election fast approaching, the state could not afford to experiment again with someone who does not understand the politics of the state or the needs of the people.
“Edo people need practical governance and you cannot experiment again with somebody that does not understand the politics of a good state and the needs of the people.”
According to the Deputy Governor, citizens across the globe are clamouring that the government should not be pushing for projects that are not needed in any environment.
Shaibu said: “So, everything we have to do should be assessed.
“You cannot know the needs of the people when you don’t live with them.
“So for me, competence and experience should be the watchwords as we go into the election in 2024.
“Who is competent?
“Who is more experienced?
“Who will hit the ground running from day one?
“Are we going to experiment with a new person again?
“And the person will spend the first four years learning on the job and he will spend another four years trying to embezzle, set up his businesses in the name of consolidating on the gains of the first term?
“Or we need a governor that from day one will hit the ground running?”
Shaibu, who had since indicated his interest in the Edo State governorship race, said for any government to succeed, there must be collaboration between the state and the Federal Government.
He said: “From my own experience, I have seen that for me to succeed as a governor, there must be collaboration.
“I understand the debt profile of the state and where I feel I can get funding to put up structure in the state.
“So, I won’t be coming to learn on the job, but to hit the ground running.”
The Deputy Governor said that the problem with the system in Edo State was that there had been too many seminars, workshops and programmes, yet the outcomes had never been implemented.
He said: “You see, the problem, what we have in the system, is that we have too many seminars, too many workshops, too many programmes and you don’t have time to implement their outcomes.”
Shaibu, who also spoke on rotational governorship among the three zones in the state, said: “There was not and had never been any convention in the state, either through political or traditional conferences, where such a position was zoned.”
He, however, said that he was an advocate of fairness and equity, adding: “Whoever talks about equity must come with clean hands.
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“Whereas other senatorial districts have had more than one turn in the governorship position in the state, Edo North had only one turn.
“We have had four governors from South, two from Central and only one from North.
“Just like my ambition to be the deputy governor was not mine, but I made myself available, so also the ambition to be governor is still not mine.
“I’m only making myself available.”
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