Dear friends in Diaspora.
It is with great pleasure I write this open letter with the utmost expectation that all is very well with you, your family and all your endeavours.
Your patriotism for your motherland is not in doubt because your decision to sojourn abroad became inevitable when the nation’s social economic and political stability in the past was hazy and not too friendly for comfort.
Then and probably now in some respects, the world continues to hold the view that Nigeria is too rich for its people to be poor and trapped in its peculiar agonies of rat race existence.
An African legend, Bob Marley once sang: ‘In the abundance of water the fool is thirsty.’ It may not be wrong to arrive at that conclusion though, when in the midst of the recession and hunger in the land, some serving senators and politicians are flaunting so much wealth. They live flamboyant lifestyles, purchase vehicles bought with hundreds of million naira in a country where majority of the people can hardly feed in a day.
This craze for acquiring wealth is now the motivation for every dick and harry hustling to occupy government offices, and not to serve the people, but rather to lord it over the people who voted them into office when they eventually get into power.
They are everywhere in the corridor of power, either at the local government councils, the state and federal government, the Judiciary and various government establishments.
The recklessness of these opportunist who steal government money and their nonchalant attitude to the plight of the majority of Nigerians who work to earn a living has become very worrisome lately.
But thank God, you guys were able to see the bleak situation ahead and you took the bold steps to seek a living in greener pastures and some of you are reaping from the fruits of that singular act today.
As a nation, we have so many reasons why we are where we are and one of them is the ineptitude of some of our leaders who have deliberately made democracy not to work as well as our inability to manage our God given resources.
However, I must stress that to make democracy work maximally, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers, as one who does not vote or participate in the process of choosing who becomes a leader or does not contribute in any meaningful way how to change things for the good of all has no right to complain.
In the words of the former United States of America President, Barrack Obama, ‘Our destiny is not written for us but by us. Africa does not need strong men but strong institutions.’ Therefore, as a nation, or as a state, we need to build strong institutions that will be the agent of the change we desire.
Now, as friends of Edo State in Diaspora who want the state to become the envy of other states, we need your collaboration to build those strong institutions that are prevalent in developed climes across the world. Even if you have never participated in the electoral process, you are invited to partake in the building process with your prayers and campaign for good governance.
As the 2024 off season election draws near in Edo state, we are faced with the herculean task of getting a successor for Mr. Godwin Obaseki led administration that will put sustainable structures on what has been built already.
It is however sad to note that some Politicians have contributed to the problems Nigerians are facing today. We have witnessed how a new government voted into power abandoned projects embarked upon by the previous administration leading to series of abandoned projects everywhere.
In Edo, we must ensure that the successor of Obaseki will not crumble or stop what has been built to start all over with new programmes. We can see the progress made so far by the present administration led by Mr. Godwin Obaseki and there are quite a lot that has been done and any friendly incoming governor will have no problem taking off smoothly.
The Governor has lived up to the expectations of observers as a political leader with a focus and footprints for posterity’s sake. He has brought from his background as a technocrat, the spirit of the never say die attitude and succeeded to prove skeptics wrong as a successful business man and entrepreneur.
We recall when he commenced work in 2016, during his first tenure in office, Obaseki delved in to projects that some people never thought he could accomplish anything meaningful because they wondered where he would get the huge sum of money to embark on such gigantic projects like refineries, Electricity Power, Sea Ports and making Edo State a destination for investors.
But he was never perturbed, rather he continued with so much zeal, even when he was distracted with so many huddles and they called him all sorts of names, including an MOU governor.
However, over seven years later, it is now obvious that the governor meant well for Edo people with the transformation going on across the state. Edo people, irrespective of political affiliation should not be misled to vote for a governor who will not continue with the programmes of the present administration.
According to scriptures, leaders are from God and it is therefore incumbent on us all to pray for them.It has become necessary to appeal to those scrambling to occupy Osadebe Avenue that they should know that Edo can only develop if there is continuity of projects.
Those of you in Diaspora with passion for the development of the state should also think of what you can do for the state rather than what the state can do for you. We are happy that so many of our brothers and sisters who have sojourned abroad and have made fortunes through their hard work and ingenuity have signified interest to be part of the transformation drive in the state.
In this era of economic recession, all hands must be on deck to ensure that the right candidate takes over from Obaseki to continue and complete the projects going on in the state.
One thing we must know is that some things just do not happen, especially if God is involved. If you are interested to ensure the state is developed then you must support the continuity of the good works going on in the state.
It should be with sincere motive to see yourself as a volunteer for this mission. Edo State need your support, your investments, not necessarily because you want to make more money, but because you want to make yourself available and ensure good governance prevail and not allowing politicians run down the state for their personal gains.
We are going to be very happy to see your contributions in the state especially in the area of coming to invest and create opportunities for the people through the industries that are springing up across the state. It is our expectation that just as you have made your impact felt in other places, we want to be beneficiaries here in Edo state too. Obaseki has always said that his focus is to industrialize the state and with you guys, this feat will be easily achieved when an industrialists and entrepreneur who can attract multi-billion dollar to the state occupies the seat at Osadebe Avenue.
The clarion call on our diaspora friends is that there is no better time than now for you to galvanize support for a government that will build on what has been done for the overall interest of Edo people and the man qualified for the job is Asue Ighodalo.
