Governors are real enemies of Nigeria- Sen. Mathew Uhroghide
By Titus Akhigbe
Senator representing Edo South senatorial district, Mathew Uhroghide has said that bunch of political problems in the country are create by state governors.
The lawmaker said the governors arrogated too much power to themselves and always create political differences in their states for selfish reasons of self perpetration in power.
Senator Uhroghide in an exclusive interview with the Daily Times said it is unfortunate that most state governors scored below average on performance index card.
Speaking on what he called excesses of the state executives, he said “they are.
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the problem. I am not mincing words, they control the President, they want to control the National Assembly, they control their state assembly, and they control their local government administration. I believe, they don’t understand their role in democracy.
“If there are any parameters to judge what they have done in the states, very few governors will pass. The development of a state is multi-faceted, it is not just the number of roads you tar that determine whether you have done well or not. What about the human capital development? What about the different sectors of our economic life and the lives of our people?
“The man that you are building roads or bridges for, how have you developed him, so that he can fend for himself and his family? You must develop the man in totality. Not we are paying salary. I beg your pardon! Is paying salary an achievement?
“To know the quality of development in the states, let go to the State House of Assembly to know how accountable they are. The National Assembly can still talk to the President, but how many members of the state assembly can raise their voices on the governors.
“The governors are the problem in this country and I say it with a lot of emphasis. They are going beyond their boundaries. There are constitutional provisions of what the governor should do.
Not when you want to vote for a national assembly member , and your governor will say, don’t vote like this. Even people in the national assembly are even scared of them. If you want to say something, they say, don’t say it, if you say it, the governor will come and remove you.
“They are impediment to good governance in our country, within the provision of the constitution of the country.
Lets put indices to assess the performance of governors state by state and see if ten percent will pass it. They overburden themselves with a lot of things. They want to tell the president who to appoint, they want to tell the president who should succeed him, does the president tell you who should succeed you?
Senator Uhroghide also delve into how governors have impacted negatively in party politics at both national and state levels.
He said governors use to dictatecthst “one of us must become president, one of us must become Vice President.That is what they do. They made Ali Modu Sheriff acting Chairman, and that one capitalized on the lacuna in the PDP constitution and was procuring judgments all over the place, till they came to us.
“He was the contraption of the governors, but that one now became an albatross, we have to come and rescue the party. Now, they have started again, you have to go and lick the boot of the governor, if you want to return to the National Assembly.
“That is why I said, if you are coming to politics, you must have a level of Independence, both intellectually and economically.
“Go to churches in Benin, I lit up the places, I have empowered over 6000 people, I given scholarship to over 300 students, children of the poor. There is no Ward out of the 77 Wards that I don’t have a project.
The quality of governance is detected by the executive, because even when we make laws that will affect the common man, laws that will give the common man sense of belonging, it is still at the mercy of the executive. It is executive that will implement it ,so the executive should wake up.”
