Crusoe Osagie’s AIT Interview Blunder, By Pett Eghobamien

Mr. Crusoe Osagie, a staffer in the publicity department of the Edo State Government of Governor Godwin Obaseki was on AIT a few days ago and either deliberately or out of ignorance, made incorrect, untrue and malicious claims about the superlative representation which Senator Matthew Urhoghide put up in behalf of the good people of Edo South Senatorial District in his two tenures which spanned June 2015 to June 2023.

In recognition of that exemplary represenation, the Edo South Development Patriots, a non-governmental, non-political association organised a befitting homecoming reception in honor of him.

I am making this rejoinder on the off chance that Mr. Osagie made his erroneous claims out of genuine ignorance.

I would not have deigned to respond, as is customary with me, if I had suspected that Mr. Osagie’s vituperations may be anything otherwise.

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The homecoming party which was attended by reputable dignitataries including the Iyase of Benin, Chief Sam Igbe and several senators and legislators both former and serving, may have sparked Mr. Osagie’s hasty interview which was aimed at denigrating the persona of Senator Urhighide.

But hard as that attempt may try, it cannot detract from the truths which are:

1. Senator Matthew Urhoghide exceeded expectations by putting up a representation of his constituents never before seen in Edo State.

All 77 wards that make up the 7 local government areas of Edo South Senatorial District have at least three projects facilitated in them by Senator Urhoghide.

The projects range from solar-powered boreholes to market stalls to roads and bridges to school blocks and solar-powered street lighting systems.

2. Mr. Osagie’s employer campaigned with these projects when he ran for office the second time. The projects became reference points at visits to where they are located on the campaign trail of Gov. Godwin Obaseki’s.

3. Governor Obaseki himself praised the efforts of Senator Urhoghide on numerous occasions when they were still members of the same political party before the latter decided to, for reasons that Edo people understand, resign his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

4. Mr. Osagie should not forget that he has a job today is all thanks to Senator Urhoghide who, according to the testimony from Governor Obaseki about his own travails in the hands of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and the All Progressives Congress members loyal to him, singlehandedly rescued them by yielding the PDP platform to them to actualize their second term ambition.

Senator Urhoghide’s sacrificial effort in giving Obaseki and his people a safe landing is a story told by Governor Obaseki himself to Edo people and indeed the whole world when he took the microphone at the 66th birthday party of Senator Matthew Urhoghide to address guests at the event.

5. No amount of blackmail or attempts at it can hoodwink Edo people and the world about the achievements of Senator Urhoghide which are contained in a compendium distributed during his campaign for second tenure in 2019 and which has just been recently updated to capture his second tenure.

This brochure silences any doubters and puts out there in the public space, irrefutable proofs and evidence of Senator Urhoghide’s achievements. Edo people know and can see these proofs.

Anyone therefore who attempts to disprove, deny or even denigrate them will really be, more than doing a disservice to a representation that should attract nothing but only praise and gratitude, but would also be insulting the sensibilities and intelligence of Edo South indigenes in whose localities these projects are sited.

The people can see, feel and hear. They do not need an Osagie to make them see the 6 bridges in Iyekogba Communities that they cross everyday to get to civilization and which were not there until Senator Urhoghide made them happen there.

They do not need to watch the AIT interview to be convinced that the scholarships awarded to 367 beneficiaries (their children and wards) every year were done by Senator Urhoghide from allowances at the Senate as he promised on his campaign trail and which earned him the nickname ‘the Promise keeper’.

They also would not listen to Mr. Osagie as he attempts to tell them that the over 2000 poles of solar-powered street lights dotted across several streets in all 77 wards of Edo South Senatorial District got to those locations by chance.

If Mr. Osagie really and honestly wants to know all about the admirable achievements of Senator Matthew Urhoghide, he should read from cover to cover the 192-paged brochure which I will have sent to him in a day or two.

The grounds have shifted from beneath the feet of those who spew falsehoods for political reasons.

Edo people have gone past that charade now. They are wiser, more circumspect and more sophisticated.

They know where their bread is buttered and Mr. Crusoe Osagie’s preoccupation now should be how to extricate himself from the self-inflicted ignorant posture that he has, by his uninformed interview, painted to Edo people.

He must have to apologize to Edo people and own up that he made a mistake and maybe then the people will forgive him.

But while we might sympathize with him for his present discomfiture, we cannot condone a hasty and misleading attitude informed by subservience for self enhancement.

▪︎ Pett Eghobamien
Personal Secretary to Senator Matthew Urhoghide