Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has debunked rumors making the round that he was fatally injured in an auto accident accident at Ewu, in Esan Central Local Government Area of the state on December 28, necessitating his being flown abroad for treatment.
Debunking the rumour that he was injured and flown abroad following the accident, while presiding over the first state executive council meeting for the year, yesterday, Oshiomhole reassured the people that he is well and alive and that he had every reason to give thanks to God.
He said “it is true that on the 28th December, 2013, at about 10am, I was heading from my village to Benin City to receive the Vice President who was visiting Uromi to attend the birthday celebration of Chief Tony Anenih.Even though he was on a private visit, I am obliged by protocol to receive him.
“I believe somewhere in Ewu, a bus that was packed with goods veered off its lane and headed straight to my car and hit the car. But for the fact that the car is armored, it would have somersaulted given its impact and the bus driver was clearly on high speed.
“The luck however was that we were not on speed and so it was possible for the vehicles in my convoy to stop, otherwise, all the vehicles would have ran into my car and one thing would have led to the other”, he said .
Giving thanks to God for His mercy, Oshiomhole said “all of us in the car, my ADC, driver and myself were all having our seatbelts on. The airbags were all activated. Nothing happened to any of us. I still went to the airport to receive the Vice President after the accident.
The Governor said “they say the devil is a liar. It does not matter what they say. God delivered all of us; none of us was injured in any manner. All those stories about being hospitalized and being under intensive care in an undisclosed hospital are figments of the imagination of those who were parroting the story.
“The important thing for me is that anything could have happened. The driver passed the first three vehicles and went straight to hit the one that I was in. you would recall that on the eve of the campaigns for 2012 election, that same car was the one I was driving and a vehicle in a
similar manner came and rammed into a car I was supposed to be in”, he added.
He said “bad news spreads fast. As you can see, in spite of God’s mercy, people prefer to spread false story and construct what they imagine. It is only God who defines who we are and our future”, he added.
Sets Targets for 2014
Governor Oshiomhole has assured the people of the state that government would redouble efforts this year to sustain and complete all on-going projects.
He gave the assurance today at the first State Executive Council meeting in the year 2014.
According to him, “2014 marks the beginning of my sixth year in office and obviously we have learnt a lot from the past six years. Edo People would expect that we have perfected the game and the quality of service delivery should improve.
“We want to see a much cleaner environment. We want to see more greens and see light permanently on, we want to have our drains clean and we will take full advantage of the dry season to commence work on the number of roads within Benin City, across Edo Central and Edo North.
“We would sustain and redouble efforts to complete the Central Hospital which suffered a setback as a result of an unfortunate incident. I am confident that this year, we would make a lot of progress and have the hospital completed and commissioned.
“We would redouble our efforts to build more schools, both primary and secondary and give attention to tertiary institutions. We will deal with the problem of pensioners retiring and not getting their pension. This would become a thing of the past”, he said.
The Governor said that expectations would be high as we move towards the 2015 elections, adding that there would be political pressure on all of us.
“Let me advise strongly that we must recognize that politics without purpose is a meaningless exercise. The purpose of politics is to use the power to address the concern of the society.
“So as much as we are not going to be indifferent, we must remember that Edo people expect us to give more attention to development. Which is why I have advised that those with political interest, it is still too early to go into politicking”, he said.
Oshiomhole stressed that the selling point for the APC is the achievements and time lost cannot be recovered.
The Governor advised members of the state Exco to devote 95% of their time to governance issues and assured that “I am committed to give my best and I remain focused in delivering services to the good people of Edo State”.
