Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has said he does not want to be remembered for the many fights he had during his tenure as governor of the state.
He stated this while fielding questions from newsmen after he commissioned the Airport Road Parks and Garden, where he disclosed that plans had been made to ensure the sustainability of the garden.
This came as the state government said the arrest of four officials of the state by the Economic and Financial Crimes and Commission, EFCC, was a plan to ground the state barely 10 days to hand over to a new government.
Recall that the out going governor had several battles with the political class in the All Progressives Congress, APC, where he first contested and won in 2016, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, where he defected to and won his re-election in 2020, his deputy, Philip Shaibu, who was impeached and later reinstated by the court, 14 elected lawmakers who were not sworn in till their tenure ended in 2023 and others.
When asked how he would like to be remembered after his tenure, Obaseki said: “Certainly not for the fights.”
On plans for sustaining the project beyond his administration, said: “When we thought about all these public spaces and how to manage them, we also created a revenue model to support them.
“For instance, all the revenue from billboards around here will come into managing them and Prestige Hotel will also sustain it. For community support, the military has promised to support security.
“I believe first in doing the work before celebrating. We will try and commission as much projects as possible, but I don’t think we will be commissioning as much as 10 percent of what we have done and that is why the people came out and voted for us.
“I feel appreciated, the response from our people is quite commendable and no wonder people came out and voted for us the way we did. I can’t be tired of saying thank you for the opportunity to serve.”
