By Jefferson Ibiwale, Benin

The national leader of the All Progressive Congress, APC, has described the rule of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, at the federal and state levels as a colossal waste, saying that there is not much to show in terms of development in states controlled by the party.

Nowhere else is this more obvious, Tinubu said, than in Edo state, largely ruled by the PDP, where there had been little development until the advent of the government of Adams Oshiomole, which he said had transformed the state in just six years.

The APC leader and former governor of Lagos State made these assertions at the weekend when he commissioned some projects in Edo State, including a new 60-bed Specialist Hospital built by the administration of governor Oshiomhole in Ewohinmi, Esan South East local government area.

The hospital was first conceptualised over 25 years ago but had been abandoned by successive administrations until it was taken over and completed by the present administration.

Tinubu criticised successive PDP administrations in the state for achieving little or nothing in the area of infrastructural development and gave credit to Oshiomole for what he had done in six years.

“What you have in Edo State is common sense development revolution. Good security, employment, potable water supply, agriculture, good road infrastructure, vocational job to train and develop your mind and become independent in life. That is common sense development revolution,” he stated.

“We have spent six years now and six years of our arrival with our broom, we have been sweeping the dirt away. We say change from deceit; change from lies; change from excuses. Today the country is in darkness because of the deception of the PDP.”

He urged the people to keep up the momentum of development by ensuring that they vote in the forthcoming general elections.

“You want water to flow; you want good roads; you want potable water supply, then vote for APC. The reward for hard work is more work. So as the APC is doing well in Edo state, you expect more work. You must vote for more work and more facilities. Democracy is not a spectator’s game. If you have no card, go and collect one and vote against the PDP. There can be no running water if you don’t vote for APC. The PDP has failed and they will continue to fail,” he said.

The APC leader also called on Nigerians elsewhere to vote out the PDP in other states in order to enjoy the kind of development the APC has achieved in Edo and other states controlled by it.

“The only way you can get it at the federal level is to have the voter’s card and vote out the PDP. The 16 years of the Peoples Democratic Party did not produce anything. They were here and they did not do roads to reach your communities and they could not give you boreholes,” he stated.

Speaking at the occasion, an elated Oshiomhole said the hospital project is a fulfillment of this administration’s promise to extend development to the grassroots.

“For us in Edo State, the fact of being rural does not mean the people are inferior. Rural life is a function of location and not of quality and consistent with the commitment of our party to have an all-inclusive development, the one that seeks to make people feel the impact of governance regardless of location, what you have seen is a practical statement that this is possible beyond rhetoric,” the governor said.

Oshiomole alleged that previous governments in the state had been awarding contracts for the construction of the hospital but had been using it to siphon public funds.

“In fact several governments after government had awarded it and they were just using it to siphon money in the name of the people of Ewohimi and the blocks they were using were so bad. We had to demolish that foundation and build a completely new hospital,” he said.