A frontline governorship aspirant under the platform of the Labour Party (LP) in the forthcoming 2024 Edo State governorship election, Barrister Kenneth Imansuangbon, has vowed to secure the state through the creation of jobs to the teeming youths.
Imasuangbon, who made the pledge in Benin City, Edo State, on Tuesday evening when he paid homage to the Benin throne to declare his intention to contest the apex office in the state and to receive royal blessings from the Benin monarch, further pledged his allegiance to traditional institutions if given the opportunity to govern the state.
Imansuagbon’s visit to the revered Benin monarch came a few hours after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) released the timetable for the Edo and Ondo State governorship elections.
The governorship aspirant, popularly referred to as the ‘Riceman’, was accompanied by top LP chieftains in the state, even as he insisted that a state wherein the youths are gainfully employed is a secured state.
He stated: “Mine is to create jobs for the younger ones, enough is enough for joblessness. If you create jobs, you have created a secured state. I will swiftly and quickly secure the state through job creation. I am from the private sector, what I have learnt over the years in the private sector is how to create jobs; how to fix schools; how to make people happy through regular payment of salaries.”
The governorship aspirant, who is an educationist and a business mogul, further promised to make education accessible to all Edo children if given the opportunity to govern the state.
“I want to make sure that education will not be a burden to parents in Edo State. Children who should be in school must be in school under my watch as governor. Also, I want to make sure our teachers are well paid as at when due. This is what I have been doing as a proprietor of a private school,” he said.
While promising to “return the state to the good days of Ambrose Alli and General Sam Ogbemudia,” Imansuagbon further said: “My priority is to take away the suffering we are experiencing today in Edo State; the bad roads that are in every nook and corner of the state; the pains and shame of bad roads in our state, I am concerned in fixing them in the first one year in office.”
In his response, Oba of Benin, Ewuare II, while declaring that the Benin throne is apolitical, said: “We have prayed for you; I mandated the Chiefs to pray for you.”
The Oba added: “The Benin throne remains apolitical. We cannot accept one and leave the other. So, we will endeavour to pray quietly for a man that will respect the people, make them happy and put food on their table. A man that will respect traditional institutions.”
