Edo Poll: Onaiwu Chides Homegrown Mantra

A governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the forthcoming Edo State governorship election, Osaro Onaiwu, yesterday, chided those calling themselves homegrown for the purpose of gaining cheap popularity in the name of election.

Rather he  said  it is about the capacity to deliver the dividend of democracy to the people of the state and not mere sloganeering of homegrown.

He expressed his views while speaking with newsmen in Benin ahead of the party’s primary.

Onaiwu said that there is nobody that is more homegrown than himself if that is what they should go by because he has represented the state in a competition when it was still Bendel State and has equally served the founders of the state which none of those chorusing homegrown has not done.

“Let first of all talk about the homegrown thing because nobody is more homegrown than me because one, my wife is Edo. Majority of the aspirants their wives are not Edo.

“So, my wife, as governor to be, my wife understands the values and culture of the women and which is key, that is one.

“I served the two major people that built Edo, Samuel Ogbemudia, was the maker of Edo, then the man who created the state, Akhomo, so I served him.

“So, when they say homegrown, there has to be a definition of homegrown. So, I have served the two great people of this state. I have also participated in sports festivals. I played handball for Bendel State.

“So who could be more homegrown than me? Let any of the aspirants come out and put a medal on the table to say this is what I did for Bendel State when he was young.

“This is not the time for us to talk about who is homegrown and who is not homegrown. We are looking at capacity, we are looking at those who are ready to serve. In Igboland, there is what we call the apprentice system,” he stated.