As far as Edo state governorship aspirant on the platform of the All progressives Congress (APC) , Mr Gideon Ikhine aspirant is concerned, there is no anointed candidate for the party in the state.

Ikhine who spoke to reporters shortly after submitting his expression of interest and nomination forms at the national secretariat of the party in Abuja urged who claim that the former Governor of the state, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole already have an anionted candidate to desist from doing so.

Acknowledging that he enjoys a sound working relationship with Oshiomhole, he maintained that he remains the most acceptable and competent aspirant of the party.

“Any child that abuses his father don’t you know he will not go too far in life? He is our father in the state. I can never have any frosty relationship with him,” he said.

“There is what we call a will. Even God will not temper with your will. I am.not sure you are quoting him rightly. He has never on any occasion come out to say I have an anointed candidate. Please don’t misrepresent my leader.”

Decrying the level of indebted of Edo state, he promised to utilize the agricultural potentials of the state to turn around the fortunes of the state.

He added: “Talking about Edo State. Are we where we are supposed to be? Are we challenged by the situation in the country? The answer is yes. It is good to have an ambition. It is good to have a dream. It is good to have personal drive but above all, what is more important is the interest of the people.

” What drives me in Edo State is the vision of transforming Edo State into a destination of first choice for any person coming to Africa. Somebody might say this is quite laudable. But I want to tell you his achievements and it is achievable. Edo State today is situated geographically in one of the best zones in Africa.

” Edo State is like a hub. You cannot go to the East, West and North without passing through Edo State.

If you have such a state and you pass by and you look at the present situation you can start from the human capital. An average citizen in Edo State today are barely existing.

“They are not living. We must give this people a hope. We must give them a life. When we christen our campaign the beckon of hope, there is a reason we christened it the beckon of hope. We need to reestablish the beckon that made it what it was.

” Today, are we where we are supposed to be, no. What is the value we have as a state? The value we have today as a name is the Benin Kingdom. How have we been able to take advantage of the name? To transform it into socio-economic value for the people? We have not done that. This are some of the things we want to do. Focusing on tourism and rebuilding our infrastructure.”

Continuing, he noted: “Everybody seems to realise it today that we are in serious debt as a state. How are you going to pay that debt? Every person is running to become governor. Do they have programs? Do they understand the geography of the state? Do they know how they are going to transform the state from where it used to be to where it should be today?

“So, to think of becoming the governor of Edo state you must first think of how to grow the economy. If you cannot grow the economy because you cannot tell them you are going to give them free health, education and housing. Before you can give all of this you have to first aid foremost create wealth and give it to them.

“Government have no cash to give to people but they can provide a platform for our people to be rich. That is where I come in. Today Edo State is in debt. How are you going to pay the debt? Where are you going to get the money from?

“Agriculture outside tourism is going to be one area we are going to focus on. And in focusing on Agriculture, we are going to look at food crops and cash crops. We are going to be looking at ranching, that is cattle rearing. And we are going to look at farming. This are things that can provide basic things for people.

“And if we are going into Agriculture this will help us to developed smart cities around in Edo State. If you look at Edo State geographical history, the names and cities you have been hearing since 1963 are still the same cities you are hearing of. They cannot go any further rather they are deteriorating.

“So we are going to create smart cities because you built smart cities are agriculture. Those of you that have to Europe. You go to Europe you will know what is called city centre. You will see what I’d called industrial area. All the citity centres in Europe were developed by the Jewish people and they were created out of farm.

” That is why if you look at the Israeli types of farming you will see the cubits system. Men to develop forest and pit there to transform it into cities and towns. We are going to do this. Why are we focusing on food? If you look at your Google you will discover today Lagos consumed N4.6 billion of food daily.

Not monthly bit daily. Ibadan almost N2 billion daily. Onitsha N3.6 billion daily. This is what people consume daily. So as a state we want to be able to provide enough food for our people. And be able to feed the neighbouring states. There is really no land in Lagos to farm. Here our land is fertile. So why can’t we take advantage of it?

“Why can’t we think of going into mechanised farming and put people there? The richest people you have in Europe and America are farmers. Why do they have that interest? They have the basic needs wherever they are as farmers. I don’t know how many of you grow up to the point that when we were growing up every traditional stool in Nigeria had their police in the Palace. We used to call our own “Inunakpa”