By Samuel Ogunsona
Hours to the Edo State governorship election, candidate of the Accord Party, Mr. Kennedy Iyere, has withdrawn from the race, citing the intraparty conflict threatening to tear the party apart.
He specifically fingered alleged plots “displayed by Enabulele and some leaders of the Accord Party” to muscle him out of contention and overturn his candidacy.
The party had been rocked by a controversy as to who is the authentic candidate of the party in tomorrow’s governorship poll.
Only on Wednesday, Dr. Bright Enabulele, had insisted that he is the authentic flagbearer of the Accord Party in Saturday’s poll, urging whoever felt otherwise to wait after the election, then go to court to sort things out.
Indeed, Enabulele brushed the controversy aside describing it as an attempt to distract him from the bigger issue of governance and the urgent need to fix Edo which he said has been run down by some people.
On the other hand, Iyere said he took the decision to quit because of a compelling need for higher level and wider space to serve. A bigger space and higher calling, he emphasized, would give him a proper latitude to deploy his knowledge and expertise to solving the myriad of challenges confronting the nation, especially the economic crisis currently roiling the country.
Disclosing that he was now “in alignment with the Federal Government”, Iyere said his partnership with the centre was driven by a selfless desire to serve humanity through public service, rather than partisan politics.
He continued: “My focus is no longer on the governorship seat but on a higher and bigger portfolio than a Governor. I want to serve Nigerians at large and not just Edo indigenes. I want to help rebuild Nigeria’s lost economic greatness.
“Serving as a Governor will actually place limitations on me,” he declared. “So, when I saw the plots displayed by Enabulele and some leaders of Accord Party at the State Level, then, I knew it was time for me to embrace a higher calling, which was to step up my game to the federal level where I am presently hugely contributing my efforts towards national development.
“I am assisting the federal government to devise a road map for the economic inclusion, engagement, self-emancipation and de-radicalisation of youths by designing and driving social intervention programmes that aim to mitigate unemployment and enhance youth and women entrepreneurial opportunities for mass self-employment, wealth creation and poverty alleviation.
“These programmes will fully kick-start in the month of October 2024 and Nigeria will be placed yet again on the pathway of rapid economic recovery. Our intervention programmes will enhance opportunities for youth entrepreneurship engagement in multiple sectors, especially agriculture, food and beverage, technology, entertainment, innovation and creativity.
“More than six million youth and women entrepreneurs (as MSME owners and operators) shall be created or produced within the first one year of the official kick-off of this entrepreneurship programme. Nigerian youths and women lack access to the business capital required as entrepreneurs to either start up a new business or operate an existing business. This programme will squarely address that essential need.”