Edo 2020 debate: Obaseki, Ize-iyamu promise to overhaul tax system
… as Flash Poller scores Obaseki 76.3%, Ize-iyamu 23.7%
It is not government that will create the jobs but the private sector and we are going to give them the conducive environment to do this, according to Governor Godwin Obaseki, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate at the gubernatorial debate in Channels TV yesterday.
Before the debate, Chris Nehikhare, the state publicity secretary of the PDP, made the appeal at a press briefing in Benin City.
According to Nehikhare, who is also the chairman media and publicity subcommittee, Edo 2020 campaign council, the election is a very serious business and the party will not take it lightly.
“We want to appeal to all Edo State indigenes that the election is not a do-or-die affair for Governor Godwin Obaseki. What we need is a free and fair governorship election, and we are confident that Governor Godwin Obaseki will get the second term,” he said.
But Osagie Ize-iyamu, governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the election coming up September 19, and Governor Obaseki promised to review the tax mechanism in the state to capture more indigenes and private sector if elected as governor.
Ize-iyamu promised to engage in aggressive tax reform that would capture those who were presently not paying tax, but however added that his administration would be considerate and would not tax companies making profit as incentive to continue in business.
Meanwhile, shortly after the debate, the result received from Flash Poller, an international poll agency, showed Obaseki garnered 76.3 percent of the positive votes while APC’S Ize-iyamu scored 23.7 percent.
Also, the viewers who were sampled randomly by Flash Poller noted that Obaseki demonstrated a firm understanding of development issues - resource mobilisation, partnership with development agents such as the World Bank and high premium on due process, transparency and the rule of law.
Some participants linked Obaseki’s outstanding performance in the area highlighted above, to his vast experience in the corporate world, his finance background, his eight-year job as head of the Economic Management Team in the state and his four years as governor of the state.
“From Obaseki’s presentation, it is glaring that he understands modern tools of development and governance, such as the effective deployment of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and strategic partnership with the private sector, traditional institution and other development actors,” a viewer of the debate, and poll respondent, said.
However, Ize-iyamu’s 23.7 percent votes came on the back of his perceived ability to galvanise the political class, given his longer history in partisan politics. But the viewers surveyed said they wouldn’t know how this affinity with the political class would translate to enhanced socio-economic status for majority of Edo people.
Specifically, the sampled population for the poll scored Obaseki higher than the APC candidate in elocution, presentation, comportment, appreciation of issues, use of rebuttal, use of argument, factuality and comportment, amongst other rubrics, with an average score of 7 to 3, in favour of the PDP candidate.