I planned to ‘Japa’ before winning House of Reps election under Labour Party – Edo Lawmaker-elect

Esosa Iyawe, who won the Oredo Federal Constituency of Edo State in the House of Representatives in last Saturday’s National Assembly elections, said he had planned to relocate to another country before winning the election.

Iyawe said the high cost of living as well as the deplorable state of the Nation forced him to contest and that he had even made plans to relocate before he decided to venture into politics.

The 40-year-old graduate of Benson Idahosa University said he moved to the Labour Party when Peter Obi defected from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and joined the party.

He stated these during an interview with PUNCH.

Iyawe said, ‘’At one point, I even had plans of relocating to another country because the more one works, the less one gets as the naira loses value daily. The cost of living is high while inflation is also skyrocketing even though Nigeria is blessed with natural resources. A lot of countries don’t have one-10th of what we have but they are living well due to proper planning while we are still battling to make things work for several years and we remain underdeveloped. So, I decided to put my hat in the ring to ensure that if Obi became the president, I would assist in making and supporting bills that would enable him to function well as one of his disciples. I believe that we need laws based on common sense to make things work. As an engineer, I believe that I have the capacity to do things that will positively impact the people of Oredo. That was why I actually jumped into the race.”

Speaking on how he carried out his campaign and was able to make people vote for him, the lawmaker-elect, said, ‘’I prayed to God for people in the constituency to see the good things I was doing during the campaign. I didn’t conduct my campaign the way others did. I went to see the common man who the leaders had been using over the years. I told them that they could not collect money for their votes and still expect to get power. Collecting money means you sell your right to question the leaders when things are not going well in the country. My slogan during the campaign was: ‘You either take power or money’. I let them know that taking power means a better future for our children. If I wasn’t a candidate, I would have been among the people at the forefront of campaigning against the old order.”