Lagos-based Ighodalo, a lawyer; who hails from Ewohimi, Esan Southeast Local Government of Edo State, was at his ward in his hometown, according to a viral video, but he could not speak Esan language, while he still described himself as a true Esan boy.
The governorship aspirant (Ighodalo), said: “I do things in Esanland, because we are not noisy. My brother is here, I am here, my parents were here. I am a true Esan boy. I am not going to use home boy, because they have used it badly. I am an Esan boy.
“I’m a true Esan boy. I am a true Edo boy. I am a true Nigerian. This is what I am. Since 2008, I have been in the economic team of the state, starting from the administration of former governor Adams Oshiomhole. Since Godwin Obaseki came in as chairman, Economic Team, I have been coming to Edo State to support and advise the government.
“I have been advising since 2008, which is 15 years ago, which means I came into Edo State, five, six, so many times a year for government business, not to talk of my own business. So, people can say what they like. Because we are not noisy, and because we are not jumping from one ‘mama put’ to another, does not mean am not a true Edo boy.
“This issue of an Edo boy, this issue of a true son of the soil is in the heart.
There are many of our brothers and sisters in the diaspora who are more Edo than many of them who live here. So it is in the heart, it is what you do in your heart, it is not how many pepper soup joints you go. So, all those of us in the diaspora, those of us in the diaspora in Nigeria, diaspora abroad, all the best hands must come to develop Edo State.
“Someone cannot sit in the village or in ‘mama put’ and say the rest of us cannot come and develop our state. It is not done. We must all come together and develop Edo State, plus the people in ‘mama put,’ plus the people in Canada, we must come together and develop Edo State.”
Senator Oshiomhole, a former national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Deputy Governor Philip Shaibu, also a governorship aspirant on PDP’s platform, hail from Edo North, while Obaseki is an indigene of Benin in Edo South.
