Edo state governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has asserted that evil thrives where the forces of change decide to keep quiet, saying the consequence of not fighting are far more grave than the risk of challenging what is wrong.

Comrade Oshiomhole stated this at the grand reception held in honour of the new Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Hon Bright Omokhodion at Ekpoma, last weekend.

According to Oshiomhole, “my life history has taught me one thing, that men will not be free if they accept what is wrong merely because the people behind it are powerful.”

Meantime, A former member of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr Godday Okhini has revealed how a former Chairman of The PDP Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih told him to foment trouble and make the state ungovernable.

Speaking at a reception rally organized by the People of Esan West for the new Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon Bright Omokhodion, Mr. Okhini who also decamped to the Action Congress at the rally said ‘I was at the house of the Leader in Uromi, just last Saturday after I received his summons, and after receiving me, he said ‘…I want you to organize some boys and cause confusion at the rally they are organing for Omokhodion. I want you to cause confusion in Esan West.’

“I however told him, I said ‘Leader, I call you Leader because you are my leader now, but as soon as I step out of your house today, you’ll cease to be my Leader because I am joining my brother Omokhodion in the Action Congress’”.

Okhini said his decision to join the Action Congress was hinged on the fact that the Governor had good programmes to develop the state and he was keen to key into the plans as that is why he joined politics in the first place.

According to Governor Oshiomhole, democracy derives its appeal from popular participation, stressing that in Nigeria, politicians imposed the culture of dictatorship even as he said “God has used some of us to dismiss the old order.”

He re-echoed that the regime of one man dictatorship has been finally dismantled in Edo state, stressing that only the people can determine who rules them.

Comrade Oshiomhole posited that struggle for genuine democracy is about the people and about the younger ones.

He stated further that, “we should not encourage our children to grow up without asking questions, we must question our leaders, we must dispute their decisions and they must explain their decisions to us, and when they do, the society will be better for it. That is the promise of democracy.”

He noted that in the Action Congress the concept of one man one vote has gained currency.

In his words, “when we talk about one man one vote, it is about the people. No one can appreciate the people more than the people themselves”.