A community group, Auchi Dynamic Youth, Iyekhei Zone, has called on the Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, to visit erosion-ravaged Iyekhei Quarters in Auchi and address the environmental crisis facing the community.
The group, in a statement made available to Saturday PUNCH and signed by its Chairman, Oseni Alidu, expressed displeasure over what it described as the governor’s failure to inspect erosion sites in the area, despite responding to similar calls from other parts of Auchi.
The group said the omission of Iyekhei Quarters from the governor’s recent visit to erosion-prone areas was “disturbing and unjust,” especially given the threats posed to lives, properties, and infrastructure.
“The governor’s failure to visit Iyekhei sends a message of exclusion and marginalisation to our people. Every quarter in Auchi deserves equal attention and intervention, especially in a matter as serious as environmental degradation and public safety.
“It’s so disheartening that Iyekhei, that stands firm as one of APC’s strongest area which produced the likes of late Alhaji Usman Shagadi, a man who brought the APC to Etsako West, and by extension, Edo North, is given such unfair treatment by the APC-led administration,” the statement said.
But the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Fred Itua, said the state government was not marginalising any community.
Itua, in an interview with our correspondent, stated that areas with genuine concerns would be addressed and properly captured in the state’s budget.
“The governor is not marginalising any section of the state. Communities with genuine concerns will get the needed attention from the state government. They’ll be adequately captured in the budget and attended to,” he said.
