A former two-term member of the House of Representatives, Engr. Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama, has warned against using the Edo South Senatorial District ticket to compensate any individual ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Ogbeide-Ihama, who has joined the race for the Edo South Senate seat, said competence and capacity must remain the key considerations in choosing the party’s candidate.
The ex-rep member who is a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), spoke on Wednesday while declaring his intention before party leaders and supporters in his Oredo Ward 2 party secretariat in Benin City.
“You cannot use a senatorial ticket for pity or compensation. It must be based on competence, capacity and earned,” he said, noting that he won his two House of Representatives elections on the platform of an opposition party in Edo State.
The former lawmaker, however, acknowledged that other aspirants are qualified, but insisted he has the edge in experience.
“Legislative business is about experience. I am a two-term House of Representatives member and one of the youngest. This is youth o’clock,” he said.
He added that effective representation at the National Assembly requires not just lawmaking but the ability to lobby and attract development projects.
“To get constituency projects into the budget, you must be experienced. I used my experience to light up Oba Market and execute other projects during my time in the National Assembly. The same applies in the Senate,” he said.
