- Govt is functioning optimally, gov insists
Adibe Emenyonu in Benin
The All Progressives Congress (APC) Campaign Council has accused the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, of abandoning governance completely because members of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), have allegedly turned him into a money making venture.
The party in a media briefing in Benin-city, the state capital, yesterday titled|: ‘Re: Governance on Permanent Vacation in Edo State; Where is Governor Obaseki’, noted that since Obaseki jump ship from APC to PDP, he has completely forgotten the purpose for which he was elected, necessitating the increase in crimes in the state.
Against this backdrop, the APC called on President Muhammadu Buhari to mandate the governor to increase the monthly subvention to the police and other security agencies from the ‘paltry N5 million’ to something reasonable to enable them function optimally in their constitutional duty of protecting lives and property in the state.
The National Vice-Chairman of APC Media Campaign Council, Rt. Hon. Patrick Obahiagbon, who stated this yesterday while briefing journalists on happenings in the state, said the revelation became important since “the governor has turned his attention full-time on how to subvert the September 19 election through rigging, intimidation, arm-twisting, unbridled threats, violence, and other anti-democratic underhand tactics.”
He said at the meantime, what is happening at Dennis Osadebey Avenue, the seat of power, is nothing but the reports of conflicts over the illegal sharing of state resources; charged comments encouraging the youths to embrace violence, and mass resignations which have affected the government and reduced governance to a mere show business.
According to Obahiagbon, “Governance has taken flight in Edo State. The only thing that matters to Obaseki is the activities of members of his divided party, the PDP, who have since turned him into an ATM machine in a smash and grab stratagem before the curtains are finally drawn on his lackluster four-year tenure.”
But in his reaction, the state Governor, Obaseki, said his government has a robust governance system in place that is responding to the daily needs of the Edo people in all sectors in the state amid the ongoing electioneering.
Obaseki, who spoke through his Special Adviser on Media and Communication Strategy, Crusoe Osagie, noted that he has always been known for the best-in-class managerial skills, a fact the opposition (APC) cannot controvert, and has been multi-tasking amid the demands of his reelection campaigns.
Specifically, he said salaries and pensions for the Edo workers and pensioners for the month of July were paid on the 23rd of the month to enable ‘our Muslim brothers and sisters celebrate the Eid-El-Kabir festival’.
According to the governor through his media aide, “Work is in progress on the several infrastructural projects across the state, and will be sustained all through the campaign period.
“The APC continues to reinforce its disadvantage each time it attempts to fault my managerial ability, because Edo people know that I am head and shoulder above Osagie Ize-Iyamu in human and material resources management, and I feel secure, and in charge of governance, especially in the application of our scarce resources.”
