Edo APC, PDP Trade Words Over Alleged Diversion Of State Funds

Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has again raised the alarm about an alleged move by Edo State governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, to transfer the ownership of Radisson Hotel to a private company, just as he did to Edo State Modular Refinery.
The APC also alleged that the state government inflated the contract value of the hotel from N19 billion to N23 billion.
But the State Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare dismissed the allegations as a show of shame because the allegations were not true. He rather said that the state government had enthroned transparency and accountability in its administration of the state’s resources.
The State Acting Chairman of the party, Emperor Jarret Tenebe had raised an alarm last week over what he called the high level corruption and mismanagement of Edo State resources by the Obaseki government.
He spoke of how the contract for construction of “a poorly conceived” Radisson Hotel ballooned from N19.4bn to over N23bn in 12 months. He also raised questions about the true ownership of Radisson Hotel.
National Point reports that Tenebe at a press conference on the latest developments at the party secretariat in Benin City called on Edo people and the Economic Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to take note of another alleged financial round tripping that the governor has set in motion.
He used the occasion to draw the attention to how three years ago Governor Obaseki brought down the only state government library to construct Shoprite shopping mall at an initial contract sum of N5.4bn, which later escalated to N12bn. The contract was awarded to A&K Construction and later sublet to Shapooji Palloji.
He said that shopping mall contract has become a conduit to siphon government resources into private hands and that it is now the cesspool of corruption for officers in government.
He charged the EFCC to invite some government functionaries including Secretary to the State Government, Osarodion Ogie, Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Mrs. Adaze Aguele-Kalu, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Budget and Planning, Mr. Bernard Aigbe, Mr. Austin Osakue of Edo State Public Building and Maintenance, Mr. Osaigbove Iyoha, Chief of Staff to the Governor and Accountant General of Edo State for questioning.
In his response, the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Nehikhare said it was surprising that the APC had the boldness to talk in a country where an APC government had unleashed suffering on the people.
“Just like the ostrich, they have buried their heads in the sand and have continued to gush out lies and propaganda hoping to hoodwink our people and dampen their desire to break free from the stranglehold by which the APC has shackled them for the past nine years,” he said adding that they manufactured the stories just to make political capital in an election year.
“It is the same manner in which they manufactured the crisis with the palace, all in a desperate effort to hoodwink the people and reawaken their completely comatose party in Edo State.
“The governorship election in Edo State is around the corner and just the way they fooled the entire nation into bondage, they are hoping to replicate the same in Edo State.