Edo Governor-elect, Okpebholo, Mocks Obaseki Over $45m Loan

Edo State governor-elect, Senator Monday Okpebholo, has mocked the outgoing administration of Governor Godwin Obaseki at the weekend, following media reports attributed to its agents about purported plans to secure a $45 million loan from the Chinese government.

In a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja by Senator Okpebholo’s office and signed by his media aide, Godspower Inegbe, the governor-elect urged Obaseki to use the remaining days in office to reflect on his mismanagement of the state in the last eight years.

Okpebholo said agents of the outgoing administration in the state dubiously claimed that his visit to the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria at the diplomat’s behest was part of moves to negotiate a loan on behalf of the state.

He said that, as governor-elect, he lacks the constitutional powers to execute any functions on behalf of the state until he officially assumes office. He wonders why Obaseki’s handlers will resort to blackmail.

The statement reads: “We wish to draw the attention of the general public to the mischievous publication, which is speculating that the winner of the 21st November governorship election in Edo state, Senator Monday Okpebholo, was in talks with a Chinese agency to obtain a loan of $45.21 million to execute the construction of three flyovers in Benin City.

“We are constrained to put the record straight. The governor-elect, Senator Monday Okpebholo, on invitation, was in the office of the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria in Abuja when the photograph they are now sharing on the internet was taken.

“The governor-elect was not on a mission to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the China-Exim Bank for a loan, as the said publication dubiously claimed.

“Understandably, as governor-elect, Senator Okpebholo is not in any official capacity to obtain any loan on behalf of the state; rather, he is working on how to offset the numerous loans obtained by the outgoing administration without any correlating development.

“The governor-elect, being a realist, will not build his administration on MOUs, nor will he become another MoU governor of Edo State.

“The agents of the outgoing administration and members of the defeated PDP that are spreading false rumours about the governor-elect should focus on the transition process, which, in any case, they are working tirelessly to truncate

“The governor-elect will not take advice from those who have failed and mortgaged the future of Edo people over the past 7 years. The governor-elect will not be a looter of public funds as governor of Edo state. Rather, he will judiciously manage the resources that belong to the Edo people to develop Edo State.

“Instead of resorting to the promotion of lies and falsehoods, we expect the mischief makers to apologize to the good people of the State while undergoing penance for their atrocities. We expect them to confess their sins and seek forgiveness from the people of Edo State, whom they have traumatised financially, mentally, and otherwise in the past 7 years!”