Obaseki Urged To Refund N2bn Paid To Consultants

Outgoing Godwin Obaseki of Edo state has been charged to refund a purported N2.792 billion of taxpayers’ money his administration spent on ‘consultants’ in the past four years.

A socio-cultural group, the Edo Akugbe Movement, based in Benin City, made the allegations in a statement yesterday and threatened to sue and reveal more facts about Obaseki’s years as Governor of Edo State.

The group said the governor only listed three months of consultancy payments of N58,171,161 each from July to September 2024, amounting to N174,513,498 against the four years in the books.

Countering this, the group’s spokesperson, Barrister Osarobo Omorogieva, said the N58 million was paid out every month for the past four years, amounting to N2.792 billion.

Omorogieva said the governor “used the ‘consultants’ to siphon monies from international donor agencies (IDAs) and loans acquired from banks and international NGOs.”

While calling on the EFCC to investigate a certain Sierra Leonan, the group claimed that the man “was constantly in Government House, Benin City, and worked as a consultant for many NGOs on behalf of the administration.

“Security agencies should examine the books of the Edo State government and read in-between the lines to expose how the outgoing administration used consultants to defraud Edo in his eight years as governor.

“The magnitude of fraud that rocked the Edo State government is too monumental to be swept aside despite the call by some Nigerians not to look in that direction,” he said.

Obaseki is expected to hand over to the governor-elect Senator Monday Okpebholo next week in Benin City.