Edo Guber: APC, Edo Govt Spar Over Graft Allegations

Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday accused the government of Governor Godwin Obaseki of monumental corruption and wants the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate some top government officials including the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Asue Ighodalo.

Addressing a press conference at the party’s secretariat, the acting state chairman of the party, Emperor Jarret  Tenebe, said the EFCC had already invited some top government officials and should ensure they bring the investigation to its conclusion.

But the commissioner for communication and orientation, Chris Nehikhare, dismissed the allegation, saying the APC and its leadership do not know how government works and should tell the people what they intend to do.

According to Tenebe, the much-celebrated paperless operation in government is a ploy by Obaseki to delete certain critical data from the server in case they lose the election

He said; “The latest plan by Governor Obaseki to make the activities of his administration paperless is a criminal plan that has been designed by one ‘Ugo’ who is in charge of e-governance who has concluded with the governor to destroy all documents relating to fraudulent contracts with the excuse that Edo government has gone paperless. ‘Ugo’ has been instructed to delete the server containing sensitive documents when the PDP loses the election on September 21, 2024. We hereby warn Governor Obaseki and the head of e-governance, ‘Ugo’ not to delete the approvals of contracts on e-gov.”

He also queried the about N28 billion being allegedly spent on a five star hotel which he said was already 85 percent complete before the state government took it over from its original owner and wondered what the money would not be spent on even as he asked for the actual owner of the project, alleging that the party’s findings showed that the project is owned by a private individual.

Tenebe also queried the modular refinery in the state which he claimed Obasek  said was owned by the state government but that curiously, after its completion, new documents had emerged suggesting that the refinery is now owned by an individual.

“Edo Refinery (ERPC) located in Ikpoba-Okha LGA in Edo State was drummed up by Governor Obaseki as a state government project and spent over N1b on the project take off and through government, the project attracted foreign investment but on completion, the refinery has been transformed to a private company with 100% ownership by Michael Osime AIPCC Energy.

“ICMG Securities Limited, Micheal Osime, had accompanied Governor Obaseki to China in January 2018 to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a 5,500bpd modular refinery between Edo State Government and SINOPEC of China, at SINOPEC headquarters. Osime’s AIPCC Energy was never a partner to the project but a financial advisor.

“Like the Radisson hotel, we call on EFCC to unravel the true owner of Edo Modular Refinery.”

In his response, Nehikhare said “It is unfortunate that we still have people heading political parties without an idea of how the government is run and they believe in sensationalism. They cannot offer any policy statement or directions for a government they are trying to form instead they are chasing shadows, making allegations that are spurious and frivolous.

“We are not going to dignify them with our response but to tell Edo people to ask these APC leadership their plans for Edo State.

“That is all we asked. We need to hear their plans for Edo State, how they plan to offer a better state than we have done here in PDP.

“How are they going to sustain the progress we made or if they have a better plan, let them come out and articulate it”, Nehikhare said.