Edo govt criticises Okpebholo’s N5b inauguration

• APC explains why Obaseki was not invited
• 72 hours to handover, gov’s whereabouts unknown, Gov-elect alleges
• NMA urges incoming gov to improve healthcare delivery

The Edo State Government yesterday chided the Governor-elect, Monday Okpebholo, and his self-appointed aides to focus on organising their exorbitant N5 billion inauguration ceremony and leave Governor Godwin Obaseki out of their petty politics.

In a statement, Crusoe Osagie, Special Adviser to the Governor on Media Projects, said it was regrettable that the new government is starting on the sorry note of lavishing the state’s resources on the November 12 inauguration instead of thinking of how to hit the ground running.

Osagie said: “It is quite telling that we are back to the era where unconscionable spending sprees, jamborees and parties are the preoccupation of government in Edo State.

“It is unheard of that the governor was not invited to the inauguration ceremony, which reveals the level of pettiness that would prevail in this new dispensation.

“The incoming government has made commitments to the vendors to the tune of N5 billion in an official capacity with many more expenses expected to be incurred on November 12, the day of the inauguration.

“It would be a sad day for Edo people, who have, hitherto, witnessed prudent and judicious use of public funds to drive economic development in the state, to have their resources frittered in this manner.”

MEANWHILE, the All Progressives Congress (APC) transition committee said it did not invite Obaseki to the inauguration because the outgoing governor had planned to frustrate the ceremony.

A member of the APC transition committee, Prince Kassim Afegbua, in a statement in Benin City, titled, ‘Obaseki and his lamentations,’ noted that rather than sit down to plan the inauguration event as it is done in other climes, the outgoing governor was busy planting landmines on the path to smooth transfer of power.

Afegbua also denied the allegation that the governor-elect has borrowed between N2 billion and N5 billion from the almost N27 billion his government set aside for projects and obligations for the inauguration.

Recall that Obaseki had, last Friday while inaugurating the 10-man caretaker committee of the state’s chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), stated that he, as the governor of the state, was not invited to the inauguration.

HOWEVER, about 72 hours before his inauguration, Okpebholo has alleged that the outgoing governor’s whereabouts are unknown.
The governor-elect, in a statement by his aide on media, GodspowerInegbe, claimed that Obaseki, who was last sighted on Friday in Benin City, the Edo State capital, May have fled using a disguised bus.

Okpebholo claimed that information available to him indicated that Obaseki chased out everyone from the Government House on Friday before allegedly escaping to a yet-to-be-known location.

IN another development, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Edo State Branch, yesterday, urged the governor-elect to employ strategies towards improving the working conditions of healthcare workers, by strengthening the primary healthcare systems and improving health finance models, among others.

The medical professionals also hailed Okpebholo on his well-deserved victory in the Edo State governorship election and demanded a very impactful tenure in office.