Governor Monday Okpebholo of Edo State has come under strong criticism from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the State, and has been accused of misleading the people by his allegation that the suspended Chairmen of the Local Vovernment Areas moved N12 Billion to some chieftains of the party within 15 months. The Party said the Governor lied.
A statement signed by Hon. Tony Azeigbemi, Chairman, Caretaker Committee of the Party in the State, said that he only uses the allegation to justify his actions against the Elected chairmen.
He said the allegation was unfounded and a blatant lie that should be disregarded.
The statement read:
“For clarity, we want to emphasize that every comment made by the governor in the statement is false and baseless and at no point have PDP leaders received any such funds from Local Government Chairmen as ridiculously alleged by the Governor. We doubt very much that the figure blotted out by Mr. Governor-Select is actually the figure he intended to say, we know he was confused a few weeks ago when he was confronted with financials. However, we challenge him to provide proof to substantiate these unfounded claims.
“Okpebholo must understand that the Local Government is neither an appendage nor a subordinate of the State Government, but a constitutionally recognized third tier of government, whose independence and autonomy are guaranteed by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and stop forthwith with this executive rascality before the State descends into anarchy and chaos.
“As we have repeatedly pointed out, Okpebholo’s real challenge lies in his lack of capacity and developmental plans for the State. He is a politician out of his depth who got into office unprepared, through the back door. We, therefore, urge him to settle down, build capacity, and focus on serving the people of Edo State during his brief tenure at Dennis Osadebey Avenue, rather than jeopardize the peace and security of the State in desperate pursuit of his selfish interests.”
The Governor, using the House of Assembly, recently suspended the Local Government Chairmen and their Deputies over sundry allegations.
An order by the Court to revert to status quo has pointedly been ignored by tye Governor. Instead, he turned round to accuse them of enriching PDP Chiefs to the tune of N12b within a few months.
For the records, the suspended Local Council Chiefs are of the PDP. The Governor is of the APC.
Discover more from The Source
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
