By Newsmata
The immediate past Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki has chided his successor, Governor Monday Okpebholo for assuming supervisory role on local government councils by investigating their activities which he claimed is outside his responsibility. Obaseki, amid allegation of his involvement in the looting of local government funds to the tune of over N95 billion, said the governor advertised his ignorance in his attempt to drag him into his propaganda.
Newsmata reports that Governor Okpebholo had on December 18, 2024, inaugurated an Administrative Panel of Enquiry to investigate the finances of the suspended 18 local government council chairmen between September 4, 2023, and November 2024 when they were in office.
The chairman of the panel, Solomon Imohiosen, who submitted the report to Governor Okpebholo at the weekend alleged, that though N95,080,676,687.86) was received by the chairmen, the funds were not judiciously utilised as no meaningful projects were on the ground to justify the amount received.
The report indicted Obaseki, the 18 suspended local government council chairmen and some leaders of his Peoples Democratic, Party (PDP) of either allegedly mismanaging or diverting to private accounts the said sum received from the Joint Allocation Account Committee, (JAAC) by the embattled chairmen.
Following the report, Governor Okpebholo vowed to personally submit the document to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for the prosecution of all fingered in the alleged looting.
However, in his reaction, Obaseki, described the statement as shocking, and another of Governor Monday Okpebholo’s frantic efforts to justify his unconstitutional onslaught on the elected leadership of the councils in the state. He stated that Governor Okpebholo appeared to be completely oblivious that he has no supervisory responsibility over the local government councils.
In a statement by his media aide, Crusoe Osagie, Obaseki faulted Okpebholo’s investigation of government officials that are elected to office just like him.
The statement, dated February 17, 2025, and titled, “Re: N96bn LG fraud: Edo panel report indicts Obaseki, PDP leaders, impeached LG chairmen”, insisted that the local government chairmen have a better claim to their democratic office than Governor Okpebholo whose election stands on a knife edge, with the election petition tribunal preparing to deliver justice in the September 21, 2024 election, widely believed to have been rigged.
The statement read in part: “We have read with disdain a statement by Monday Okpebholo alleging that the elected 18 local government chairmen in Edo State mismanaged N96 billion, in another of Okpebholo’s frantic efforts to justify his unconstitutional onslaught on the elected leadership of the third tier of government.
“What is most shocking about the statement is that Okpebholo appears to be completely oblivious of the fact that he does not have supervisory responsibility over the local governments and can therefore not set up any investigation of government officials that are elected to office just like him.
“As a matter of fact, these local government chairmen have a better claim to their democratic office than he, whose election stands on a knife edge, with the election petition tribunal preparing to deliver justice in the September 21, 2024, election, widely believed to have been rigged.
“Also advertising Okpebholo’s ignorance is his attempt, as usual, to drag His Excellency, Mr. Godwin Obaseki into his propaganda. Okpebholo should kindly note that Obaseki was never obsessed with control of local government funds during his tenure, as Okpebholo has shown himself to be in the last three months.
“We are forced to, by this statement, inform Okpebholo that there are limits to his powers as governor, and if he believes there are financial infractions in a separate tier of government from his own, he should simply inform the relevant agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC, to carry out their constitutional responsibilities.
He further posited that Governor Okpebholo needed to be reminded that he is neither the Inspector General of Police nor the Chairman of the EFCC.
Urging all Edo people and Nigerians to ignore the alleged lies and falsehood propagated by the governor in his statement, Obaseki noted that as the main target of Okpebholo’s alleged witch-hunt, he ran the most transparent government in the history of Edo State, stressing that during his tenure for eight years, he never at any time had authority over local government funds.
Also indicted by the panel report are the embattled chairman of Orhionmwon Local Government, Newman Ugiagbe who is also the state chairman of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria, ALGON, Ahonsi Ogiegbaen Osifo, Eric Agbonmwanre, Abraham Burma and Dickson Imasogie Notiemwenmwan.
The panel alleged that the ALGON chairman used his hotel, the Demarriots Hotels Limited to collude with others to loot local Government funds.