The immediate past governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki has lambasted the Monday Okpebholo administration for allegedly “spewing out lies” against him and giving the impression that the state is being governed by “touts” and people who don’t understand what it means to run government.
Obaseki was reacting to sundry allegations against his government at a press conference on Monday where the state’s commissioner for information and strategy, Prince Kassim Afegbua accused him of plundering the state through “shady” business transactions and leaving behind humongous debt portfolio of about N600 billion.
The government disclosed that on road projects alone, it inherited about N187 billion of claims by contractors.
But pooh-poohing the allegations in a statement on Tuesday, Obaseki’s Media Adviser, Crusoe Osagie tasked Okpebholo to cross-check with the Debt Management Office (DMO) on whether Edo drew a debt of N600bn, insisting that no government at whatever level, whether local government, state government or federal government, “has capacity to draw loans or enter into any debt arrangement without the knowledge and approval of the DMO”.
Checks by Newsmata.com.ng however showed that the N600bn figure quoted by Afegbua was being conservative as data by the same DMO revealed otherwise.
Latest statistics from DMO ranked Edo State third among the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory in total debt as of December 31, 2024, with N593 billion in external debt and N112 billion domestic debt, totaling N705bn.
This is a far cry from the figures given by the Edo State Accountant General, Julius Anelu after Obaseki left office.
During an interaction December 9, 2024, with the State Assets Verification Committee set up at the inception of the Okpebholo administration to audit the states assets and liabilities, Anelu revealed that as of November 11, 2024, when Obaseki’s tenure ended, Edo State’s internal debt stood at over ₦1 trillion, while its external debt amounted to ₦282 billion.
He attributed the increase in the state’s debt to the depreciation of the naira, stating that the loans were taken when the currency’s value was higher.
A factcheck from the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) War Room revealed that Obaseki inherited a debt profile of N45,091 billion internal debt and external debt of $183,641 million from his predecessor, Adams Oshiomhole, who was governor from 2008 to 2016.
But dismissing the state government’s allegations against his former principal as “false and outrightly out of place”, Osagie said the lies being spewed by the Okpebholo administration were giving the country a bad image, stressing that such comments rub off negatively on the president of the country and the country in general.
On the contentious Radisson Hotel, Osagie noted that Radisson Hotel remained an international brand that entered into a business agreement with Edo State with all the T’s crossed and all the I’s dotted, adding that every record about the transaction between Radisson Hotel and the Edo State government were contained in the transition report.
According to him, “Radisson Hotel is international investment drawing funds from German government, United Kingdom’s government, French government for its development. You think such an investment will be put on a land that was not ceded to that organisation by the state”.
Lampooning the government, the former governor’s spokesperson said, “These people just come out there and toss all kinds of irresponsible information out there. At the end of the day what happens is that all of these turn around to form the intelligence that are gathered out of Nigeria by the international community.
“It makes these countries think that the country is a failed state and the place is not being governed.
“So, when comments like this begin to come out of a state like Edo also governed by the All Progressives Congress, it gives credence to the attitude that we are receiving from foreign nations”.
Challenging journalists, Osagie said, “Can you people kindly ask where that N600bn he is speaking about is recorded in the DMO office? If Obaseki took such loans or had such indebtedness, at least you can find it there in the DMO office. So, he just comes out and spews these lies and makes this statement.
“It gives the impression that the state is being governed by touts. It gives the impression that the state is being governed by people who don’t understand what it means to run government.”