Chairman of the Edo PDP Caretaker Committee, Dr. Tony Aziegbemi, has called on “all Edo people, civil society organizations, and well-meaning Nigerians to beam their attention” on the Governor Monday Okpebholo administration “so as to prevent a descent into avoidable, with dire consequences on the peace and security of our state.”
He made the call in a state of the nation address to the press at the party’s secretatiat in Benin on Tuesday morning.Â
He alleged that two weeks after their inauguration Governor Okpebholo and his deputy, Dennis Idahosa “have failed to officially resign from their respective seats in the Senate and the House of Representatives, denying their constituencies of representation at the National Assembly in line with section 68(1)d of the 1999 Constitution as amended.”
Asking “how can they simultaneously hold the positions of Governor and Senator, as well as Deputy Governor and member of the House of Representatives? It is only right and constitutional that they should resign their membership, allowing their seats to be declared vacant and paving the way for a by-election.”
On Governor Okpebholo’s recent flag off of the construction of a flyover in the state, Aziegbemi said: “The flyover is nothing but a white elephant project to reward godfathers for their role in subverting the will of Edo people at the just concluded gubernatorial election, and we demand that the government makes public the procurement procedure for this project, stating the cost of the project and timeline, how the contractors were selected and whether the process complied with the state’s Public Procurement Act, among other details relating to the project.
“We are aware that the governor is dismantling all the levers of government and governance that he inherited and so we are not surprised that he considers the states procurement act an hindrance that must be dismantled.
“Governor Okpebholo has procured over N5bn worth of vehicles without proper procurement process which has created a crisis to the extent that Permanent Secretary (PS) Governor’s office is threaten civil servants in Central administration for refusing to accept vehicles due to improper documentation, while desperately looking for ways to pass entries for over N2bn of inauguration costs. The Edo State procurement act is at risk and we must all speak up!”
Continuing Aziegbemi stressed: “As if their shenanigans weren’t enough, they have continued the callous and reckless sack of civil and public servants in the state, inflicting more hardship and suffering on the dismissed workers and their families, who are already grappling with an economy made unbearable by the gross mismanagement of the national economy by the APC government at the centre.
“This shows the level of the government’s insensitivity to the plight of the people and a troubling sign of what may lie ahead under the new administration.”
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