joshuaOkpebholo’s Empty Probes, Is Diversionary Tactic To Mask Unpreparedness For Office, Says Obaseki Media Aide
By Ikhili Ebalu, Benin City
Media aide to His Excellency, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, the immediate past governor of Edo State, Crusoe Osagie, has said the barrage of empty probes by Edo’s governor, Monday Okpebholo, is a smoke screen to mask his incompetence and unpreparedness for office.
Osagie, in a statement, said the governor, lacks a clear vision to drive development in the State, noting that Okpebholo is resorting to cheap political theatrics and using a circus of meaningless probes to distract from his glaring incompetence and lack of direction.
According to Osagie, “Okpebholo is acting as if the people of Edo State were an undiscerning mob and is now staging a spectacle similar to a gladiatorial duel in the Ancient Roman Colosseum, with the plan to deceive the people with such theatrics and diversionary probes.
Governor Okpebholo yesterday
constituted a 14-man State Assets Verification Committee to probe the administration of Godwin Obaseki.
The statement reads: “Our attention has been drawn to a laughable and utterly ridiculous statement by the Monday Okpebholo’s administration setting up a 14-member State Assets Verification Committee to probe the administration of his predecessor, His Excellency, Godwin Obaseki, who is globally acclaimed to have run one of the most transparent, accountable and prudent government’s in the history of Nigeria.
“This is another in the list of the barrage of meaningless probes which the governor and his directionless government is embarking on since they got into Dennis Osadebey Avenue through the back door. From probing civil servants’ employment to probing Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), and probing vehicles and other assets of government, among others, the governor has continued to show that he lacks a clear vision for the development of the State and has therefore resorted to these charades of empty probes to buy time and distract from his incompetence and unpreparedness for office.
“He should stop his futile and failed attempt to fool the people of Edo State who have already seen him for who he truly is: a politician out of his depth who has become a tool in the hands of his many godfathers who are thirsty for vendetta, having for long been denied access to the people’s patrimony by the immediate past government of His Excellency, Mr. Godwin Obaseki.
“It is on record that the Obaseki administration achieved an unprecedented level of transparency in governance, laying a solid foundation for fiscal discipline, which was why it was able to accomplish the numerous milestones recorded across various sectors of the State, including the economy, education, agriculture, infrastructure, among others. Under Obaseki’s watch, the State developed its first asset register, containing all the government’s assets, which has since been handed over to the new government.”
He added: “So, we know what their plans are with the diversionary probes. It is just a smokescreen to mask the governor’s incompetence and unpreparedness for office, having come into power through a stolen mandate.
“We want to advise the governor to focus on governance and improving the lives of Edo people rather than waste state resources masking his incompetence in meaningless probes. Edo people are watching and his short-span government which lasts until the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) reclaims its mandate duly given to it by Edo voters will be judged not by the noise it makes but by the impact it delivers.” He concluded.
