Okpebholo Denies Signing $45.21m Flyover Deal with China

Edo State Governor-elect, Senator Monday Okpebholo, has denied ever signing any deal with the Chinese Government to the tune of $45.21million for flyover bridges.

He therefore, assured the people of the state that he would not be a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) governor.

Okpebholo gave the assurance  while reacting to allegation by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that he had signed a $45.21m deal with China Exim Bank. The senator, who gave the assurance in a statement by his media aide, Godswill Inegbe, said he would not be distracted by the outbursts of those who are ”still licking their wounds after losing the September 21 governorship election in the state.”

Okpebholo explained that as a governor-elect, he was not in any official capacity to obtain any loan on behalf of the state.

He said: “I am rather working on how to offset the numerous loans obtained by the outgoing administration without any correlating development.

“We wish to draw the attention of the public to the mischievous publication, which is speculating that the winner of the November 21 governorship election in Edo State.

Senator Monday Okpebholo, was in talks with a Chinese agency to obtain a loan of $45.21 million to execute the construction of three flyovers in Benin city.

Ordinarily, we would not have bothered to react to such distractions but since our investigation has revealed that the report was actually orchestrated by those still licking their wounds from the recent defeat, we are constrained to put the record straight.”

The statement added that Okpebholo, on invitation, “was in the office of the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria in Abuja when the photograph they are now sharing on internet was taken.

 “The governor-elect was not on a mission to sign any Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the China-Exim Bank for loan as dubiously claimed in the said publication.

“Understandably, as Governor-elect, Senator Okpebholo, is not in any official capacity to obtain any loan on behalf of the state, rather, he is working on how to offset the numerous loans obtained by the outgoing administration without any correlating development.”