Okpebholo’s Barrage of Empty Probes Diversionary, Says Ex-media Aide

Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City

Ex-media aide to former Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, Mr. Crusoe Osagie, has described the barrage of empty probes by Edo State Governor, Senator Monday Okpebholo, as a smoke screen to mask his incompetence and unpreparedness for office.

Osagie, in a statement on Sunday, said the governor, who couldn’t secure his mandate from the people, is devoid of ideas and 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 hide his glaring incompetence and lack of direction.
He said the governor 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.

The statement read: “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 governments 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 is bereft of ideas and 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.
“His plan is to treat Edo people like an undiscerning mob that you can distract with a show like the duel of gladiators in the Ancient Roman Colosseum.

“But Okpebholo will soon learn that he is the governor with the hardest job in Nigeria because the people of Edo State are wise and can hardly be fooled. His diversionary probes may succeed in deceiving people in some States in Nigeria but certainly not those in Edo State.

“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.”