Edo APC, State Govt Trade Words over N9bn Fresh Loan Approval

Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City

Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), yesterday, urged Governor Godwin Obaseki to stop securing loans, noting that the N9 billion loan recently approved by the House of Assembly was needless and will plunge the state into financial distress.

But in a swift reaction, the Edo State Government said it was perplexed to learn of what it termed “laughable and incredibly ridiculous tantrums attributed to the new acting chairman of the Edo State chapter of APC, Jarret Tenebe where he made baseless and spurious allegations on the fiscal management of our dear state by the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led government.”

Addressing a press conference yesterday, Tenebe had said the state was already suffering under a debt profile of N135 billion and $35.6 billion.

He said, “While it is a monumental disaster that Edo State patrimony has been swindled by Obaseki-led administration with an unassailable, humongous debt profile of N135 billion and $35.6 billion, the governor is unyielding and unstoppable in his characteristic design to leave Edo State in ruin, by asking for a facility of N17.5 billion few days ago, which was said to be N9 billion.”

Tenebe, said “It is important to state, that it is now in public and political space that the fiscal budget of Edo State was passed few weeks ago before the Edo State House of Assembly proceeded on leave without the commencement of the execution of the budget by the executive. It is most disheartening that the Edo State Government now is requesting for a facility of N17.5 billion with no corollary of project attached there to the said facility and also that the facility is not contained as loan to be taken in the 2024 fiscal budget just recently passed. A cursory perusal of the entire budget does not reveal where the project for the facility is ever captured.

“Information at the behest of the members of the Edo State House of Assembly is to the effect that they were recalled from their holiday or leave by the Speaker on the request of the state governor for the immediate approval of the said facility which according to them is said to be N9 billion but as event unfolded, after the mammoth request by the opposition in the House as to the rationale for a facility as stupendous as N9 billion for phantom projects which only existed in the imagination of the governor, it was discovered that the facility was not even N9 billion but a figure wrapped in secrecy as much as N17.5 billion to which the opposition in the house rejected and or refused to be part of the approval.

But in its reaction, the Edo State Government stated that the Edo APC was “obviously pained by the achievements of the state Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki across all sectors of the state over the past seven years.”

“Tenebe has been on a frenzy looking for lies to tell since he assumed office as Acting Chairman. Rather than focus on reawakening his completely comatose party, which is unable to provide constructive criticisms expected of a viable opposition, he has resorted to spreading misinformation in a desperate attempt to curry cheap popularity.

“In his infertile rambling, Tenebe made wild and completely off-the-mark comments suggesting that Edo State is owing $35 billion. Even if that was what was written for him, he should have known that the figure is wrong and can’t be true.

“In reality, our debt stock is not a secret and in fact, we are ‘under borrowed’. Emperor Tenebe would have known this if he understood the economics of governance, fiscal responsibility and debt-to-GDP ratio.

“The recent facility approved by the State Assembly was to amongst other projects, enable the State Government procure electric buses to enhance the state’s transportation system.

“You will recall that Edo State Government introduced free bus rides for its residents five months ago. The free transport scheme has benefitted over 3.4 million Edo residents. The procurement of the electric buses will further cushion the impact of the fuel subsidy removal by the APC-led FG, on the people of the state.

“The procurement of these buses further demonstrates the State Government’s commitment to the welfare of Edo people.

“Tenebe’s undoing is that he and his party have been so used to looting of the people’s treasury and cannot bear the pain that they would never have access to the state’s purse with which the governor has continued to pursue developmental projects across the state.

“It is even more saddening that a party’s chairman only thinks about brick and mortar projects when it comes to development.

“Tenebe’s attention must be drawn to the fact that opposition politics is not cynicism. Opposition politics requires intelligence, tact and not childish tantrums.

“Edo people know better and are too intelligent to be swayed by such antics, smear campaigns and cheap blackmail. We urge Tenebe and his ilk in the APC to stop chasing shadows but rather funnel those energies to reawakening their comatose party ahead of the September 2024 governorship election.