Special Adviser to the Edo State Governor on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr. Crusoe Osagie has reacted to attacks by former member representing Owan Federal Constituency at the National Assembly, Hon. Pally Iriase on Governor Godwin Obaseki.
The governor’s aide said the governor’s performance in three years dwarfs Comrade Adams Oshiomhole’s 8-year stint as governor in the state.
In a statement, Osagie said the crisis in the state is a battle between the forces of good and evil, with one prioritising development and the other, cronyism and hijack of the state’s resources.
According to him, “Beginning with workers and pensioners welfare, it is no news that workers rejoice and pensioners wear white on May Day in acknowledgement of the dignifying treatment by Governor Obaseki’s administration. Oshiomhole for 8 years piled up arrears of salaries and emoluments of workers and pensioners, especially those at the Local Government Area (LGA) service, while Obaseki has cleared these arrears in three years, putting smiles on their faces.
“On infrastructure, over 2000km of roads have been constructed across the state by the Governor Obaseki-led administration, with over 70 percent of them complete. This is a feat that Comrade Oshiomhole could not achieve in 8 years.
“In education, Obaseki has not only refurbished schools as Oshiomhole did, he has gone further to up-skill over 11,300 teachers and equipped them with cutting-edge technology to improve learning outcomes in classrooms. Consequently, the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has rated Edo state as the state with the least out-of-school children in Nigeria.
He continued, “The Samuel Ogbemudia stadium, abandoned for years, has been completely rebuilt, which has encouraged the Federal Government to slate international matches to hold in Benin City. It has also handed the hosting rights of the 2020 National Sports Festival to Edo State on the back of reforms in the sports sector.
“The Secretariat Complex, abandoned for over 45 years, was awarded several times by Oshiomhole without execution. But the Obaseki-led administration awarded the contract and today the Secretariat Complex is the cynosure of all eyes in Edo State.”
Osagie said the crisis in the state is solely a battle for the control of the state’s resources, noting, “As a matter of fact, the political crisis in Edo State which has forced the likes of Iriase to address the press, is underlaid by the stellar performance of the governor which is made possible by the fact that he has refused to hand over the key to the treasury of Edo State to Comrade Oshiomhole, Iriase and their cronies.
“Make no mistake, the crisis in Edo State has nothing to do with performance because there is no governor in Nigeria as we speak that has performed better than Governor Obaseki. The crisis is all about the control of the state’s resources. While Obaseki believes that these resources should be used to serve the people, Iriase and his likes believe it should be used to ‘carry them along,’ which is another euphemism for ‘graft.”