Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC has poohpooped the allegation by the state government that it attempted to set fire to the state secretariat in order to destroy records in respect of the controversial N30 billion storm water project.
The opposition party, in a statement Tuesday evening by its publicity Secretary, Chris Azebamwan described the allegation as “Godwin Obaseki’s tale by moonlight”.
The government had earlier on Tuesday, alerted that it foiled arson attempt at the state secretariat housing the state environment and public utilities ministry which executed the storm water project.
In a statement by the secretary to the state government, SSG, Osarodion Ogie, the government said “Following the commitment of the Edo State Government to probe the N30 billion Benin storm water project, the state received intelligence of a possible arson at the offices of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainability, which houses vital documents on the project.
According to Ogie, “The government immediately deployed security operatives to guard the premises of the Ministry overnight to protect its assets” adding that “We have successfully evacuated these vital documents to a safe location to ensure their integrity and in readiness for a probe”.
Reacting to the allegation however, the APC accused the the governor “and his co-travellers of simply playing to the gallery”.
Upbraiding the governor, the APC posited that “His inept government that cannot generate credible intel to forestall security breaches in local communities wants the public to believe that they got wind of a planned arson”.
The opposition party alleged that “More likely, knowing that the Governor was the head of the economic team that designed, evaluated, approved and awarded the stormwater contract, and Osarodion Ogie, who is now SSG was the Commissioner in the Ministry that supervised the stormwater project in the last administration, the evacuation of documents from Palm House is a deliberate process of isolating and removing documents that incriminate these two principal actors”.
The APC insisted that “The stormwater contract cannot be assessed and evaluated without examining the roles of Godwin Obaseki and Osarodion Ogie. Edo people and the Nigerian public are by far too intelligent and discerning to be hoodwinked by the sort of shenanigans currently in play.
“The clock is ticking, and Godwin Obaseki has nothing to show for his time in office. His ongoing antics are diversionary, and meant to put his lacklustre performance in office on the back burner”.
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