The All Progressives Congress has accused Governor Godwin Obaseki of obtaining an approval for a 1.5 billion naira loan from his ‘factional legislative Assembly of seven members, out of the elected 24, for illegal vote-buying’ ahead of the Sept. 19 Governorship election.
Mr. John Mayaki, the Chairman of the Edo APC media campaign council, who made the accusation in a statement forwarded to Igbere TV on Thursday, said plans are afoot to cash the loan at a particular commercial bank chaired by a friend of the Governor.
He condemned the Governor’s “dangerous and pathological desperation” and charged anti-graft agencies and civil society groups to block Mr. Godwin Obaseki’s latest attempt to increase the financial toll of his ‘doomed second term’ ambition on the public finances of Edo State.
He said: “After depleting the treasury of Edo State with his constant illegal withdrawals, most notably the 15 billion naira payment to the PDP leadership of tax-collectors for his re-election ticket on the platform of the divided party, the outgoing Governor Godwin Obaseki is now finalizing plans to obtain a 1.5 billion naira loan from a commercial bank for the sole purpose of vote-buying on the 19th of September.”
“This latest move and indication of the Governor’s pathological desperation was reliably communicated to us by a source in his illegal Assembly of seven members out of the 24 elected to represent the people of Edo State.”
“This illegal Assembly of seven members, convening in aberrant and unlawful meetings dictated by the Governor Godwin Obaseki in the Edo State Government House after leading thugs to destroy and desecrate the legislative chambers, quietly received and passed a request for a loan of 1.5 billion naira which the Governor intends to deploy in his planned vote-buying and mobilization of more thugs to orchestrate violence following anticipated defeat in a fair contest.”
Mayaki added that it was “despicable and evil” for the Governor to borrow against future funds for the criminal purpose of rigging after wasting the state’s earned revenue on his “selfish and depraved political ambitions.”
He said the APC, already preparing for governance in expectation of its victory on September 19, will resist every attempt by the “rejected Governor” to compound the woes of the State and leave behind intractable problems that would stall development and growth.
He threatened a petition to the EFCC on the planned loan and urged all civil society groups in Edo State to live up to their mandate of holding the government accountable and combating institutionalized corruption by taking the state government up to task on the said loan.
“We are once again warning all financial institutions in the country and beyond to desist from granting the departing administration of Mr. Godwin Obaseki any new emergency loans, especially if any such request emanates from illegal Assembly where seven persons are claiming to be more and greater than seventeen,” he concluded.
