Edo people were last week dumbfounded to read revelations by the Debt Management Office (DMO) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) that the debt profile of Edo State has increased by about N76 billion in two years that Governor Obaseki has saddled the affairs of the state.
The new debt profile has placed Edo as second most indebted state in foreign debt behind Lagos and overtaking Kaduna.
Before the release of this statistics, Governor Obaseki was viewed as highly prudent and reports had it that he was busy offsetting the debts of the previous administrations.
The new debt profile has however sold his administration out as the opposite and if allowed to continue at this rate is projected to incur an estimated N150 Billion debt in his first term.
Economic and political observers are still at lost as to what the Governor spent the monies on as there is nothing on ground in Edo State to justify the amounts incurred as debts considering the fact that Edo State received several trenches of payments of the Paris Club refunds running into tens of billions of naira, monthly Federal Allocation, Internally Generated Revenues as well as monthly security votes which is unaccounted for by the governor amongst other earnings.
Governor Obaseki has been criticized as “stingy” by his party men who accused him of dumping them after his victory in 2016 and filling his kitchen cabinets with his imported Lagos friends and cronies and children of elites.
He is also accused of surrounding himself and awarding juicy contracts to his fellow elites who party members describe as “already rich” and relegating APC members including appointees to the background, a scenario which fueled speculations that the Ambode treatment will be meted on the governor.
Also the governor is reportedly having a strained relationship with his predecessor who was the former governor of Edo State and present National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Cold War between the duo was reported to have started in the struggle for control of the party structure during the Congress and Primaries which held in 2018.
Obaseki, who is an economic expert, was planted by his predecessor against bitter internal and external party opposition to amongst other reasons, manage the debt profile of Edo State by making deliberate efforts to reduce it. This new discovery that the debt profile of Edo State has increased astronomically is projected to pave a new view of the governor and will definitely determine the outcome of who flys the APC flag for Edo in year 2020.
