Edo PDP Accuses Oshiomhole Of Misappropriation Of Public Funds

CHIEF DAN ORBIH (L), ADAMS OSHIOMHOLE (R)

The Edo State chapter of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has accused the state government of misappropriating public funds and depleting the state’s treasury to the tune of N142 million, which the governor said was recently used to commission two projects in the state.

The State Chairman of the party, Chief Dan Orbih, made the allegations at Igboubazuwa, in Ovia South West Local Government Area of the state, during a reception rally to welcome defectors from the All Progressives Congress into the PDP.

Orbih, who was accompanied by some chieftains and candidates of the PDP, accused the State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, of signing out the sum of N76 million and N66 million, on November 28 and 29, 2014 respectively, for the commissioning of projects by the presidential candidate of the APC, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and a national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

It would be recalled that Buhari, had ‎in November, commissioned the six-lane Airport road and the remodelled Imaguero College in Benin, while Tinubu inaugurated the six-lane New Lagos Road and the general hospital in Ewhohimi on December 19.

But Orbih, who claimed that the said projects had earlier been commissioned, argued that the state had never “witnessed this level of fraud and misappropriation of public fund”, even as he warned the two APC chieftains “to stay away from Edo State because our accounts are usually emptied to rob their over-bloated ego”, as their actions indicated that they did not love the state.

The state chairman also used the opportunity to implore the people of South South geo-political ‎zone to make it a responsibility to support President Goodluck Jonathan in next month’s presidential election.

But the state government, in a reaction on Saturday, described the claims as lies aimed at tarnishing the image of the state governor, whom the people of the state knew to be prudent.

The Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Louis Odion, who responded to the allegations, said that although the state government was not oblivious of the envy of the PDP concerning the achievements of the governor,‎ it “least expected that the opposition party would engage in forging vouchers to back up a shameless lie”.