Ex-Commissioner Defected To PDP To Avoid Prosecution For ‘Industrial Scale’ Fraud – Edo Govt

DENIS IDAHOSA WITH Edo State PDP CHAIRMAN , DAN ORBIH

The Edo State Government has accused the former Commissioner for Investment, Public and Private Partnership, Mr. Denis Idahosa, of fraudulent activities of “industrial scale”, which it said caused him to resign his appointment.

Idahosa, who defected to the Peoples Democratic Party last Friday following his resignation, had cited constant abuse of President Goodluck Jonathan by Governor Adams Oshiomhole as reason for his resignation.

Countering the ex-commissioner’s claim, the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Louis Odion, ‎in a statement on Thursday said that the state government “had received series of petitions, mostly from overseas, alleging that Mr. Idahosa was engaged in fraudulent activities‎”, which it confirmed.‎

It said, “For clarity, we wish to state that in the last two months, the State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, had received series of petitions, mostly from overseas, alleging that Mr. Idahosa was engaged in fraudulent activities (popularly called 419) on an industrial scale. The petitioners, purporting to be his victims, alleged they had been swindled of huge sums of money.

“Disturbed and consistent with his zero tolerance for corruption or any conduct that might tarnish the image of Edo State or bring the country to international odium for that matter, Comrade Oshiomhole had last year, set up a high-level administrative panel to look into the grave allegations discreetly.‎ After weeks of forensic investigations, the panel’s findings were startling”.

Mr. Odion further disclosed that the ex-commissioner ‎defected to the opposition party on the verge of a formal request for him to appear before the panel.

He urged Idahosa “to come out in the open and answer the sundry‎ allegations”, warning that the “long arms” of the law would prevail against him.