Says governor playing on people’s intelligence
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State has faulted a recent transport scheme by the state governor Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, describing it as a ploy to fleece the people of the state.
The state PDP chairman, Chief Dan Orbih made the claim Monday at a rally to welcome defecting members All Peoples Congress (APC) in Agenebode, Etsako East Local Government Area,
According to Orbih, Oshiomhole has brought untold hardship on the people of the state, “especially workers and the so-called beneficiaries of his transport scheme who recently protested the hike in the loan-sum from the agreed price.”
Said Orbih, “For some strange reasons, he has handed the Edo Line to a rival transport company to manage. The state owned Bendel Brewery, which in the past was the pride of the state is now dead.
“The workers, who were over 300 at a time are now being owed 31-month salary. Electricity supply to the company was cut on July 7, 2014 over unpaid bills. Under Osunbor, they were producing 180,000 cartons of beer per month but they can hardly produce five now.”
Continued the PDP chairman, “It is disheartening that the state government was playing games with the beneficiary of the scheme. As usual, the Oshiomhole cab has turned out to be another Greek gift created to further impoverish the people.
“How can you agree to give out Suzuki cabs for N1.5 million and suddenly increase the sum to N2.5 million? How can you change the goal post in the middle of the to game? quizzed Orbih
He promised that the PDP government, if elected, would review the matter and ensure that justice is served.
Orbih lampooned the government has for creating what he described as” a fraudulent culture of awarding contracts and reviewing it so as to increase the contract sum.”
He listed the Upper Lawani flood and erosion control as a typical example of project whose contract sum was hiked from N1.5 billion to N4.62 billion “under the guise of variation.”
One prominent APC member who defected to PDP was Hon. Abubakar Momoh, member representing Etsako Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives. Momoh led thousands of APC members in Edo North senatorial district to PDP.
Among them were former chairman of Etsako East Local Government Area, Hon Stanley Odidi; a former member of the Edi State House of Assembly, Hon Godwin Esheshi; Hon Kasimu Dokpesi and Hon Joseph Alemoh Akhigbe.
Momoh said he and his supporters were tired of APC, a party he said reeked of “anti-democratic tendencies.”