Mr Lucky Igbinedion,
responded to Governor Adams Oshiomhole allegation of fraud, he told him to give
account to the people of Edo how trillions of Federal Allocations and Internal
Generated Revenue vanished in the last seven years.
The ex-governor Lucky
Igbinedion dismissed a statement credited to Oshiomhole that it took seven
years for him (the governor) to speak out on the purportedly illegalities
perpetrated by him while in office.
In a statement he
personally signed in Abuja on Satuday, Igbinedion promised to expose his
successor at the appropriate time.
The Edo State Government
had on Wednesday said it had begun moves to recover $31m allegedly
“fraudulently taken” from the government coffers, during Igbinedion’s
administration.
Oshiomhole also vowed to
publish records of fraud allegedly perpetrated by the ex-governor, adding that
he would forward all the files containing the alleged fraud to Abuja this week
for prosecution.
Oshiomhole had also accused
the ex-governor and his father, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion, of allegedly
converting government properties and funds meant for the people of the state to
private use.
The governor had said his
feud with the Igbinedion family started when he revoked the over 200,000
hectares of government land, which the former governor allegedly gave to his
father in Okada, as well as the termination of the Memorandum of Understanding
the ex-governor allegedly signed with his father.
The MoU, Oshiomhole
alleged, was to allow “the medical students in Igbinedion University to use our
state-owned hospital at the expense of the Edo State Government while Chief
Igbinedion collects N1m from each medical student.”
Igbinedion, however, said
records of activities during his tenure were open to the public.
He said, “I have made it
very clear time without numbers that the files of my tenure are there for
everybody who cares to ask to check. I do not intend to dignify Adams
Oshiomhole any longer by joining issue with him.
“He should explain to the
people of Edo State how he spent the federal allocations and internal generated
revenues running into trillions naira in seven years.
“He should tell the people
of Edo how much he is paying as land tax for his house in Iyamho worth over
N10bn and other properties he has acquired in the last seven years in Dubai,
Cape Town in South Africa, in San Francisco, United States of America, a high
rise apartment in Atlanta also in America and in London. He is calling
everybody a thief but Oshiomhole is the biggest thief in Benin City today.”
The ex-governor added that
because Oshiomhole had allegedly mismanaged the financial resources of the state,
which were entrusted in his care in the last seven years, and currently
receiving the hit from the people, the governor was looking for ways to divert
people’s attention.
Igbinedion added,
“Oshiomhole has failed; the people of Edo State now know him better. Oshiomhole
is the least qualified person to talk about corruption in the country today
because his actions and programmes in the last seven years in Edo State
epitomise corruption.
“He has called everybody in
Nigeria a thief; has called former President Olusegun Obasanjo a thief; called
former President Goodluck Jonathan a thief, he called (ex-Minister of Finance,
Ngozi) Okojo-Iweala a thief, and others. Yet, he cannot prove his cases. I
don’t think he knows the meaning of a thief.
“He lives in the glass
house and throwing stones. President Muhammadu Buhari will soon find out the
real Oshiomhole by the time we provide documents against him.”
Several calls made to the
telephone of Chief Press Secretary to the Edo State Governor, Mr. Peter
Okhiria, to get boss’ reaction to Igbinedion’s allegations on Saturday were not
picked.
Punch
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