The Edo State Government has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration at the federal level of militating against the developmental strides of Governor Godwin Obaseki-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government in the state.
The state government which levelled the allegation on Tuesday lamented that several of its programmes and policies which would have made life better for the people of Edo State were being dwarfed by the APC-led Federal Government with the sudden removal of fuel subsidy, and what it called the “poorly thought-through policy to unify the exchange rate”, and the inability to manage the economy in the last nine years the APC had been in government at the centre.
Edo State Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Mr Chris Nehikhare, who stated this during a press conference held on Tuesday, further lamented that the Edo State chapter of the APC had further compounded the problem with the style of opposition politics it adopted in the state.
Nehikhare, in the text of the press conference he tagged “State of the Nation Address”, lamented that “Despite our best efforts to mitigate the suffering that Edo people and Nigerians have been plunged into by the APC Government through increase in minimum wage, free WiFi in different parts of the State, free transport scheme that have benefited over six million Edo residents since its launch in September 2023, food palliative to millions of Edo people, free registration for pensioners into the State’s health Insurance Scheme, among others, we want to restate that the people are still going through untold hardship and this is as a result of the gross mismanagement of the economy by the APC as a government at the centre in the last nine years.
“It is on record how the haphazard withdrawal of subsidy by the APC Government on May 29, 2023, tossed the economy into chaos and pushed our people into the brink of starvation”, he further lamented, adding that the Federal Government policies were stifling business growth in the country, while Nigeria “is slowly descending back into terrorism with the rise of suicide bombing, among others.”
The commissioner noted that most painful was the fact that the Edo APC seemed to be oblivious of these devastation that had been caused by the APC Federal Government, as the party in Edo State, “Just like the ostrich, they have buried their heads in the sand and have continued to gush out lies and propaganda hoping to hoodwink our people and dampen their desire to break free from the stranglehold by which the APC has shackled them for the past nine years.”
He said the APC was trying to fool the people of Edo state ahead of the governorship election just “the same way they manufactured the court papers which they used in misinforming and misleading the Edo people on the candidacy of the PDP candidate; it is the same manner in which they manufactured the crisis with the palace, all in a desperate effort to hoodwink the people and reawaken their completely comatose party in Edo State.
“But our Edo people are wiser than that. We know who our friends are and who are oppressors and cannot submit ourselves to them again to inflict the pains and sufferings of these last few years on our people the second time.”
The press conference was called as a reaction to the allegation raised by the Edo APC that some top officials of the Edo State Government were involved in huge financial impropriety and called on the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to investigate them.
The full text of the statement reads:
“It has become imperative for us as representatives of our people in the State Government to draw the attention of the authorities and the members of the public to the plight of the Edo people and by extension the Nigerian people.
“Despite our best efforts to mitigate the suffering that Edo people and Nigerians have been plunged into by the APC Government through increase in minimum wage, free WiFi in different parts of the State, free transport scheme that have benefited over six million Edo residents since its launch in September 2023, food palliative to millions of Edo people, free registration for pensioners into the State’s health Insurance Scheme, among others, we want to restate that the people are still going through untold hardship and this is as a result of the gross mismanagement of the economy by the APC as a government at the centre in the last nine years.
“It is on record how the haphazard withdrawal of subsidy by the APC Government on May 29, 2023, tossed the economy into chaos and pushed our people into the brink of starvation.
“Also, it is well noted by Nigerians how the poorly thought-through policy to unify the exchange blew our currency out of the waters, making it almost worthless, negatively impacting inflation and the general economic landscape.
“As if that is not enough, they have continuously stifled business growth in the country, increasing taxes and doubling the burdens on small businesses.
“The nation is slowly descending back into terrorism with the rise of suicide bombing, among others.
“On the back of these devastation that have been caused by the APC Government, the Party in Edo State seems to be surprisingly oblivious of this terrible situation. Just like the ostrich, they have buried their heads in the sand and have continued to gush out lies and propaganda hoping to hoodwink our people and dampen their desire to break free from the stranglehold by which the APC has shackled them for the past nine years.
“It is such a show of shame to see them sit before pressmen waving worthless pieces of papers as evidence for non-existent fraud allegations against a State Government that has enthroned transparency and accountability in the cause of the administration of State’s resources.
“As a party whose foundation was built on a web of lies and deceit, no gainsaying, the same way they manufactured this worthless paper is the same way they manufactured the court papers which they used in misinforming and misleading the Edo people on the candidacy of the PDP candidate; it is the same manner in which they manufactured the crisis with the palace, all in a desperate effort to hoodwink the people and reawaken their completely comatose party in Edo State.
“The governorship election in Edo State is around the corner and just the way they fooled the entire nation into bondage, they are hoping to replicate the same in Edo State, parading a hardly literate candidate, who finds it difficult expressing himself in public fora and without the verve to share his vision for the people.
“But you, our Edo people, are wiser than that. We know who our friends are and who are oppressors and cannot submit ourselves to them again to inflict the pains and sufferings of these last few years on our people the second time.
“Our people are determined to break from this bondage come September 21, 2024, by sustaining the leadership of the PDP at the State level. They know that the PDP is the best choice for the continued progress and prosperity of the State and will not allow lies and propaganda by their oppressors to cloud their judgment and stop them from making informed decisions for a better future for themselves and their unborn children.
“Come September 21, it is PDP or nothing and there is nothing the APC can do about it.” Nehikhare boasted.
. TheWitness
