Okpebholo constitutes 14-member panel to probe Obaseki’s administration
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Edo state governor, Monday Okpebholo, has constituted a 14-member committee to verify state assets under the immediate past administration of Godwin Obaseki.
The committee, which will be chaired by Dr. Ernest Umakhihe, is set to be inaugurated on Monday at 1 p.m. at the New Festival Hall of Government House in Benin, according to a statement by Okpebholo’s Chief Press Secretary, Fred Itua.
Anslem Ojezua will serve as the deputy chairman, with other members including Prince Kassim Afegbua, Patrick Ikhariale, Taiwo Akerele, Patrick Idiake, and Rasaq Bello-Osagie.
Other members are Fredrick Unopah, Mrs. Abdallah Eugenia, Patrick Obahiagbon, Kenny Okojie, Mrs. Lyndsey Tes-Sorae, Abass Braimoh, and Frank Edebor, who will serve as the committee’s Secretary.
Itua said: “In furtherance of Edo Governor’s initiative to set the state on the path of development and accountable leadership, the need to set up a state assets verification committee becomes very imperative.
“Despite repeated calls for a more holistic database of the assets and liabilities of the previous administration, the Godwin Obaseki-led government came up with very scanty and limited assets and liabilities of the state.
“In line with the governor’s campaign promise to ensure probity, accountability and transparency in government, and to deepen the governance process, a committee, made up of respected sons and daughters from Edo State, has to be constituted.”
Obaseki, through his media aide, Crusoe Osagie, however, stated that the barrage of empty probes by Okpebholo, was a smokescreen to mask his incompetence and unpreparedness for office.
He said: “Our attention has been drawn to a laughable and utterly ridiculous statement by the Monday Okpebholo’s administration, setting up a 14-member State Assets Verification Committee to probe the administration of his predecessor, His Excellency, Godwin Obaseki, who is globally acclaimed to have run one of the most transparent, accountable and prudent governments in the history of Nigeria.
“This is another in the list of the barrage of meaningless probes which the governor and his directionless government is embarking on since they got into Dennis Osadebey Avenue.”