The
All Progressives Congress has taken a swipe at the Peoples Democratic
Party for accusing the APC-led government in Edo State of financial
mismanagement, stating that it “lacks the moral justification” to
question the governor’s expenses.
The Edo State Chairman of the PDP, Chief
Dan Orbih, had accused Governor Adams Oshiomhole of spending over N400m
on a trip to the United States, adding that the party (PDP) had
documents to back up its claim.
However, the state Chairman of the APC,
Anselm Ojezua, in statement in Benin, said the document containing the
alleged travel expenses of the governor showed that the expenditure was
authorised by the appropriation law and passed by the state House of
Assembly.
Ojezua claimed that the World Bank had
commended the governor’s administration for its transparency in the
award of contracts and other government expenditure.
The state chairman told his counterpart
in the PDP to, rather, worry about his party’s (PDP) “scandal as regards
the $9.3m smuggled into South Africa by the PDP-led government,” rather
than “making a mountain out of a mole hill.”
Ojezua said, “Orbih is making a mountain
out of a mole hill because from the documents he exhibited, you could
see that it was a memo emanating in accordance with the public service
rules, indicating compliance with the law as it relates to public
expenditure.
“It is also evident that the expenditure
itself is authorised from the appropriation law from the Edo State
House of Assembly. At all times it is expected that governance will
always carry cost attached to it; that is the reason why provisions are
made for various items in the budget.
“In this respect, there is no
expenditure that was made under the authority of the governor that was
outside the budget. Let me say also that neither Orbih nor the PDP had
the legal justification to criticise the governor.
“Neither Orbih nor PDP had the moral or
legal justification with regards to financial profligacy because even
now as we speak, the South African government is investigating an
attempt by a private individual in Nigeria to smuggle in $9.3m from
Nigeria to South Africa, and the Nigerian Government, the PDP government
at the federal level has admitted complicity in that matter.”
He said the attempt to transfer the
$9.3m from Nigeria reportedly to make purchases was in violation of the
Public Procurement Act and without the knowledge of the South African
Government.
He also alleged that a chieftain of the
PDP in the state, who was reported to have harboured $50m had been
apprehended by an anti-graft agency in the country.
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