The Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Thursday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to, as a matter of urgent national importance, declare a state of emergency in the state over what it alleged as “collapse of governance,” one year after the PDP-led government led by Governor Godwin Obaseki assumed office for a second term of four years.
The opposition party in the state said the call became imperative given the fact that Governor Obaseki “has emasculated the judiciary, crippled the legislature and personalised the executive branch,” while acting as “the sole administrator of Edo State”, where “his word is law; he is the lawmaker, the judge and the prison put together”.
The state chairman of the party, Colonel David Imuse (retd), who made the call while addressing a press conference at the party’s secretariat in Benin, added that Governor Obaseki’s “flagrant abuse of power is not provided for anywhere in the 1999 Constitution (as amended).”
Imuse noted that though elected democratically, Governor Obaseki “is actually functioning as the sole administrator of Edo State.”
He lamented that over a year into Obaseki’s second term, “Edo is the only state in Nigeria today without a functional legislature.
“What is happening with the 10 PDP jokers who gather regularly at Governor Obaseki’s office is comical.”
Imuse said, “As I speak right now, Obaseki is demolishing the Central Hospital, Benin City with a view to replacing it with a motor park. The government said it had no plans for such demolition two months ago (October), but if you go to Sapele Road by the Hospital this minute, you will see what I am talking about.
“We know the demolition is imminent and we call on Obaseki to stop or be ready for the consequences.”
He added, “The only public library in Edo State where children of ordinary Edo men/women go to read to develop themselves has been demolished.
The APC chairman said a state of emergency had become inevitable in the state because Governor Obaseki could no longer secure the lives and properties of Edo citizens, contrary to his oath of office, and had mortgaged the future of the state with his penchant for clandestine borrowing and a blatant disregard for the rule of law and court orders except those in his favour.
Reacting, the Edo State government said that it was shocking that the APC could have the temerity to make such a call, adding that it regarded the call as a slap on the faces of the citizens of Edo State and “a sign of selective amnesia” by the Edo APC.
The Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Andrew Emwanta, said that the APC should direct the call to the Federal Government, “which they lead, that has reduced the value of Nigerian lives to near nothing”.
Emwanta’s stamenet reads in part, “Edo State, as of today, is perhaps the most peaceful place to live in the entire country, with incidences of crime and criminality in the state over the last three months nearing almost zero, and the APC dares to call for a state of emergency in the state, when it superintends over a federal government under which Nigerians are slaughtered and maimed on a daily basis all across Nigeria.
“Can Edo APC not see that their call for a state of emergency should be more appropriately directed to a Federal Government, which they lead, that has reduced the value of Nigerian lives to near nothing?
“In Nigeria today, under the leadership of the APC, which their shameless and ragtag Executive Committee (EXCO) in Edo who addressed the press conference represent, you cannot travel from Abuja to Kaduna; Abuja to Keffi; or from Abuja to Minna, by road, without a 70 percent chance of being attacked, kidnapped or killed by bandits. And yet these palace jesters gather in the safety of Benin City, provided by the excellent leadership of Governor Godwin Obaseki, and mouth non-existent chaos.
“Does the party want a state of emergency in a state where every flight or bus coming into the state is fully booked with air carriers and road transporters jostling to keep up with the pressure of travellers trooping into the state?
“They want a state of emergency where investments are rolling in large numbers with consortiums setting up tech parks, establishing malls, processing factories, coupled with the expansion of the real estate sector, which are creating job opportunities for youths in the state?
“It is now apparent that the Edo APC are stuck in the past, refusing to accept the reality that government has evolved and no longer dwells on the anachronistic ideas they were used to when they were in government.”
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