Edo joint transition committee heads for stalemate over documents

The Edo State Joint Transition committee set up by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP-outgoing administration of Governor Godwin Obaseki to fastrack the transition of power to the in-coming government led by Senator Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC), may have hit a dead end as the two parties differ on the modalities for the exchange of documents.

While the 24-member APC committee led by the former deputy governor of the state, Dr Pius Odubu, is insisting that it must be given some specific documents, the government side has a different view, stressing that the committee is a transition committee and not a panel of enquiry.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that the point of divergent was the insistence of the AP team on having access to the financial documents of the Obaseki-led administration since its Inception in 2016, just as the state government maintained its stance that the committee was not set up for financial audit purposes.

At the inaugural joint meeting of the committee on Friday last week, Nigerian Tribune observed that the deadlock would be eventually given the way Dr Odubu responded with a subtle warning to the out-going government not to withhold any information the APC side might require.

This was just as the state government’s side led by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Joseph Eboigbe, presented a five-directional format for the discussion between the two sides, where he spelt our how the government intended to conduct the transition affair and called for questions from the in-coming side.

It was gathered that the APC 24-member committee led by former stayed away from the joint meeting on Tuesday when it was obvious that the government side transition committee was not willing to aceed to the demand for the release of specific documents relating to the government’s financial transactions.

Only few Secretariat staff of the Eboigbe-led committee were seen at the John Odigie-Oyegun Public Service Academy (JOOPSa), venue of the joint sitting, while the APC members were conspicuously absent.

APC Transition member and Secretary to the Committee to the Committee, Patrick Ikhariale when contacted over the development, said they had made it clear to the government committee to avail them advance copies of document 24 hours before any meeting.

He added that despite all that the document they made available did not meet their requisition because they demanded specific documents .

“The truth remains that we have had series of communications both oral and written. Some of them are well documented.

“No meeting could have been proposed for today because in our letters to them we have insisted that anything we want to do they must send to us advance copies of whatever we want to do 24 hours before the meeting.

“Be that as it may, we made requisitions yesterday that all the documents they have supplied so far do not meet our expectations because we asked certain specific questions or required certain documents that are to give us enough understanding of certain things.

“At the end of the day, it was like they were going to change their approach because it is obvious that whatever they brought to us would have been written well ahead of the transition committee.

“And whatever we are asking of is in line with best standard practice globally. We’re not asking of anything new no rocket science about it. It is a question of asking questions in some cases relating to some monetary issues, expenditure, what’s left here, what has been done, may be grants, ngos and what. There are so many others. We have twenty three areas of interest which we forwarded.

“What has been supplied to us so far to the best of our knowledge and what we can readily see here is showcasing “the achievement of the Obaseki regime for the number of years that they have stayed in government.”

“That’s not the focus of the request we made. There’s no doubt that the submission they have made so far falls short of what we expected. We’re forwarding a letter to them giving them time that anytime they’re able to forward the expected document we have the joint meeting and interaction”. He stated.

Reacting to the issues raised by the APC committee, the state Commissioner for. Communication and Orientation, who is also a member of the government committee, Chris Nehikhare, said the APC committee was making inquiries which he said was outside the mandate of transiting to them what the out-going government had done.

Nehikhare added that some of the APC’s inquiries would be contained in the handover notes of Governor Obaseki to the governor-elect, Senator Okpebholo.

“We are a transition committee and not an inquisitive committee that they are trying to make themselves look like. The global practice is to present what we have done, where we are and what has not been done.

“They claim we are only showcasing what we have done but these are the same people that said Obaseki did not do anything. We are supposed to transit all that we have done, and yet to do to them, and some of the other details will be in the hand over notes of the governor

“During our first joint meeting, we did announce how we will do the presentations to them and some other questions they are asking are all embedded in these presentations.” Nehikhare insisted.

READ MORE FROM: NIGERIAN TRIBUNE