The war of words between Lucky Igbinedion, a former governor of Edo State, and his successor, Adams Oshiomhole, continues.
The Punch reports that the ex-governor has dismissed Oshiomhole’s statement, in which the governor said that it took seven years for him to speak out on the purportedly illegalities perpetrated by Igbinedion while in office.
However, in a statement made on Saturday, November 14, the former governor fired back at his his successor and promised to expose him at the appropriate time.
On Wednesday, November 11, the Edo state government announced that it had begun moves to recover $31m allegedly “fraudulently taken” from the government coffers, during Igbinedion’s administration.
Oshiomhole also accused the ex-governor and his father, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion, of looting the state’s resources.
Reacting to the accusations, Igbinedion stressed that the records of activities during his tenure were open to the public.
“I have made it very clear time without numbers that the files of my tenure are there for everybody who cares to ask to check. I do not intend to dignify Adams Oshiomhole any longer by joining issue with him.
“He should explain to the people of Edo state how he spent the federal allocations and internal generated revenues running into trillions naira in seven years.
“He should tell the people of Edo how much he is paying as land tax for his house in Iyamho worth over N10bn and other properties he has acquired in the last seven years in Dubai, Cape Town in South Africa, in San Francisco, United States of America, a high rise apartment in Atlanta also in America and in London. He is calling everybody a thief but Oshiomhole is the biggest thief in Benin City today,” he said.
According to Igbinedion, Oshiomhole is looking for ways to divert people’s attention as he is currently receiving criticism from the people for mismanaging the financial resources of the state.
“Oshiomhole has failed; the people of Edo state now know him better. Oshiomhole is the least qualified person to talk about corruption in the country today because his actions and programmes in the last seven years in Edo state epitomise corruption.
“He has called everybody in Nigeria a thief; has called former President Olusegun Obasanjo a thief; called former President Goodluck Jonathan a thief, he called (ex-Minister of Finance, Ngozi) Okojo-Iweala a thief, and others. Yet, he cannot prove his cases. I don’t think he knows the meaning of a thief.
“He lives in the glass house and throwing stones. President Muhammadu Buhari will soon find out the real Oshiomhole by the time we provide documents against him,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party has described the move by the Edo state government to probe Igbinedion as ‘political witch hunting’. The party also wondered why Governor Oshiomhole was waiting for seven years in the life of his administration before coming up with a probe.
