The outgoing PDP administration of Governor Godwin Obaseki in Edo state has not presented the necessary documents that will enable a smooth transition process, a situation that has hindered the work of the APC Transition Committee.
In the light of this, the APC Transition Committee led by His Excellency, Dr. Pius Odubu as Chairman, hereby wishes to clarify some of the false claims and untruths put in the public domain by officials of the state government, overtly or covertly.
It is on record that the inaugural meeting of the APC Transition Committee with the outgoing government’s team held on Friday, 18th October, 2024 at the JOOPSA Hall, GRA, Benin City.
1. Despite the very atmosphere of mutuality and robust engagement that attended the inaugural meeting, information from Government Team tried to scandalise the APC Transition Committee, with outlandish claims that we were asking for Sitting Allowances and that our request for hard copies was because members of the APC Committee were not tech-savvy. We find these false claims vexatious, underwhelming, insulting, barbaric, and completely misleading. Nothing of such was discussed or raised during and after our plenary.
2. At the meeting, the APC Transition Committee stated unequivocally that documents to be submitted should be in soft and hard copies for ease of reference. This position was agreed upon by both teams and the government Team gave assurances that those documents would be submitted to the APC Transition Committee before the following meeting scheduled for Monday, 21st October, 2024.
3. The APC Transition Committee wrote officially (18th October) to the Government Team detailing what to expect. Despite assurances from the Government Team, the two sets of documents sent were scanty and vague in respect of the expected details covering the scope of the information sought. For the avoidance of doubt and clarity of purpose, the letter inter alia, covers the items stated below:
*All Assets and Liabilities (headline)
*All Edo state assets located outside the state. *Detailed report of all Federation Account *Allocation Committee (FAAC) and Internally *Generated Revenue (IGR) report 2020 till date. *Detail report of the Derivation Fund to the state 2020 till date.
*All maturing legal obligations 2020 till date. This include all contracts, pending or ongoing.
*Total indebtedness (local and foreign) 2020 till date. Including bonds and treasury bills.
*All approved contracts by EXCO 2020 till date.
*Size, number structure of all MDAs including Human Resource records/data on public/civil servants and their roles. This should also include achievements/gaps if any till date.
All annual financial Audit reports published and non published.
4. We wish to put on record that a Status Report is expected to cover all headings and sub-headings in the governance process especially the details of the financial commitments on the various projects, programmes and responsibilities of the government. The people of the state and taxpayers desire to know the status of the state with respect to allocations and expenditures covering the period under review. We have not constituted ourselves into a probe panel. Request for information and documents should not be seen as fishing for trouble or asking for too much.
5. We wish to state without any fear of contradiction that the Government Team seems to be evasive and trying strenuously to shift the focus from the essence of the transition. We are of the considered opinion that in line with the seamless Transition initiative, the government should be open and transparent enough to avail us the documents required to make our assignment easier without raising airs about our good intention.
6. The idea of trying to blackmail the APC Transition Committee is in bad taste and most unfortunate. The APC Transition Committee is peopled by professionals and persons of high repute under the leadership of former Edo state Deputy Governor, His Excellency, Dr. Pius Odubu. This job must be done and the earlier the Government Team do the needful towards a seamless transition, the better it will be to all concerned.
7. Despite the setbacks and deliberate slow response from the Government Team, the APC Transition Committee has been working assiduously to complete her assignment in line with its terms of reference. We will not bow to blackmail, insults, ridicules, name-calling, and deliberate ploy to mislead the public.
8. We wish to use this opportunity to call on all well meaning members of the Public to disregard the tissues of lies and misinformation by the Government of Edo state Transition Committee.
