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Oshiomhole Seeks Relevance, Opens Can of His Worms

THE former former governor of Edo State, and the disgraced ex national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole recently slammed his successor, Governor Godwin Obaseki for pocketing Sixteen Billion Naira, paid to the state by the federal government.

Oshiomhole drops senatorial ambition, joins 2023 presidential race, vows to  tax the rich - Nairametrics

The money, Oshiomhole claimed was refunds for the construction of federal roads carried out by his administration.

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“Obaseki got Sixteen Billion Naira my administration spent on fixing Fed roads”, the imprudent politician boasted.

Oshiomhole went ahead and accused Obaseki of failing to apply the funds to the repairs of federal roads in the state.

“The huge sum of money ought to be used by the Obaseki administration to build more roads for the benefit of the residents”, He said during his campaign to be elected Senator in Edo North.

However, checks by Midwest Herald points to the revelation that, some of the roads Oshiomhole claimed his administration repaired, were never done.

This was part of the corruption petition written against Oshiomhole by a section of the civil society group, that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC refused to investigate and subsequently defended at the Federal High Court.

Also, figures at the Debt Management Office indicate that the huge debt profile of Edo State was recorded during the Eight years of Oshiomhole, that was characterized by high scale corruption and embezzlement.

Midwest Herald findings shows that a major component of the debt was ‘over-inflation’ of contract cost. For example, contractual documents shows that, Oshiomhole awarded a single hostel room in Edo University, Iyamho for a whopping Ten Million Naira, which he hurriedly paid few weeks before leaving office.

The scandal and subsequent threat by Governor Obaseki to probe the Accident and Emergency wing of the Central Hospital, Benin City, built by Oshiomhole, has remained unresolved.

It will be recalled that, government had released contract papers for supply of hospital equipment that were never supplied.

The contract was awarded to a major company through one of Oshiomhole’s female acquaintances who deposited the total contract sum in her bank account, in anticipation of profiting from the interest.

The scam of ‘Storm Water’ Project has also remained unsolved by the present administration.

Credible sources told this paper that Oshiomhole left a debt of over N300 billion in the state.

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