By virtue of his very sensitive position, a Governor owes it a duty to his office and the State he governs to at all times conduct himself in a way that would not compromise the security of the state.
Interestingly, in the past few weeks, Governor Godwin Obaseki could be said to have fallen short of this expectation. He has displayed a high proclivity to fanning the embers of insecurity in Edo State as his words and actions continue to gravitate towards realizing his threat of setting the nation on fire. This is very unbecoming of the chief security officer of the State.
The latest pointer to this unfortunate behaviour is his attitude towards the holding of the ongoing nationwide protest against “bad governance” as the arrowheads have deemed fit to christen it.
Whereas other State Governors have been relating with the organisers of the protest and their followers to dissuade them from protesting in their states knowing that it could turn violent, Governor Godwin Obaseki has been acting as if he were the sponsor in Edo State. At any rate, it is being speculated that he has indeed provided the organisers logistics to keep the momentum.
Given that the themed protest is implicative of both the federal and state governments, some State Governors have tried to use the opportunity to let the protesters know what they have been doing to affect the lives of their citizens in the midst of the economic crisis while they plead for understanding and patience with the federal government. Obaseki, on the other hand, has chosen to incite the protesters against the APC led federal government, condemning the processes of which he has greatly benefitted, and hoping for a confrontation that could make Edo people more opposed to the APC as we go into the governorship election.
Unfortunately for the scheming governor, providence seems to have turned the table against him. Just as it happened during the EndSARS protests that exposed the fact that Obaseki’s government had hidden large quantities of COVID-19 food palliatives intended for poor Edo people, so has there been a similar situation in the past days. Hungry Protesters have been seen in viral videos helping themselves to bags of rice with Edo State Government badges kept in unusual places.
There has been an allegation that the finds were part of the consignment of 24,000 bags of rice donated by the federal government through the state government, to vulnerable citizens in the State, as was given to the other 35 states and the FCT.
While the agents of Edo State Government and their supporters have been trying hard suppress the story of diverted federal government bags of rice with another story of Edo State Government running a feeding programme for Christian and Muslim Leaders, the State Government has remained non committal to answering the question of the whereabouts of the 24,000 bags of rice. In fact, they are yet to acknowledge receipt from the federal government.
It seems to have become customary with Governor Godwin Obaseki to conceal donations to Edo people from the federal government, corporate bodies and individuals. For instance, former Governor Adams Oshiomhole in a trending video, has accused Obaseki of not making disclosure of the donation of 30,000 bags of rice by Alhaji Aliko Dangote to Edo people. It is instructive to note that the Lagos State Government in March at a public function acknowledged receiving a donation of 80,000 bags of 10k of rice from the Dangote Foundation, which a fulfilment of the Foundations pledge to donate 1,000,000 bags of rice across the 36 states of the country, including the FCT. Governor Obaseki and Edo State Government are yet to acknowledge receipt of such a donation from the Dangote Foundation.
It has been observed that instead of Obaseki acknowledging the source of these gifts, he would curiously begin to give them out as materials procured by the State Government, thereby seeking to take credit for other people’s charity. What is yet to be ascertained is if for these donations the Governor appropriates public funds for “procurement” given the non acknowledgement of the gifts.
Meanwhile, the peace of Edo State has been maintained by divine will despite the wish of those who desperately want chaos and disaster in order to gain political capital as regards the 2024 governorship election, it is hoped that Edo people would be focused on the interrogation of the issue of good governance in Edo State, of which one could say that Obaseki and the PDP have failed to provide in the past seven plus years as Governor of Edo State.
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