BEVERLY HILLS, February 23, (THEWILL) – Tongues are wagging, eyelids are batting while there are conversations in hush hush tones in Edo State on account of what is perceived as the looming war set to pitch Governor Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki with his predecessor, Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole.
The war is coming in form of Governor Obaseki’s plan to probe the N30billion storm water project initiated by Comrade Oshiomhole’s administration which the incumbent governor described as a fraud conceived to defraud Edo people.
Governor Obaseki while on an inspection visit to the project site recently said: “You can see for yourself that the so-called stormwater project was a fraud; it was a contract to defraud Edo people. From what I can see now, the stormwater project in this catchment area was never designed to take water away from the area. The area was never drained. You can see the level of what we are doing now as compared with that of the previous administration.
“It is almost two-meter difference. There is no way you can drain water from a low land into a higher ground. We say we have experts and paid over N30 billion for this project. The person that supervised this project today calls himself a minister supervising bigger projects for the Federal Government. This is not acceptable.”
Going further, he said: “They spent N30 billion claiming that they want to take away the suffering of Edo people, de-flood the area and restore value to the people’s property. Look at what has happened now to this project for five years.
“With what we have done now with less amount of money, we are going to finally drain this area and bring back life to the people in this catchment area. I don’t like probing but this time we have to set up a panel to get the facts of what happened. We can’t throw away such a large amount of money. People must be made to account for their time in service in government.
“They have to explain to us how they spent the N30 billion on a project they claim will drain water from a community. But the project drains the water to nowhere. They have the boldness to claim that we abandoned the project which were never made or designed to work in the first place.
“Clearly, we will take the necessary precaution to recover all the money due to Edo people that was stolen from this project.”
Governor Obaseki’s pronouncement contrasts sharply with that of Comrade Oshiomhole when as the incumbent state governor he made a similar inspection tour to the project site in 2012.
A report from the Government House news bulleting on 14th February, 2012, stated: Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has vowed to fight headlong the perennial flood and erosion problems in the South-South state.
To this end he said the twin problems in Benin City will soon be things of the past with the completion of the storm water project.
The Governor stated this during an inspection of work on the 13-feet deep channel being constructed on the New Lagos Road to link the canal on Five junction to the canal on the Traditional Ground.
According to Oshiomhole, “I am satisfied with the on-going construction. It is a good work. We have to re-claim the moat to enable us construct a canal here to serve as a receptacle for erosion coming from different points.”
While assuring the people of the state of government’s resolve to tackle erosion problems in the state, he urged the construction firm to speed up the work.
In his remarks, the State Commissioner for Works, Mr. Francis Evbuomwan explained that what is being done is the filling and compaction of the canal and when it is completed, it will act as a receptacle for flood water from different areas.
“The flood water coming from Uselu is transmitted to Ikpoba River. It is about four metres deep and twenty five metres wide,” he said.
Some residents of the area commended the Governor for coming to their aid to deflood the area. They lamented that past governments in the area had continuously ignored their plea which had made many of them to vacate the area.
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