The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State has called on Governor Godwin Obaseki to put an immediate end to what the opposition party described as ‘unwarranted and wasteful pleasure trips abroad, which very recently saw him(Obaseki) gallivanting to Germany, Qatar and United Arab Emirates.’
In a statement signed by the Assistant State Publicity Secretary, Victor Osehobo, the APC urged the Governor to, “Stop wasting tax payers funds on these weird frivolous foreign trips in search of investors, whereas all you are doing is sight seeing while the business of governance suffers in the State”.
The party said, “Mr Obaseki’s recent visit to Germany is the latest of the series of such unnecessary trips he embarked on, during which he failed to meet or even interact with credible German business tycoons and investors to come into the state to grow an economy which he is noted for mismanaging.”
“It was the same story when the Edo State governor went to the expensive 2022 Doha Forum in Qatar to showcase non-existent business and investment opportunities in Edo, whereas his tenure so far has brought untold disadvantage to the erstwhile business-friendly environment,” Osehobo added.
On the Governor’s trip to this year’s Annual Investment Meeting (AIM) in Dubai, the party said that the governor had no business there “because no serious investor from that part of the world is willing to risk looking at his pitch for investments in the stillborn Benin River Port, the Enterprise Park, and the Benin Inland Container Depot/Dry Port, among other MOU projects.”
The APC described the foreign trips as a “misplaced priority”, alleging that Governor Obaseki was using them to pocket scarce state funds under the guise of attracting imaginary foreign investors to the state.
According to the APC, “In this year alone, he (Obaseki) has spent over N7bn for foreign trips. He says he is looking for foreign investors to come to the state. Is that amount not enough to invest in one industry that can create jobs?”.
Meanwhile, the opposition party has advised the Governor Obaseki-led administration to cancel its alleged plans aimed at silencing members of the public, especially APC faithful in the State who have been critical of the government’s policies, in the build-up to the 2023 general election.
The party claimed it has uncovered plans by some aides and allies of Governor Obaseki to hound and attack identified critics of the state government, especially those belonging to the APC, with a view to silencing them ahead of the next general election.
The party, therefore, urged Obaseki to halt such alleged plans “because it is undemocratic and unpopular and is capable of throwing the state into untold political turmoil and social crisis.”
