Former Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has refuted claims that his administration left behind a ₦600 billion debt, urging the current government under Monday Okpebholo to confirm the facts with the Debt Management Office (DMO).
The state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Prince Kassim Afegbua, had on Monday in Benin alleged that Obaseki’s government left the state heavily indebted to the tune of ₦600 billion.
Responding via a video call, Obaseki’s Media Adviser, Crusoe Osagie, challenged the Okpebholo administration to consult the DMO to verify whether Edo State incurred such a debt.
He stressed that no government can obtain loans or enter debt agreements without DMO authorization, adding that the Okpebholo administration’s claims were misleading and damaging to the state’s reputation.
Crusoe described the allegation as baseless and said it portrayed the current leadership as lacking a proper understanding of governance.
On the planned probe of the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA), Crusoe noted that MOWAA remained an international brand that entered into a business agreement with Edo State with all T’s crossed and all I’s dotted.
He insisted that every record about the transaction between MOWA and the Edo State Government was contained in the transition report.
He said, “MOWAA is an international investment drawing funds from the German government, the United Kingdom government, and the French government for its development. You think such an investment will be put on land that was not ceded to that organisation by the state?
“These people just come out there and toss all kinds of irresponsible information out there. At the end of the day, what happens is that all of these turn around to form the intelligence that was gathered out of Nigeria by the international community.