APC calls for State of Emergency in Edo

*Accuses Governor Obaseki of dictatorship

By Kingsley Abavo, Benin

The All Progressives Congress (APC), has called on the President, as a matter of urgent national importance to declare a State of Emergency in Edo State due to the collapse of governance, one year after the PDP-led government led by Governor Godwin Obaseki assumed office, for a second term of four years.

State Chairman of the party, Col. David Imuse Rtd addressing a press conference in Benin City, said the call has become necessary because, “Edo State today is under the dictatorship of Mr. Godwin Obaseki who personifies the government, having emasculated the Judiciary, crippled the Legislature and personalized the Executive branch.”

According to Col. Imuse, Governor Obaseki though democratically elected is actually functioning as the Sole Administrator of Edo State, and with word as law; “He is the lawmaker, the judge and the prison put together” adding, “Edo is the only State in Nigeria today without a functional Legislature. What is happening with the 10 PDP jokers who gather regularly at Governor Obaseki’s office is comical”.

He said, “What Obaseki is practicing in Edo today is a democratic taboo. And when a taboo is allowed to exist for too long it becomes a tradition. If this taboo is allowed to be exported to other States, using Obaseki as a reference, it will endanger our democratic culture. Edo is in serious trouble.

“Mr Obaseki’s flagrant abuse of power is not provided for, anywhere in the 1999 Constitution as amended. Meanwhile, this Constitution, which our country, Nigeria is still operating remains the grundnorm. So, we wonder where Mr. Obaseki is deriving his powers from, as there is no section, in the Constitution either, for a Maximum Ruler or Sole Administrator as we presently have in Edo.

“For almost one-year, local government administration in Edo State has been thrown into a coma, with the Governor’s decision not to conduct elections for Chairmen and Councilors. For a Governor who daily interfered with the State’s local government Council’s statutory allocations, is it not self-indictment to say that unless he is able to clear the N60billion debt they owe, he cannot conduct LG elections?”

Col Imuse said, “As I speak right now, Mr. Obaseki is demolishing the Central Hospital, Benin City with a view to replacing it with a Motor Park. The Government says it has no plans for such demolition two months ago (October) but if you go to Sapele Road by the Hospital this minute, you will see what I am talking about. We know the demolition is imminent and we call on Mr. Obaseki to stop or be ready for the consequences. ”

He added, “The only public library in Edo State where children of ordinary Edo men / women go to read to develop themselves has been demolished and the land sold to Obaseki’s cronies to build a Supermarket.

In addition, the APC Chairman said a State of emergency has become inevitable in Edo State because Governor Obaseki can no longer secure the lives and properties of Edo citizens, contrary to his oath of office and has mortgaged the future of the State with his penchant for clandestine borrowing and a blantant disregard for the Rule of Law and court orders except those in his favour.

The APC Chairman said the Edo state Governor has also brought untold agony and pain to many as, “Individual homes / private properties are being demolished and Certificates of Occupancy of prominent Edo indigenes perceived as political adversaries are being revoked”, uncontrollably.

He said many people in Edo State are worried with the approach of Mr. Obaseki, the lingering slide of governance and his brutal abuse of the Constitution and the call for a state of emergency is predicated on the fact that Mr. Obaseki would rather prefer to be a Sole Administrator of Edo State rather than a democratically elected Governor.

Col. Imuse concluded that if the President declares a State of Emergency in Edo, it will have a multiplier effect on the various apparatus of government in such sectors like the civil service, health, education, and security of lives and property, among several others, as it will be served as proactive step that can flatten the curve of bad governance the state is suffering under Governor Obaseki.