Governor Adams Oshiomole of Edo State has reacted to a statement by former President Olusegun Obasanjo on governors living like emperors while hindering the local governments from performing their statutory functions.
In reaction to the statement, the Edo state Governor said that no one is more deserving of the Emperor title than the former president.
Oshiomhole added that the claims made by Obasanjo does not apply to him or his administration.
The governor who spoke through Prince Kassim Agbua, the State Commissioner of Information and Orientation, said the former president may be referring to the Governors who served between 1999 and 2007, the duration of the former president’s administration.
The governor continued that while he has been able to manage the meager resources of Edo state in a transparent manner, the former president exhibited traits of an emperor during his tenures as military head of state and civilian president.
Adding that “The former president was a member of the PDP until a few weeks to the general elections when he tore his membership card. He may be referring to PDP governors whom he presided over. He may have information about PDP governors whom he presided over that he wanted to share.
“Our economic infrastructure is second to none in the history of this state. The PDP presided over this state.for a period of ten years and they left a tale of woes, neglect and discredit infrastructure. Today we have converted that sorry state to a sweetened state by virtues of the economic infrastructure we have put in place.
“It will be a wrong estimation for anybody to put Oshiomhole in the rank of those who are called emperors. We don’t own a private jet in this state. Others have and they don’t have the means to sustaining it. We don’t live an exorbitant lifestyle. The governor’s office is the same except that we renovated it to give it a facelift.
“Go round and ask local government chairmen. Oshiomhole does not touch local government money. The directive he gave was that they should pay primary school teachers as a first line charge because of his commitment to education.
“When there was an interregnum, he saved money for the local governments. Some got as much as N800m. They inherited it because Oshiomhole saved the money for elected chairmen.”