Edo Govt Fires Back At PDP Over Claims Of Leadership Vacuum, Luxury Vehicle Plan
The Edo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the state government are at loggerheads over allegations that Governor Monday Okpebholo and his deputy, Dennis Idahosa, have abandoned their duties for foreign trips while planning to spend N4.2 billion on luxury vehicles for newly nominated commissioners.
In a statement on Thursday, the PDP Publicity Secretary, Chris Nehikhare, accused the governor and his deputy of “reckless dereliction of responsibility,” claiming Edo had been left in a leadership vacuum amid worsening insecurity and economic hardship.
He alleged that the governor’s request for the confirmation of 28 commissioner-nominees would result in the “most bloated executive council in Edo’s history” and that the government had already concluded plans to purchase 28 SUVs at N150 million each.
The PDP further claimed that workers’ entitlements were being delayed, public projects abandoned, and insecurity worsening while the governor and his deputy embarked on “endless foreign junkets.”
Responding, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Fred Itua, dismissed the allegations as “reckless, misleading, and desperate,” insisting that the state has not been left without leadership.
He said the deputy governor was “presently in Edo State, diligently discharging his responsibilities,” adding that the PDP’s claim was a “product of mischief and deliberate falsehood. The PDP must be reminded that governance in Edo today is not run on propaganda or guesswork but on systems, structures, and accountability,” Itua said in a statement titled ‘PDP Goofs Again’.
He also countered the party’s claims about workers’ welfare, saying Edo remains one of the top three states in Nigeria with the highest minimum wage at N75,000.
On education, health and infrastructure, Itua blamed the immediate past administration of Governor Godwin Obaseki, under whose PDP-led government “no meaningful recruitment or critical investment was carried out for eight years.”
On the allegation of an over-bloated cabinet, the government maintained that inclusiveness was being wrongly portrayed as excess.
