Adams Oshiomhole, erstwhile governor of Edo State, has disclosed that he didn’t leave any debt for his successor, Governor Godwin Obaseki.
Oshiomhole, a former National chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said the only local loan he took while in office as the chief executive officer of Edo State was the N25 billion bond which has been paid.
According to him, “Talking about the debt, I need to use this occasion to clear certain things, I have decided that what I owe Edo people was to join forces to secure tomorrow and not to cry over yesterday because we can’t bring it back but facts must be explained.
“As governor of Edo state, the only local loan I took was N25 billion bond and we paid it over a period of seven years and we conveniently paid by December 2016”.
The former governor, while speaking at the weekend during the flag-off of the APC Edo South senatorial campaign rally for the 2023 election in Benin City, said when he assumed office as governor of the state, the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) was N250million each month but “after a month in office, the IGR went up to N2.1billion.
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Explaining further, he said: “When we had a World Bank budget support of $221 million and they paid two tranches of $75 million when Naira was N165 to a dollar, the third tranche of $75 million was paid to my successor, and I am not going to mention anybody’s name but it was paid to my successor.
“I did the Benin-Lagos roads and several federal roads with this money but the good thing was that, after I left office, the money I used to construct these roads N18 billion was refunded to my successors.
He challenged the state government to publish in national newspapers what was the level of domestic debt when he left office in November 12, 2016 and the current level of domestic debt.
“When they are talking that I left Edo in debt, tell them to publish in national newspapers what was the level of domestic debt when I left office on November 12, 2016 and what is the level of domestic debt now. Let them tell the people if they didn’t receive $75 million of the World Bank Budget Support when I left office and what they did with the money.
“If they continue to lie against me, I will publish the N10 billion President Muhammadu Buhari gave to all the states after I left office and another N10 billion to pay pension as well as the Paris refund,” Oshiomhole added.
He, however, noted that Bola Tinubu, APC presidential candidate, remains the most qualified contender to win the 2023 presidential election and improve on the gains of Buhari-led administration.
