The joint transition committee set up by the outgoing Governor Godwin Obaseki’s administration and Governor-Elect Monday Okpebholo’s has reached an impasse.
The 24-member APC committee, led by Pius Odubu, a former deputy governor of the state, boycotted Tuesday’s meeting, reportedly due to the government’s failure to provide specific documents for review beforehand.
According to Patrick Ikhariale, the APC transition committee secretary, “The truth remains that we have had a series of communications, both oral and written… No meeting could have been proposed for today because, in our letters to them, we have insisted that anything we want to do, they must send us advance copies of whatever we want to do 24 hours before the meeting.”
Ikhariale emphasised that the documents provided so far did not meet their expectations, as they sought specific information on monetary issues, expenditures, grants, and NGOs, among 23 areas of interest. “What has been supplied to us so far… is showcasing the achievements of the Obaseki regime. That’s not the focus of the request we made.”
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The APC committee had forwarded a letter to the government, requesting the necessary documents and proposing a joint meeting upon receipt. This development followed Obaseki’s establishment of a 20-man transition committee in June 2024, headed by Joseph Eboigbe, secretary to the Edo State Government.
At the opening session last week, Eboigbe praised Obaseki’s clean financial records and promised to provide hard copies of all records to the APC transition committee.
However, only a few secretariat staff were present at Tuesday’s meeting, while APC members noticeably shunned the meeting.
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