Still on Oshiomhole’s first anniversary bash

Simply put, it was business as usual in Benin city, the venue of the celebration of Oshiomhole’s one year of impotence and misuse of public funds meant for infrastructure development. Consider: Oshiomhole claimed to have rehabilitated 32 roads in Benin city in the last one year, but the State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party […]

Simply put, it was business as usual in Benin city, the venue of the celebration of Oshiomhole’s one year of impotence and misuse of public funds meant for infrastructure development. Consider: Oshiomhole claimed to have rehabilitated 32 roads in Benin city in the last one year, but the State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has quickly faulted this claim.

The Chairman of the party, Chief Dan Orbih had, at a press conference in Benin on Sunday, November 15, asked: “where are the roads?” He had declared:  “He (Oshiomhole) has (only) patched 32 spots.”  If, indeed, only the potholes on the roads were patched and passed for massive rehabilitation of roads, then it raises the question of sincerity and moral credibility in government. This and other questions that Orbih raised are issues to which Oshiomhole should avert his mind.

Indeed, in moment of self-interrogation, Oshiomhole should ask himself whether or not he has been wholesomely prudent and accountable with the funds belonging to the people of Edo State.  Besides, he should answer frequently-asked-questions by the people within and outside the State on the service delivery capacity of his administration rather than on his penchant for cheap political popularity.     

Oshiomhole would have stunned the opposition and watchers of his administration, if he had not joined the bandwagon of self-adulators in government who adopt the strategy of climbing to the rooftop to proclaim some achievements. Unfortunately for him, what is on ground does not justify expenditure of earned internally generated revenue, receipted allocations from the Federation Account and the Excess Crude Account.

But in a bid, perhaps, to appeal to popular sentiments and draw from the vast pool of goodwill that gullible Nigerians are wont to give public office holders who are sweet-talkers, Oshiomhole had deployed the instrumentality of state funds to orchestrate a platform for exaggerating his profile of performance in the face of the obvious realities of non-performance on the ground in the State.

He had wished to use the respected Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, to give an endorsement of his administration as a performing one; but on Thursday, November 12, Soyinka, speaking as a guest lecturer at an event to mark the one year anniversary in office, had ignored the issue of governance in Edo State and limited himself to the issue of credible electoral test.

Soyinka had spoken on a topic: “Electoral Integrity Begets Governance Integrity,” wherein he declared that the electoral process, whatever form it took, was a kind of qualifying test; he stressed that all intending candidates for elections should take a test of performance and responsibility to determine their suitability for the office they seek.  He said that electoral test must be held sacrosanct and that the best test for candidates for an election were the electorate, who were the ultimate decision makers.

The Nobel laureate further said that certain critical tests had not been carried out by those saddled with national responsibilities, with the resultant grave consequences for the nation.  He insisted that the choice of candidates for election should be based on their capacity to perform.  Hear him: “Only those who have undergone the necessary test should be invested with governance at all levels of moral authority and practical competence.”

Perhaps, inadvertently, Soyinka was ramming the truth down Oshiomhole’s throat.  The question then arises: has Oshiomhole really undergone the necessary test?  If he has, his performance thus far should attest to that.  But from the counterclaims by the opposition PDP in the State, it appears that Oshiomhole has merely been deploying a surfeit of propaganda in statecraft to mask and divert his seeming poor performance.  It is only when he satisfactorily addresses the issues raised in the PDP press conference that he would be deemed to be above board in the administration of Edo State finances.   

For instance, Oshiomhole claimed that he had rehabilitated 32 urban roads in the State; that he had been demarcating and planting flowers at the Ring Road; that he had employed 3,500 workers in the State; and, that he had improved the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) with about 300 percent.  But the PDP has faulted all these claims.

Edo State PDP Chairman, Dan Orbih, had given some confetti of counterclaims.  And for the purpose of fairness, the counterclaims have been reduced to a set of questions for Oshiomhole to answer:  Oshiomhole’s claim to have massively rehabilitated 32 roads cannot be true. 32 roads within a period of less than 12 months, most of which was in the raining season? Oshiomhole must be a magician of some sort. In any case, where are these roads that have been rehabilitated?  What is the priority in choosing road demarcation, planting of flowers and demolition of the structures of the poor masses (without compensation) in the name of beautification of the Ring Road?   

Is it true that an average of ten families is displaced in Benin City every day?  Are the remunerations of the 3,500 workers that Oshiomhole claimed to have been employed in agreement with their qualifications and with the civil services regulations? Sadly, a majority of the newly employed workers have been forced on Local Government Councils which now carry the burden of their salaries and allowances.  Is the planting of flowers, shrubs and curbs at the Ring Road and putting flower beds at Akpakpava Road worth the N1.2 billion claimed to be the cost of the project?   Is it not on record that the Oserhiemen Osunbor administration estimated that the project would cost N150 million?  

Why has the implementation of the N75 billion 2008/2009 budget been less than five percent?  How has the N52, 261,810,468: 32 from statutory allocation, internally generated revenue, and special release from the excess crude oil account, been expended?

Omoregie, a political commentator, contributed this piece from Benin.