PDP accuses Edo Govt of chasing away investors, dragging investments to EFCC, courts 

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Edo State has accused the Governor Monday Okpebholo-led government in the state of chasing away investors and dragging strategic investments to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the courts.

DAILY POST reports that the party’s accusation is contained in a statement made available to newsmen in Benin City on Saturday by its Publicity Secretary, Dan-Osa Ogbegie.

The statement is titled, “RE: APC’s Illiterate Propaganda on Radisson Hotel and the Desperate Smear Campaign Against Godwin Obaseki.”

Ogbegie, however, urged the Edo people to ask Okpebholo’s administration how chasing away investors creates jobs, how dragging strategic investments to the EFCC and the courts improves the lives of youths, and how propaganda substitutes for governance.

The party spokesperson stated that the press release was in response to a statement attributed to the State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Prince Kassim Afegbua, allegedly spreading calculated falsehoods, half-truths and deliberate mischief against the administration of former Governor Godwin Obaseki.

He said the Radisson Blu Hotel issue is already under litigation before competent courts of law.

He alleged that the state government is out to tarnish the image of Mr Godwin Obaseki by trivialising, distorting and vitiating one of the “most disciplined, transparent and forward-looking gubernatorial performances in Edo State’s history.”

According to him, the administration’s obsession with Obaseki is now pathological. Since assuming office, the Okpebholo government has allegedly operated in blind rage, determined to dismantle and demonise Obaseki’s legacy projects.

He said the alleged dismantling of the immediate past government’s legacy projects was not because they failed, but because they succeeded and set standards that the incumbent APC government neither understands nor can replicate.

He stated that since the APC took over the political governance of the state, the PDP has watched and witnessed the alleged reckless onslaught against the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA), the hostility directed at the 95MW Ossiomo Power Project, and the harassment of Saro Farms and the ethanol investment in Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area.

“We observed the deliberate crippling of the Edo Printing Press at the Nigerian Observer premises. We saw the embarrassing misadventure against Presco Plc, from which the government retreated only after public outrage and investor backlash.

“Now, the Radisson Hotel project has become the latest victim of this administration’s politics of destruction,” he stated.

He opined that the Commissioner of Information and Strategy’s statement on the Radisson Hotel project is a “cocktail of ignorance and mischief,” as it allegedly betrays a frightening illiteracy in finance, social investments and contemporary development economics.

He noted that Public-Private Partnerships, Special Purpose Vehicles, equity contributions, project-finance loans and asset-backed repayment structures are not crimes, but the language of modern infrastructure development across the world.

“Under Godwin Obaseki, Edo State was deliberately elevated from rudimentary, rent-seeking governance to international best practice in fiscal discipline, transparency and investment-led growth.

“That an Information Commissioner of a state would stand before cameras to demonise standard project-finance instruments only exposes the intellectual bankruptcy of the current administration.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the Radisson Hotel project was structured as a Public-Private Partnership. Edo State’s N2 billion contribution was seed equity injected to de-risk the project and attract credible private capital.

“The core private investor brought in substantial equity of its own. Other funds referenced by the government, including portions of bond proceeds, were deployed as loans to the Special Purpose Vehicle for construction and completion of the hotel, with clear repayment obligations tied to future operations. This is not a plunder. This is development finance.

“Even before commencement of operations, the Edo investment in the Radisson project had already appreciated significantly, conservatively valued at over N65 billion, with further upside expected once operations began.

“This is what happens when governments think strategically, attract private capital and invest in long-term economic assets.

“The insinuation that the project was ‘sold for peanuts’ or gifted to cronies is false, malicious and defamatory. Edo State retained equity in the project. At no point did Mr Godwin Obaseki have any direct or indirect ownership interest in the hotel.

“Attempts to suggest otherwise are the desperate inventions of a government floundering in incompetence and searching for scapegoats to mask its failures.

“What the Edo State government described as ‘voodoo financing’ is, in truth, the globally accepted method by which serious governments deliver infrastructure, stimulate tourism, create jobs and grow economies. Their inability to comprehend it does not render it fraudulent. It only exposes their illiteracy,” he said.

While noting that no amount of propaganda by the state government can erase former Governor Obaseki’s achievements, he urged the Edo people to reject the politics of destruction and hold the Okpebholo administration accountable for governance, not gossip; for results, not resentment; and for leadership, not loud ignorance.

Ogbegie vowed that the PDP would not stand by while the APC drags Edo State backwards, erodes investor confidence and attempts to rewrite history through noise and falsehoods.

He added that Godwin Obaseki’s legacy is firmly etched in institutions rebuilt, infrastructure delivered, fiscal discipline restored, and Edo State’s credibility rehabilitated nationally and internationally.

PDP accuses Edo Govt of chasing away investors, dragging investments to EFCC, courts