By Osehobo Ofure, Benin City
Governor Monday Okpebholo’s suspension of Dr. Caulson Osoikhia Oahimire, Executive Secretary of the Edo State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, over alleged “grave financial infractions” has pitched the All Progressives Congress, APC against the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Responding to the suspension Mr Chris Osa Nehikhare, Publicity Secretary of the Edo PDP Caretaker Committee, took aim at the governor’s administration, labeling it a “soap opera” riddled with chaos masquerading as reform.
He said, “From his own Commissioner for Justice to heads of critical agencies, Governor Okpebholo has made suspension his governance strategy,” Nehikhare said. “Yet, Edo people have seen no credible investigations or accountability, only whispers of quiet reinstatements through the backdoor.”
He accused the governor of either being “out of his depth” or presiding over a government “deeply compromised by rot, failure, and corruption.” Nehikhare challenged Okpebholo to take responsibility and clean house decisively, saying, “Edo deserves serious, focused, and transparent leadership.”
Pulling down the PDP position the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) through its State Publicity Secretary, Barr. Peter Uwadiae Igbinigie, described the statement as “a cocktail of desperation, projection, and reckless hypocrisy.”
“It is very funny that the dying Edo PDP is once again doing what it knows best—standing truth on its head,” Igbinigie said in a counter press release on April 30. “Governor Okpebholo’s resolve to enforce discipline, accountability, and service delivery is unshakeable.”
The APC argued that suspensions of public officials in the face of credible allegations are marks of responsible leadership, not signs of dysfunction. “If the PDP is alarmed by Governor Okpebholo’s courage to clean up the Augean stables left behind by eight years of reckless impunity, then they should brace up for more.”
Igbinigie also took a jab at the PDP for allegedly normalizing impunity during its tenure: “Their idea of leadership was to sweep allegations under the carpet while shielding cronies, no matter the weight of their infractions.”
The APC Publicity Secretary insisted that Governor Okpebholo is not “at war with his tools” but “at war with corruption, ineptitude, and the culture of impunity institutionalized by the PDP—and he is winning.”
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