Edo 2024: ADC candidate slams Obaseki over alleged N1bn monthly food support

By Owen Eresoyen, Benin

A governorship candidate in the September 21 election in Edo State, Engr. Derek Izedonmwen has slammed Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki for appropriating N1 billion monthly in form of food support to Edo people.

In a statement Tuesday in Benin, Engr. Izedonmwen of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) argued that if the money is well invested in agriculture and without the usual political embezzlement, crony capitalism, and financial misappropriation, it could feed millions of Edo people and future generations.

The ADC governorship candidate said that the state government has a herculean task of prioritising the basic necessities and needs of Edo people by avoiding waste of her hard earned resources and work to restore the people’s dignity.

Just like the COVID-19 palliatives from the Federal Government which were largely unaccounted for by the state government, he said that foods from the N1 billion may never get to the ordinaries and the exact masses for which they were intended.

Engr. Izedonmwen queried: “Can we pause to ask, where are the Covid-19 palliative and food bags that were shipped and sent into Edo state during the Covid-19 pandemic?”

He noted that instead of the government to spend N1 billion monthly on food stuff that will not be accounted for, the proper thing to do is to use the money to set up a farm that will continuously feed Edo people just like former military Governor Samuel Ogbemudia did when he set up the Agbede/Warrake Farm.

The ADC governorship candidate explained that if the government can easily afford the N1 billion monthly, why have Edo people been lamenting over road infrastructure for several years, lamenting that there are so many communities without primary schools, secondary schools, maternity, or electricity.

Izedonmwen said: “Edo people cannot continue to live and waste their destiny. The battle of emancipation from poverty is a battle we cannot leave for our children. We have blamed our origins and background enough. It’s time for us to launch into the deep and excavate good governance and success.”

“If we continue on this trajectory, we might live without seeing the dividends of democracy, while our children may have to live as ordinaries on the streets. We don’t want to leave behind a state where our children may be forced to live as scavengers”, he said.