Former Deputy Whip of the House of Representatives, Rep. Pally Iriase on Tuesday asked Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo state to account for the N250billion his administration collected as revenue in the last four years.

Iriase, who revealed this in a chat with journalists in Abuja, accused the Obaseki government of perpetrating a reign of jackboot politics instead of concentrating on delivering dividends of democracy to Edo people.

The APC chieftain added that the N250 billion that had accrued to the state is based on figures obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) and the Federal Ministry of Finance.

According to him, the figures shows that the Edo state government had received over N251billion in three years to November 2019, excluding deductions. This amount, he added does not include receipts on account of Paris Club refunds, the several bail-out funds and other receipts like grants, loans and counterpart funds.
Similarly, he explained that the figures do not also include funds of the 18 local governments usually annexed by the Edo state government. “Edo state has never had it so good in revenue receipts. In fact, since January 2018 to date, monthly revenues have been a low of over N7billion and a high of over N8billion each month.

“All we have on ground to show as the performance of the government are roads without drains and repainted primary schools.

“Against the backdrop of high earnings, secondary schools in the state lack teachers, health care services are in limbo, without infrastructure and inadequate manpower.

“In short the developmental masterplan of which Gov. Obaseki was a key contributor in desiging has been abandoned. We the Edo people are now suffering from arrested development,” the former secretary to the Edo state government asserted.

He maintained that instead of the governor to deliberately halt the ongoing plunder, he has resorted to jackboot methods to repress Edo state citizens from voicing out their frustrations and unhappiness with the goings on in the state.

“This is why it is only from Obaseki and his hirelings that we hear of the contrived crisis in Edo state.

“The problem a lot of us have with Gov. Obaseki is that of lackluster performance. The contrived crisis with Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is a ploy to divert attention from the government’s non-performance,” Iriase stated.

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