Oshiomhole
The Federal Government and the Edo State government are locked in a war of words over the alleged politicisation of a water project in the state.
It was some sort of provocation for Governor Adams Oshiomhole when he was attracted to claims that the N800 million Okpella water project in his native senatorial constituency in Edo State had been completed.
The uncompleted Federal Government project has been the subject of some interesting controversy. Governor Oshiomhole was quick to debunk the claim last month adding that the money for the project was claimed by some unidentified chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in his native Edo State.
The governor’s claim was perhaps a consequence of other alleged claims of the completion of the project reportedly in the journals and calendars of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources.
Stakeholders in the project from the affected community had reportedly petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on the issue perhaps in a desire to unfold the authenticity of the claim.
The issue took another life of its own when the Minister of Works, Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe, perhaps in the line with her political persuasion decided to bring in the All Progressives Congress, APC presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari into the affair.
Records of completion
According to her “the Okpella project is one of the failed projects of the current flag bearer of the APC – General Muhammadu Buhari when he was the Chairman of the Petroleum Trust fund (PTF)”, the minister asserted in her reaction to Oshiomhole.
Admitting that the project has not been completed, she said: “there are no such records of completion in the Ministry, nor were there any funds appropriated and released to the tune of N800m and expended by the Ministry on the Okpella water supply project.
“If Governor Oshiomhole wants to undertake water projects especially for the people of Edo State, which is his statutory responsibility any way, let him go ahead and do so without joining issues with the PDP led Federal Government. The role of the Federal government in the provision of water to rural communities is interventionist not statutory. So Comrade Governor, brace up to your responsibilities and provide water for Edo people”.
Concluding, she said: “The Federal Ministry of Water Resources therefore demands that the Comrade Governor use the same media to retract his unfounded allegations against the Federal Government of siphoning N800m that never existed”.
Oshiomhole was quick to offer the retraction she demanded and it was sharp.
The retraction articulated by the Special Adviser to the governor, Prince Kassim Afegbua flayed the minister for seeking to drag politics into the matter and for distorting facts.
Economic perfidy
“Distorting facts for the sake of politics and misleading members of the public to score cheap political points underscore one of the reasons why the PDP has led the country on the path of economic perfidy,” Afegbua said.
Giving reference to Federal Government publications that put the Okpella water project as a completed project, he said: “In a publication entitled: “Sure & Steady Publication: Progress Report of President Goodluck Jonathan’s Administration”, Volume One, it was copiously stated under the briefings of the Ministry of Water Resources (which has Mrs. Ochekpe’s picture generously displayed), that the Jonathan Administration did commence and complete the Okpella Water Scheme. The information is contained on page 127 of the said publication and the cost of N800m boldly stated.
Sarah Ochekpe
“The same information was contained in the 2013 Calender published by the Federal Ministry of Information where it proudly listed the Okpella Water Scheme, among others, as the achievements of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration. Former Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku was also confronted by the Senate Committee on Information on the erroneous claim that the Okpella Water Scheme had been completed sometimes in February 2014.
Provoked by this sheer falsehood, members of Okpella Community under the auspices of the Okpella Progressive Union, (O.P.U) Northern Congress, wrote a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), late November 2013 to investigate and bring to book the contractor who claimed to have executed the said project, aware that nothing has been done.
“What was also curious was the fact that pipes that were hitherto supplied by previous administration meant for the water project were also carted away. It took the personal intervention of the Comrade Governor to arrest the perennial stealing of the pipes that were initially deployed for the job. As we speak, not a single pipe has been laid for the so-called water project. The question to ask the Minister is; if the project was abandoned by the PTF 17 years ago, how come it was listed as a completed project of the Water Resources Ministry she supervises and an achievement the administration President Jonathan?
Collective patrimony
“As a government that is truly representative of the people, we will continue to demand accountability from those who preside over our collective patrimony, and if need be, put a lie to their unsubstantiated claim with respect to projects awarded and abandoned. The people of Edo State demand apology from the Honourable Minister of Water Resources for deliberately distorting facts for mere politics. We also demand that the said project be delisted from the list of the so-called achievements of the Jonathan administration.”
The brawl with Mrs. Ochekpe is only the latest exchange between Governor Oshiomhole and ministers over the execution of projects in Edo State. He had two years ago laid into the minister of works, Arc. Mike Onolememen over the latter’s claim on the popular five road junction in Benin-City.
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