The Peoples Democratic Party Chairman (PDP) in Edo, Chief Dan Orbih has said that but for intervention, the immediate past administration in the state led by Mr Adams Oshiomhole would have sold the Edo House in Lagos.
He said this on Saturday in Benin, while speaking with some media men on his greatest legacy as the party chairman for 12 years.
According to him, one remarkable event of his tenure was the ability of his team to stop an attempt at selling the Edo House in Lagos.
“Our action saved the state from what would have been a rip-off “it was important to resist the then administration in the state from selling the Edo House, because it was obvious that if they are allowed to sell the house, then one day they will sell our government house.
“Imagine an adminstration who went on a selling spree of both state and federal government acquired properties within the state and even went as far as attempting to sell the Edo House in Lagos, then we would have woken up one day in the state to hear that they have sold the government house too.
“So my intervention saved the sale of not just the Edo house, but the government”, he said.
He noted that the issue of the Edo house was still in court, as the party took the then government of Oshiomhole to court, and called on the present administration in the state led by Gov Godwin Obaseki to take a decision on the matter, to enable the party withdraw the case from the court.
He added that the Edo house could generate huge revenue for the state, if the property is put to good use.
The party chairman who tenure would end on March 14,said that he was able to manage the crisis in the party in state through out his tenure with the support of members and leaders of the party.
He said that he and his team engaged in taking up issues in the state, which attracted lots of people and followership to the party.He said his priority now was to ensure that the party has a formidable executive across the state that would wrestle power from the opposition All Progressive Congress (APC) in the state.
“Every serious politician must be prepared to effect a change in the political landscape and governance of the state.” Edo people have suffered from the government of APC, and the way forward is to vote them out.
“APC is yet to solve the problem facing Edo, because they lack solutions to the problems.”Because of avoidable internal crisis in the APC, Edo government has not been allowed to settle to serious governance.
” The quarrel between the godfather (Oshiomhole) and his godson (Obaseki) is beyond party as it is now affecting governance.
“APC has used the internal crisis to bring vehicle of development to a halt in the state”, Orbih said.
Stressing that the APC had not done well in the state, he also said that the issue of the Edo University, Iyamho was another issue the people of the state were anxiously waiting for the truth to be unravelled.
He challenged the Edo Government to disclose the status of the institution, vis-à-vis the owners of the institution, partners, contributory percentage of the partners, sharing formula for revenue generated since the institution was supposed to be a public/private partnership project.
Concerning the suspended congress by the party, Orbit said that the issues were been looked into by leaders of the party, while a team has been constituted to meet with aggrieved persons.
“Most important thing right now is to put congress together to bring in a formidable exco on board”, he said. (NAN)
