Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, on Tuesday, alleged that the suspended 18 local government council chairmen diverted and remitted about N12bn to leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party in 15 months.
However, the Chairman of the Edo PDP Caretaker Committee, Tony Aziegbemi, denied the allegation, insisting that such money was not given to PDP leaders by the suspended council chairmen.
Aziegbemi urged the governor to back his claim with evidence and advised him not to take the law into his own hands but to refer any such matter to the anti-corruption agency in the state.
The Edo State House of Assembly, on December 17, 2024, passed a resolution suspending the chairmen and vice-chairmen of the 18 local government areas of the state.
The resolution followed a petition from the governor over the refusal of the chairmen to submit financial records of their councils to the state government.
The suspended chairmen took legal action, with the Federal High Court in Abuja ruling that the status quo be maintained, pending the determination of the suit.
Leaders of the legislative houses in the councils have since assumed executive functions following the impeachment of some council chairmen, while two of the suspended chairmen defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress.
Speaking while hosting the acting chairmen and councillors of the 18 councils, who were at the Government House on a courtesy visit, Okpebholo stressed that he had called the suspended chairmen to explain certain spending, but they could not.
Okpebholo’s Chief Press Secretary, Fred Itua, disclosed the details of the meeting in a statement on Tuesday, titled, “Gov Okpebholo: Over N12bn Remitted to PDP Leaders in 15 Months by Suspended LG Chairmen.”
Okpebholo was quoted as saying, “When I came into office, I had a meeting with the Accountant-General, and he showed me some books. Some of these expenses had no explanation. I picked interest in one spending because I saw an item labeled ‘Environmental Security Funding.’ I had never heard of that before, and the amount involved was huge—N800m every month. These chairmen were allegedly contributing this money and giving it to leaders of a party.”
The governor said the revelation led to a meeting with the chairmen, who were asked to explain the money allocated to environmental security funding, but they could not.
He added, “I invited the chairmen but could not meet with them. My deputy met with them. He asked them to explain certain expenditures, but none could. He asked them to provide their books, and they agreed, saying they would do so in 24 hours. But my deputy said no, let it be in 48 hours. These chairmen didn’t comply with the instructions within two weeks, as none of them submitted their books.