Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, through his Special Adviser on Media and Communication Strategy, Crusoe Osagie, has dismissed reports credited to the state Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Dan Orbih; that N7 billion has been voted for his foreign trips in 2019. 

In a statement by Osagie, the governor insisted there is no such allocation in the state’s budget for this year.

“No part of the 167-page budget document has such provision. If there is any such provision for foreign trips, Orbih should point it out in public so that Edo people can go and check it out themselves. It is a lie that should be discountenanced.”

Meanwhile, Obaseki, has opened up on why he stayed away from the Sunday, January 13, Abuja meeting of South South governors; over the Monday arraignment of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, on asset declaration allegations, before the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

Obaseki said the Abuja meeting of governors of Delta, Rivers, Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa states was a meeting of PDP governors and not a meeting of South-South governors.

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The governor disclosed this, against the backdrop of accusations from Orbih. Obaseki said Orbih was being economical with the truth and most uncharitable to his person, with his unnecessary attacks.

“Orbih should tell Edo people the last time the South South governors’ meeting was held; how many times the meeting was held in 2018 and, its agenda for 2019.

“Obaseki is committed to the wellbeing of Edo people and our brothers and sisters in our sister South-South states and all Nigerians, and will support any meeting, devoid of political colouration, that genuinely seeks to improve the welfare of people of the South-South region and elsewhere in the country.

“Obaseki will not attend a PDP governors’ meeting like the one held in Abuja, last Sunday, but will attend meetings that are not politically-tainted, and called to proffer time-tested solutions to the developmental challenges faced by the millions of Edo and other people of the South South,” the governor said in a statement released by Osagie.