Edo State Government has fired back at the Federal Government, protesting attempt to gag Governor Godwin Obaseki for speaking truth to power, relating to the economic policy of President Bola Tinubu.
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The Edo State Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare, had berated the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, for attacking Governor Obaseki, saying that the governor ‘was trying to shift focus from his “poor performance” at the state level, with his statement on the economic policy of the Tinubu administration.
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The minister had added that the governor has been absent from the National Economic Council (NEC) meetings in the Tinubu administration.
The Edo State Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare, had in a statement on Sunday, declared: “it is unfortunate and sad that the Federal Government now wants to gag citizens, and even a popularly elected governor from speaking truth to power, expressing himself in the light of the perilous times we have fallen into.
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“The claim that the governor failed to attend NEC meetings is blatantly false. The records are there to prove this fact.”
Governor Obaseki, in a media interaction on Thursday, had noted that the removal of petrol subsidy and foreign exchange reforms of the Tinubu administration has caused sudden increased hardship for Nigerians.
The minister had took on Governor Obaseki as his first salvo on the opposition after his inauguration last week.
However, the hardship caused by the removal of petrol subsidy by President Bola Tinubu without provision for production or refining of crude oil in Nigeria is obvious to everyone, including the President, himself, and
World Bank officials also.