National leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has sent a powerful message to Governor Godwin Obaseki, berating and accusing him of gravely assaulting democracy and making a mockery of the Nigerian constitution.
He said Obaseki’s governance of Edo has been a throwback to the worst excesses of Nigeria’s military past and represents a direct threat to the democratic order.
In a statement he personally signed, Tinubu said Obaseki adopted the strong-arm tactics of dictators, by first of all, blocking the inauguration of two-thirds of the assembly and then importing thugs, to deface and destroy parts of the assembly.
“Then, he imports sand and gravel to prevent access to the assembly complex. In effect, the man has spent state funds to thwart the very apparatus of the state government he was sworn to uphold. He has squandered public money to defeat the very will of the public. This is tragic beyond words”, Tinubu said.
“As a pretext for his refusal to allow the Edo House of Assembly to function, Governor Obaseki’s actions are perverse.
“This is a cowardly act and a move to thwart representative democracy in Edo. No renovation has been planned for the state house building. No appropriation was made in the state’s budget. The only reason any renovation could be deemed necessary is the destruction wrought by his own goons”.r
“First, he sponsors hoodlums to deface, indeed destroy, parts of the House of Assembly Building in Benin, feigning the building is undergoing renovation. Then, he imports sand and gravel to prevent access to the assembly complex. In effect, the man has spent state funds to thwart the very apparatus of the state government he was sworn to uphold. He has squandered public money to defeat the very will of the public. This is tragic beyond words.
“By his refusal to permit duly elected members of the Edo State House of Assembly to perform their constitutional duties, Governor Obaseki betrayed contempt for the people of his state and, unfortunately, his ignorance of Nigeria’s constitutional order. As a Governor, he ought to know better than to obstruct the functioning of his own legislature, but perhaps he is in need of a quick lesson.