Obaseki’s Fraud, Osagie’s Empty Noise, By John Mayaki

 

OUR forefathers would say, “when a man” – in this case, Godwin Obaseki, “is caught with his hands in the cookie jar, his first reaction is to scream and point fingers elsewhere”. This is not different but precisely what Crusoe Osagie – the empty noisemaker who thinks he can replace accountability by deflecting, has done for his paymaster. It won’t happen with me, Obaseki must answer the questions I raised in my earlier piece: “Obaseki’s fraud: It’s getting clearer”.

I read a reaction over the above piece from Obaseki’s clueless mouthpiece, trying in vain, to masquerade a response but ended up in verbal insults and intentionally missing the required answers he was supposed to offer. Let us offer him another opportunity, I mean the failed student, to repeat the test.

I quite understand how foolish anybody can be – in this case, an empty headed man like Crusoe Osagie attempting to defend the most corrupt administration in the history of Edo state. Simple questions like: who owns what, becomes a mountain to climb – Osagie went on a long voyage of no discovery, rant meaninglessly about my person and at the end of the day, failed to give details necessary to defend his paymaster.

Is anyone surprised? That an administration that mistook arrogance for governance could still not explain why state-funded projects now belong to private individuals without advertisement, bidding, or due process?

Let me break it down for Osagie, it maybe he lacks simple comprehension of elementary English language – who bought Radisson Blu, Benin City Mall, Golf Mews, and Edo Modular Refinery? Since you, Osagie claimed Obaseki “sold government stakes” and “got its money back with a decent margin”, can you assist Edo people with the figures? What about the documentation? Who bought what? At what point? How much did Edo State Government invest, and how much did it recover?

Above are the issues that empty-headed Osagie thought he could use to pull the wool over our eyes.

Now, on the Coral City land grab, can Osagie please explain to us, why over 1,000 hectares of land we’re forcefully taken from communities without compensation? Again, he deflected – he won’t say. Why has Osagie refused to explain why Obaseki’s associates allegedly got over 100 plots in prime locations before the public ever heard of Coral City?

Let me, at this point, correct the erroneous narratives of Obaseki that his administration initiated Ossiomo Power Plant – this again is not correct. This project was initiated by ex-governor Adams Oshiomhole and the likes of Mr. Igbinidu Inneh championed this as Executive Director (ED) Public Private Partnership (PPP). I challenge Osagie on this. Thankfully, former Commissioner Frank Evbuomwan has also bursted Osagie’s lies on this project.

Now, can Osagie tell us the present owners of Ossiomo? Can he also throw light on the relationship between Ossiomo and Quadrant Consolidate Systems Engineering Limited? Who controls CCETC? Osagie has avoided all these questions because he noticed it would expose the entire racket under Obaseki’s leadership.

Again, another issue Osagie avoided was why Radisson Blu was not listed in Obaseki’s transition documents. If it was a government project, shouldn’t it be there? He refused to answer this, hoping we won’t notice, well, we did.

What about the issue I raised about the involvement of of Asue Ighodalo? Could it be that Osagie refused to touch on this because the truth would be embarrassing?

So, after all the noise by Osagie, what did he actually say in his rebuttal to my earlier piece? Absolutely nothing. He wrote a tiresome piece filled with insults of my alleged “sack” from office as Chief Press Secretary that never happened. Whenever he makes such comment in public, I always challenge him to publish the letter of my “sack” and till date, Osagie hasn’t been able – I mean the fake pastor whose sermons are as fake as his complexion, courtesy of his endless romance with bleaching creams and soaps.

Obaseki and Osagie must understand that Edo people are not fools. Asking me to take my complaints to the EFCC is the very arrogance they are known for – governance does not work that way. One would have expected Obaseki and his shameless mouthpiece should proactively prove its transparency, and not wait for citizens to file petitions before explaining how public funds were used.

Tell Obaseki and Osagie that Edo people are still waiting for answers – where their money went and that throwing childish tantrums won’t distract anyone. Except to say there are no answers, then they should simply remain quiet in their political retirement and stop embarrassing themselves in public with such pitiful, unintelligent defenses.