The former Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki has accused his successor, Monday Okpebholo of sabotaging the operations of the Edo Broadcasting Service (EBS).

Obaseki lamented that the Governor’s cluelessness and lack of capacity has eroded the progress earlier made by the state’s media asset during his tenure.

Speaking via a statement by his Media Adviser, Crusoe Osagie, the governor revealed that while he was in power he had connected EBS to the 95MW Ossiomo Power Plant and provided two standby generators, including a brand new 500KVA and additional 200KVA generators.

He went on to reveal that despite the station power situation, Okpebholo went on to deliver two additional generators.

Obaseki wondered why a facility already powered 24 hours by Ossiomo and backed by two standby generators, would need extra  generators.

The Statement reads, “The current retrogression in Edo State, fueled by the cluelessness and lack of capacity of the Governor-select, Monday Okpebholo, has continued to spread like wildfire across all sectors of the State, and has now engulfed the Edo Broadcasting Service (EBS), which was recently revived by the immediate past governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki.

“The incumbent government’s incompetence, primitive management methods and lack of foresight has began to erode the progress made in the process of upgrading the State’s media asset into a world-class facility that is well equipped with the tools and manpower to favorably compete with other media outfits globally.

“The immediate past governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki had connected the Edo Broadcasting Service to the 95MW Ossiomo Power Plant and provided two standby generators, including a brand new 500KVA and additional 200KVA generators. While the Ossiomo Power which runs for 24 hours was the main source of power to the media station, the generators served as backups for periods of routine maintenance or other technical interruptions from Ossiomo.

“But it appears Okpebholo has begun his deceptive ‘the more you look, the less you see’ magic with the recent delivery of two additional generators, including 150kva and 135kva to the state-owned media station and we are forced to ask:

“What exactly does a facility, already powered 24 hours by Ossiomo and backed by two standby generators, need additional generators for?

“Does Okpebholo plan to run EBS entirely on diesel, especially considering the cost implication?

“From where does he intend to generate the cash flow to sustain this costly operation?

“At what point does he plan to replace these generators again since they are being run around the clock?

“Is this not an unnecessary waste of limited state resources that could otherwise be deployed to more impactful projects and programmes?

“It is on record that while Obaseki was in the process of transforming and repositioning the broadcast media house, he grew the media asset to a point where they no longer depended on government revenue or subvention for their functionality and operations, rather EBS was in fact remitting revenues into the State Government’s treasury on a monthly or quarterly basis. These facts are verifiable. 

“So, again, we ask Okpebholo: Is EBS still self-sufficient, or has he returned it to a state of dependency on government subvention?

“Has Okpebholo been able to sustain the momentum of growth that allowed the station to remit monthly IGR to the state government?

“Or is the progress now gone with Okpebholo’s primitive management methods, which make retrogression inevitable?

“There is a Latin legal maxim, which says, “nemo dat quod non habet,” meaning “no one can give what they do not have.” Okpebholo clearly does know how organizations work and operate.

“He doesn’t know how to run an efficient and sustainable system and is therefore running in all directions, making a shipwreck of all the different organizations that his predecessor, His Excellency, Mr. Godwin Obaseki has successfully put on the path of growth, progress and sustainability.

“We want to repeat, for the umpteenth time, that Okpebholo is a politician out of his depth and urge him to rather focus on building his capacity for leadership and governance instead of his endless show of shame while resorting to jaundiced pressers to cover his incompetence and lack vision and capacity.”