By Sebastine EBHUOMHAN.
It is becoming very clear that as Edo State moves towards another governorship election that will push Governor Godwin Obaseki out of power at Dennis Osadebey Avenue in Benin City, spin doctors who will be paid to rewrite his stinking history, will labour very hard to do so with little or no success.
Obaseki
It is not arguable that there’s a lot of rots, poor decisions, mismanagement, corruption and wickedness in the style and governance of Obaseki’s administration that would bring a lot more litigation before and after he leaves Government House. This unsavoury anticipation is underlined by the second major negative judicial pronouncement against Obaseki and his People’s Democratic Party (PDP)-elected government in less than 90 days.
Towards the end of last year, an Edo State High Court indicted Governor Obaseki for willfully destroying the commercial property of a citizen, because the citizen refused to endorse or work for him during the election for his second term held in 2020. The dusts raised by the judgment unsurprisingly settled after the litigant, Mr Tony Adun, alias Kabaka, the State Youth Leader of opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) surprisingly accepted two bags of Edo Rice and a cow from Obaseki sent through the Governor’s Chief of Staff as 2021 Christmas gifts.
Today in Benin, another court, the National Industrial Court, has just indicted Governor Obaseki with another negative judgment in Suit No.: NICN/BEN/25/2018. The suit was instituted against the government by the workers the governor inappropriately and wickedly sacked at the College of Agriculture, Iguoriakhi, Edo State. The judgment not only hunted and indicted Obaseki for wrongfully terminating the employment of the aggrieved staff but also awarded N4m to each of the sacked staff, besides another N950,000 for general damages.
As a journalist at the forefront of media development in Edo State and Nigeria, I believe this latest judgment will not be the last indictment of Governor Obaseki and his administration. Moreso, the reason I’ll like to advise the government to endeavour to make amendments hence, by first and foremost, avoid falling into the trap of wasting public funds and goodwill through unnecessary appeals against these two judgments.
While more negative judgments will definitely haunt the government before Obaseki leaves in 2024, the next Governor of Edo State must brace up for many more litigations and judgments against Edo State Government on accounts of the avoidable decisions of Mr Obaseki.
SEBASTINE EBHUOMHAN wrote this brief from Abuja.
