PDP criticism of Sale of edo house in lagos

THE Coalition of Registered Political Parties (CRPP)
in Edo State Monday faulted the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) criticism of the modalities
put in place for the sale of Edo House in Victoria
Island, Lagos, which it alleged, has been
undervalued and that the process lopsided to
favour government cronies.
Addressing a press conference at the weekend,
chairman of the PDP, Dan Orbih, had said the
planned sale of the asset was fraudulent.
But chairman of the CRPP, Samson Isibor, in a
chat with The Guardian yesterday chided the PDP,
saying their allegation was cheap blackmail.

"How many governors outside Edo State are executing
the kind of infrastructural development projects
the governor is doing here? There is rehabilitation
of public schools, building of many roads. Let the
PDP tell us what they did in the more than 10
years that the party was in power. The state
government has our mandate on this action or
whatever action it decides to take on the house.
The governor is a man of impeccable character,
they should leave him alone or else, they would
incur the wrath of the stakeholders in Edo State."

On the allegation that Governor Adams
Oshiomhole wants to sell the house to his cronies,
Isibor said: "Can they expatiate that allegation? If
they sell it to Dr. Isibor, for instance, am I a crony
of the governor? Anybody who is interested
should go and show it. They should stay clear of
the man and let him perform; what are we doing
with the house that is rotting away when the state
needs money to work here?"
But Orbih, at the press conference, threatened "to
go full length to stop the satanic sale" of the
property.

He queried the process of selecting Segun Asaju,
the estate agent handling the sale of the property,
pointing out that there are more qualified estate
valuers of Edo State origin who are not being
given the opportunity to partake in the process.

Orbih alleged that Asaju had been an agent of a
former labour leader who is now part of Edo
State government and that the planned sale of
Edo House was designed to meet the interest of
the said top government official who is allegedly
interested in acquiring the property.
He particularly queried an alleged clause in an
advertorial placed in national dailies for the sale
of the property, which states that "the client has
no obligation to accept the highest or any bid",
saying "if the reason is to get more money, why is
the government not accepting the highest bid?"

Orbih further alleged that the state government
has concluded plans to sell the parcel of land
given to Edo by the Federal Government at
Asokoro, Abuja, adding that the same top
government official is buying the land.
In his reaction, Special Adviser to Governor
Oshiomhole on Media and Publicity, Kassim
Afegbua, said the state government intends to sell
the house "because that is the best thing to do in
the light of long years of decay in the hands of
PDP government." He said the state government
would utilise its economic value for the overall
good of the people of Edo State.

"What purpose is Edo House serving in Lagos as
we speak, when there are lots of development
challenges back home in Edo State. We take
decisions based on public interest of Edo people,
not personal interest of some PDP leaders who
plundered our collective patrimony in the past",
Afegbua said.
via tram Beausteven