The Edo State Government says it is using “deodorant” and governmental performance to clean the mess left by the People’s Democratic Party-led government after its eight-year rule in the state. The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Prince Kassim Afegbua, stated this in Benin, the state capital.

He was responding to a press statement by the main opposition PDP entitled, “Edo State under Okpebholo: A year of drift, democratic rupture, and systematic destruction of institutional legacy.” PDP had accused the Governor Okpebholo-led APC government of squandering state and local government funds from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), as well as poor governance in the past year in office, despite huge financial resources running into tens of billions of naira that had accrued to the state.

Commissioner Kassim Afegbua, in a swift response, said the state government had moved ahead and left the crossroads of PDP emanations. Prince Afegbua stated that responding to the PDP was a huge mental waste of time, as the government was busy trying to clean up the opposition party’s mess and halitosis still littering the state by using “deodorant” and governmental performance to sanitise their pollution.

The Commissioner said, “As I said before, this category of PDP vuvuzelas are simply crying because the state feeding bottle has been removed from their well-salivated mouths, and they are now coming to the reality that Edo State is beyond their grip.

“We are too busy cleaning up their mess to have the time to make such ripostes. Reasonable Edo people appreciate our efforts thus far, but the PDP’s gang of sinuous fawns will always behave true to type.”

On allegations that the state government is compiling alleged offences of former governor Godwin Obaseki for the anti-graft agencies, the Commissioner said that the guilty will always be on the run, becoming fugitives in their own country.

Prince Afegbua stated that if Obaseki did not have a skeleton in his cupboard, he would gladly return home, stating that due to the former governor’s involvement in several financial malfeasances, he continues to look for excuses to remain overseas.

The Commissioner added, “His legacy of rot and decay in Edo State will forever haunt him. His legacy of corruption and profligacy will always torment him. If he does not want to come home to face queries, we will petition the relevant security agencies to compel him to return.

“There is no hiding place for anybody in the global arena. The world has become a global village. If he thinks that the little island where he lives in the UK will hide him from our grip, he would be joking.

“We are neither forcing nor intimidating him to come home; we are only asking him to come and account for his eight years in office when he presided over Edo State’s collective patrimony. It is not too much to ask.”