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The APC transition committee has said that the non presentation of necessary documents by the Edo State government will hinder a smooth transition process.
In a statement after its meeting on Wednesday, Secretary to the APC Transition Committee, Patrick Ikhariale, said the situation would also create a barrier to the work of the APC committee.
The statement read in part, “The outgoing PDP administration of Governor Godwin Obaseki in Edo State has not presented the necessary documents that will enable a smooth transition process, a situation that has hindered the work of the APC Transition Committee.
“In the light of this, the APC Transition Committee led by a former deputy governor of the state, Pius Odubu, as Chairman, hereby wishes to clarify some of the false claims and untruths put in the public domain by officials of the state government, overtly or covertly.
“It is on record that the inaugural meeting of the APC Transition Committee with the outgoing government’s team was held on Friday, 18th October 2024 at the John Odigie Oyegun Public Service Academy, Benin.
” Despite the very cordial atmosphere of mutuality and robust engagement that characterised the inaugural meeting, information from government team tried to scandalise the APC Transition Committee, with outlandish claims that we were asking for Sitting Allowances and that our request for hard copies was because members of the APC Committee were not tech-savvy.
“We find these false claims vexatious, underwhelming, insulting, barbaric, and completely misleading. Nothing such was discussed or raised during and after our plenary.”
Similarly, at the meeting, the APC Transition Committee stated unequivocally that documents to be submitted should be in soft and hard copies for ease of reference. Stating that the position was agreed upon by both teams and the government team gave assurances that those documents would be submitted to the APC Transition Committee before the following meeting scheduled for Monday, 21st October 2024.
“The APC Transition Committee wrote officially, on the 18th of October to the Government Team detailing what to provide. Despite assurances from the Government Team, the two sets of documents sent so far are scanty and vague with respect to the expected details covering the scope of the information sought.
“For the avoidance of doubt and clarity of purpose, items requested in the letter are all Assets and liabilities, all Edo state assets located outside the state, detailed report of all federation account allocation committee and Internally Generated Revenue report 2020 till date, detail report of the derivation fund to the state 2020 till date, all maturing legal obligations from 2020 till date which include all contracts, pending or ongoing, total indebtedness (local and foreign) from 2020 till date. Including bonds and treasury bills, all approved contracts by the state government from 2020 till date, and the size, number, and structure of all MDAs, including human resource records/data on public/civil servants and their roles which should also include achievements and gaps if any till date.
“Others are all annual financial audit reports published and unpublished, a report of the 2024 appropriation and performance till date including the revised budget which should also include the current Medium Term Expenditure Framework, all Public Private Partnerships arrangements and Memoranda of Understanding, all state backed initiatives, all fiscal treasury instruments such as treasury bills and all assets sold by the state between 2020 till date.
“We also demand for bank balances across all financial institutions, all programmes being managed by non state actors, total monthly personnel cost, all federal refunds, existing partnerships with development partners. (credit, grants and aids/Technical Assistance), existing arrangements with any federal agency, all laws passed or amended between 2020 till date, payroll structure /current wage bill including remuneration of consultants, a report of the current technology deployed by the state and nature of partnership and any other relevant information that will be useful to the incoming administration.
He added, “We wish to put on record that a Status Report is expected to cover all headings and sub-headings in the governance process especially the details of the financial commitments on the various projects, programmes and responsibilities of the government.
“The incoming government, the people of Edo State, and taxpayers deserve to know the status of affairs. We have not constituted ourselves into a probe panel. Request for information and documents should not be seen as fishing for trouble or asking for too much as this in conformity with international best practices.
“We wish to state without any fear of contradiction that the Government Team seems to be evasive and trying strenuously to shift the focus from the essence of the transition. We are of the considered opinion that in line with the seamless transition initiative, the government should be open and transparent enough to avail us of the documents required to make our assignment easier without raising airs about our good intention.
“The idea of trying to blackmail the APC Transition Committee is in bad taste and most unfortunate. The APC Transition Committee is populated by professionals and persons of high repute under the leadership of Odubu. This job must be done, and the earlier the Government Team does the needful toward a seamless transition, the better it will be for all concerned.
“Despite the setbacks and deliberate slow response from the government team, the APC Transition Committee has been working assiduously to complete her assignment in line with its terms of reference. We will not bow to blackmail, insults, ridicule, name-calling, and deliberate ploy to mislead the public.
“We wish to use this opportunity to call on all well-meaning members of the Public to disregard the tissues of lies and misinformation by the outgoing Government of Edo state.
