By Deborah Hassan
365Daily – The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, of demolishing properties of his perceived enemies in a bid to harass and intimidate them.
The party made the allegation in a statement released by its Edo State Publicity Secretary, Mr Chris Azebamwan, in Benin, Edo State, on Wednesday, March 24, 2021.
This followed the demolition of a property which belonged to a former Deputy Governor of Edo State, Dr Pius Odubu, by the State Government.
Azebamwan noted that previous demolitions had been carried out by the state government on properties of other members of the party, including that of serving House of Representatives member, Julius Ihonvbere (APC- Owan) and Mr Mike Itemuagbon, a sports enthusiast.
“We recall that Gov. Godwin Obaseki about this same time last year demolished a private property of an APC chieftain, Mr Tony Kabaka Adun.
“Unchallenged, he has taken a step further, all in a bid to intimidate, suppress, hound, crush and silence his perceived enemies.
“No doubt, it is part of the governor’s ‘Make Edo Great Again’ agenda to regularly and wilfully demolish property belonging to perceived opponents, and dissenting or critical voices in the state, in the bid to foist a siege mentality on the citizenry.
“It is on record that Obaseki had earlier this year revoked the Certificates of Occupancy (C of O) of some property, but the demolition carried out while the case is in court, is unacceptable because it amounts to a subversion of the rule of law.”
“The proper thing is for the government to wait for the outcome of the court process, but apparently because it knew that it was pursuing an illegal agenda, it demolished the property.”
He added that ”this constant invasion of citizen’s privacy and demolition of their property, as it is not only wicked, but cowardly.
“It is a direct recipe for crisis in our state. We caution against future action in this guise, because it is borne out of hatred and political intolerance in furtherance of the larger plot by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its administration to destroy the fabric that binds Edo people, and eventually overheat the polity.
“We dismiss the latter day reasons given by the government as dastardly, baseless, false and incongruous, because they fail to justify the unwarranted invasion, harassment of these innocent citizens who once served the state meritoriously, and demolition of their property.
“Edo people know that the PDP and its government is unduly hounding, harassing and demolishing property of citizens for daring to be among compatriots at the forefront of the quest to rescue our state from misrule and strangleholds of a cabal that do not mean well for the people.”