Governor Adams Oshiomhole has said that no one is more deserving of the tag of emperor which former President Olusegun Obasanjo sought to hang on state governors recently than Obasanjo himself.
Oshiomhole, reacting to a statement by the former president that state governors live like emperors and hinder the local governments from performing their staturoty functions, said the allegations do not apply to him (Oshiohole) or his administration.
Governor Oshiomhole said perhaps Obasanjo was referring to governors that ruled between 1999 and 2007 when he was in power.
Several other governors also denied the Obasanjo allegations.
Oshiomhole said Obasanjo exhibited traits of an emperor during his tenures as military head of state and civilian president.
Speaking through the State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Prince Kassim Agbua, the Edo governor said that he has been able to manage the meager resources in the state in a transparent manner.
He said: “The former president was a member of the PDP until a few weeks to the general elections when he tore his membership card. He may be referring to PDP governors whom he presided over. He may have information about PDP governors whom he presided over that he wanted to share.
“Our economic infrastructure is second to none in the history of this state. The PDP presided over this state for a period of ten years and they left a tale of woes, neglect and discredit infrastructure. Today we have converted that sorry state to a sweetened state by virtues of the economic infrastructure we have put in place.
“It will be a wrong estimation for anybody to put Oshiomhole in the rank of those who are called emperors. We don’t own a private jet in this state. Others have and they don’t have the means to sustaining it. We don’t live an exorbitant lifestyle. The governor’s office is the same except that we renovated it to give it a facelift.
“Go round and ask local government chairmen. Oshiomhole does not touch local government money. The directive he gave was that they should pay primary school teachers as a first line charge because of his commitment to education.
“When there was an interregnum, he saved money for the local governments. Some got as much as N800m. They inherited it because Oshiomhole saved the money for elected chairmen.”