Rivalry between Governor Adams Oshiomhole and General Charles Airhiavbere boiled over on Thursday with a startling revelation by the former that the latter was detained by Army authorities for three months over the handling of funds earmarked for the rehabilitation of military health centres across the country.
According to a statement by the Media Office of the Edo State Governor, the claim was made during a three-hour televised debate organised by the Nigerian Elections Debate Group for the candidates of three shortlisted political parties for the July 14, 2012 governorship election in Edo State.
The parties were the Action Congress of Nigeria, the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Nigeria Peoples Party.
The venue of the event was the Best Western Hotel, Benin City.
Responding to a question by one of the panellists, Mr. Ide Eguabor, on how he left the Army, the PDP flag-bearer, Major General Airhiavbere (rtd), had said he retired with an unblemished record, adding: “In fact, if I wish to return to the Army tomorrow, they would be too happy to take me back.”
But the ACN candidate, Oshiomhole, fired back: “I think the account of my brother from PDP (Airhiavbere) does not add up. In one breath, you told us you had your stay extended by one year, in another breath, you said you retired voluntarily.
“You’ve not told us the truth. We’ve records of how you left the Army. We can request the Army authorities to make this public. Weren’t you detained for three months over the mismanagement of funds meant for rehabilitation of military health centres across the country, including the one in Benin? Didn’t you have to make a refund before you were allowed to leave the Army? Why are you not telling the people the truth?”
Curiously, the PDP candidate failed to respond to the weighty charges made by Oshiomhole when he was given five minutes by the moderator, Ms. Jire Kuforiji, to round off his presentation.
Rather, he made an emotional speech in which he said if elected he would transform Edo State to Eldorado such that “even after death, our people would wish to be born in Edo again after reincarnation.”
Earlier, the controversy over the alleged N10 billion estate owned by Oshiomhole in his native Iyamho, Edo State, was also rekindled.
Asked by one of the panellists, Mrs. Nancy Illoh, for his defence, the Edo governor said: “Is it only the N10 billion estate they said I own? They also said I own a big estate here in Benin City and another big hotel in Lagos. But the truth is that I’m extending my house in Iyamho, which I had built in 1991 with a four-bedroom building, which I intend to use as a guest house. What baffles me is how a four-bedroom building that is still under construction, not yet roofed, with the sky-folding made of local bamboo trees, could now amount to N10 billion? It shows how unserious PDP can be in trying to destroy my hard-earned reputation. In any case, my country-home at Iyamho is contained in the asset declaration form, which I filled and submitted.”
Earlier, the PDP candidate fired the first salvo when he accused the ACN candidate of breaching due process in the award of contracts as well as awarding multi-billion naira contracts to party stalwarts.
Responding, Oshiomhole denied that due process was not observed in the award of contracts, adding that jobs were given to competent contractors with proven record of performance.
Said Oshiomhole: “My brother from PDP (Airhiavbere) was in-correct to say we gave contracts to our party leaders. I’m happy he mentioned the Airport Road contract. I thought I should let you know that the contractor handling the Airport Road now is also the one who handled Sapele Road and the name is Setraco, whose chairman is a member of PDP. We give out contracts not based on party affiliations but based on competence. Which is why we had also given out a contract to the man who is now the Publicity Secretary of Edo PDP (Mathew Urhoghide). Even after he left our party, we still paid him for the contract. Tomline, a well-known PDP chieftain, is also one of our contractors.”
In a counter-punch, the ACN candidate alleged that due process was not followed in the award of Army contracts, especially Army hospitals, when the PDP candidate was the Director of Army Finance and Administration.
He also accused the PDP candidate of culpability in the death of pensioners who died due to none payment of their allowances.
Oshiomhole also took the fight to his PDP counterpart who accused him of evading two questions.
The first was on administration of State and Local Government Joint account and the second was on how he would ensure that he does not run local governments with Transition Committees.
The governor said the law, which the state applied in running the local governments in the state by transition committees, was enacted by a PDP Assembly and signed into law by a PDP governor.
On the ‘new PDP’ which Airhiavbere constantly referred to, Oshiomhole said: “We’re happy that you are not proud of your past. PDP keeps referring to itself as new PDP. What is new in the PDP when all the old men are still there? We are proud of our past. That is why we’re ACN, not new ACN.”
Only the candidates of the ACN, PDP and ANPP (Chief Solomon Edebri) were invited for the second and final round of the debate to enable voters make informed choices for the election slated for July 14.
The other panellist was Mr. Tony Abolo.