Edo State All Progressive Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Godwin Obaseki, has declared that he is his own man.
He dismissed insinuations he is a puppet of outgoing Governor Adams Oshiomole.
He fingered those who have lived off the state’s resources as architects of the claims.
Obaseki, who spoke in an interview in Benin City, the Edo State capital, explained that his vision is to build on what the APC government has done in the last eight years.
The governorship hopeful explained he was part of the main architects for the design of the current administration.
He ruled out doing anything radically different from what Oshiomole is doing as governor.
According to him: “When I hear people talk about remote control yes, if I am going to be remote controlled to build more roads is that not good remote control?
“If I am going to be remote controlled to build more schools, to create jobs (is that not good remote controlled?)
“But I cannot be remote controlled to take public funds and distribute to people who are not adding value.”
He went on: “So the narratives you are hearing about Obaseki not being his own man…I don’t see myself doing anything radically different.
“That’s the challenge. That’s the politics. That’s the argument. I am my own man.”
On claims by the Peoples Democratic Party that the current administration ran the state into debts, Obaseki said Edo does not owe any bank.
He explained the negligible outstanding loans of Edo are not different from what obtain in other states.
He maintained loans taken by the state can be paid off within the shortest time especially with the increased Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
According to Obaseki: “If you go to the website of the Debt Management Office and check the loans of states, Edo’s total loan outstanding is less than N50 billion.
“Our total tax every year is about N24 billion. In fact this year, our total revenue from IGR alone is about N25 billion.
“So even if we didn’t do anything, two years of our IGR will pay off our total debts outstanding.
“So when people talk about debt I imagine where are they coming from? The interesting thing is that we do not owe a bank one dime.
“The type of debt we have is a type of debt states and governments should have. These are long dated debts.
“By next year we’ll finish paying the first bond we took. The rest we’ve taken from multilateral agencies like the World Bank facilities, which is almost like a dash, a grant with 10 to 20 years moratorium and less than 2% interest.
“So we don’t have that debt burden. We’ve thought about it very carefully and we have demonstrated to lenders that we are responsible borrowers.
“And that is why we’ve gotten the short of term loan we now have,” Obaseki stated.
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