The Edo state government and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have engaged in a war of words over allegations that the governorship candidate of the APC, Sen. Monday Okpebholo was planning to review the N70,000 minimum wage currently being paid by the state and that he hoped that the federal government would fix its wage below N70,000 to justify the intention to reduce it.
The Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare and the Special Adviser to Governor Godwin Obaseki on Media Projects, Crusoe Osagie said their information was genuine as Okpebholo was alleged to have confided in some of his party leaders.
The APC campaign council described the allegation as false and the continuous plan by Obaseki to continue to deceive the people.
Nehikhare said, “APC has ruined the Nigerian economy, and the Edo State people need to be on the alert because if the party is voted into power in the State, they will have the same economy as the Nigerian economy.
“Their candidate is boasting that he doesn’t know how Governor Godwin Obaseki is paying the minimum wage of N70,000 and hopes the Federal Government doesn’t go above N50,000. He plans that if he wins and the Federal Government works around N50,000 as the minimum wage, he will reduce the minimum wage of the State from N70,000 to N50,000.”
The Commissioner continued: “As a party, we condemn this thought and as a candidate, he should come out and deny it. He should come out to tell us how he plans to sustain the minimum wage that the State Government is paying and also that of the pensioners which the Edo State Government is paying as and when due as well as the Edo State Health Insurance Scheme with over 350,000 subscribers as of today.”
Noting that the APC candidate is incompetent and without the knowledge on how to lead a sophisticated State like Edo on the path of development, Nehikhare further stated, “This is election season and we all belong to one political party or the other. The three political parties have their own candidates but it is two political parties that have been campaigning across Edo State and unfortunately, the third party which is the major opposition party, the APC, is parading a candidate that has been described by some of their members as a mute candidate.”
APC reacts
Reacting to the allegation, the Director of Publicity, APC Edo Governorship Campaign Council, Comrade Orobosa Omo-Ojo accused Obaseki’s men of presenting a fictional story to the people of the state.
He said Obaseki’s aides statement “shows the how low Godwin Obaseki and his gang of capitalist invaders rates the people of Edo State, because the so-called minimum wage is nothing but a criminal facade that is not commensurate with what other civil servants earn in sister states paying N40,000 minumum wage.
“We challenge Obaseki and his plan-well advisers to do a comparative analysis of Civil Service salaries in Lagos, Delta and Rivers states. The facts out there show that level 15 officers in Lagos State Civil Service earns about N352,000 after tax, while their counterparts in Edo State earns N250,000. The bulk of the so-called increase is lost to taxes.
“The phantom minimum wage increase is synonymous with the ‘plan-well’ deceitful socio economic plan that Obaseki and Asue Ighodalo have enforced in almost eight years.
“Sadly, the PDP candidate has told Edo people that he will continue where his godfather stops, which is hardship, bad roads, lack of healthcare, markets and high taxes. Edo voters must therefore do everything logically possible to take back their state.
“Truth be told, there is no amount of lies and cheap propaganda that will prevent PDP from being punished for the insensitivity of Obaseki in the last seven years plus.”
VANGUARD
