THE PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC PARTY SLAMS EDO STATE CERTIFICATE VERIFICATION.

Peoples Democratic Party in Edo State has faulted the ongoing certificate verification of teachers by the Edo State government, saying the exercise was to divert attention from the administration’s economic woes.

State chairman of the party, Chief Dan Orbih said some of the reported findings, particularly the celebrated case of Mrs Augusta Osemwingie, who could not read the documents she submitted, as stage-managed to give the exercise some measure of acceptance.

Orbih who spoke Sunday in Benin, said Osemwingie’s case was no different from retired Major Lawrence Loye, whom Governor Adams Oshiomhole recently handcuffed and dismissed as an ignoramus on environmental issues, only to later appoint him as permanent secretary in the same ministry.

He decried Oshiomhole’s penchant for dramatising and making public show of serious issues that affect the people of the state.

Orbih insisted that it was hypocritical for the same government to call for certificate verification for teachers when the governor and top functionaries of his administration have yet to present theirs for verification.

He recalled that it was morally wrong for a government that lowered so the bar for appointment as commissioner to the ability to spell “come” and “go”, to talk about screening teachers’ certificates.

He challenged the state government to lea by example, by submitting the certificates of its top functionaries, beginning with Governor Oshiomhole, for verification.

Orbih claimed that Nigerians would be shocked to note that Mrs Osemwingie’s would be child’s play compared to the certificates paraded by officials of Edo state government.

“We restate once again that the certificate verification must start with the governor and key functionaries of the government, as we believe that the poor state of Edo finances is largely responsible for the present shadow-chasing,” he submitted.

“We urge the governor to publicly declare that the state is broke, so we can all fashion out ways on how to manage our current miserable  financial quagmire brought about by Adams Oshiomhole’s impudence,” he tasked.

Orbih advised Oshiomhole to learn from the strategy adopted by Second Republic governor of the old Bendel State, late Professor Ambrose Alli, in sending teachers from intensive training abroad yet paying their salaries so as not to hurt their families.

He held that Oshiomhole’s penchant for crying wolf would not yield any good results, and that sacking teachers would only further swell the number of persons already in the unemployment market.

However, reacting to the PDP position, Special Adviser (Media) to the Governor, Mr. Kassim Afegbua, faulted PDP’s sudden interest in the state.

“It is shameful and utterly disgusting that PDP in Edo State PDP could resort to playing politics with the future of our children, judging by its latest position on teachers certificate verification exercise.

“All these fill-in-the-gap distractions and noise making from the oven of the PDP are simply deliberate showmanship. Let them learn to appreciate the good that has taken over Edo in place of the rotten apples that they served Edo people during the reign of PDP,” Afegbua submitted.