The Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, has claimed that the immediate past government under the leadership of Goodluck Jonathan only favoured governors elected under the umbrella of the Peoples Democratic Party, during his administration.
The governor specifically alleged that the former President dolled out N2bn from the Ecological Fund to each of the PDP governors without considering governors of the All Progressives Congress.
Oshiomhole made these claims while speaking with State House correspondents, after a meeting the governors had with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday.
The state governors had approached Buhari on the need for the Federal Government to assist state government cushion the effects of downturn in the economy.
The governor said despite Jonathan’s posture, wastage was more at the Federal Government level during his tenure.
He said, “We are very lucky to have President Buhari at this time. I have been here now for seven-and-half years and I have had the opportunity to work with three Presidents, that is the truth.
“Under the last President, it would have been impossible for us to approach Abuja to give us support because we have personal challenges.
“We would have been given lectures on fiscal responsibility and all those kind of talks, even though the wastage was more here than any other place at that time.
“We now have a President who recognises that he is not just President of the Federal Government, he is the President of the federation of which the states are part and regardless of our political affiliation.
“This is very important. Everybody is able to ask this President to give him support and he is giving, whereas in the recent past, some PDP governors got N2bn from Ecological Fund. We APC governors were not given but we promised to be different and I am happy this President is showing that difference.”
Asked to speak on the proposed new minimum wage by workers, Oshiomhole who is a former labour leader said nobody gets what he wants in life.
“I have not seen the document proposing a new minimum wage but believing in your judgment that it is a proposal, from my own experience there is always a difference between a proposal and a final agreement.
“Man proposes, God disposes. In the real world, nobody gets what he wants, you get what you negotiate. Any day any time, wake me up, I believe in a living wage”, he stated.
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