Outgoing Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki (PDP) has left the country – abandoning the Government and the State to a former Commissioner, an action which is in clear violation of the court order reinstating his deputy, Rt Hon Phillip Shaibu.
Before Obaseki left Benin city by road to Lagos in the late hours of Thursday, 27th September, he allegedly handed-over the reins of power to his close ally and former Commissioner for Finance Joseph Eboigbe, who doubles as the Secretary to the Edo State Government and Chairman, Transition Committee, the report stated.
At 8.56 pm, Obaseki and his wife, Betsy, boarded a Turkish airline transit flight Tk626 at the international wing of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport via Istanbul to Venice, Italy.
They arrived in Istanbul on Saturday the 28th of September 2024 at 5.40 am.
Upon arrival at Istanbul, they boarded the connecting Turkish Airline flight Tk1867 from Istanbul to Venice. The flight took-off exactly 7.02 am and arrived at their final destination, Venice, Italy at 8.29 am.
According to an insider who has knowledge of the outgoing governor’s itinerary, the Obasekis will remain in Venice to attend the 60th Biennale Foundation International Cultural Exhibition, which will end in the third week of November 2024.
He had written to the State Legislature for approval of his terminal leave but choose to proceed before it was approved.
To confirm the governor’s disappearance from the state; the midweek exco meeting scheduled last week was conducted virtually with the governor imploring all members of his exco to direct all their requests to Eboigbe, who he gave up to 30th of October 2024 to finalise handover documents and formally submit same to the governor-elect on November 12.
Recall that on July 11 2024 Obaseki inaugurated a 20-man transition committee chaired by Mr Eboigbe. In 2017 Obaseki was appointed the Commissioner of the Nigerian pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale Exhibition by the Buhari administration. It was in that capacity that he attended the Venice Biennale Exhibition in April 2024.
The couple is believed to have a posh vacation mansion in Venice, Italy, which they plan to make their retirement home – raising questions about Mrs Betsy Obaseki’s job at the Bank of Industry.