Nearly 500 vehicles belonging to the Edo State Government are still unaccounted for, according to Fred Itua, Chief Press Secretary to Governor Monday Okpebholo.
A committee established to recover the missing vehicles has located only about 10 vehicles so far.
The committee chairman revealed that the initial estimate of 200 missing vehicles was inaccurate, and the actual number is closer to 500.
“So far, the committee set up to recover vehicles, as of this morning from findings that I made, they had recovered about 10 vehicles,” Itua said on Monday’s edition of Channels Television’s Lunchtime Politics.
“From the conversation I had with the chairman of that committee, he said that the initial figure of 200 was understated that there are almost 500 vehicles that are still missing and as of yesterday, they had traced about 21 of those vehicles to the house of a very top appointee of the last government.”
As of the previous day, 21 vehicles had been traced to the residence of a senior appointee from the previous administration.
Further investigations linked some of the missing vehicles to former officials of the government under Governor Godwin Obaseki, with about 15 vehicles traced to another top appointee’s home.
The committee plans to recover these assets and return them to state hands in the coming days.
Itua also highlighted that several officials from the current administration do not have access to vehicles, suggesting that the Okpebholo government inherited very little from the outgoing administration.
This development is part of the ongoing investigation into the Obaseki administration, which handed over power just weeks ago. The inquiry follows a bitter political rivalry between Obaseki, of the Peoples Democratic Party, and Okpebholo, of the All Progressives Congress, after Okpebholo won the governorship election in September, defeating Obaseki’s chosen candidate.
The Edo State Government recently formed a committee to probe the previous administration, with officials stating that the investigation is in line with Okpebholo’s commitment to ensuring accountability and transparency in governance.
However, Obaseki’s camp has criticized the probe, accusing the new governor of using it as a distraction from his perceived lack of readiness for office. Obaseki’s media aide argued that the investigation is an attempt to divert attention from Okpebholo’s unpreparedness and suggested the new governor should focus on improving the lives of Edo people instead of pursuing what they view as unnecessary probes.