Governor Monday Okpebholo’s claim that the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) project was executed without transparency is false, former governor Godwin Obaseki’s aide, Cruose Osagie, has said.

Osagie explained that “everything” concerning MOWAA and its relationship with the state government was clearly spelt out.

“We read with total disbelief and disappointment the comments credited to the governor of Edo State, Senator Monday Okpebholo, in various news publications, where he made several statements that are completely false.

“On Governor Okpebholo’s claim that the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) project was handled with a ‘gross lack of transparency,’ this assertion is entirely false,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Everything concerning MOWAA and its relationship with the Edo State Government was clearly spelt out, just like every other initiative of the Godwin Obaseki-led administration, in the over 800-page Transition Committee Report prepared at the end of the Obaseki administration and handed to Okpebholo and his team in both soft and hard copies,” he added.

Osagie said the transition committee report contained all the details of the Edo State Government’s engagement with the MOWAA project.

“Okpebholo and his transition team were invited to a Joint Transition Committee conference, but they withdrew after the inaugural sitting, insisting that they must first be paid sitting allowances before continuing with the meetings.

“The Transition Committee Report, if Okpebholo ever bothered to read it, contains all the details of the Edo State Government’s engagement with the MOWAA project,” he said.

Central Hospital

The former governor also dismissed the claim that MOWAA was used to replace “a functioning hospital”.

“We find this claim both misleading and amusing. All Edo citizens are aware of the derelict condition of that hospital, which prompted the preceding administration of Adams Oshiomhole to build a new facility on the same grounds.

“This hospital was completed, fully equipped, and opened to the public by the Obaseki-led administration.

“Under the new Benin City master plan which was legislated into law by the Edo State House of Assembly, with the new hospital operational and the Stella Obasanjo Hospital reconstructed into a sprawling, modern medical hub, the defunct portions of the old Central Hospital were decommissioned, and the land was planned as a cultural district to accommodate spaces for more befitting public use, such as culture and entertainment,” he stated.

“It was Obaseki’s well-considered belief that a facility such as MOWAA, the National Museum, the Royal Museum, the 1897 memorial arcade, the Rain Forest Gallery, etc, should be situated in Benin city centre to promote tourism and attract visitors to the state.

“We urge Okpebholo to desist from the unnecessary distortion of historical facts regarding this and other issues. Instead, he should tender an unreserved and honest apology for his negligence and the resultant security breach, which has now created diplomatic problems for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” the aide added.

Controversy

Okpebholo had on Monday decried what he said was a lack of transparency in the MOWAA project in the state.

“The controversy surrounding MOWAA stems from the lack of openness by the previous government.

“It is curious how the project evolved from the Benin Royal Museum to the Edo Museum of West African Art (EMOWAA), and now to the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA), without clarity or consultation with our revered traditional institution,” Okpebholo was quoted as saying in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Fred Itua.

He had also set up a committee chaired by a former governor, Adams Oshiomhole, to ascertain the true legal and operational status of the project.