A former governor of Edo State, Lucky Igbinedion, has said he had to borrow money from his father, Gabriel and Chief Tony Anenih, to pay salaries several times during his administration.
He said this in his first press interview with journalists in Abuja, on Friday night. The former governor explained that there were times when banks didn’t want to do business with the state.
He claimed that at the time he took office in 1999, civil servants and pensioners were owed 24 months backlog of salaries, which his administration had to pay in order to move on.
Igbinedion, who turns 57 on Monday, said the perception of wrong doing ascribed to him was the handiwork of individuals who were desperate for power.
He said, “This is the first time I am saying this. Two people that I owe a lot of gratitude to in Edo State that made my tenure successful. My father and (Chief Tony) Anenih.
“In the darkest of days, when the state was broke, we could not pay salaries, we could not do anything, I run to the two of them and they will lend the state money.
“They will loan the state money, it is documented, it is there, when banks will not even touch us, I would go to them.
“When pensioners will go to him crying or lie in front of Government House, a couple of times I went to Chief Anenih and he gave money just to make sure the government ran smoothly.”
He said the state’s internally generated revenue was almost non-existent because Benin was a civil service capital with only two or three old generation banks.
This, he said, changed when he created a conducive atmosphere for businesses to thrive. He maintained that this laid the foundation for the huge IGR the state enjoys today.
On his conviction by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the ex-governor said it was politically motivated.
Igbenedion traced his travails with the anti-graft agency to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo whom he said branded governors who did not see things his way as corrupt.
The former Edo State governor noted that several operatives confided in him that they were only acting on “instructions from above” but that they had nothing on him.
He said “They (EFCC) are doing their job. They challenge you, you answer their questions. I have nothing to fear. I was outside the country, when they said I was declared wanted, I came back. If I had fear, I would keep running but I was confident that I had nothing to fear. In fact, if anything, it is the state that owes me money, not me owing the state money.
“For me to loot, there must be something to loot. Edo State had no money to loot. I borrowed money from my father; and from Chief Anenih.
“They went round and round and after a while, they came to the Code of Conduct, they said I failed to disclose an amount of N3.3 million in my account.That’s what I was charged and fined for.”