The Edo State Government has chided the Edo Peoples Movement (EPM) faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state for always opting for infantile and insensitive remarks in its public interventions, noting that by their statements they have shown to be irresponsible and witless as an opposition party in the state.

In a statement by the Secretary to the State Government, Osarodion Ogie Esq., the government said: “The Edo State Government has continued to perform its statutory responsibility of delivering good governance to the people in the face of economic shocks and social dislocations caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

“Civil and public servants’ salaries are being paid as and when due; contractors are being mobilized monthly and are back at sites; retired workers are getting their pensions and operators of businesses are paying their taxes. We are also making good progress with the management of the COVID-19 outbreak, particularly in reducing the infection rate. We have also gotten commendation from the Federal Government on our case management regime, and they have sent emissaries to understudy our home-care protocol as a result of its efficacy.

“The government in the last two months has undertaken comprehensive capacity building programmes for workers in the civil and public service to prep them up to deploy technology in governance. A widely-publicised recruitment exercise has also been ongoing to inject not less than 1600 professionals into the public and service. In the last thirty days, thousands of Edo people and investors have processed their Certificate of Occupancy (CofO) through the Edo State Geographic Information Service Agency.

“If all of these are symptoms that government has grounded to a halt, the EPM faction of Edo APC and their godfather have no business in governance and politics.”

He continued: “We really need not look too far to know why Edo people rejected them during the last governorship election. It is as a result of this insensitive and ridiculously infantile thinking couched in criticism that they display every other day in matters of governance and policymaking that out them as poor candidates for public office.”

Ogie urged the EPM to desist from its brand of insensitive politics and be humble enough to learn from Governor Godwin Obaseki what governance truly means in practice.

He added that it was regrettable that the supposed caretaker committee chairman of the APC in Edo State, Col. David Imuse who claims to be a medical doctor, is displaying the same insensitivity and irrationality as his boss, Oshiomole, during the first wave, noting, “Rather than show empathy and concern at this time, they resort to playing cheap politics. It is most despicable and condemnable way to show the people that you care about them in the face of an epidemic.”