BENIN CITY — CHAIRMAN of Edo Line, the state government-owned transport service, Prince Tom Anuge has resigned his appointment citing harassment and intimidation of the board members by the Managing Director of the Company, Chief Godwin Edosa.
But Chief Edosa in a sharp reaction yesterday told Vanguard that Mr. Anuge’s allegations were in bad taste, saying that he only refused the bidding of the board members to siphon the resources of the company. Both men are PDP chieftains in the state.
Anuge in his resignation letter, dated July 31 addressed to Governor Lucky Igbinedion recalled the numerous complaints against the said official which he said he reduced to writing on May 22 and forwarded to the Governor for his intervention but regretted that things did not get better and he could not fold his arms while the atrocities persisted.
“In spite of all my genuine efforts to see his excellency for the past three months, I could not succeed. It has become necessary therefore, for me to resign my appointment as the chairman of the company. I do not want to be part of the maladministration. Please, accept my resignation which is with immediate effect, while thanking you for the opportunity that was given to me to serve”, he said.
Anuge claimed in a statement made available to Vanguard that the top official had boasted that as long as he (Anuge) got his appointment through the influence of the acting Board of Trustees Chairman of the PDP, Chief Tony Anenih, “he was not going to give me a chance to function”, adding that “this was demonstrated when we held an informal meeting the day of inauguration of the Board and he walked out of the meeting, saying that “I was brought by Chief Anenih to monitor him.”
He alleged that the official confiscated his official car on July 28 and told the driver to report at the office or be sacked, pointing out that on several occasions, the security staff locked out some directors from the company’s premises while resolutions taken by the Board were not implemented.
Chief Edosa told Vanguard that the board members were told very clearly on the day they were given their appointments that they should not interfere in the day-to-day running of the company but they met and came up with clever designs which they wanted to use to siphon money from the company.
“Look, I have my reputation to maintain. I have my own thriving transport company and when I was sent here, it was to salvage the company and not to loot it. So, I will not support any attempt to loot the place. How do they expect me to be paying N10,000 a day because they are board members. I call on the government to set up a committee to probe our work here since I came on board.
Chief Edosa stated that he never threatened nor intimidated anybody.
