Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, has warned there will be criminal prosecution over the construction of the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA).
Okpebholo said this on Friday, when the Minister of Arts, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musa Musawa, paid a courtesy visit to the Government House, Benin City.
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This was contained in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Fred Itua.
“I didn’t want to speak publicly on this again, but the time has come to state the facts,” the governor said.
“At the end of the day, there will be criminal prosecution on this matter. We are not fighting investors.
“Our duty is to protect Edo State and, by extension, Nigeria. There will be no hiding place for criminals in our land,” he added.
The governor reiterated his administration’s uncompromising commitment to transparency, accountability, and institutional integrity in the ongoing controversy surrounding the museum.
He noted that the state was not at war with investors but would not hesitate to prosecute any wrongdoing uncovered in the project.
Addressing the issues that have trailed the project, the governor expressed concern that his administration was deliberately excluded from crucial information and developments, including the arrival of foreign delegates for what he described as a questionable commissioning ceremony.
He revealed that documents obtained by the state “indicated major changes to MOWAA’s registration details, made just six days before his swearing-in, describing the action as suspicious and deeply troubling”.
He added that the state government was never informed about the arrival of expatriates invited for a Sunday commissioning ceremony, a move he said further reinforced the lack of transparency that has characterised the project’s operations.
The meeting was attended by key government officials, including the Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Blessing Agbebaku; Secretary to the State Government, Umar Musa Ikhilo; Chief of Staff, Mallam Gani Audu; Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Roland Otaru, SAN; and Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Prince Kassim Afegbua, among others.
Governor Okpebholo assured that his administration will continue to defend the integrity of the state, uphold due process, and work closely with the Federal Government, traditional institutions, and all stakeholders to achieve a just, transparent, and credible resolution to the MOWAA controversy and similar matters affecting the state.
He had on Monday decried what he says is a lack of transparency in the project.
“The controversy surrounding MOWAA stems from the lack of openness by the previous government,” Okpebholo was quoted as saying in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Fred Itua, on Monday.
“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,” he said when he received a delegation of European diplomats, including the European Union Ambassador to Nigeria, Gautier Mignot, and the German Ambassador to Nigeria, Annett Günther, at the Government House, Benin City.
But his predecessor, Godwin Obaseki, dismissed the governor’s claim as misleading.