Governors of Edo, Ekiti and Delta States against Vigeo as preferred bidder Benin DISCO

According to Governor Oshiomhole, “Before the opening of the bid process, funny things that are not transparent took place... The process is full of fraud and it is not acceptable to our people and therefore, we will not allow the company that so claimed to win the bid process to operate in our states.
 
“The state governments involved have invested in the power generation process. The process was full of fraud and therefore we will not allow the company to operate in our states,” he said.

Continuing, the Edo State Governor said the process was rigged to favour Vigeo as Southern Electricity scored 898 points to Vigeo’s 847 points during the technical evaluation of the bid process and ought to have emerged the preferred bidder.
 
“The BPE has corrupted the process. The company that was supposedly awarded the preferred bid has no technical competence, experience and the financial capability to manage such an extensive territorial area like the Benin distribution area,” he said.
 
In his comment, Fayemi said: “Our major complaint is competence. We are disappointed that the company that was awarded the preferred bid has no technical competence and the process by the BPE was not transparent.
 
“We are not going to sit idly and show lack of concern because the process was not transparent. We will take that up with those concerned. This is the handiwork of a racket.”
 
The three governors said that they had made their complaints known to President Goodluck Jonathan.

Vigeo Power, partly owned by Mr. Victor Gbolade Osibodu, a businessman and husband of the Managing Director/CEO of Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, Mrs. Funke Osibodu, had edged out Southern Electricity, promoted by Edo, Delta, Ekiti and Ondo States, to emerge the preferred bidder at the unveiling of the commercial bids submitted by investors.
 
 
In his reaction, the BPE Head of Public Communications, Chukwuma Nwokoh, stated that the process was transparent and credible, adding “Our process was guided by the provisions of the request for proposals for the transaction.”