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| Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole |
By: Adibe Emenyonu
Special Adviser (Media) to Edo State Governor, Adams
Oshiomhole, Mr. Kassim Afegbua, Friday, denied that the travails of Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers
State was connected to the N500 million he allegedly donated to Oshiomhole.
It was reported in one of the national dailies that
Amaechi’s travails may not be unconnected with his alleged donation of N500
million to Oshiomhole for his second term campaigns.
But, in a press statement signed by Afegbua and made
available to newsmen in Benin City, the government noted that at no time did
Amaechi donate any money to Oshiomhole's second term campaign funds.
According to him, "We had thought of ignoring this
so-called allegation as another spurious, very ridiculous and roguish claim by
an unnamed PDP chieftain, but for the sake of history and posterity, it is
instructive to state that there was no time the Rivers State Governor Rt. Hon.
Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi donated any money, let alone the sum of N500 million
either directly or by proxy, to the campaign funds of the Comrade Governor,
Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole.
"Again, we wish to state unequivocally that there was
no time that the Rivers State Governor spent two nights in Benin City before,
during and after the campaigns of the Comrade Governor.
"We find it utterly misleading for anyone to
deliberately raise unverifiable claims just to give the Rivers State Governor a
bad name and portray the Edo State Governor in bad light with respect to
campaign funds and management of same.
"The relevant provisions of the Electoral Act 2006 [as
amended] frown at such bogus donations by either an individual or corporate
body for the campaign of any individual candidate running for election. In
fact, if anyone is in the breach of such provisions, it is the PDP. The
Oshiomhole Campaign Organisation was very conscious of the requirement of the
law with respect to donation, reason why it embarked on public fund raising
dinners in Lagos, Abuja and Benin City. All those who made donations to the
second term campaign of the performing Governor Oshiomhole were well captured
in our reports and duly appreciated. There was no where that the Rivers State
Governor was captured as having donated, let alone such a whooping sum of
N500m."
Furthermore, he pointed out that for a country and a
democracy such as ours, there should be no crime for any governor to honour the
invitation of his colleague’s second term inauguration, especially that of the
duly elected Chairman of the Governors’ Forum, because the beauty of democracy
and credible elections was the exhibition of the spirit of sportsmanship by the
loser and his party, and not this invidious show of hostility by the opposition
PDP.
"When Governor Oshiomhole earlier referred to the PDP
as a Party of rogues, the party went for his jugular by calling him unprintable
names and churning out all manners of lies and concocted tales just to make an
impression. With the recent outcome of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum election,
which returned Governor Amaechi as duly elected, and following the u-turn of
those who participated in the exercise, the Comrade Governor’s roguish
description of the PDP has become instructively appropriate. It is better for
the PDP to look for other reasons why it has wrongly taken certain actions
against one of its own, than looking for convenient ways to give a dog a bad
name in order to hang it. It is shameful that governors, who claim to be duly
elected representatives of their States could lower the bar of credibility and
integrity just for the sake of dubious politics," Afegbua said.
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