The State Media Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress for the Edo Governorship election has accused Governor Godwin Obaseki of the PDP of arming thugs and other non-state actors with newly-purchased guns and weapons to attack innocent Edo people on their campaign trail following multiple embarrassing episodes of boos and rejection suffered by the embattled Governor in several communities. The APC claims that the Governor spent state resources on the procurement of hundreds of high-grade weapons distributed to thugs sourced from neighboring states to join his convoy and inflict violence on dissenters during his campaign trail across the State.
A statement from the Chairman of the Media Campaign Council, Mr. John Mayaki, released on Monday quoted a source in the Government House as a whistleblower on the Governor’s illegal arms procurement and demanded an immediate investigation by the heads of all security agencies, including the Police and DSS, into the Governor’s security detail for proper identification of all individuals bearing arms to ascertain if they are state actors with legal backing and training to do so. The statement read: “In a new development that further stretches the tyrannical reach of Mr. Godwin Obaseki, the embattled Edo State Governor has, arbitrarily, procured multiple and hundreds of brand new guns using state resources. “A reliable source in the Government House, tired of the many wrongdoings allotted to his names, revealed that added to this massive weaponry procurement, Obaseki had gone ahead to employ a band of rascals whose only work is to shout themselves to riches, soak a state in conflict, and escort the Governor to campaign venues where they have an unrestrained mandate to anyone who dares express dissent, despite the clear provision of the constitution protecting the people’s right and freedom of speech and expression.
“First, the PDP and Mr. Godwin Obaseki sought to rationalize and justify the presence and appearance of the blood-sucking band of men with the shameful claim that the reality of insecurity in Edo State, which had increased alarmingly under the sleeping eyes of Mr. Obaseki, had created an unsafe environment for the governor, hence warranting the new measure.
“But this clumsy, unintelligent rationale only invites further probing and justifies the claim of the people, alongside other experts, that insecurity in Edo State has worsened and the Governor, rather than invest the security votes he jacked up to 7.5 billion naira annually, chose to hide the funds and pursue selfish ambitions with it. “It also begs the question: “why is the PDP, of all the contesting political parties and their ongoing campaigns, being the only one assaulted and experiencing violent response from the communities?
“Attempts to answer this question only unmasks the face of Obaseki’s incompetent and inept leadership, his unpopularity and rejection by the people of Edo State, both of which facts agreed to by neutrals and secretly upheld by his fellow partymen who are now holding him to ransom to get their own cut of his accumulated loot before the curtain is drawn in November.
“Why is the PDP, out of over 10 contesting political parties, being the one filing reports for imagined attacks on their convoy? Where did Obaseki, the governor who failed to win over the agitating Association of Resident Doctors, get the money to fund the unnecessary stock-up of gubernatorial armory, dangerously arming boys that will return home to roost someday?
“We demand an explanation from both the executive government of Edo State, on how and why and what qualifies Edo State government for the procurement of arms and weapons. Is it because we are at war, or that the visionary organ of the government foresaw an impending future of war, and is now obligated to react proactively in preparation of this imagined and conceived time?
“Investigation should be launched into the process of procuring these weapons, and the governmental supervision of this heist. They should, without pardon, be subjected under thorough examination, and utterly urged to account for the financial behavior and pattern seen to have rooted itself, lately, in Edo State.
“Video footage exists of these new Obaseki boys touting the guns and weapons procured for them by the shameless governor, shooting bullets here and there into the thin air, choreographing a horrible display of ‘clearing road’ for the power-drunkard. The demand is beyond holding the concerned responsible, but rather the banding together of all people of goodwill towards the common goal of preventing Edo State from slipping into a banana republic.”
