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Former Edo State Governor and erstwhile National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has refuted his alleged involvement in the recent banks protest in Benin, Edo State capital, following the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
There had been ongoing widespread condemnations and protest across the Nation by Nigerians expressing their dissatisfaction with the Federal Government policy, describing it as anti people.
In a Press Statement issued and signed by
Victor Oshioke, Director, Media and Publicity to
Edo North APC Presidential/Senatorial Campaign Council.
15th February 2023, says
Our attention has been drawn to certain allegations made by the Edo State government against Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, APC Edo North Senatorial candidate in the 2023 general elections.
We wish to state that Comrade Adams Oshiomhole did not and has no reason to instigate anyone to protest against government at any level.
For the avoidance of doubt, all statements made by Comrade Adams Oshiomhole are in the public domain and can be accessed by anyone at any time.
Right now, Oshiomhole is in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, where he is attending the APC presidential campaign. Yesterday, 14th February, he was in Owerri Imo State with the APC presidential candidate Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the same purpose.
Before he joined the national campaign trail in Imo and Rivers State, Oshiomhole was in Edo North campaigning for his own senatorial race. In all these events, there is no where Comrade Adams Oshiomhole made a statement that can be interpreted to mean that anyone should protest for any reason.
It is therefore obvious that the Godwin Obaseki government is rattled and jittery seeing the crowd that comes out to welcome Adams Oshiomhole anywhere he campaigns in Edo State. The government is particularly worried because it has failed Edo people in all sectors, whether it is the economy, education, healthcare, infrastructure, and especially security. They know that this is the time for reckoning and Edo people will certainly compare eight years of prosperity and tranquillity under Oshiomhole’s administration with the past seven years of strife impunity under the Godwin Obaseki’s administration.
If any group of persons protested for any reason, such persons ought to be held accountable by any reasonable government for their actions. But the Godwin Obaseki government being unreasonable in all sense, has politicised everything in the state, to an extent that it has lost the capacity to respond genuinely to any crisis without finding a way to use it to intimidate APC members.
It is election season, and we quite understand that Mr. Godwin Obaseki and his deputy Philip Shaibu are rattled and jittery by the groundswell of acceptance that Oshiomhole is getting everywhere he goes. So let it be put on record that the ignoble, shameless, and consciencless temporary occupants of Osadebe Avenue Benin City only concocted these allegations to find justification for their plans to use security agencies to harass and arrest APC members accross the state.
With regards to a video clip on social media which was alluded to in the press conference addressed by the Edo State government, let it be made clear that Comrade Adams Oshiomhole did not ask anyone to go out to protest anywhere.
Though taken out of context, the 26 seconds clip that is being referred to shows Oshiomhole asking those who were with him to join him on a political campaign with an intimidating crowd to show that Edo State is APC. This is absolutely a normal statement, not unexpected from any politician at this time.
Finally, Godwin Obaseki should come to terms with the fact that Edo people have become generally impatient with his government of lies and illegalities.
They are eager to use the coming elections to punish him at the polls, especially those who he denied representation in the House of Assembly these past four years.
There is no amount of thumped up allegations against Adams Oshiomhole that will save him and PDP from the impending electoral defeat they will receive in Edo State in the coming weeks.
