PDP: Oshiomhole instigating violence in Edo

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, of instigating violence in the state for self-serving reasons.

In a statement released on Sunday, spokesman of the party, Olisa Metuh, said the governor was stirring up political crisis in the state to prevent an official investigation into findings that he has been squandering the state’s resources, including huge levies and taxes to finance his campaign for vice presidency instead of settling down to develop the state.

Metuh further said that Governor Oshiomhole was “embittered by the acceptance of his aides, top government functionaries, legislators and influential All Progressives Congress leaders into the popular PDP train while his quest to join was roundly rejected on account of his undemocratic tendencies”.

“Having lost the confidence and support of the people due to his despotic, anti-people and undemocratic tendencies, coupled with his colossal administrative failures, Governor Oshiomhole has resorted to violence and blackmail to intimidate and subdue them in line with the agenda of his party, the APC,” the PDP spokesman said.

“This frenetic effort to subvert the will of the people is foolhardy and compares to a fabled tale of a man attempting to eclipse the moon with hands. The fact that Edo is home to the PDP has never been in doubt. In fact, what is happening in EdoState is clearly a case of water finding its level.

“We are aware that Governor Oshiomhole and the APC leaders have been having sleepless nights since the discovery of his mismanagement of the state’s resources for parochial agenda and the continued defections of influential APC members to the PDP and are as such bent at contriving a quick-fix to stem the tide.

“Part of the survival strategy is the spreading of wild allegations and instigating the crisis in Edo State House of Assembly to disorganise and compromise the legislature. The macabre dance playing out in Edo Assembly is an expression of defeatism or rather a terminal symptom of a decadent regime, so afraid that in the circumstances of unrestrained freedom, its hackneyed popularity in Edo will collapse.

“What else would have prompted the relocation of the state legislature to the governor’s office on the stage managed renovation of the assembly complex if not a calculated plot to intimidate and compromise the lawmakers and prevent them from carrying out their constitutional duties of checking the excesses of the state executive under Governor Oshiomhole?

“We, however, wish to inform the Edo state governor and the APC that their machinations will lead them to nowhere. They must understand that they have not only failed the people but have also betrayed them. The people of Edo state are no fools and cannot continue to stay under an administration that has no regard for them.

“Nobody wants to continue to support a fascist regime that has shown untold penchant for oppression and brutality; a despotic system that continues to impose multiple taxes and levies on the people to promote parochial interests and exercises its whims with reckless abandon.

“The APC and its government in Edo state have since disconnected from the people. They have refused to be accountable and that is why the people have abandoned them for the PDP where they found a level playing ground to canvass and fully realise their aspirations and yearnings as a people and individuals.”

Metuh emphasised that Oshiomhole was the “centrifuge of crisis in Edo State” and called on all well-meaning Nigerians to note this, and hold him and the APC responsible in the case of any breakdown of law and order in the state.