Nobody Attacked Oshiomhole Says Edo Police Commissioner

…as Edo APC Chieftains caution against heating up the polity, …condemns resort to spreading fake news

The Edo State Commissioner of Police, DanMallam Muhammed, has restated the State Police Command’s position that there was no attack on the person or residence of former Governor of the state and National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.

Muhammed, who said this in a chat with journalists on Monday, debunked allegations of an attack on the former governor, warning troublemakers to steer clear of the state.

The Police Commissioner said the Police beefed up security around the APC National Chairman while his visit to the State lasted, during which no attack was recorded.

“To the best of my knowledge, no one had access to the house of the National Chairman. When he came into the State, we beefed up security around him, from his house to the Oba’s palace, from there to the airport before he left for Abuja.

“Let me use this medium to warn trouble makers that Edo State is very peaceful and calm. The State is the most peaceful in the South-South Region of Nigeria. We will do everything according to the law to ensure that the peace the people of Edo State enjoy is not truncated and any attempt by anyone to cause trouble in the State will be resisted with maximum force,” he noted.

A Chieftain of the APC in the state, Charles Idahosa, described the allegations as efforts by unscrupulous elements to heat up the polity so that evil elements can have their way.

According to him, “The State Commissioner of Police has come out to state categorically that there was no such attack on Oshiomhole. The state government has also denied knowledge of such an attack. But these people keep insisting that the former governor was attacked. They have brought in other actors to corroborate what never happened. That is the height of spreading fake news.

“It is obvious that they are concocting these attacks to get public sympathy. They should quit the charade. We want to warn them not to heat up the polity. The Edo State Government is led by a man who puts a premium on law and order, as can be seen in Governor Godwin Obaseki’s numerous reforms as well as other public engagements.”

Another chieftain, Dr Peter Ologun, said that it was regrettable that a National Chairman of the ruling party would resort to spreading fake news to draw sympathy to himself.

Insisting that it was instructive that the police have come out to debunk the allegation, he said, “We are very certain that the government has nothing to do with the supposed attack, which I am sure never happened.

“A man of Oshiomhole’s calibre shouldn’t be a party to such an act of calumny. Edo State remains a peaceful state, as the Commissioner of Police has stated in his criticism of the allegations. So, we caution against spreading fake news and misinformation to cause unwarranted tension.”

Mr. Oteghe Adams, another stalwart of the APC, said the matter is a case of crying wolf where there is none, urging political actors to be circumspect when they angle for political relevance.

“The purported attack never happened. If such a thing had happened, there would at least be some video or pictorial evidence to show. The team spreading the fake news should know better,” he added.

TheCable on Sunday, October 14, 2019, had reported that the Benin residence of Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was reportedly attacked by hoodlums on Saturday evening.

According to the News Website, Oshiomhole speaking after the alleged incident, said the attackers and their sponsors want a war, stressing that those behind the attack are bent on creating a crisis in the state, but that they do not have the numbers to fight dirty.

He asked his supporters to be clam, and to not return “madness for madness”.

“In a moment like this, it is not madness for madness because many of you I see here, in 2007, you were already strong. During my second term in 2012, you were already strong; Even in 2016, some of you were already deployed as party agents,” he said.

“These people want to create what has not happen for a very long time. They want war and want to cause crisis. They are boasting that they want to crush and crush people. Go and buy crushing machine.

“No man born of a woman can change what God has said. And if God says, no, who can say yes? My own is don’t let them drag you out of the bathroom like Igbo man says and be running after them like the town naked mad men because we are not mad.

“If it comes to the ruffle ruffle that he wants, they don’t have the number. You know that when you start to tell lies, you will have to lie many times to sustain one lie.

“We will not condescend to their level.  But, let me say this. It is clear, Nigeria is a free country. There is freedom of association. Thee is freedom of worship. There is freedom of religion. There is freedom of expression. So, nobody in Nigeria can harass you. Just be the good guys that you are.

“My weapon which is the truth, is more powerful than the weapon of the armed forces in the world. Have I threatened any of you? Have I ever sent any of you to prison? How many of you …have I ever said to any of you that if you do not follow me, I will send you to prison?

“…But, the tradition of Edo people is that if you do something and your father is not happy, he will call you home and say my son, don’t do this again.

“As a father or mother, maturity is the ability to change the habit that you are not happy about. There is no wisdom to do as if you are an angel who has never sinned? Those who want to cast the first stone, may God bless them.”

Simon Egbebulam, spokesman of Oshiomhole, told TheCable that the APC national chairman was at a friend’s birthday party when thugs besieged his residence.

He said the thugs, allegedly sponsored by the state government, were repelled by security agents.