By Osaigbovo Iguobaro, Benin
Edo State government on says loyalists of the national Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) lack the capacity to declare war against his government.
The State Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Paul Ohonbamu disclosed this on Wednesday at a Press briefing in Benin City, the State Capital.
Ohonbamu spoke in reaction to Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, Edo APC Governorship aspirant, asking governor Godwin Obaseki to visit the residence of the party Chieftains whose houses were recently attacked with explosives by suspected arsonists in Benin.
He described the accusation by some dissident members of APC including Ize-Iyamu as a deliberate distortion of the facts that negate democratic tenets, adding that non of the aspirants contesting Edo State governorship election can defeat the incumbent governor.
Ohonbamu said the plots by enemies of State and poisoners of goodwill with the determination to cause violence in Edo State and pave the way for President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a State of emergency in the State will fail.
The Commissioner admitted that the “State with apparatus of coercion can deal with anybody or group of persons that want to plunge the State government into crisis.
He said the governor Obaseki does not believe in violence even though “tolerance of aggression grooms more aggression”, however, his meekness does not symbolise weakness.
According to Ize-Iyamu, “is contending with a State governor and he knows that he cannot do that successfully. He is relying on the national Chairman of APC to do everything. Meanwhile, they are not infallible.
“Edo State government position is that all these enemies of State and stirrers of crisis and poisoners of goodwill will fail, assuring that governor Obaseki will emerge victorious in the forthcoming APC Governorship primaries.
“Edo State under Godwin Obaseki, our shield stands guard, and our sword stands ready to contend with forces of darkness with a view to create a sense of insecurity in the State.
“Law and order have broken down irretrievably in the State to warrant a State of emergency which is the net effect of their satanic intention.
“But, we know that the last set of bombing in this State was done by Ize-Iyamu. Now, Ize-Iyamu has defected from All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic party (PDP) when he raised an alarm that his wife dental Clinic in Benin City had been attacked.
“So, the purported defection of Ize-Iyamu from PDP to APC was an ominous disaster.
“What is happening now is unexpected when thugs and brigands copulate. The tendency is to embarrass the State through smear campaigns and make the people believe that governor Godwin Obaseki is not doing well in terms of security. But, that is not the situation.
“The issue is violence is a vice which Ize-Iyamu imbibed right from childhood. The situation is becoming very severe even though it not yet critical, but, it very necessary for us to put things in proper place so that Edo State will be the better judge.
“We are not perturbed, the governor of Edo State is not moved by all these… By the way, who benefit from the assassination or injury of any of these people? This is the least of our worries.
“When men of integrity are counted, the governor will be counted twice. And in talking of morality, Obaseki is a moral exempla, every other aspirants are moral leapers.
“These individuals are disaster that will end in public safety. All they say whenever they report make believe attack or explosion, is thank God, my son was there; He was not injured. My mother was there, nothing touched her. Is that how state operate?
“A state with apparatus of coercion can deal with anybody you know. But, Obaseki does not believe in violence. But, they are beginning to show that tolerance of aggression grooms more aggression because they are the aggressive ones as you know.
“Edo State government position is that all these enemies of State and stirrers of crisis and poisoners of goodwill will fail…Edo State under Godwin Obaseki, our shield stands guard, and our sword stands ready”, he said.
