The Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has washed his hands off an allegation in a report in a national daily last Thursday linking him to the suspension of his Rivers State counterpart, Rotimi Amaechi.
Oshiomhole, who is presently out of the country on a trip to the United States of America, according to Government House sources, denied any link to the suspension the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, clamped on his Rivers State colleague and re-elected Chairman of the Nigeria Governors' Forum, NGF, in a press statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Prince Kassim Afegbua.
The said report alleged that Amaechi was suspended for supporting Oshiomhole's re-election bid during last year's Edo State governorship election campaign with the sum of N500 million instead of supporting the PDP candidate, Major- General Charles Airihiavbere.
The report also alleged that Amaechi spent two nights in Benin City to witness Oshiomhole's inauguration after the latter's landslide victory. hE was also accused of sharing in Oshiomhole's distasteful jokes about prominent PDP leaders.
"To state the fact, there was no time that the Rivers State governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi donated any money, let alone the sum of N500 million either directly or by proxy, to the campaign funds of Oshiomhole.
Again, we wish to state unequivocally that there was no time that he spent two nights in Benin City before, during and after the campaign of the Comrade Governor," Afegbua said. Saying that he finds it "utterly misleading" for anyone to link Oshiomhole to the PDP action, he said that the claims were just to give Amaechi a bad name as well as portray Oshiomhole in a bad light with respect to campaign funds.
"The relevant provisions of the Electoral Act 2006 (as amended) frown at such bogus donations by either an individual or a corporate body for the campaign of any individual candidate running for an election. In fact, if anyone is in the breach of such provisions, it is the PDP.
The Adams Oshiomhole Campaign Organisation was very conscious of the requirement of the law with respect to donation, hence the reason it embarked on public fundraising dinners in Lagos, Abuja and Benin City. All those who made donations to the second term campaign of the performing governor, Oshiomhole, were well captured in our reports and duly appreciated.
There was nowhere that the Rivers State Governor was captured as having donated any sum, let alone such a whooping sum of N500m," Afegbua added.
While saying that no governor should be punished for honouring the invitation of a fellow governor, irrespective of political differences, he said, "For a country and a democracy such as ours, it shouldn't be a crime for any governor to honour the invitation of the Comrade Governor on his second term inauguration, especially that of the duly elected Chairman of the Governors' Forum.
The beauty of democracy and credible elections is the exhibition of the spirit of sportsmanship by the loser and his party, and not this invidious show of hostility by the opposition PDP." Concluding, he said, "It is better for the PDP to look for other reasons why it has wrongly taken certain actions against one of its own, than looking for convenient ways to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it.
It is shameful that governors who claim to be duly elected representatives of their states could lower the bar of credibility and integrity just for the sake of dubious politics."
National Mirror