The Governor of Anambra State, Willie Obiano has dismissed the recent statement attributed to former governor Peter Obi, urging caution in the war of words ignited by the former governor’s media team over the bogus N75bn legacy purportedly left by the Obi administration as a Greek gift which should be taken with a pinch of caution.
In a Press Statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Media, Mr. James Eze, the governor expressed both hope and concern that the former governor who had been strongly linked to the slew of dirty reports against Obiano’s family and administration in the past 19 months, should suddenly turn around to ring the bell of peace.
The statement frowned at Obi’s later day conversion to an apostle of peace, querying “Is Saul also among the prophets?” It reminded the former governor of the press statement earlier issued by Governor Obiano on September 16, 2015 calling for caution in the growing tendency of Obi’s media handlers to spatter mud on his family, the traditional institutions as well as the church in Anambra State.
“In the said statement, Governor Obiano had also ordered his Social Media Team and all his supporters to refrain from any bitter exchanges with people whose sole aim was to heat up the political space in Anambra State with false and negative stories. He also directed all his supporters to focus on creating awareness on the great policies, programmes and achievements of his administration. In the same vein, the Catholic Bishop of Awka, Most Rev Paulinus Ezeokafor had also appealed for peace and urged Sir Obi to rein in his supporters and allow Governor Obiano to concentrate on the task of leading Anambra State. Sadly, Bishop Ezeokafor’s weighty intervention was totally ignored,” the statement declared.
It expressed deep regrets that while Obi’s media aides went on a cyber-slaughter, mowing down notable Igwes and Bishops with their poisonous stories on Facebook and circulating cruel rumours about the fictitious death of Governor Obiano’s wife, former governor Obi looked the other way.
In its own words, “Curiously, while they carried out all these mindless attacks on innocent citizens and sacred religious and traditional institutions in the state on behalf of their boss, there was no “call for restraint” from former governor Obi.”
Attributing the former governor’s call for caution to the recent effort by Governor Obiano to clear the air on the phantom N75bn allegedly bequeathed him by Obi, the statement argued that Obi’s “olive branch is in fact, a Greek gift” and a diversionary strategy intended to discourage Ndi Anambra from asking hard questions about so many things that were thrown up since Obiano broke his silence on the N75bn saga.
“Our worry deepens even more when we realise that while Obi is appealing for restraint in the open, his media aides are busy planting false stories in national newspapers, levelling preposterous allegations about “gold beds” and fictitious kitchenware. We are worried about the seeming streak of insincerity, beginning from the dubious claims over the contentious N75bn to the brazen attempts to force-feed Ndi Anambra with morsels of salacious lies and fabrications that no true Knight of the Catholic Church would give his support to, whether overtly or covertly,” the statement observed.
Concluding, the statement expressed hope that former governor Obi and his retinue of media aides would finally come around to SINCERELY accepting the imperatives of peace.
“We wish to state clearly that the Governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano had suffered regrettably vicious attacks on social media for 19 months and only rose to refute the falsehood of the contentious N75bn a fortnight ago. And now that the records have been set straight, Governor Obiano has once again directed his Media Aides and supporters to concentrate their efforts on creating awareness on the policies and programmes of his administration,” it further clarified.
