•Says peddling lies, propaganda unacceptable

Ahead of the governorship election in Edo State, a coalition of youth organisations under the aegis of Edo Youth Arise Initiative (EDYAI) has tasked the Edo state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its governorship candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo, to stop the “regime of lies and propaganda.”

The group argued that the opposition’s resort to peddling lies and propaganda was apparently because it doesn’t have anything to campaign with and that was unacceptable.

The youth group In a statement by its National Coordinator, Jerome Omonogbe Tadefua, on Tuesday in Benin City, expressed disappointment that the APC and Okpebholo have resorted to lies and propaganda instead of discussing and addressing issues that are germane to the good and wellbeing of the people of the state.

EDYAI contended that the opposition party “has chosen to engage in insidious campaign of calumny by dragging the Benin Royal Palace and the revered Monarch, His Royal Majesty, Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Ewuare II, the Oba of Benin, into the dirty and murky waters of politics of the state in the vain hope that it could sway and fuel ethnic resentment and hate against the government in power, the governor himself, Mr Godwin Obaseki, and against the candidate of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Asue Ighodalo.”

The youth group citied a viral video of where the party’s candidate, Okpebholo, “was addressing the press and stated that they have nothing to campaign with and so they ran to President Bola Tinubu who called the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, and instructed him to go and fixed the badly damaged and wickedly neglected Benin-Ekpoma-Auchi-Okene Road. We also want to refer you to an article written by one John Mayaki, said to be the Director of Media for Senator Monday Okpebholo and titled “How Obaseki doomed Ighodalo, PDP…Court case exposes governor as the enemy of the Benin palace.”

EDYAI explained that “In the article referenced above, the APC laboured in vain to incite the Bini people and whip up ethnic hatred against Governor Obaseki, the government and by extension the candidate of the PDP, Ighodalo. The court papers clearly state that both the Oba and the Government of Edo State are defendants in the case, contrary to what Mayaki wants the world to believe.

“The Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare ,few days ago at a press briefing, openly displayed the official Edo State APC platform where they asserted that ‘lies and propaganda must be deployed to tackle the PDP, Government, Governor and the party’s candidate’ with particular reference to the court case.

“We call on Edo people, both at home and in the Diaspora, to reject any empty, vacuous and dour candidate who refuses to discuss what he wants to do and has rather chosen propaganda as his stock in trade. We need a governor who is competent, who has capacity, who has character and who is compassionate. Don’t fall for lies and propaganda,” the youth group urged.

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