PDP alleges plot to vandalise Obaseki’s legacy projects

The Asue/Ogie Campaign Management Council of the Peoples Democratic Party in Edo State, on Thursday, alleged that the opposition planned to attack critical infrastructure and legacy projects of the government, through thugs.

Briefing newsmen in Benin, on Thursday, the Deputy Director General of Media and Publicity of the campaign council, Olu Martins, said the intelligence gathered exposed the plans by the opposition to attack and destroy the Civil Service Secretariat Complex and the Benin City Mall, which are legacy projects of the Godwin Obaseki-led government.

He called on the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun and heads of other security agencies to beef up security around the facilities, to forestall a breakdown of law and order.

But in a swift reaction, the Director of Publicity, Edo All Progressives Campaign Council, Orobosa Omo-Ojo, described the allegation by the PDP as irrational, saying it should be dismissed.

“This irrational statement can only come from a gang of invaders who have been caught in the act. “Their comments should not be taken seriously because they work for Governor Godwin Obaseki, who has declared open war on the Federal Government, to the extent of threatening to burn the country down if his thugs that killed Police Inspector Akor Onuh are arrested.

“They are only designing a web of deceits to cover their heinous plan to promote riots during the peaceful protest in the state and blame President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress for the destruction,” Omo-Ojo said. There had been tension in the state following the attack on the convoy of the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Monday Okpebholo and the reinstated Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, at the Benin Airport last Thursday. After departing the airport, in what was a homecoming reception for Shaibu, a police officer attached to Okpebholo, Inspector Onu Ako, was shot dead. Martins, on Thursday, said the PDP government in the state was not unmindful of the planned attack by the opposition, under the guise of the proposed nationwide hunger protest.He said, “We have credible information that the plan is to attack the Benin City Mall and the Edo Civil Service Secretariat Complex and a couple of other infrastructures. The plan is to destroy and burn the properties.”

He said the infrastructure being targeted belonged to Edo people and not Obaseki.

He added, “We are bringing this to the notice of Edo people and the media so that the security agencies can be on red alert. Everybody must be on red alert.

“We have noticed that the opposition has not bothered themselves about what they will do for the Edo people. What you hear daily are the progressive ideas from the PDP governorship candidate, Asue Ighodalo.

“Those facilities we talked about were built with taxpayers’ money and not with Obaseki’s money. Edo people need to know this is the plan of the opposition, and we would not sit and watch them destroy what the governor built with Edo people’s taxes.”

The state Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare, said the planned attack on government facilities was a ploy by the opposition to get the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in Edo after the nationwide protest.

Nehikhare said the thugs recruited to cause chaos in the state were known criminal elements walking freely in the state.

“We want the police to arrest the thugs. The police know those who are known thugs and who are capable of causing chaos in the state, some of them recently left the PDP,” he said.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Media Projects, Crusoe Osagie, said the opposition proponents in Edo were moving to cause mayhem and, in the process, make a case for a state of emergency.