By Ife Osemedua
365Daily – Anambra State Government has raised the alarm over an alleged smear campaign aimed at discrediting it by “political scam artists” masquerading as government officials.
It said the promoters of the media campaign are “disgruntled elements” whose appointments were recently terminated and are now out to mislead the public about Anambra State government.
The Anambra State Commissioner of Information and Public Enlightenment, C. Don Adinuba, made the disclosure in a statement issued in Awka, the state capital, on Monday, July 19, 2021.
According to the Commissioner, “Some political scam artists have in the last few days been going from one media house to another in Lagos and elsewhere claiming to be representatives of the Anambra State Government with the sole intention to use organs of mass communication to mislead the public on current developments in Anambra State.
“Some of these scam artists are persons whose appointments with the State Government have been terminated for redundancy and gross inability to add value to the governance of our dear state.
“They have never had the mandate to speak on behalf of the Government and people of Anambra State on any issue. The Anambra State Government has a disciplined and well-developed approach to public communication. The few officers who can speak on behalf of the Government on any given issue are well known and easy to approach any time of the day.
“The public, led by the mass media, are, therefore, advised to disregard charlatans from Anambra State who claim to speak on behalf of the State Government. These individuals are scam artists, popularly known as 419 elements. They collected money from a political scoundrel who wants to wreck Anambra State for purely pecuniary reasons.
“The scoundrel and his minions are obsessed with undermining the immensely popular candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the November 6 gubernatorial election, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, CFR, the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and a globally respected economist who served on the United Nations Committee of Experts to review the global financial system in the wake of the 2008 global recession.”
Adinuba said that Governor Willie Obiano and his entire administration were “committed to Professor Soludo’s triumph with a huge margin in the November election,” adding that “this great economist and development expert has the personal integrity, humility, skills, knowledge, experience, network, vision, energy, drive, and passion to take Anambra State to unprecedented heights within a short period.
“He has always discharged with aplomb every assignment he has been given, including his leadership of the Anambra State Vision 2070 Committee, set up to develop a strategic plan to make Anambra become a fully developed economy in the next 50 years, as such places as Taiwan and Dubai have become. This vision will be realized to the Glory of God, with leaders like Professor Soludo as Anambra State Governor.”