By Saidu Idris
The Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, has dismissed the report that the All Progressives Congress (APC), membership revalidation exercise ended in a fiasco in his constituency.
The report by an online medium had alleged that both Senator Omo-Agege and the APC State Chairman, Prophet Jones Ode Erue, escaped from the venue as a result of the chaos.
But the DSP through his constituency office, described the report as a “vexatious piece of falsehood.”
He expressed his displeasure over the report in a statement on Saturday, February 6, 2021, by his Senior Special Assistant on Constituency Matters, Chuks Awo Erhire.
According to him, “it is rather sad that an event that took place in the digital age in the full glare of journalist and eminent Stakeholders of the APC in Delta State can be twisted by some enemies of our Party with the evil intention to mislead the people.
“We wish to state expressly that the Delta State APC Critical Stakeholders meeting scheduled for the State Secretariat in Asaba on Wednesday, 3rd of February was held successfully with over 95% of the invited Staekholders in attendance.
“The two National Officers assigned to supervise the exercise in Delta State; Barr. Ahmed Ismael (National Youth Leader, Caretaker) and Ms. Stella Okotete (National Woman Leader, Caretaker) were present before they left to witness a similar event in another South-South State. More so, the entire State Registration Panel appointed by the National leadership of our Party led by Hon. Anyaegbu Austin Wilson, Chairman of the Delta State Panel were all in attendance.
“It therefore beats our imagination that Sahara Reporters could shamelessly go to press to feed the public with falsehood, solely with the intent to maligning the person and Office of the DSP. This misadventure by Sahara Reporters presents her as a media house that can never be trusted as they lack the elementary prerequisites of investigative journalism.
“That said, it is regrettable that, at a time when we are closing ranks towards building a bigger, more united and truly progressive family, Chief Great Ogboru would yield himself as a tool to sponsoring confusion and unnecessary wranglings within our Party, APC. Credible information point to Chief Ogboru as the architect and sponsor of the unwarranted attacks on a few Party members as they made their way to joining the gathering. Suffice to say that that minor show of shame, however small, was part of a grand plan to disrupt the meeting but it failed.
“We wish to inform Chief Great Ogboru and his co-conspirators that party membership and privileges are never the exclusive rights of any single individual. Interests of party members makes Party politics interesting but respect for the rights of others strengthens the fulcrum upon which Democracy thrives.
“It is therefore provocative to fight others endlessly and attempt to stop them from aspiring to heights we couldn’t reach.”
He went further to “urge Party men and women to discountenance the disingenuous claim that the Deputy President of the Senate, His Excellency Senator Ovie Omo-Agege and the State Chairman, Prophet Jones Ode Erue “escaped” from the meeting; those are the handiwork of the enemies and part of their media onslaught.
“Indeed, it is our firm belief that, for someone to claim that an event that went on hitch free from the beginning to the closing, ended in chaos suggests that some enemies of our party had plotted to disrupt the meeting but God shamed them.
“Let it be stated clearly that had anybody raised a finger on the vehicle of the DSP at the gate, let alone the DSP himself, by now the State would have been made too hot for all the conspirators, their collaborators and their hired thugs. While we would resist attempts to take us back to the dark days, we wish to state unequivocally that we will not sit by and allow anyone go away with the mistaken belief that they hold the monopoly of violence.
“In summary, reports of events and proceedings at the meeting were well covered and reported by journalists from reputable media houses across the Nation who were present at the meeting. As for Sahara Reporters and their clients, we wish to warn them to stay away from the Deputy President of the Senate and our Party especially in Delta State, as to do otherwise will be met with proportionate repercussions.
“We therefore admonish all supporters of the DSP and members of our Party as well as the general public to disregard and ignore the deliberate falsehood spread by the enemies of peace and progress in Delta State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress.”