The Deputy Director-General, Media and Publicity of the Asue/Ogie Campaign Management Council, Olu Martins, on Thursday, raised the alarm, alleging plots by some people, especially from the opposition camp, to attack critical government infrastructure in the state.
He further alleged that the plotters of the attack had planned to use the cover of the planned nationwide protest slated for August 1, to perpetrate the dastardly acts.
Briefing newsmen in Benin, Martins said the intelligence gathered had exposed the plans by the opposition party to attack and destroy the state government infrastructure, known as legacy projects of the Governor Godwin Obaseki government, with particular attention to the State Civil Service Secretariat Complex and the Benin City Mall.
He therefore called on the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun and other security agencies to beef up security around the facilities to forestall break down of law and order as recorded penultimate Thursday in Benin City, the Edo State capital.
Martins said that the Obaseki-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government was not unmindful of the planned attack on the critical infrastructure by the opposition party to undermine the September 21, 2024 governorship election in the state.
According to him, ‘the state is on the twilight of an election, and the opposition has a clandestine and evil agenda to burn down government properties, especially legacy projects built by Governor Godwin Obaseki.
“We have it on 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 property.”
He said the infrastructure being targeted by the opposition party belonged to the Edo people and not Governor Godwin Obaseki, who built them or put them in enviable shapes.
“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. Because we have noticed that the opposition party have not bothered themselves about what they will do for the Edo people. The sound bites that you hear on a daily basis are the ones that come from Dr. Asue Ighodalo, and they are progressives.
“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 party. And we would not sit down and watch them destroy what we built with Edo people’s taxes,” Martins said.
Also speaking on the development, Edo State Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare, said the planned attack on government facilities “is a ploy by the opposition to get the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in Edo after the nationwide protest.”
Nehikhare, who called on the Edo State Police Commissioner, Funsho Adegboye, to rise to the occasion and avert the impending calamity, disclosed 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.
“They thugs are planning to cause violence and destroy critical infrastructure by taking advantage of the August 1 nationwide protest.
“We call on Police and security agencies to nip the impending attack on our freedom in the bud.
“Want the Federal Government to act quickly by arresting them for the crime they are plotting to commit,” Nehikhare said.
Special Adviser to Governor Godwin Obaseki on Media Projects, Mr. Crusoe Osagie, on his part, said that the opposition proponents in Edo were moving to cause mayhem and, in the process, to make a case for a state of emergency.
He said the nationwide hunger protest tagged ‘#EndBadgovernance in Nigeria’ “is another ploy to attack Edo people and public facilities in the state.”
“The opposition wants to create crisis and cause controversies with a view to intimidate Edo people and discourage people from participating in the September governorship election in Edo,” osagie said.
Osagie noted that the plan to create insecurity and panic in the state was to steal the governorship election through the back door, calling on the opposition party to go out there and woo the electorate instead of planning to attack the people in their desperation to win the Edo governorship election during the nationwide hunger protest.
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