Political Briefs
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THE All Progressives Congress, APC, Rivers State has defended Dakuku Peterside, its governorship candidate in the last election, saying he did not insult Peter Odili, former governor of the state and his wife.
In a press statement signed by Chris Finebone, spokesman of the APC, stated that Peterside did not for all intents and purposes, insult the former governor and Justice Mary Odili, his wife, as insinuated by Felix Obuah, state chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party.
The APC noted that the issue in question was a mere verbatim reference Peterside made to the public statement of Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State at a church thanksgiving service where the governor reportedly he said: “Let me thank our former governor, Dr. Peter Odili [husband of Supreme Court Justice, Mary Odili]. He will call me midnight to tell me what to do….he will say ‘go so so place.’ I took all his advice, and here we are today.”
The party said that Peterside merely quoted the governor and then concluded with reference to the governor’s speech by saying: “This shocking confession needs no further explanation except for you and other decent Nigerians to further make your fair conclusions.”
The APC asked Obuah and the PDP to identify the insult on Odili and his wife in the statement made by Peterside in reference Wike’s public comment. It, therefore, said that “indeed, if anyone indirectly insulted the former governor and his wife, it is Governor Nyesom Wike because of his unwarranted verbal incontinence, drunken boasts and dropping of names of the former governor and his wife while holding discussions with his associates. Some of these same associates of Governor Nyesom Wike, in turn, take the names dropped by the governor to public space with its attendant negative perception.”
Consequently, the APC asked Obuah and the PDP to compel Wike to apologise to Odili and his wife “for woefully failing to exercise discretion in his public utterances and needlessly dropping their names while holding formal and informal discussions with friends and associates.”
The party assured former the former governor and his wife that despite differences in political affiliation, the leadership and supporters of its party would continue to hold them in high esteem as eminent citizens and one time first family of the state for eight years. “We believe that nothing can take that away from history,”
“We urge Felix Obuah, Jerry Needam and their ilk to strive to exhibit maturity and grasp of age-old hallowed principles in statecraft and politics by not painting every political issue in the only colours known to them – motor-park colours”, the statement advised.
— Feb 22, 2016 @ 01:00 GMT
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