Obi to Oshiomhole: I was among ruthless govs in tackling insecurity

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has described as baseless, the claim by the former governor of Edo State and ex-national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, that he (Obi) lacked the capacity to tackle insecurity during his tenure as governor of Anambra State.

Oshiomhole, while speaking at the APC Youth Conference in Abuja on Sunday, had said Obi’s tenure was overwhelmed by the activities of a dreaded gang, known as Bakassi Boys.

He added that Obi’s successor, Willie Obiano, was able to solve some security challenges that the LP presidential candidate could not tackle.

Reacting, Obi, in a statement issued on Monday by the media office of the Obi-Datti campaign, said he was one of the most ruthless state governors in tackling insecurity in the country, adding that he personally supervised the sealing off and demolition of hotels and buildings used by kidnappers and other criminal gangs in Anambra State.

The statement read in part: “When the LP candidate told Nigerians severally to go and verify his past, he knew what the outcome of such verification would be, in his favor, except for attack dogs like Oshiomhole who would always stand truth on its head, fabricate tales ostensibly to satisfy his pay master who incontrovertibly is not verifiable.

“If Comrade Oshiomhole had bordered to verify Obi’s security records as Anambra State Governor, he would have found what the Inspector General of Police in 2014, Abubakar Mohammad, said in Awka, Anambra State capital on April 10, 2014 shortly after Obi left office that was copiously captured by many mainstream and social media establishments on April 11, 2014.

“Oshiomhole but for mischief would also have found that Obi is on record to have been one of the most ruthless state Governors in tackling the kidnap menace in the country.

“It’s still green in everybody’s memory how Obi personally supervised the sealing off and demolition of hotels and buildings used by Kidnappers and other criminal gangs in the state.

”Crime record in Anambra State under Obi was outstanding and security leadership never failed to appreciate this feat.

“Below we republish a story as published by one of the top National Dailies, the Nation Newspaper in the country on April 11, 2014, captioned ‘IG declares Anambra safest since five years’.

“The Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Abubakar Mohammed, yesterday declared that Anambra State remained the safest state in the last five years, according to police records.

“Abubakar, who was speaking at the Women Development Centre, Awka, at the state’s Stakeholders’ Summit announced that there was no bank robbery in the state in the last five years during former Governor Peter Obi.

“He urged Governor Willie Obiano to emulate his predecessor by sustaining the security situation in the state.

“The IGP hailed the relationship between the police and the government under Peter Obi, which contributed to the improved security, and reassured Governor Obiano that the police would give him a 100 per cent support to rid the state of kidnappers and robbers.

“He urged Obiano to deal with any ruler, who encourages crime in his community.”

The Obi-Datti media office, however, urged the general public to be vigilant and resist any attempt to “foist proxy Presidents on them with lies and they should repel any fraudulent try to frustrate the Movement’s goal of taking back our beloved country battered by corrupt and greedy leaders.”

The Star