Chris Nehikhare’s lack of productive use of valuable time has once again been advertised by his attack on the person of Governor Godwin Obaseki through a poorly-crafted press statement titled ‘state-sponsored hooliganism at the Benin airport.’
In the statement, he labored to piece together flaky materials to serve as evidence in his effort to link the governor already well reputed for his respect for law and order to what several newspapers reported today as a face-off between PDP and APC members at the Benin Airport.
Describing what a meddlesome Nehikhare set out to paint in bad light, The Guardian on page 9, reports that “PDP supporters had mobilized to Benin Airport to support the motion of impeachment moved by the Senator representing Edo South, Mathew Uroghide, against President Muhammadu Buhari. But the APC supporters also mobilized to counter pro-PDP supporters.”
How does this report above connect the governor to the incident? It is unfortunate that Nehikhare has decided to paint a different reality by manufacturing his own facts. And this is understandable because the only job he has is being a Publicity Secretary of a party that is almost non-existent in Edo State.
Nehikhare also alluded to wanting to write the State Commissioner of Police to report the incident and ask for an investigation into the clash. It is at this juncture that we feel really ashamed for the Nehikhare character. The move, ordinarily, would have been novel if only he was armed with facts and spoke from a place of knowledge.
This is because the State Commissioner of Police, who he is intending to write was at the scene of the clash and addressed the protesters. According to the Guardian report, “The issue got worsened when the two sides came face-to-face and started calling each party names. But for the intervention of the State Commissioner of Police, Johnson Kokumo, calm was restored to both camps (sic).”
That Nehikhare missed this important bit of the incident speaks to the ample time he idles about as a jobless man, who goes about looking for baseless issues to feast on. It is obvious he is used to easy money and is not ready to work, but he should not take out his frustration on the governor.
Governor Obaseki, we all know, has a robust plan for job creation with an elaborate programme to engage 200,000 youths. Many young people are already benefiting and if Nehikhare is so jobless, we invite him to register on the Edojobs platform, where he will be trained and provided with a good job. We hope this will save him from himself and also from the unguarded, infantile assaults on the psyche of good-meaning Edo people.
Crusoe Osagie
Special Adviser on Media and Communication Strategy to Edo State Governor
