Oshiomhole had said that the Bakassi boys started during Peter Obi’s tenure but he could not do anything to put the group to an end.
A former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole has been lambasted by Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of Labour Party for making a false claim against him.
Oshiomhole had claimed that Obi failed to deal with insecurity when he was the governor of Anambra State.
Oshiomhole had stated that Obi’s successor in Anambra, Willie Obiano, while in power took it upon himself to demolish houses of kidnappers and Bakassi boys.
Speaking during the youth conference of the ruling APC at the International Conference Centre in Abuja, Oshiomhole said that the Bakassi boys started during Peter Obi’s tenure but he could not do anything to put the group to an end.
The former Governor of Edo State wondered how Obi would solve the nation’s challenges when he could not guarantee the safety of his state while he was governor.
Reacting on behalf of Obi in an interview with Vanguard, Obi’s media adviser, Valentine Obienyem, stated that Oshiomhole lied about security in Anambra during his tenure.
He asserted that he recorded success in the security sector while he was in government, adding that there is evidence to show his achievements.
Obienyem also denied the claim by Oshiomhole that he brought Bakassi boys to the state, thereby accusing the former APC chairman of mischief and bias.
He said: “It is a pity that a former governor, who ought to be informed, would credit the bringing into the state of Bakassi boys to Mr. Peter Obi when the elementary enquiry would have shown any genuine seeker that it was under Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju, which was even before Sen. Chris Ngige, that Bakassi people operated in Anambra State.
“Mr Obi had always said on countless fora that as a private citizen, it was his witnessing of the killing of Prophet Eddy of Nawgu by Bakassi Boys without compunction and the arbitrament of the law that contributed to his entrance into politics – to restore sanity, humanness, decency and sanity to the society.”
Obienyem also denied Oshiomhole’s claim that it was after Obi’s government that the demolition of kidnappers’ houses started.
He stated that the claim made by the former Edo governor was a childish, condemnable and shameless lie.
He said: “Obi was actually the person that started the demolition of buildings associated with kidnapping in Nigeria, which other governors started to emulate. Evidence abounds of when various newspapers reported the demolition of houses by Obi, but we will refer Oshiomhole and his likes to the statement by principal actors during those fevered times.
“There were lots of innovations brought about by Mr. Peter Obi at the police headquarters at his expense. He provided money, we put up structures and the state headquarters was given a facelift.
“He financed state headquarters, fenced it, provided infrastructure, procured communications vehicles, and armoured cars, and provided weekly allowances for all officers and men of Anambra State Police Command. So, morale was very high during his reign.”