Governor OShiomole Calls Youths and Market Women to Anarchy

Edo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) read with utter amazement and incredulity, a statement made by Governor Adams Oshiomhole and published on page 12 of the Vanguard Newspaper of June 27, 2014 with the headline, 'Edo Youths and Market Women may enforce court order'.

This statement by the Chief Security Officer of Edo State is offensive, mutinous, crude, inciting, reckless, indecent and capable of causing anarchy in the state. Youths and market women have never been known to assume duties constitutionally vested on law enforcement agencies to perform.

The order referred to had a subsisting life span of fourteen days which has since lapsed. The PDP also filed a subsisting motion on stay of execution on the order rendering ineffective, any order forbidding any PDP legislator from performing his statutory duties.

The call on youths and market women to usurp the duties of the police is a veiled attempt at legitimizing the use of APC thugs to achieve Governor Oshiomhole's wishes. Edo people have seen on television in the last week or two Hon. Philip Shuaibu's traffic-warden-like signals to APC thugs to invade the Edo State House of Assembly Complex.

Edo people have also observed the restraint exercised by Edo PDP and its civil, mature and responsible approach to the current impasse.

It is on record that Governor Oshiomhole has a penchant for disregarding court orders. When the Nigerian Union of Teachers got a court order forbidding him from conducting the Competency Test, he did not listen and went ahead to conduct the test spending N6m naira of tax payers' money to do so.

He threw out a court order granted in favor of Hon. Zakawanu Garuba during the crisis that rocked the erstwhile House of Assembly a few years ago. He refused to let Mr. Larry Ogieva back to EDSOGPADEC as head when the latter got an order asking him to go back. Governor Oshiomhole refused to obey court order asking him to reinstate Dr. Mike Nosa Ehima back as Chairman, Oredo Local Government Council. The list is endless.

Governor Oshiomhole has no moral right to call youths and market women to enforce a lapsed court order that was a miscarriage of justice in the first place when he has never had any respect for court orders himself. If he insists on this demand for an unprecedented role for youths and market women, Edo PDP advises him to recall his children from overseas to lead the youths and his dear mother to lead the market women in the campaign.

We bring the governor's call to anarchy to the notice of law enforcement agencies while urging law-abiding youths and market women in Edo State to disregard the inciting demand on them to mutiny by assuming a role expressly and constitutionally approved for law enforcement agencies alone.

Signed:
Chief Dan Osi Orbih
Chairman, PDP,
Edo State