Former Executive Director on Media and Publicity to the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Prince John Mayaki has denied reports that Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is under house arrest.
This claim has been making the rounds on the internet as part of the ongoing crisis surrounding the rally organized to mark the return of Pastor Osagie Ize Iyamu to the APC from the PDP.
“Reeling from the public humiliation suffered over the clear abuse of power and instigation of violence in the state today, the Edo State government is trying to save face by spreading the false and fictitious reports that the National Chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, is under house arrest,” Prince John Mayaki said in a statement released to reporters this evening.
“Nothing could be further from the truth. The National Chairman has committed no crime or wrongdoing and thus cannot be denied his freedom.”
“Members of the public are urged to disregard this false report concocted by the satanic government of Obaseki after it was unsuccessful in its attempt to block the peaceful rally held to herald the homecoming of Pastor Osagie Ize Iyamu to the APC,” he said.
Meanwhile, Adams Oshiomhole himself reacted, denied being placed under house arrest by the police to prevent him from attending the reception for the Edo state governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2016 election.
He said “They already plated a story from Government House, saying I was under house arrest. You can see other ways they want to make me look like the proverbial he-goat who is sacrificed if a child is seeking to make him healthy and also used for celebration.”
Oshiomhole who spoke with journalists at his Benin residence gave reasons for staying away from the rally, saying that as national chairman he had to pay the price by keeping away from the rally which eventually held at Ize-Iyamu’s residence so as to deny the Inspector General of Police and the Edo Police Command any excuse to go and kill people and blame it on him.
He said: “As national chairman, I have to pay the prize by abstaining from going there so that I deny the IG and the Edo Police any excuse to go and kill people and blame it on me.”
He deployed the Inspector General of Police, Mr Muhammed Adamu and the Edo State Police Command for fueling the tension which gripped the state the run-up to the rally, adding that he wrote a letter to the inspector general, notifying him of his intention to attend the rally only for him to withdraw the permit that very day under curious circumstances.
Flanked by Ize-Iyamu and other party bigwigs, Oshiomhole said: “I am embarrassed as the national chairman that the IGP will write me a letter, informing me on the strength of my application, which I informed him of our intention to do a rally. We informed the police not for the license so that they can justify their salary by coming to maintain peace.
“It is not for them to grant permission. I thought as National Chairman, I should be formal. I delivered the letter which I signed myself and was hand-delivered. The IG said that he directed the Edo police to provide security. What I do not understand is how the same police could be alleged to send a letter to deputy governor Shaibu that the rally will not hold. The state chapter invited me to attend the rally. I do not understand how the police IG will write to me in the morning that I hold a rally and write to another person without getting back to me to say that the rally will not hold. It is something I need to find out when I get back to Abuja.” he said.
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