The Coalition of Registered Political Parties (CRPP), has accused Edo State Commissioner for Communication and Strategy, Prince Kaseem Afegbua, of allegedly trying to bamboozle the people of the state with unintelligible grammar and resulting to name calling instead of addressing issues that led to last Tuesday’s protest against hardship in the state.
National Chairman of CRPP, Dr. Samson Isibor, made the accusation while reacting to Afegbua who in a statement on Friday accused CRPP of launching the unwarranted verbal attack against Governor Monday Okpebholo in a desperate attempt to attract attention.
He had also called for the resignation of Governor Okpebholo over his alleged ineptitude and nonchalant attitude to the abject poverty, insecurity and hardship staring the common man on the streets of Edo.
Isibor who carpeted Afegbua for allegedly dodging the real and resulted to rhetorics, reminded him that they have the right to criticize any government in power to awaken it to its responsibility.
According to him, “As usual, Afegbua tries to explain away the salient points raised in our statement with big grammatical language and resulting to name calling. We are not disappointed, it is his trade mark.
“First of all, let it be known to Afegbua that as the voice of the common man on the street, we have the right to a constructive criticizm of the government in power. It is a way of reawakening them to the reality on ground.
“It is on record that CRPP campaigned vigorously for Okpebholo during the APC primary election while Afegbua and his former boss were heavily opposed to Okpebholo’s emergence as governorship candidate. But now that Okpebholo has jettisoned his primary responsibility of governance and securing the state for campaigning for President Bola Tinubu’s reelection, we owe it a duty to tell him so.”
The CRPP chairman noted that Governor Okpebholo in his rightful senses cannot call us “chop-chop or jeun jeun” organization.
“We challenge him to tell Nigerians how many times we have come to him cap in hand to beg for food or appointments at Government House. Afegbua is the real culprit without any known stable job for livelihood but keeps jumping from one political party to the other begging for appointments.
“CRPP stands by it words that Governor Okpebholo has not performed despite the huge funds received from the federation account, billions of naira in security votes and increased Internally Generated Revenue IGR.
“It is an undeniable fact that Edo people are kidnapped like chicken across the three senatorial districts on a daily basis. Prices of staple foods are beyond the common man, unemployment rate has hit the roof top, and the entire state in total darkness. Good and motorable roads are fast disappearing, functional health care system is no more, affordable house rent is now history.
“These are the teething problems we expected Afegbua to respond to, rather than trying to bamboozle members of the public with unintelligible grammar and resulting to name calling. He should give explanations to these non assailable facts and also tell us if the hundreds of youths who protested at Ugbowo during the week were seeking government’s appointments,” he said.
Finally, Isibor counseled Afegbua to “learn to be disciplined in his outburst and stop using uncouth languages. What Edo people need now is urgent solution to their problems and not rhetorics. We advise him to also advise his pay master to stop campaigning for 2.5 million votes for President Tinubu and face the real business of governance. After all, it is only the living, not the dead, that will vote in the coming elections.
“For the records, CRPP is a principled pressure group led by sound-minded people of unblemished character fighting injustice and for the welfare of the downtrodden by putting the government in power who cares to listen on its toes, unlike our friend Afegbua who always romances any government in power, reaping where he did not sow.
“CRPP has spoken, a word is enough for the wise. Okpebholo should sit up or resign and face Tinubu’s reelection campaign if that is his priority,” he concluded.
