The Edo State Government has cautioned residents of the state and media practitioners to be wary of the antics of the chairman of the state chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Dan Orbih, who has resorted to lies as a campaign strategy.

In a statement, Special Adviser to the State Governor on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr. Crusoe Osagie, said that it was regrettable that the chairman of the opposition party has stooped so low as to peddling lies to malign the government and the state governor, a condition he argued may be pathological, due to the litany of deliberate misinformation being spread by Dan Orbih in the space of one week.

According to him, “In the last one week, the PDP chairman in Edo State has manufactured lies to malign the governor and the state government in an alarming fashion. The high turn-over rate of the lies is as baffling as it is worrisome. We are pressed to put out this warning because we understand that the lies, calculated to misinform the public, are becoming quite an embarrassment to Edo people.

“At every juncture that Mr. Orbih has put out any lie, we debunked them outrightly because those things are only figments of his imagination. We fear that it may be pathological, and there might be the need for consulting sessions with a psychiatrist to ascertain what exactly is the problem.

“We also wish to appeal to media practitioners to be circumspect with the wild claims that Dan Orbih makes, as those who rush to press without verifying his claims risk mortgaging the credibility and believability ratings of their media organisations, earned over the years through responsible journalism by their proprietors.”

“On the fraud allegations over agriculture loans, we make bold to say that that is a blatant lie. The state government never asked farmers to buy forms for loans at any point in time. It is either this scam was cooked and orchestrated in the man’s mind, or if ever it happened, he must have masterminded it.”

On the barefaced lie that N7 billion was allocated for the governor’s foreign trips, Mr. Crusoe said there was no part of the state’s approved 2019 budget that had such a provision.

According to him, “No part of the 167-page budget document has such provision. If there is any such provision for foreign trips, Mr. Orbih should point it out in public, so that Edo people can go and check it out themselves. It is a lie that should be discountenanced.”

Stressing that Governor Obaseki will continue to uphold the interest of Edo people and the interest of people in sister South-South states through genuine, solution-driven platforms, he said that the attack on the governor for not attending the South-South PDP Governors' meeting over the arraignment of Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, was uncalled for and callous.

According to him, “In all his dealings, the governor has fought for the interest of the people. That is why it is surprising that the PDP attacked the governor for not attending a meeting called in Abuja, which evidently was for governors of the PDP. So, we urge the party to tell the people when last the South-South governors met last year. The governor will always work for the interest of Edo people and all Nigerians.”

They are all the same.