-Jude Ndukwe
The recent Press Release by Abia State Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu, which he titled "The PDP's Web of Deceit and the Limits of Propaganda" was a misadventure in mischief and a futile attempt at obfuscating very simple and clear issues.
Kanu was reacting to an earlier statement by the PDP indicating that the suspension of the Commissioner for Health, Dr Ngozi Okonkwo by the Governor, was a result of the party's relentless and objective scrutiny of Alex Otti's administration which, as PDP has always observed, has fast descended into a cesspool of corruption, maladministration, and gross misconduct by Otti's top government officials.
The current sacking of few top government officials in the administration is not only a pointer to that fact but also belies the true nature of the gargantuan corruption allegedly going on in the Otti-led government. It is believed in reasonable quarters that the sackings are a facade to divert public attention from the real messy issues already afflicting the government.
It is in light of the pressure by the PDP that the Commissioner for Information who is hardly known in the State and who had hitherto been mute quickly mustered the effort to pen his higgledy-piggledy hogwash of a press release wherein he exposed the deceitful and despotic thought processes of Alex Otti and his officials.
Kanu's opening quote of Joseph Goebbels, the highly discredited chief propagandist of the equally infamous Nazi Party that advocated extreme violence against humanity and executed same in a most brutal manner by exterminating six million Jews in wartime Germany exposes the mindset and workings of the Abia State government. It is a known fact in communication that writers are usually tempted to quote their mentors not only to drive home their points but also to affirm their alignment with such mentors. And that was what Prince Okey Kanu did! With that insight from him, we now know the kind of infamous and inhuman figures that Otti and his officials get inspiration from.
It is therefore not surprising that one of the first inhuman actions taken by Otti after assumption of office was the misguided mass sacking of about 15,000 Abia workers from the state civil service thereby further pushing many households into penury and hunger amidst the biting hardship in the country. If that sounds sadistic then look no further than Joseph Goebbels for where they get their inspirations from.
Rather than address the germane issues raised by PDP, Prince Kanu went on a ranting mission about the "...vocal faction of the hugely fractionised Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State..."
It is a known fact that the PDP in Abia State is even stronger now than it was before and has no factions except the ones that exist in the foggy imagination of Prince Kanu and his paymasters. We are however aware of the strenuous efforts being made by the government of the day to weaken the PDP in the state by attempting to create factions within it. The mortal fear of losing the 2027 elections to the PDP in Abia State is what is driving these puerile efforts as Otti continues to grow unpopular due to his government's draconian policies usually embellished with facile propaganda.
As if to reaffirm PDP's accusations of wastage and unending plundering of our common resources in Otti's government, the commissioner for information confirmed that "the team that went in search of the phantom Abia Airport that gulped over N10 billion Naira...are yet to locate the Airport."
This calls to question why Alex Otti is still sending people to search for a non-existent airport when unambiguous, sufficient and satisfactory explanations have been given to the effect that no such airport exists and that the N10bn earmarked for it was channelled to the construction of roads to meet the more pressing needs of the people? The continued search is therefore another journey in frivolities and political mishap.
No one should be surprised if another N3bn is reported to have been allocated for the needless search in the government's Budget Implementation Report for next quarter. After all, Abians are yet to recover from the N3bn spent on "Research and Development" and another N3bn spent on "Capacity Building", amorphous budget components in the last Budget Implementation Report similar to the upcoming one, "Airport Search".
Odi egwu o!
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Opinion