The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ebonyi State, Ifeanyi Odii, has described as unconstitutional an alleged menace by Governor Francis Nwifuru in opposition to native authorities chairmen who enable opposition events to marketing campaign of their areas.
Speaking throughout an interview on ARISE News on Thursday, Odii criticised the governor’s reported directive that native authorities chairmen who allow political events apart from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to marketing campaign of their areas could be sacked.
According to Odii, the governor’s alleged directive contradicts the constitutional tasks of his workplace, notably his responsibility to guard lives and property within the state.
“First of all, I think he was being ungodly. He does not understand the office of governor, what it meant and what it stands for in the constitution,” Odii mentioned.
“If you understand that, what that means is that as a chief security officer, you are charged with responsibility of securing life and properties in your state. So, you now start threatening to interact. For me, I regard it as his panicking. I regard it as maybe he’s jittering.”
The PDP candidate mentioned the governor mustn’t stop opposition events from exercising their political rights, arguing that threats in opposition to native authorities chairmen over opposition campaigns have been unconstitutional.
“Because for a governor to be issuing threats at his local government chairman, should not allow opposition political parties to campaign in their state. It’s unconstitutional. For me, I regard it as such,” he mentioned.
Odii additionally alleged that assaults had been carried out in opposition to some folks in native authorities areas following the governor’s remarks.
“Even though they started carrying out destruction. Because once a governor has spoken, it means there is authority on it.”
He mentioned his camp had reported its issues to safety companies and appealed for restraint to stop additional violence.
“So, what we did was, we complained. We laid our complaint to security agencies. We let them know that we should not make this become ungovernable. We talked to our people. So, they don’t take laws into their hands. And that’s what we’ve done,” Odii mentioned.
He maintained that the alleged threats wouldn’t deter his political actions, including that his marketing campaign workforce was consulting stakeholders throughout the state.
“For us, we are not at odds. Neither, you know, having any kind of fear. The thing is that we are here to flag up our campaign proper. What we are doing now is door to door campaign. We are moving from consultation to consultation. Consulting the stakeholders. Consulting the market women. The traders, the peasants, farmers. That’s what we are doing at the moment,” he mentioned.
Odii referred to as on the federal government to deal with the scenario, reiterating his place that the alleged threats in opposition to opposition campaigns have been unconstitutional.
“Yes, there is threat… and that threat, I believe that the government should be called to order. It’s unconstitutional,” he mentioned.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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