By Glory Adokwu

Edo State Government has raised alarm over the alleged circulation of a fictitious document containing details of purported political appointments by Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s administration, urging people of the state to disregard the document because it was concocted and falsified to cause ethnic and social tension in the state.

Oshiomhole

A statement by the Executive Director, Media and Public Affairs, Governor’s Office, Mr. John Mayaki, called on members of the public to be weary of the ‘voodoo list’ of political appointments purportedly made in each of the senatorial districts because the information contained therein was to heighten ethnic tension and cause social upheavals in the build up to the governorship election.

Mayaki said: “We suspect the ‘voodoo document’ reeled out on a local television station in Benin City recently by some hired agents. We must be circumspect and disregard the content because it does not represent or reflect the true state of political appointments made by the Oshiomhole administration.

“As we approach the zero hour, desperate politicians and those who want to benefit from ethnic disharmony have been recruited amongst us and armed with fictitious documents to whip up ethnic sentiments, ostensibly to blackmail their target to possibly surrender to their agitation and for a particular senatorial district to produce the governor’s successor.

“I don’t think that falsification of a list of political appointments to whip up ethnic sentiment will guarantee or quench their nefarious and dubious thirst, no matter how good their intentions to their senatorial district. Rather, it would engender bad blood in the polity. We do not need to be told or reminded that nothing is or can be more prosperous than peace.

“Unless we eschew politics of intrigue and call a spade a spade and not any other name, we are very likely to flounder. These group of persons who have armed themselves to constantly sprinkle dew of hate, suspicion and ethnicity should not only be condemned, they must be told the daring consequences of their actions and its effects on peace and sustainable livelihood.

“We must on our own take measures to create a platform of understanding and mutual trust between the various ethnic groups, because, if conflict is planted during electioneering, the consequences such as violence and ethnic conflict, often resurfaces long after the polls had been concluded.”