Delta Govt. refutes Prof. Utomi’s allegation on denial of campaign venue

Delta State Commissioner of Information, Mr Charles Aniagwu, flanked by the Cheif Press Secretary Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, in a news conference at Asaba, today

Delta Government has refuted the allegation of Labour Party chieftain, Professor Pat Utomi, that the State Government denied the party venue for its presidential campaign in the state.

Speaking at a news conference , held today, at Asaba, the Commissioner of Information, Mr Charles Aniagwu said “The Labour Party did not write to us as a government that it was going to have a rally in Delta.”

He said that there was no record that Labour Party wrote to the state government for a venue for campaign and was denied, and challenged the party to present the letter and the response from the State, denying them the use of a venue.

Aniagwu said,”the Labour Party creates an impression that it is being oppressed across the length and breadth of this country in order to attract sympathy.

“The Labour Party did not write to us as a government that it was going to have a rally in Delta. Somebody as highly placed as Prof. Pat Utomi went to town to allege that they have been prevented from campaigning in Delta.

“I challenge them to show any application letter sent to the Secretary to the State Government and let them also show the reply from the SSG.

“Somebody representing Prof. Utomi called me on Sunday morning ahead of their rally on Monday morning and I asked what were the issues?

“He said he would be glad if I could give them the Arcade for their campaign. And, I said, you are having a campaign on Monday and you are making phone call to demand for a venue on Sunday?”

“We asked the Labour Party not to pay for the venue that we would take the responsibility for even the cleaning of the place after the event.

“In spite of doing that, Prof. Pat Utomi, wanting to tell a lie, went to the media stations and the social media and alleged that we have prevented them from using public venue.

“So, the idea of Prof. Utomi lying to Nigerians is not what we need as a country at this point in time. Every political party should be free to campaign wherever they want to campaign, provided that they are not infringing on the rights of other persons.

“And, Sen. Dr Ifeanyi Okowa and Atiku Abubakar believe that every party should be free to campaign whereever they want. You can see that, that is what we are doing in Delta.

“The closest campaign offices to the Government House are those of the opposition parties and we never made any law or took any step to stop them from using those infrastructure,” he said.

“So, we needed to make this clarifications because it is very bad for Prof. Pat Utomi to lie about the issue, thinking that we would fall into that trap.

“I challenge him to show us any letter of application for venue and let him also deny that it was not on Sunday morning that they spoke to me that they needed to campaign in Delta.

“In fact, they even need to write a letter to commend us. If we prevented them, how did they now have access to use the Arcade?

Conntinuing, the Commissioner who flanked by the chief press secretary to the State Governor, Mr Oliseh Ifeajika said,” Prof. Utomi should know that our desire to rebuild Nigeria should not be on the basis of lies and blackmail. Our desire to rebuild Nigeria must be based on truth. If they claim that they have character, then it should start with telling truth to Nigerians,” Aniagwu added.

“The reason we allow everyone to come here and campaign is that we are very much on ground. We are on ground because one, Sen. Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa has performed.

“Two, he has been in touch with the people. Three, we are on ground because even long before now, PDP has been an indigene of Delta and it’s not in a hurry to leave this state.

“So, even if they want to come back tomorrow to campaign in front of Government House, let them come. Every other party will have a chance to campaign in Delta once the venue is available,

On his part, the Chief Press Secretary, Ifeajika said that Prof. Utomi was alien to the politics of the state as he neither visited home nor knew his polling unit and Ward.

He said that APC, the main opposition party in the state, flagged off campaign at Warri Township Stadium few weeks ago.

“If the State Government is not allowing other parties access to venues, how come APC, the main opposition in this State used our stadium in Warri without hindrance and without restrictions.

“Since after that flag off, their candidates have been going round Delta campaigning unrestrained in our schools and everywhere, and Utomi was somewhere telling lies.

“The truth is that Utomi is an alien to Delta politics and for him to be lying shows that he doesn’t come home and doesn’t know what is happening in Delta,” Ifeajika said.