The Mayor of Urhoboland and notable ex-militant leader in the Niger Delta region, Eshanakpe Israel a.k.a Akpodoro, has described insinuations in some quarters alleging plot by the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Chris Gwabin Musa and the Minister of State for Defence, Dr. Bello Matawalle of orchestrating a military putsch as a cocktail of lies and criminal campaign of calumny against the president’s best hands.
The Mayor made this known in Ughelli, the traditional headquarters of Urhoboland Sunday, saying the allegations were baseless, noting that they were a grand conspiracy to draw a wedge between President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his trusted hands to make him vulnerable.
He said those behind the “wicked allegations” are aimed at diminishing the persons of the duo of the Defence Chief and the loyal Minister of State for Defence.
He further noted that Nigerians are not oblivious of the state sponsorship of such campaigns against top officials of the current administration who hails from states where unhealthy political rivalry is driven into lunatic fringe wondering why would a rational state executive fund such malicious and puerile blackmail against high ranking men in the government.
Professionally speaking, Mayor Akpodoro noted that General Musa who is a thorough bred and one of the best Nigerian military has produced having served his nation meritoriously to rise to the level he is today could never descend so low as to love his nation less to the extent of contemplating let alone planning to render his appointing authority vulnerable “for children of perdition”.
He said those behind the news were even more reckless by mentioning a former governor of Zamfara state who served his people without blemish.
The thought of a conspiracy involving the CDS and the Honourable Minister of State for Defence, Akpodoro said, exists only in the minds of those behind the uncharitable thoughts.
He said when Matawalle was the governor of Zamfara state insecurity occasioned by banditry and terrorism were diplomatically with the finesse of character defeated whereas, the state has since relapsed into the theatre of the absurd since the exit of the Honourable Minister as the governor of the state.
Akpodoro revealed that the antagonists of the present administration are the reactionary elements who wish Nigeria remains stagnant where the norm is static, a development he said would make them take control of the political system for their narrow interests.
The duo of the General Gwabin and Dr. Matawalle have been the nightmare of the enemies of the Renewed Hope Agenda of the current administration .
Akpodoro noted that the good job of both officers has attracted a lot of attacks against the stronghold of the administration, stressing that no amount of subterfuge will make well-meaning Nigerians believe in such derogatory, malicious enterprise of a state funded attacks on the addicts of President Tinubu.
He noted that the promoters of such “unpatriotic ideas” should have a rethink before their evil machinations locate them.
In a collective effort, Akpodoro noted that the CDS and the Ministry of Defence wherein Dr. Matawalle holds sway have built a bulwark of defence around democratic structures in the country and nobody, not even the unpatriotic elements who promoted the hoisting of Russian flag in the sovereign Nigerian state can survive any attack on democracy under them.
He warned those he described as recalcitrants to stop their malevolence posture against the nation adding that President Tinubu’s administration has come to stay and for eight years and noting can reduce from it.
“No amount of criminal orchestra of evil can change the consensus of the Nigerian people to renew their hopes under the 8-year rule of the current administration.
“The governors who are making subterranean moves are well known to us and at the right time we shall move against them. We know their allies, family members including their children wherever they are. Nigerians will not forgive their evils against the democratic institution particularly when a southern president is in the saddle.
“How possible is it for a bunch of mischief makers to insinuate that a man who fought insecurity in his Zamfara State with just 150m naira to a standstill is accused by the promoters of banditry and terrorism who collects over 3bn naira in security votes without adding value to the security situation in that state?
“How plausible is it to accuse a CDS whose professional expertise, commitment and dedication to duties have whittled down the menace of terrorism in the north and violent crimes in the southern region of the country?
“The urge for the control of goldmines and mineral resources in that state is the reason behind the state funded barefooted and concocted lies against “Our leaders of character who have demonstrated and still demonstrating excellence in their duties to motherland?”
The Mayor querried while he called on Nigerians to discountenance mischievous elements and rally support for the president who he said his achievements within one year in the saddle cause the nation’s enemies sleepless nights.
He said “a child who does not allow his mother sleep would never sleep” as he called on the National Security Adviser, NSA to the President, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, not to leave any stone unturned to get to the root of all the criminal shenanigans against the administration of President Tinubu.
