WATCH: Governor Oshiomhole Escapes Being Lynched at National Dialogue Committee Meeting in Benin City
The
meeting of the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue
(PACND) with the stakeholders in the South-South ended in confusion,
following an outburst from participants against a remark made by
Governor Adams Oshiomhole.
Pius
Nsogho reported that Governor Oshiomhole was whisked away from the
venue of PACND by his security when the situation became tense. READ MORE: http://news.naij.com/50845.html
Later Edo State Government has
released the official press statement. It blamed alleged PDP ‘thugs’ for
disrupting the proceedings of the PACND in Benin City, when they
stopped Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State and others from making
contributions to the ongoing talks.
Col
Tony Nyiam (rtd), a member of the Presidential Advisory Committee, is
believed to be the arrowhead of
the disruption as he shouted down the Governor while making his contribution.
the disruption as he shouted down the Governor while making his contribution.
The
Governor who took the stage to make his contribution shortly after the
Isoko Ethnic group had made their contribution said he objected to
spending huge public funds on a wasteful venture saying, during the
tenure of President Olusegun Obasanjo, money was spent on similar
conference and at the end, nothing came out of that conference.
But
as soon as Governor Oshiomhole made this statement, committee member,
Col Nyiam jumped on his feet and would perhaps have lunged at the
Governor were he close to him. He was restrained by other members who
were taken aback by his action.
Even
while the Governor was still making his contribution, Nyiam started
screaming at the top of his voice for the Governor to shut up and sit
down. He was then joined in by the PDP ‘thugs’ who disrupted the whole
proceedings and many scampered for safety as a result of the unruliness
of the committee member and thugs.
The Governor who insisted on concluding his remarks however yielded the floor when the thugs were getting violent.
After leaving the PACND meeting Gov. Oshiomhole lamented that fifty-three years after independence, "Nigerians
still prefer to look at themselves from their ethnic origin rather than
being Nigerians, saying, “for me, I am just a Nigerian".
“Nigeria
does need a serious reflection about how to return to those core values
that made Nigeria work before. Those healthy competition between the
governments, visit the whole question of attitude and unless that
changes, I do not see how any dialogue can work”, he said.
Earlier
the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee on National
Dialogue/Conference, Senator Femi Okurounmu said they were in Benin as
part of their to the six geo political zones to get their input as
regards the content of the agenda, the duration, choice of delegation
and legal framework.
READ MORE: http://news.naij.com/50845.html
READ MORE: http://news.naij.com/50845.html
