Special Adviser to the Edo State Governor on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr. Crusoe Osagie, has said the Edo State Government is pursuing a holistic strategy to ensure the security of lives and property in the state through the Public Works Volunteer (PUWOV) scheme.
The governor’s aide said insinuations that the PUWOV scheme is a militia are erroneous and unfounded, noting that such allegations emanate from those with an intent to undermine security and public order in the state.
Osagie said this in reaction to allegations made by a faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State loyal to the suspended National Chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, that the government was training a militia group to terrorize the governor’s political opponents.
According to him, “The attention of the Edo State Government has been drawn to a malicious new analysis published on the front page and page 44 of Vanguard Newspaper of February 25, 2020, alleging that the Edo State Governor is training a militia group in the state.
“The report is erroneous and unfounded and is being spread by those with an intent to cause crisis and perpetuate violence in the state. It is a tactic of Comrade Oshiomhole and his co-travellers in the Edo Peoples Movement (EPM) to spread lies and half-truths to cause disaffection among the people.”
He continued, “We have severally raised the alarm over the penchant of Comrade Oshiomhole to cause crisis and instigate violence in the state, which have been manifested in his flagrant breach of protocol when he visits the state as well as the recent outburst about the Supreme Court verdict, in Bayelsa which snowballed to violence in Bayelsa and Rivers States and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.”
The governor’s aide noted that those who label the PUWOV scheme a militia do not mean well for Edo people as they are attempting to undermine government’s effort at grooming a community-led policing effort in the state, adding, “We want to call on relevant security agencies to keep a close watch on these persons and ensure that they are prevented from causing public disturbances to undermine public safety and order.”
