Ahead of the November governorship election in Kogi state, an international organization, Centre for Development and Democracy (CDD) has indicted a chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Dr. Tom Ohikere of engaging in hate speech and propagation of fake news.
In an official FactCheck report published n CDD website, the organization said “Dr.Ohikere seems to have an history of promoting unconfirmed information”
CDD went further to confirm that Ohikere’s penchant for falsehood “has capacity to disinform and misinform the people of Kogi state and ignite ethnic rivalry before, during and after the election scheduled for November 16, 2019.”
Ohikere, the spokesman of the APC governorship campaign organization, has been very active on social media promoting ethnic chauvinism.
The APC spokesman recently alleged, in a Facebook post that went viral, that the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Engr Musa Wada claimed in an interview on Kakaaki Morning Show on Africa Independent Television (AIT) that “Kogi Easr can single-handedly decides who govern the state”
However, when Fact Checkers at CDD conducted a thorough review and analysis of the recorded AIT show which was aired on October 2, 2019, it was revealed that Ohikere lied.
According to CDD; “The two hours 24 minutes video was a comprehensive Kakaaki Show presented by Salamatu Ibrahim and Peace Chikodinaka Eze. However, Engr Musa Wada was introduced at about 56minutes of the show. The interview which last over an hour generally focused on the candidate’s vision for the state. At 1:16:00 hours, Engr Wada was asked on the perception of the people of Kogi East Senatorial District, about the Governorship seat. In response, among others, Engr Wada among said, ‘Democracy is about number …. It is not right for the people of Kogi East to lay claim to the seat’.”
Ohikere’s false claims has been re-echoed by the Director General of the APC campaign organization, Senator Smart Adeyemi.
Adeyemi, during a recent media chat at the NUJ Press Centre in Lokoja, condemned Wada for making such derogatory statement. He went further to call on non-Igala supporters of Wada to renounce their support for the governorship candidate of PDP.
Also, in reaction to Ohikere’s claims, a group has written to the Ohinoyi of Ebira land urging the monarch to stop Wada from campaigning in Kogi Central senatorial district to avoid attacks from people of the area who are enraged by the alleged statement made by Wada.
