The governorship candidate of Labour Party, Mr Chijioke Edeoga has directed members of his media team to launch a massive fake news onslaught against the governor-elect, Dr Peter Mbah, saying that was the only way to incite public sentiments against Mbah, strip the incoming administration of any form of legitimacy and whip up sympathy from judges adjudicating the election petitions.
Edeoga gave the directive in very strong terms during a strategy meeting of his enlarged media team involving his social media operatives at his Golf Estate residence in Enugu on Sunday, stressing that hope must be sustained among their demoralized supporters by continually maligning Mbah with different accusations painting him as unworthy of the office of governor he is about occupying, assuring it was only a matter of time before their “stolen mandate” was recovered.
The former commissioner for environment further argued that by fabricating more fake news on the NYSC discharge certificate the team had already put to the public, ascribing some of its fake news to PDP members, and impersonating eminent personalities as lampooning Mbah, judges would be convinced to give them judgment, adding that they had a good case in court over the NYSC certificate scandal.
An attendee of the meeting who said he was tired of Edeoga’s endless shenanigans but decided to play along to avoid being labeled a traitor or saboteur to the cause as they had been calling politicians from the Nsukka Zone who worked against their interest, said the Labour Party candidate was sounding more and more frustrated and desperate, adding that his shocking defeat in the polls had left them devastated and dispirited.
According to him, Edeoga had given them assurances that he had, through his connection and those of his sponsors, been reaching out to the judges and other judicial officers that could influence the outcome of the court case, insisting that over 3 billion naira had been raised both home and abroad for the settlement of the complex judicial process, the recent fund raising in the United States coming through his deputy, Nwokeabia.
He quoted Edeoga as admonishing them:
“You are all tested hands in the battle and we must fight to finish or lose it all. We must unleash all the weaponry in our arsenal. Remember we have come this far despite all intimidating forces against us by the might of our pen.
“We must escalate attacks on the person of Peter Mbah, paint him as a dubious character who forged an NYSC discharge certificate, stole the election and who is too tainted to occupy our Lion Building. You may think that negative propaganda is no longer helpful with the elections over. But the court of public opinion is reading and the judges who will sit on our cases are also reading. They will form their opinions from the narratives we are aggressively framing and disseminating.
“You must be at your creative best in fabricating fake stories against Mbah and the PDP. They should come massively and in torrents. We have almost convinced the public that only 7000 voters were accredited by BVAS in Nkanu East local government. Everyone believes us now. That is the power of propaganda.
“It’s very unfortunate that our lawyers vehemently rejected the plea bargain accusation against Mbah because it will trivialize our petition. They said there was no shred of evidential proof to support our accusation. We invested untold resources propagating the damaging accusation and it’s very disappointing it couldn’t fly.
“Luckily we have that letter from the NYSC director stating that Mbah’s NYSC certificate was forged. The silence from NYSC is disturbing. We have done everything to provoke a more indicting statement from them but they have kept mute, insisting the matter is sub judice, that Mbah produced some documents that unsettled them and that the full facts will be disclosed in court. But we cannot wait. We must explore all possible angles to the story and keep it on the front burner even if it means repeating ourselves over and again. For now it is our word against theirs”, he said.
The source said he was disgusted by the deliberate falsehoods and fake news emanating from Edeoga’s camp saying he was not alone in his disenchantment, adding that there’s life outside politics which Edeoga has failed to understand because of desperation. “His place that used to be a hive of activity is mostly empty and deserted since his defeat and even the turnout to the meeting was the poorest ever”, he lamented.
