A former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Afam Ogene, has condemned the torrents of below-the-belt criticisms and attacks against former President Olusegun Obasanjo, and other statesmen over their public support for the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
Ogene said the attacks, by agents of the ruling party, were dishonourable, crude exhibition of intolerance of alternative views and disrespect for the elderly, which negates the values of African culture and principles of democracy that thrive on plurality of opinions and freedom of choice.
Ogene contended that in spite of Obasanjo’s known or alleged human frailties or shortcomings, the vicious attacks on his person, remain uncharitable and condemnable.
He named other elder statesmen equally being trolled by All Progressives Congress (APC) agents for similarly endorsing Obi of the Labour Party as Pa Ayo Adebanjo and Chief Edwin Clark.
While Pa Adebanjo is leader of the pan Yoruba group, Afenifere, Clark heads the apex Niger Delta group, PANDEF.
According to Hon. Ogene, such disrespect and wild deployment of denigrating language and sly innuendos against the elders, coming especially from very senior politicians, journalists and media managers, in APC, is symptomatic of their false claims of being adherents of democracy.
On the contrary, he said, their current disposition easily mirrors the deceit, temperament and inner demons of both the marketers and the product being marketed as an alleged ‘hero of democracy’ and self acclaimed heir to the throne.’
Ogene, in a statement in Awka, Anambra State, said that no reasonable person burns down an invaluable library of leadership experience and knowledge – which the trio of Obasanjo, Adebanjo and Clark represent – on the altar of partisan preference and selfish political ambition, just because the views expressed do not fit into their personal agenda.
He noted that what the elder statesmen did was not necessarily a mere endorsement of Obi, but essentially to point out a direction, which they believe – as elders and leaders – would lead to a better future for the teeming youths of the nation, who without any iota of doubt are desirous of positive change.
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