Arrows of Hate
Efforts to frustrate Dr. Peter Odili’s suspected presidential bid assume dirty dimensions

DONNING the toga of a pompous potentate, it was Abdulkadir Kure, governor of Niger State, who first threw malicious darts at his colleague, Dr. Peter Odili, governor of Rivers State, considered President Olusegun Obasanjo’s likely successor.
Since Kure’s puerile salvo a few weeks back, Dr. Odili has become a subject of an invidious campaign of calumny
Last week, a curious advertorial appeared in a national newspaper. Placed by one Olu Jacobs, reportedly on behalf of a faceless group called the “Niger Delta Coastal Guerillas,” with its address given as No 6 Amarata Road, Yenegoa, Bayelsa State, the governor was accused of several misdeeds. But discerning observers suspect that the tissues of lies being hurled at the Rivers State helmsman are actually coming from politicians from outside the South south, and indeed Southern Nigeria.

Governor Peter Odili of Rivers State, Nigeria

It has been speculated, for instance, that his growing profile has forced those who seemingly think that Aso Rock is their birthright to fight dirty and recklessly.
Electing to react with finesse, the Rivers State government on Tuesday, June 13 promptly called on the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Bayo Ojo (SAN), to press criminal charges againstthe authors of the offensive advertorial which it considers not only defamatory but capable of causing alarm and unrest.
In a letter signed by Odein Ajumogobia (SAN), the state attorney-general and commissioner for justice argued that the advertorial “was an attempt to spread a completely unjustified and unrelenting campaign of calumny against the Governor of Rivers State, Dr. Peter Odili.”
It further stated that the newspaper allowed itself to be used for this campaign stressing that “the contents of this particular advertorial however is perhaps more outrageous than all previous attempts to disparage the hard-earned reputation of the Rivers State Governor.”
Ajumogobia revealed that the government of Rivers State has already taken steps to seek redress against the publishers of the newspaper “in respect of the defamatory imputations contained in the publication in the appropriate forum.”
He pointed out that the threats of violence against Nigerians and foreigners alike were of particular concern to the Dr. Odili administration.
The attorney-general said in the letter: “My particular concern over this completely irresponsible publication, however, is with the patently criminal conduct of the publishers, in publishing and widely disseminating a threat of violence to both foreigners and Nigerians alike.”
Other parts of the publication which he considered offensive, were:
“Should Odili be allowed to get the South-south ticket by any act of omission or commission, not only would foreign oil workers be taken as hostages, Nigerians who support him would also be kidnapped, such Nigerian hostages would not just be held, they would be killed.”
The advertorial went on to say that “non-indigenes in Rivers State will never have a good sleep as we shall make sure that the peace they are having in Port-Harcourt city right now ceases to exist.”
It also said that “our target is all supporters of Odili - Hausa/Yoruba communities in Port-Harcourt city be warned. SSPA be warned! Ndigbo be warned!”
Before urging the AGF to prefer charges against publishers of the newspaper which recently lost a whopping N40 million libel suit to Tony Okoroji, former president of the Performing Musicians Association (PMAN), Ajumogobia reminded him that, “under the laws of Rivers State, it is an imprisonable offence for any person to publish or reproduce a statement...or report anything which is likely to cause fear and alarm to the public which statement or report is false.”
He added that “newspapers have a sacred duty to bring to public attention matters of public interest in which all citizens ought to be concerned.”
The letter said it was sad that such a national newspaper would “join the discredited band of journalists who seek to profit by making their pages available to frustrated political opposition in such an egregious and unprecedented criminal manner... must not be condoned in our democracy.”
As the 2007 general elections draw near, workshops are being organised for newspaper editors and their assistants by government agencies led by the Nigeria Press Council, all aimed at emphasising that freedom is always accompanied with enormous responsibilities, particularly in nascent democracies.