That Am Being Sponsored By Obaseki Is An Unfounded Rumor And Baseless - Apkata
By Editor
BENIN CITY – A former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olumide Akpata has denied rumours around the state that his governorship ambition was being sponsored by Governor Godwin Obaseki who he would allegedly revert to support if he loses to make his preferred aspirant win the ticket of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Akpata also said that those alleging that he was a moneybag attempting to get the ticket of the Labour Party (LP) were displaying acts of immaturity.
He spoke to journalists in Benin City yesterday when he appeared as the Special Guest at the award day for the 2023 Press Week of the Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
According to him, "That I am sponsored by Godwin Obaseki is an unfounded rumour and baseless. It was bandied around by two irresponsible online blogs, who I shall be going after with all the venom that I can muster because my approach to fake news is that you nip it in the bud and you deal with it before it festers.
“It has also been bandied around by some disgruntled politicians in both camps including my party and I said to them that that is a very weak argument or weak reasoning.
“My relationship with the governor has never been hidden so it is only politicians who don't know how to agree to disagree that quickly conclude that when two contenders sit together, they must belong to the same camp. In Bendel State, my father's elder brother Sen Olu Akpata was in the UPN in 1979, his cousin Tayo Akpata was the chairman of NPN in the same state. They had lunch and dinner together.
“The family I belong to are honourable people. Those who know the Akpata family in Benin know that we are honourable people. If I cannot go into politics on my own, and get the prize that I am looking for I will stay at home. I am a successful lawyer. I have work to do as Dr. Muiz Banire will say the power of a second address. Politics is not my job. It is out of interest that we have come to the rescue of this state and Nigeria. I cannot be the hireling of anybody.”
On the issue of being a money bag, Akpata said “As the Americans would say I put my money where my mouth is and you know, these people who say money bag, before I came to the scene they have been spending. So I just wonder, I wonder what the issue really is. You know, you know, when people get uncomfortable, and they see the competition that they cannot really cannot match up to, they must look for something. They say give a dog a bad name, so you can hang it. I show up, and I say I want to support the Labour Party and as you know, of the major parties in Nigeria LP is not as financially buoyant as the other parties. So it is important that all of us who are true party members come together and help our party. And then they say you are a money bag. I shrug off those kinds of accusations. Politics is expensive all over the world"
