REJOINDER BY PRINCE BASSEY OTU IN RESPONSE TO THE TISSUES OF LIES ISSUED BY THE PDP VANGUARD
It has become imperative to once again write this rejoinder in response to the tissues of lies and sheer propaganda recently issued by the Vanguard aimed principally at tarnishing my image and the well known personal integrity I have laboured to build, sustain and maintain over the decades. The totally untrue write up was arrived at during the Cross River State caucus meeting of the PDP Vanguard on Saturday, March 26, 2022.
It is shocking that a political vanguard which parades itself as a major support group for an opposition party can be so loosely bereft of even the common ethics of political engineering. It has become exceedingly clear that the smear campaign by the so called PDP Vanguard is intended to create a bitter rift and deliberate crisis between me and the entire People’s Democratic Party and the vanguard should be wise enough to know that it has embarked on a wild goose chase that will consume them in the eventual crossfire.
The purported PDP Vanguard is a shadowy group of ragtag mercenary writers whose principal objective is a smear campaign against my person and life philosophy.
It is equally obvious to me that they have decided to pick on me of all other contestants for the exalted position of Governor because I have much to offer and for this, to God all the glory be. If this is not the case, then why are they not bold enough to come out of their hidden cocoons and challenge me openly? Why have they sheepishly chosen to hide behind the scene and embark on Persistent campaign of calumny against me? They claim to have so much media leverage but are consumed in their fears to reveal their true identities and confront me frontally because they do not have the balls or capacity to do so. Only shameless, fearful, capacity deficient and regrettably immoral shenanigans would connive with their ilk, using indirect means to perpetrate their evil intentions while at the same time, concealing their identities.
The attention of the general public is hereby drawn to the very recent *DISCLAIMER* by one *Jeffrey with the following phone number 08097239126* to the effect that his WhatsApp account was hacked and used by these shameless perpetrators to post the article unknown to him and assured the public that he has been able to recover his account and taken down all the articles that may have been shared. Do we need any other proof that these faceless people are just mercenary writers out to tarnish my image and reputation?
Politics by its very nature can throw up strange bedfellows who may find themselves in the same camp, social philosophy or political affiliations and may immediately become disenchanted with each other.
This is expected and I can wholeheartedly atune myself to that reality but of recent, my name, integrity and sterling contributions to our collective growth as a state and as a nation, have been so abused by individuals and groups, particularly the above named PDP vanguard to the extent that silence on my part may not be golden.
The politically charged times in which we find ourselves cannot accommodate whoever is as denigrated as I am if the true position of things is not laid bare for the scrutiny of everybody.
I therefore write to respond to the written vitroilics of the PDP vanguard to set the records straight and to help educate my teeming supporters, party faithful and the general public about the true situation on ground. My journey into politics did not materialize out of the blues but through a thorough process of fruitful consultations, consensus building, understanding, encouragement and acceptability by the majority of those concerned. Indeed, it was a matter of being called to duty which has been of great service to our people.
That accounts for why till date, my political career has been so elevated from a very unknown private and quiet individual pursuing his legitimate businesses to the status of a greatly accomplished senator and now a gubernatorial candidate under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Nothing can be more tangibly appreciated than my achievements while in elective offices since the return of the present political dispensation in May, 1999.
The faceless PDP Vanguard in its completely uninformed critique on me described me as a serial failure in politics.
A rhetorical question is inescapable here; can an individual who was called upon by his own people to serve them and who won elections into the lower and upper Chambers of the National Assembly and who, by popular acceptance, has become a front runner in the state governorship race be appropriately described as a failure in politics?
That is shamefully what the mercenaries in the so called PDP Vanguard want stakeholders and the general public to believe. Another area of concern is the level of financial, social and economic empowerment I have accorded our people.
The PDP vanguard, in an obvious attempt to denigrate my people-oriented and beneficial empowerment schemes, harped on the nebulous issue of me obtaining customs seized cars to empower our people. This only goes to show how lazy and shallow their weak investigations have been. How possible would a public figure such as a distinguished Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria suddenly become the sole owner of cars seized by a government agency such as the Nigerian Customs Service without the agency seeking redress?
For the avoidance of doubts, all the cars used for those empowerment schemes were supplied by three very credible car vendors namely Ogbeche Motors, 37 Marian Hill, Calabar owned and managed by Chief Mark Ogbeche with phone number 08033443329 and Mr. John Nyiam with phone numbers 08023138982 and 08032167868 of Jovers Motors, Clearway Park, Apapa Lagos as well as the supplier of all the buses, Deacon A.C. Maduka with phone number 08033418030 who owns and runs A.C. Bright Motors, 132 Murtala Muhammed Highway, Calabar.
I have taken time and made deliberate efforts to provide all the information needed by the PDP vanguard and the general public so as to put the unassailable records straight for the education and understanding of all.
At every point in the life of a public office holder, there are renegades, saboteurs, black legs, conspirators, fifth columnists and outright blackmailers, so it is not entirely surprising that members of the PDP Vanguard could take on my person and even family matters. How infantile could they be?
What is unnatural and shameful about being defeated at the polls in 2015 and 2019, assuming there was anything like that ? Why not allow that judgment for the electorate who participated in the election s ? Or point out the elections that were won by your sponsors.
Every great public figure or politician has at one time or the other, tasted defeat in one way or the other. I refer the PDP Vanguard to do a very thorough research on the lives and times of great politicians and see how they initially fared in their various political careers.
The hatchet job to discredit me has gone even beyond the realms of politics. Disappointed that they tried and found absolutely nothing to degrade me, they have taken on my beloved family, particularly my loving wife.
I need to make it abundantly clear that my beloved wife, who has supported and stood by me all these years, was already divorced and living on her own when I met her and that at no time did I ever serve her former husband as my boss neither did I ever contemplate that.
My honest advice to the PDP Vanguard is to be honest, painstaking and sincere with the truth. It is common knowledge and in the public domain with indelible court records that my beloved wife’s marriage to her former husband was annulled amicably due to some irreconcilable differences by no less a very upright and distinguished judicial luminary such as Justice Eyamba Idem, who was the then Chief Judge of Cross River State.
This is a fact that cannot be rubbished by common mercenary writers masquerading as champions of democracy. Twisting a lie in any manner cannot and can never transform it into the truth. Their evil plans and equally shambolic manipulations in order to damage my reputation can only end in the negative for them all.
If they are not scared of my persona, personal integrity, visible achievements and pedigree, why are they so intent on creating a rift where none exists and so worried to the extent that they pick on me every now and then under the minutest provocations?
A word is always enough for the wise and the most discerning of humanity.
Signed
Senator (Prince) Bassey Edet Otu, APC Governorship Aspirant, Cross River State
