CSO Leader Laments Ongoing Politics Of Smear, Blackmail In Delta Guber Race

Deacon Okezi Odugala, a prominent member of Delta State’s civil society, has expressed concern over the manners in which some of the state’s gubernatorial candidates’ have used blackmail and smear tactics in their political campaigns as opposed to focusing on the issues at hand.

BIGPEN NIGERIA (www.bigpenngr.com) reports that Odugala, an environmentalist and the founding coordinator of the Delta State Civil Society Community, said in a statement on Sunday that it is alarming that political gladiators are now more interested in name-dropping and campaigns of calumny than in addressing the general problems affecting the state’s development.

He said that instead of throwing tantrums at each other, political elites and candidates should run ideologically-based issues and programmes and refrain from intimidating their rivals.

Odugala urged politicians to exercise restraint so as not to inflame the polity, saying that those who are accused of engaging in corruption or other anti-social behaviour should be brought before the court rather than resorting to the court of public opinion.

“Instead of smearing your opponent with accusations of corruption or other unethical or illegal behaviour, take them to court. I urged politicians to take on issues that concern all of us as a people and to stop acting as both the prosecutor and the judge at once”. 

He expressed shock at the situation in which contestants made fraud allegations and counter-accusations against one another without providing any convincing evidence, saying that this kind of campaigning would only breed animosity, resentment, and hatred throughout the nation.

The activist argued that many political party candidates lacked the necessary background knowledge to offer substantive solutions to the myriad socioeconomic and environmental problems facing the country, instead choosing to “tow the path of weaklings” by blaming their opponents for the nation’s problems. 

Deacon Odugala questioned why the majority of political actors are accusing one another rather than offering solutions to the nation’s hydra-headed problems that are severely impacting the lives of its citizens “as practically all the social and economic sectors are suffering at this present time.”

“We want them to explain to us in plain English how they will bring about positive changes in all areas of the country’s economy, including the educational, health, security, power and energy, water, roads, and other sectors that are currently in a coma,” he said.