—Says report cooked, sponsored to discredit aspirant
A leading aspirant in the Edo State governorship election — under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, has denied a media report in the Nation newspaper on Friday, that he was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC) describing the report as ‘’untrue, sponsored and cooked by the reporter’’ to discredit him.
According to the report written by the Edo State Correspondent of the paper, Ben Ogbemudia, the PDP chieftain was arrested, shortly after he was screened by the committee of the PDP in Benin City, the state capital.
‘’The EFCC officials had stormed the secretariat where they waited for the committee to screen him and whisked him away in an unmarked white Hilux van. They were said to have arrived the state from their zonal head office in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital’’, the report added.
However, in a press statement by the Media Unit of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu Campaign Organisation on Friday, it said the report was sponsored by those apprehensive of Ize-Iyamu’s swelling popularity and deliberately cooked by the reporter to lower his reputation.
According to the statement, ‘’We know for a fact that journalists often describe the essence of their work as finding and presenting the facts and also the truth about the facts. But in his report, Ben Ogbemudia failed woefully to present his facts.
‘’He allowed himself to be used by political opponents of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu to misinform his audience. Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu was never arrested by EFCC as reported by Ben Ogbemudia.’’
‘’A phone call to either the EFCC or Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu would have saved the reporter and his organisation of the fraudulent and outright unethical conduct. As we all know in journalism, the discipline of verification and its intellectual foundation rests on three core concepts – transparency, humility, and originality.
‘’We are not surprised about the reporter’s ethical misconduct. He has consistently shown bias against our aspirant — in reporting the on-going process for September 10 governorship election. Ben Ogbemudai has consistently allowed his audience to be deceived by deliberately acts of outright falsehood like his latest report.’’
As the process leading to the governorship election enters a critical and crucial stage, the Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu Campaign Organisation advised journalists, especially correspondents in Edo State, to keep open minds — not only about what they hear but also about their own ability to understand what it means, exercise humility and avoid arrogance about their knowledge.
‘’Our journalist friends need to be fair to all the aspirants and candidates in the election; they should avoid reports that will lower their media organisation’s reputation in the estimation of very knowledgeable audience by keeping to the sound ethical conduct of journalism practice.’’
Ize-Iyamu reiterated that his mission in the race is to bring real development and prosperity to its citizens and focus on comprehensive and sustainable development that encompasses several aspects including improvement of infrastructure, health, education, human resource development, job creation, industrialisation, agriculture, security and improvement of municipal services in the state.
He added, “We cannot continue in lamentation and suffering. Now is the time to change the unfortunate change. And the future they have always told us to wait for is not in another time; it is not in another election; it is now. This is what I represent and it is what I present to you; take it!’’
The PDP hopeful aspirant said he had analysed the challenges facing the state, consulted widely across the state, and on the basis of his party’s manifesto, had come up with a robust blueprint to launch Edo State on the path to sustainable prosperity and holistic development.
As he proceed on the journey, Ize-Yamu added that he is mindful of the huge challenges ahead of him and the apprehension of his adversaries and their desperation to maintain the status quo, in spite of the cloud of depression that they have casted over the land, advising journalists to maintain a free level playing arena for all the candidates.
Signed
Media Unit, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu Campaign Orgnaisation
