Kachikwu calls ‘fake’ Delta 2019 campaign posters a ‘distraction’
Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu has dissociated himself from fake campaign posters purporting to show him in the running for the 2019 governorship elections in his home Delta State, sighted in Abuja.
In a press statement issued by the media office of the ministry, Kachikwu claimed to have “absolutely no knowledge of the posters” and “has not indicated any interest in running for any elective political office” in the oil-rich Delta State, located in the country’s southern Niger Delta region.
The minister said he is focused on delivering on the reforms currently being implemented in the
petroleum sector under the current Buhari administration.
The statement noted that the posters were a “distraction” and the minister “remains committed to effectively representing his state of origin, Delta State in the federal cabinet to institutionalise transparency, accountability and productivity in the Nigerian oil and gas sector.”
The presence of the posters, seen last week in the federal capital, had generated some interest. On Sunday, a political action group, the Conscience of the Niger (TCN) warned those trying to discredit the Kachikwu by insinuating that he was interested in an elective office in 2019, to “desist before they incur the wrath of God.”
In a strongly worded statement, the group insisted that “Dr Kachikwu is not stupid. He is a technocrat and not a politician and has not in any form or shape shown indications of wanting to contest election, and so, it stands to reason that those behind his posters flooding Abuja have a sinister plot to achieve and their message is also clearly directed at their target audience, hence, the choice of Abuja as their location for the posters.
“For the sake of argument, let us admit that Dr Kachikwu has an interest in the governorship of Delta State, is Abuja the place to start pasting posters? What is the correlation between Abuja and Delta governorship? But, of course, they want to insinuate that he was seeking the Abuja blessing, which of course invalidates the whole idea.”
