This Wednesday afternoon, I chanced on a poorly manipulated (photoshopped) picture of Dr Asue Ighodalo, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the September 21, governorship election in Edo State, sitting on a chair at an undisclosed location with a bottle of champagne purportedly being hid under the table by his side.

As to be expected, the children of Joseph Goebbels in the Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) tagged it “PDP governorship candidate for Edo 2024 governorship election comes under fire for hiding bottle of exotic champagne underneath table.”

Typically, these Joseph Goebbels’ children, ever so intoxicated with their father’s spirit of lies and propaganda, failed to provide the vital clues and vital answers to inevitable questions of ‘Where and When’. In their desperation and obsession to tar a high-flying Ighodalo with some ridiculous lies, they exposed their immature and satanic agenda.

For the record, Joseph Goebbels was the Nazi era Chief Propagandist during the Second World War who is regarded as the father of lies and propaganda the world has ever known. One of his accursed quotes is that: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it".

One is not surprised that the children of lies and propaganda finally came up with this ridiculous claim of trying to portray Dr Ighodalo in a bad light. Still smarting from the woeful, disastrous, and drearily abysmal performance of Senator Monday Okpebholo, the APC candidate in a well-attended interactive zoom session on Tuesday (the previous day) with the Akoko-Edo Development Association, their only solace was to attempt to deflect further discussion from the zero over 100 score of Mr Akpakomiza by manipulating Dr Ighodalo’s picture and claiming he was hiding a N400,000 champagne.

Is it not preposterous to think that Dr Ighodalo would be hiding a bottle of champagne at a gathering? Who do these urchins take Dr Ighodalo for? Try to ask them what the name of the champagne is? They don’t know. Ask them the date of its production, they don’t know. They just conjured a name and slammed it on it.

I would like to sound this timely note of warning and advice to these children of Goebbels. If you think you can actually pave your way with lies and propaganda to Osadebey Avenue, you must be joking and have gotten it entirely wrong. I will advise all these children of Goebbels, whose favourite pastime is manufacturing and peddling lies and propaganda against innocent people because it is time for campaign, to go and get their fumbling and wobbling candidate to come out and confront Edo voters.

Dr Ighodalo will not descend into the gutter with nitwits and urchins. His eyes are fixed unstoppably on the big screen – how to make Edo State a first world sub-national government in Nigeria thereby making life meaningful and livable for the people. No amount of lies and propaganda can change it.

Therefore, I urge the good people of Edo State not to fall for the lies and propaganda of the APC in the state. I appeal to you to take whatever comes from these children of Goebbels with a pinch of salt. Their only stock in trade since the campaigns started has been peddling lies and propaganda and blowing issues that should not be heard in political circles out of proportion just because their candidate is totally unfit and lacks the requisite competence and capacity needed to govern Edo State. Their lies and propaganda will not save them.

•Adeyan Osagie wrote from Benin City. He is an analyst on politics and policies.

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