Against the backdrop of supposed unwarranted attacks on his person, Senate Deputy Whip, Senator Francis Alimikhena, has offered an olive branch to Engineer Abubarka Momoh, his close rival in PDP in the forthcoming Edo North 2019 senatorial election, appointing him as his Legislative aid. He is expected to resume his new office within fourteen days from the day of his appointment if he accepts the offer.

Confirming the appointment, the Personal Assistant to Senator Alimikhena, Mr Benjamin Atu, said: “The appointment became necessary to tame the exuberance and constant abuse and inflammatory statements against the Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate by the former PDP candidate who has suddenly become volatile creating hostility, restiveness and violence among communities.

“As part of efforts to engage him in productive ventures to make him useful to society, Alimikhena has offered an olive branch to him. Unemployment made Engineer Momoh to engage in unguided utterances. Momoh has lost his sense of reasoning. He has no plan and ambition of his own for the Afemai people; he is only being pushed by the PDP State Chairman, Dan Orbih to achieve their personal interest,” Atu said.

Atu maintained that Senator Alimikhena is working for the greatest number of Edo North while the PDP is out to deepen the hardship of Edo North people. “The action of Engineer Momoh and Dan Orbih who claim not to have seen the developmental strides of Senator Alimikhena was due to their long stay in darkness. Momoh and Orbih are not used to the language of development because it is not the culture of PDP to develop. The olive branch is to change the PDP candidate orientation and educate him on the language of development as part of the human capacity developmental efforts of the Incumbent Edo North Senator,” Atu noted.

In a recent publication, Engineer Momoh had earlier challenged Senator Alimikhena to a debate ahead of the forth coming election but the Personal Atu in his response appealed to Momoh to accept the offer given to him by Senator Alimikhena as part of preparation for the debate. “We need to engage Momoh in a productive venture to qualify him for a debate. Senator Alimikhena cannot stoop so low to debate with Engineer Momoh who destroyed and drove members of his communities to exile with his violent acts to fulfill his political ambition,” he noted.

“The call for a debate by Momoh has demonstrated the level of his dwindling and doubtful integrity about himself. If Momoh has performed as former lawmaker, he should not be begging for debate, he should let his work speak for him on Election Day.

“Momoh should seek for ways to pattern his life to catch up with the urbane lifestyle of Senator Alimikhena rather than showing disdain to the best Senator Edo North has ever produced. The implication of the olive branch to Momoh is that PDP Edo North will have no senatorial candidate in the 2019 election. Momoh has the right of first refusal and except his appointment is rejected, he is expected to proceed to the National Assembly Service Commission for his due documentation and necessary training on development administration and behavioural conduct,” Atu said.

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