The reward of liars is that even when they tell the truth no one believes<\/p>\n
them. Aristotle was asked in Diogenes Lartius “The Lives and Opinions
\nof Eminent Philosophers” , what those who tell lies gain by it and he
\nanswered “that when they speak truth they are not believed”.<\/p>\n
In one of Aesop’s Fables”The Boy Who Cried Wolf”a shepherd boy repeatedly
\ntricks nearby villagers into thinking a wolf is attacking his flock. When
\none actually does appear and the boy again calls for help, the villagers
\nbelieve that it is another false alarm .<\/p>\n
The lesson drawn from the above illustrations is that it is not healthy to
\npersistently strive to attract sympathy through fraudulent means because
\nit seriously erodes ones integrity and credibility .I wish the All
\nProgressives Grand Alliance, APGA governorship candidate and former
\nManaging Director of Diamond, Dr. Alex Otti would learn a lesson from the
\nabove illustrations.<\/p>\n
His assassination claims have continuously changed form,narration, setting
\nand locale. In the latest episode, Otti claimed gunmen attacked his guest
\nhouse at Maitama, Abuja, at about 2am Friday, and shot a policeman on duty
\nto death.<\/p>\n
According to him,the gunmen scaled through the wire gauze of the wall
\nfence of the guest house, headed for his apartment and ransacked
\neverywhere, after killing the policeman.<\/p>\n
In his words:”Only God knows what would have happened to me, if I had
\nspent the night in Abuja.<\/p>\n
I had spent the whole previous week in that house until Thursday, when
\nI left for Abia to attend the sitting of the election tribunal in which I
\nfiled a petition to claim my denied victory at the poll.
\nI believe it was a clear assassination attempt and I thank God and pray
\nthat such attempt will not happen again”.<\/p>\n
In a swift reaction, Abia State government punctured Otti’s claim. Chief
\nPress Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Godwin Adindu in a statement said\u00c2
\nenquiries with the Force Public Relations Officer (FPPRO), Mr. Emma
\nOjukwu, revealed \u00c2 that the\u00c2 incident did not exactly take place at
\nOtti guest house neither was\u00c2 the policeman of the Special Protection
\nUnit(SPU)\u00c2 killed in Otti residence.<\/p>\n
The statement quoted the Force PRO as saying that there was an attack in
\nthe Maitama area of Otti private guest house, but that the attack was
\nnot exactly at his residence and that the policeman killed was not killed
\nin his residence, adding that the policeman was killed in the building
\nhousing NESTOIL, which is a totally different compound from where Otti
\nguest house is located.<\/p>\n
The Abuja episode is one in the the series of Otti’s assassination drama
\n.Prior to the recent claim, Otti had before the general elections said
\nthat there was an assassination attempt on his life.
\nIn that episode, he claimed that soldiers numbering over 10 invaded his
\nUmuguru, Isiala Ngwa South residence and was accosted by one of the police
\nguards. And after an argument the military men left.<\/p>\n
Recently, Otti also alleged that emissaries were sent to him by his
\nopponent persuading him to drop his case atvthe elections petitions
\ntribunal. But since Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu challenged Otti to make public the
\nidentities of the emissaries he sent to him (Otti), the allegation died a
\nnatural death.<\/p>\n
Otti’s attitude poses a strong moral burden :What does a man of his status
\nwants to achieve by peddling falsehood?<\/p>\n
If he fails to urgently substantiate his claims, it will lend credence to
\nthe position of the state government that he(Otti) is plotting to
\ninfluence the tribunal through emotional pressure\u00e2\u20ac to move the
\nsittings to Abuja.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, could it be that Otti is indulging in diversionary
\ntactics to whip up sentiments and move\u00c2 attention away from the main
\nissues at tribunal?<\/p>\n
For a man that is already weighed down by moral baggage of swapping his
\norigin to suit his political ambition, the time to save his face is now!<\/p>\n
-Ukegbu is a journalist and public affairs analyst. He wrote this piece
\nfrom Umuahia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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