Nairalanders' Support For The "Go And Die" Widow Acknowledged On Newspaper

Just came across this story on a newspaper
on how people via social medium drew
attention to the 'go and die' widow. While
listing few medium that created threads and
groups, Nairaland was listed after Facebook.
You guys really did a nice job. Obviously,
eyes are watching.
Edo PDP, Oshiomhole Politicize Widow
Saga
Weeks ago, Governor Adams Oshiomhole of
Edo State was filmed using uncouth words
on a widow who was allegedly trading on the
walkway in Benin City, the Edo State capital.
The Governor was said to be on an
inspection tour when he encountered a
woman trading on the pedestrian walkway –
an act which violates the Edo State
environmental laws. The task force which
accompanied the Comrade Governor on the
tour immediately took possession of the
woman’s wares with the intention of
confiscating them.
The woman, on seeing Governor Oshiomhole,
immediately fell on her knees, shedding
tears and crying for mercy. In her plea, she
hinted that she is a poor widow who trades
to take care of her family. She lamented that
her late husband was a police officer and
was killed in active service. Her intention was
to use her words to pacify the already
irritated Governor and probably get her
wares back.
Surprisingly, Oshiomhole, who many
believed to be a listening Governor,
obviously irritated, shut the woman down. It
would have been less atrocious if only her
plea fell on deaf ears. However, Oshiomhole
won the criticism of people when he
lambasted the woman and never exhibited
any humane feeling in dealing with the
helpless widow.
“If you are a widow, go and die,”
Oshiomhole said to the woman.
Like many other videos of public interest, it
caused a huge traffic on all social medium,
with millions of viewers on YouTube.
Nigerian at home and in diaspora, in their
swift response, lambasted the Governor for
his uncouth and derogatory outburst on the
widow. They reminded him not to be a poor
student of history as he had always
presented himself as being a part of the
poor and defenseless.
Nigerians did not end their interest in
criticism; some magnanimous Nigerians
immediately launched a fundraiser for the
widow. On Facebook, Nairaland, Twitter and
some other social channels, people who were
eager to donate created groups and sent
delegates to try and locate the widow so
their donation would get to her.
Like an opportunist, the Edo State Chapter of
the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as
always expected in Nigeria where every
conduct of a public officer is seen as an
opportunity to be politically exploited
immediately keyed into the occasion to
express their disgust at the conduct of
Governor Adams Oshiomhole.
In a statement signed by the Chairman of
the State chapter of PDP, Chief Dan Osi
Orbih, the party lamented on the
insensitivity of the Governor towards the
plight of poor and oppressed people in the
society. The party further stated that the
widow would be given N250, 000 to
subsidize the effect of the ferocious assault,
perpetrated by the Governor and his team.
The statement party reads: “The PDP, Edo
State will not let any Edo person ‘to go and
die’ if it can help it, especially not
hardworking people like that widow who is
engaged in lawful enterprises that are, in
themselves, not easy to carry on.
“To this end, our party has instituted an
endowment fund for all widows and
oppressed people in the state and by this
release, we invite the widow captured in the
video of the encounter with Governor
Oshiomhole to come to the PDP Secretariat
on No. 70, Sapele Road, at 11am on Tuesday
December 3, 2013 to receive a first-
installment sum of N250,000.00, to cushion
the pain, trauma and loss occasioned by her
mistreatment and the seizure of the items
she sells,” the party said.
To thwart the efforts of the state PDP in
regurgitation its severely battered
credibility, and to make amends for his
widely condemned conduct, the Comrade
Governor, in a swift response, invited the
widow to the Government House in Benin on
Monday December 2, 2013 – a day to the
proposed meeting with the State PDP.
Oshiomhole expressed his regret in the
choice of words he used against the widow
and offered an apology.
In addition, the Governor splashed a cash
amount of N2 million on the widow;
absorbed her into the state taskforce which
entitles her to salary and promised to
sponsor her son who accompanied her to
the university.
A source in the Government House also
hinted that the Governor remarked behind
cameras that it would be unwise for the
woman to fraternize with the PDP after the
unexpected showers of blessing which has
been rained upon her.
According to an Edo saying, when you
achieve something greater than a farmland,
you abandon the farm. This was eventually
displayed by the widow, who defiled all
anticipation from the PDP camp and never
showed up for the presentation of the N250,
000 as promised by the PDP.
Many opined that the proposed presentation
of the said amount by the PDP was only a
mere show of chauvinistic benevolence and
an act meant to discredit the Governor
whose administration has been said to be
more productive than that of successive PDP
government in the state.
The political wrestling has however turned
out to benefit the now tagged “happy widow”
as her once bad encounter has turned her
fortune around.