National Dialogue Crisis in Edo: “Nyiam still living in the military Era” -Oshiomole
Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, on Wednesday, vehemently condemned the defaulted member of the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue, Tony Nyiam, who attacked him on Monday during his presentation at the South-South session in Benin, the Edo state capital.
Nyiam, a retired army colonel, had explained that he interrupted the governor because he talked down on people during his remarks.
According to him, Oshiomhole is part of the governors who “have penchant for insulting the President or making sarcastic remarks against the 
sense of judgement of the President of Nigeria.”
In his reaction, Oshiomhole through his Chief Press Secretary, Peter Okhina, said being a one-time coup plotter, as one of the soldiers who attempted to overthrow Gen. Ibrahim Babangida on April 22 1990, such action was not unexpected of Nyiam.
“Our attention has been drawn to the lame and odious response of Col. Tony Nyiam to his shameful action at the sitting of the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue in Benin City, on Monday, October 28 where he fully exposed his hand as a biased member of a Committee which should be above political, ethnic and indeed other sentiments,” the statement said.
“We wonder when Col. Nyiam became the President’s spokesman as to want to drag the President’s name into his shameful act. We are however not surprised, going by his antecedents, the Benin incident was just another manifestation of Nyiam’s lack of respect for constituted authority and his love for disunity.
“Even as an officer in such a disciplined profession as the Nigerian Army, Nyiam stood out like sore thumb and his naked ambition for power led to the death of many officers and men who owned up and faced the sentence for their treason, but where was Nyiam, he took to his heels, rather than face the consequence for his action, like all cowards do.
It said “Nyiam deserves our pity. He might still be hallucinating, thinking he is an Army officer who must be obeyed. We recognize that no military officer worth his salt would openly disagree with a superior or a governor at a forum such as the one in Benin City, but again, we recognize that the maxim “Officer and Gentleman” does not apply to Nyiam as he has once again displayed to the people in the open.”
The governor noted that Nyiam had exposed the undercurrent motive of the conference, which “has also confirmed Governor Oshiomhole’s initial fears about viability, necessity and desirability of same.”
Recall that the dialogue Committee had apologized to Oshiomhole over the development .
A letter signed by its chairman, Senator Femi Okurounmu, stated that it will “listen to all shades of opinions in the areas of its mandates and will not henceforth condone the kind of unacceptable behaviour we witnessed in Benin City.
“The Committee wishes to express its sincere appreciation to the Government and people of Edo State for providing support to the Committee in its assignment in the state,” it said.
