Press statement I just received from the office of former Imo
state governor, Ikedi Ohakim.
Following some recent developments around my person
and the avalanche of misinformation and deliberate lies
being peddled about me, I am constrained to issue this
statement, first to douse anxiety of every well-meaning
fellow who has shown concern and second, to alert
members of the Nigerian public to a clear danger to
my life.
NEWSPAPER REPORTS
On June 1, 2015, I travelled out of the country by LH 595
operated by Lufthansa with seat number 04K to honour a
medical appointment and also attend my daughter’s
graduation at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. On
June 02, 2015, a newspaper posted a headline that I had been
apprehended and taken to custody by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for fraud and
misappropriation of public funds.
On inquiry, I discovered that the story was taken to the
newspaper in question by an aide of a top politician in my
state, Imo. Instructively, the story was carried by only the
newspaper in question. A few days later, the same aide of the
supposedly top politician took another fake news to some
media houses that I sneaked abroad to dispose of my
properties because of bankruptcy.
THE PETITION AGAINST ME
What is playing out began with a petition against me to the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) by the
same desperate politician in my state. The petition was
written by a group he fabricated that goes by the name,
Alliance For Good Governance. Those who are conversant with
the politics of Imo state would recall that it was this same
group that constituted itself into a vicious gang-up against
my administration. It was this group, the Alliance For Good
Governance, that sold the lie that I molested a Catholic Priest
in Imo state.
It was the same group that carried out the failed public
demonstration against me in front of the EFCC Headquarters
in Abuja. It was the same group, led by this same politician,
that was used by those who were bent on denying me my
victory at the April 26, 2011 governorship election, to kidnap
an INEC returning officer, one Mr. Ngozi Nwoko, and took him
to Bolingo Hotel, Onitsha, Anambra state, where he was
locked up, thus preventing him from turning in the results
from Ohaji-Egbema local government area which put me in a
clear lead. The kidnap of Mr. Nwoko was the first script that
led to the so-called supplementary election of May 6, 2011
during which the final script was acted out.
One of the issues raised in the petition was the same carried
in similar petitions shortly after I left office four years ago. For
example, the petitioners demanded, among other things, that I
should be investigated for misappropriating the proceeds from
the N18.5billion draw-down from the Imo N40 billion
Development Bond which my administration issued in 2010.
Faced with the severe financial crunch of 2008 – 2010, my
administration mustered the discipline and secured a N40b
Development Bond in 2010 with a first tranche draw-down of
N18.5b. Before we left office, we serviced our obligation to
investors for the first tranche of the bond to the tune of
N10.1b (principal + interest) and we left behind the sum of
N13.3 billion from it, being part of the total of N26.6 billion
we handed over to the succeeding administration. Up till this
moment, the administration that took over from mine has not
denied that I left behind N26.6 billion including the N13.3
billion from the Bond proceeds. And on this score, I challenge
anybody, whether in government or outside government, to
controvert this assertion.
Even so, let me refer to a statement credited to the current
administration through its Commissioner for Finance and as
reported in the Daily Sun Newspaper of Wednesday January
23, 2013, page 10. The report quoted the Commissioner as
saying that “the previous administration of Ikedi Ohakim had
secured a bond of N18 billion for capital projects such as
roads, water and Oguta Wonder Lake, but when we came to
power, we decided to prioritize our projects. Out of the N18
billion that was secured, about N6 billion had been spent and
we met only N12.5 billion and we convened a meeting of all
stakeholders and got their approval to approach SEC to
change the use of the fund”.
The report further stated that the Commissioner disclosed that
“the balance of the bond proceeds were channeled into critical
areas of infrastructure development such as the building of
305 classroom blocks, building of ultra-modern general
hospitals in the 27 local government areas of the state and
construction of vital roads across the local government areas,
informing that works were currently going simultaneously in
the various communities”. Need I say more?
CLONING MY VOICE
Part of the script is to set me up against the federal
authorities especially those manning the security agencies. I
have it on good authority that, again, my voice has been
cloned in a purported interview I granted to a radio station in
which I supposedly lambasted some top federal government
officials, including those heading the security agencies. The
tape of this fake interview was then handed over to some of
these key Federal Government officials.
While I do not necessarily link this development with a recent
incident with the EFCC, there can be no doubt that the
intention is to put me on a destructive collision course with
the federal authorities. But I believe this plot will also fail
because those top government functionaries being targeted
are not vulnerable to such evil machinations and antics. Still, I
feel it is important to alert fellow Nigerians to this practice
which is however not new in my state, Imo. Apart from that
this method was massively deployed against me prior to the
2011 general election. Another former governor of the state
and an elder statesman, also from the state, recently suffered
a similar fate in the hands of these criminals using the same
trick.
Apart from voice cloning, these elements are also experts in
forging signatures. They did it in 2010 when they forged the
signatures of a prominent Catholic Archbishop, an Anglican
Bishop and other prominent political leaders in the state in a
petition against me to the President of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria. But the plot failed because the latter, upon
investigation, discovered that the Archbishop, the Bishop and
the leaders in question never wrote any petition. The discovery
was also to the bewilderment of those highly regarded top
clergymen and leaders. I advise other public figures in the
entire country to be on the watch because this habit is
capable of spreading.
THE DRAMA OF JUNE 18, 2015
Finally, let me seize this opportunity to make some
clarifications over my so called arrest by the EFCC on
Thursday June 18 2015. As a law-abiding citizen, I will always
make myself available to any investigative agency because I
have absolutely nothing to fear. However, let me seize this
opportunity to state that it is high time we stopped trying to
create disord between vital agencies of government like the
EFCC and pubic officers, past or present. The agencies are
there to do their jobs. Orchestrating newspaper reports on
their legitimate lines of actions gives the erroneous impression
that the agencies and their officials are out to witch-hunt.
This is unfortunate and, in my view, it is one of the major
reasons why there is so much myth about the accountability
by public office holders.
On the incident of Thursday, June 18, 2015, I would submit,
with the highest sense of responsibility, that the drama was
unnecessary. I never evaded invitation by the agency. This
can be corroborated by the statement made by the
commission’s spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, as quoted in
the media: “We were expecting a former governor of Imo
State, Ikedi Ohakim, today (Wednesday) to come and shed
light on some issues in an old case we have been
investigating. We are about rounding off the investigation and
we need him to clarify some issues but he didn’t show up; he
may still come today or tomorrow” (see Daily Sun of
Wednesday, June 17, 2015; page 13). So, the question is, if
the commission knew or realized that I could still “come today
or tomorrow”, why the drama just the following morning?
In other words, the admission that they were still expecting
me “today or tomorrow” negates the impression created by a
section of the media that I was avoiding arrest. It means that
by the time the spokesman made that statement on
Wednesday June 17, 2015, I was not yet a subject for arrest;
notwithstanding the fact that I was at the headquarters of the
commission the same Wednesday, June 17, 2015 to submit a
letter asking for more time in view of my health challenges;
and which letter was duly acknowledged.
There is no intention here to pitch my words against that of
the commission which, as I noted earlier, is doing its
legitimate duties. But I am compelled to make this clarification
in order to erase the impression that Ikedi Ohakim was
evading “arrest”. Let me repeat for the umpteenth time that I
have no reason, whatsoever, to evade interrogation by any
anti-corruption agency in Nigeria, or anywhere in the world,
concerning my tenure as governor of Imo State.
CONCLUSION
Throughout my tenure as governor, we never hunted political
opponents. There was no political assassination, no arson, no
official of government disappeared. There was no
impeachment of any kind or threat of impeachment. No
senatorial zone complained of marginalization. No contract
failed. No contractor ran away with the state’s funds. There
was labour harmony. We never owed salaries as we made
payment of salaries a first line charge. In short, there was law
and order and Imo worked on one page.
But contrary to the goodwill that existed while I was in office,
I have since become an object of attacks and ridicule.
Nigerians will recall that on May 15, 2014, directly after I
declared interest to re-contest the governorship election of my
state, my only house in Owerri was bombed in what was
evidently, an attempt to assassinate me. As I write this
statement, my portrait is still missing from amongst those of
other former governors in a gallery created for that purpose at
the Government House, Owerri.
Still, let me state that in spite of the misadventure of some of
these elements who see me as their only obstacle to
‘greatness’, I remain committed to the peace, progress and
stability of Imo state in particular and Nigeria in general. I
have implicit confidence that the vision, dedication, fear of
God and honesty of purpose with which I served my people
shall vindicate me.
To God Be The Glory.
IKEDI OHAKIM
