Below is a press statement from the office of
the former governor of Imo state Ikedi
Ohakim.The statement reads…
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

Source; http://nigeriainfohub.com/press-statement-former-imo-state-gov-says-his-life-is-endangered/

booked

interesting

Liar,

Ikedi Ohakim is far more better than this Governor Rochas Okorocha, who is a complete thief and deceiver

wecan:
Ikedi Ohakim is far more better than this Governor Rochas Okorocha, who is a complete thief and deceiver

One word for you " MUMU "

wecan:
Ikedi Ohakim is far more better than this Governor Rochas Okorocha, who is a complete thief and deceiver

Ewu (Goat) without brain, enemy of progress.
And for you Ohakim this is just the beginning.

Wetin this ALI BABA dey talk? Abi the remaining 40 thieves dey threaten am? Abeg sharrap your mouth ohakim!

Once the epistle becomes this long u can be sure of 2 things: the writer is afraid and filled with sense of guilt.
Where I gave up on this Ohakim epistle is that he wants us to bliv that he was one of d best governors to have ever governed Imo state when we all know its d opposite.
The one source of solace is that under PMB we would expect diligent prosecution and retrieving of stolen assets.

nobody is after you Mr phylum, your evil deeds have come back to haunt you