Ohakim: Politicians exploiting my trial

Ikedi Ohakim, a former governor of Imo state, has described the media reports about his arrest by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as “unnecessary drama”.

The commission arrested him on June 18 and he was bailed after being detained for several hours.

But in a statement issued on Saturday, Ohakim alleged that some unnamed individuals who were out to smear his reputation have been orchestrating unfavourable reports about him in the media.

Maintaining that he has no skeleton in his cupboard, Ohakim said such reports could create the “misleading impression” that anti graft agencies in the country were out to witch hunt public office holders.

“Let me seize this opportunity to make some clarifications over my so-called arrest by the EFCC on Thursday June 18 2015,” the statement read.

“I would submit, with the highest sense of responsibility, that the drama was unnecessary. I never evaded invitation by the agency. As a law-abiding citizen, I will always make myself available to any investigative agency because I have absolutely nothing to fear.

“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.

“However, let me seize this opportunity to state that it is high time we stopped trying to create discord 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.

“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.”

Ohakim added that the unnamed politicians are plotting to pitch him against top government officials in the current administration.

He alleged that as a means of achieving their agenda, they cloned his voice and claimed that he granted an interview to a radio station, saying some critical things against the government.

“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 statement read.

“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.”