Posted by From John-Abba Ogbodo, Abuja on
FOLLOWING the declaration by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) that the gubernatorial candidate of the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) in Delta State, Chief Ovedje Ogboru, his younger brother, Turner, as well as former secretary general of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Chief Frank Kokori, have threatened that there would be violent reactions if he was arrested.
* We've no hand in his travails, says Ibori's aide
FOLLOWING the declaration by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) that the gubernatorial candidate of the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) in Delta State, Chief Ovedje Ogboru, his younger brother, Turner, as well as former secretary general of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Chief Frank Kokori, have threatened that there would be violent reactions if he was arrested.
The duo who addressed a press conference in Abuja yesterday claimed that the country was drifting towards danger due to the problems thrown up by the conduct of the last general elections.
Denying a claim by the police that Ogboru was on the run, they said he only traveled abroad to restrategise, assuring that he would be back in the country soon to take his case to the election petition tribunal. They maintained that Ogboru had not committed any crime to warrant the police to declare him wanted.
The duo went on: "We are calling on the police to retract his notice of declaration of Ogboru and five others wanted immediately, as there is no evidence to support such a declaration. We are calling on the police to publish the statements of Delta State Commissioner of Police, the director of State Security Service for Delta State, the Divisional Police Officer, Abraka, the five mobile police guards attached to Ogboru, the statement of the leader, and random statements of members of the joint military task force deployed to Abraka for the elections to keep the peace. The police can not keep holding innocent suspects, including a mad man on hearsay evidence and be fishing for evidence forever. This type of injustice must stop in this country, and we must operate the rule of law.
"Ogboru will be filing his election petition on Monday, the May 14, 2007 and will be in Nigeria physically to pursue it personally to the logical end. The day they venture arrest him, they will know what Delta is. Let them try it. We will fight them to a standstill legally. Delta deserves a change and change the people must get. The people must know that the whole thing about Ogboru was a frame up and Obasanjo should know because he too was a victim of frame up."
They regretted that elections no longer meant anything in the country, pointing out that even to elect a councillor, the government must interfere.
"Any country where election does not mean anything is doomed. Nigeria is drifting into dictatorship," they said. Elections did not take place in Delta and instead of the coupists being arrested, it is the oppressed, the man whose mandate was stolen that is now being hunted."
They alleged that the crisis was masterminded by the state government that was bent on creating confusion with a view to roping Ogboru into trouble. According to them, there was no election in the state as most of the people could not have access to electoral materials.
They also defended Ogboru in the case of the crisis in Abraka, which led to burning and killing of some people. According to them, Ogboru was in Asaba, the state capital, and there were security operatives attached to him who had testified that he had no hand in the incident.
But Sheddy Ozoene, media assistant to the Delta State Governor, Chief James Ibori said the allegations that his boss masterminded the crisis was a tissue of lies.
He said the governor provided the enabling environment for the elections despite the attempts by some people to disrupt the exercise.
According to him, Ibori is an epitome of peace and will not join issues with anybody as father of the state." He urged those who are aggrieved over the elections to go to the tribunal instead of issuing threat.
Ozoene added: "Elections in Delta were conducted in line with the law and winners and losers emerged like every other place. In as much as Governor Ibori would not want to join issues with anybody because he is the father of the state, it is advised that people should watch their utterances and give the man who has transformed Delta credit for all the selfless services he has rendered.
"In the face of the allegation against Ogboru, it is indeed regrettable that such a man who aspires to such a high political leadership, should refuse to submit himself to the law. Instead of doing the honourable thing expected of him, he resorts to name-calling and unnecessary subterfuge in his attempt to evade justice.
"While he may continue in his futile attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of the public, we however advise Ogboru, who has by his own design become a fugitive, to please leave Ibori out."