By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
Former governor of Imo State, Chief Ikedi Ohakim, on Friday forcefully denied the story making the rounds that he was charged to court by the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, over allegations of fraud.
The newspapers were awash this week with story that Ohakim, who has had issues with one Ms Chinyere Amuchienwa-Igwegbe, had been charged to court.
The former governor made the disclaimer through his legal counsel, Mr. Aloy Ejimakor.
Ejimakor, who said the reports “were the machinations of some unscrupulous elements,” advised the public to completely ignore the media reports as tissue of lies.
The statement titled, “His Excellency, Dr Ikedi Ohakim was never charged to any court,” which was sent to TheNiche, read:
“The attention of our client, His Excellency, Dr. Ikedi Ohakim, has been drawn to a coordinated, sensational and false publication in sections of the media, purporting that the Inspector-General of Police had charged our client (Dr Ohakim) before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory for using the name ‘Raji Fashola to defraud unsuspecting Nigerians’ and ‘giving false information to the Police’.
“A casual analysis of the purported Charge Sheet shows that the allegations failed to clearly disclose any offense known to law and it appears that the Charges were initiated without proper authority. Through our investigations, we state that no FCT High Court has taken cognizance of the Charges, even as it appears from the face of the Charge Sheet that the Charges were preferred since 21st September, 2020; and Dr Ohakim was never served to this day. We only became aware of the matter through the said media reports.
“Further, the calculated leakage of the Charges to the media appears to be deliberately aimed at injuring Dr Ohakim’s reputation in a rather strange actualization of the threats that had formed the fulcrum of his Petition against the woman mentioned on the Charge Sheet (Ms. Chinyere Amuchienwa).
“It will be recalled from our previous pertinent media engagements that Dr Ohakim had on January 20, 2020 filed a Petition against Ms Chinyere Amuchienwa-Igwegbe for assault, threats, defamation of character, etc. The Inspector-General of Police had then taken cognizance of the Petition and assigned it for investigation. As of two days ago, yesterday and today, this investigation is still ongoing at Force Headquarters in Abuja.
“It is pertinent to note that this same Chinyere Amuchienwa-Igwegbe has, in the past few months, variously brought FOUR different Petitions against Dr Ohakim, respectively before the Nigeria Police (Lagos Command), the Inspector-General of Police (Abuja), the National Agency For Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and the Special Tactical Squad (STS) of Nigerian Police Force (Abuja), essentially bearing several contradictory allegations against Dr Ohakim.
“It was in view of these multiple Petitions that Dr Ohakim was forced to bring processes before the High Court of Imo State; and on 7th and 10th September 2020, the High Court of Imo granted temporary injunctions against Ms Amuchienwa-Igwegbe and other respondents in relation to her said Petitions. So, if the Charge Sheet claimed to have been filed against Dr Ohakim ultimately turns out to be true, it would amount to actionable contempt of Court against Ms Amuchienwa-Igwegbe and others that had a hand in it.In these lights, it would then appear that the fake news reports planted in sections of the media were the machinations of some unscrupulous elements working on the promptings of the said Mrs. Amuchienwa-Igwegbe in collaboration with some media racketeers.
“To be sure, vigorous and firm steps will be taken in the proper fora to ensure that those involved in this sordid saga are promptly brought to account. In the interim, members of the public are advised to completely ignore the said media reports as tissue of lies.”
