Orji Cautions APGA against Campaign of Calumny
Chinedu Eze
Former Governor of Abia State and senator representing Abia Central zone, Chief Theodore Orji, has condemned the alleged attacks on his person by the state All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) governorship candidate in the 2015 gubernatorial election, Alex Otti, accusing the former banker of dragging his name into the mud.
Reacting to documentary allegedly aired by Otti, Orji in a statement by his media aide, Mr. Don Norman Obinna, in Lagos at the weekend, said the APGA candidate and his allies concertedly dragged him into what he called Otti’s misadventure.
He said he would have disregarded the documentary meant to manipulate the psyche of some gullible Nigerians to accept as factual Otti’s “fictitious and contemptible allegation of intimidation and massive rigging” in favour of the Independent National Electoral commission’s (INEC) declared winner, Governor Okezie Ikeazu, but since his allies refused to desist from the campaign of calumny, he had decided to react and condemn the “fictitious allegation.”
The statement said: “For the records, Orji who was the then governor of the state, was with Chief Olisa Metuh in his residence when he got the inkling of an imminent breakdown of law and order as an offshoot of the announced cancellation of Obingwa, Osisioma and Isialangwa North local government areas by the INEC returning officer, Prof. Benjamin Ozumba.
“As the Chief Security Officer of the state, he moved to the INEC office (the scene of the event) and went straight to find out what was happening from the REC, Celina Okoh and not the INEC Returning Officer, Ozumba as alleged, in order to be acquainted with the reason for the cancellation of the results since they were not constitutionally empowered to do so.”
Obinna stated that on arrival at the INEC office, the former governor’s conversation and inquiry started and ended with the REC, adding that the allegation that the former governor met with Ozumba which compromised the integrity of the Returning Officer only existed in imaginations of the peddlers of the appalling rumour as projected by the APGA candidate.
The statement added that the senator was committed only to the actions that would engender peace, unity, and most especially the political stability of the state.
He therefore advised Otti and his allies to desist from their wicked lies against the senator in their anxious effort to climb to power through sponsored propaganda, as the senator’s monumental achievements are there to speak for him.