Open Letter: Anti-Corruption Crusader Tells Nkwerre Monarch, “I Will Not Drop Allegations Against Imo State Governor unless.........”

                                          [Ikedi Ohakim: Imo State Governor]

Your Highness,

I wish to use this medium to thank you and express my gratitude to you for willingly intervening in the problem between Governor Ikedi Ohakim and myself.

Your Highness, we spoke on the 1st of April 2010 over the phone. You requested that I should come home on 3/4/2010 to fully discuss the matter. You also requested that I come home with my grown-up
family members especially my father. Furthermore you requested that I come home with all the documents relating to Governor Ikedi Ohakim’s mismanagement of leadership in Imo State.

I wish to apologize to you for not keeping to the appointment. It is due to unforeseen circumstance. I am therefore sending this letter to you through my Personal Assistant (PA) Mr. Chikwado Obi.

Your Highness, in as much as I want peace in Imo State, it should be noted that Governor Ikedi Ohakim’s case with me is already in the Court of law and I have a team of lawyers handling the matter. Moreover the matter is now a national issue that is even before the Acting President His Excellency Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. All the Security and anti corruption agencies in this country are already aware of this problem.

There is also the issue of human rights abuse against Governor Ikedi Ohakim who personally abused and assaulted me in his office at gun point on the 21st of January 2010.

Your Highness you can see that this matter is truly beyond me. Nonetheless, if I am a major determinant factor in the resolution of this problem between Governor Ikedi Ohakim and myself  I am demanding the following from the Governor.

1.He must publicly apologize to the poor masses whose properties and economic activities were illegally and unconstitutionally destroyed between August 2007 and April 2008.
2. He must compensate those citizens whose properties and economic activities were destroyed with compound interest.
3. For physically assaulting me in his office, he should publicly apologize to me through advertorials in (a) five national newspapers (b) five local newspapers (c) five magazines (d) five online news agencies (e) five radio stations (f) five television stations.
4. He should respond to all my allegations of corruption against him.
5. He should publicly apologize to the elders and true leaders of Imo tate who received unbelievable insults from him.

Your Highness, with due respect I pray that you consider the above conditions. Happy Easter Celebration.

I remain an illustrious Son of Nkwerre,

Ikenna Samuelson Iwuoha

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News Release: DPA Wants Multi-Agency Taskforce, Blasts Lagos State And Federal Authorities Over Looming Foodstuff And Cattle Merchants Strike

                                            [Raji Fashola: Lagos State Governor]

The Democratic Peoples’ Alliance (DPA) has condemned the lackadaisical attitude the Lagos State Government and Federal authorities have shown to the plight of cattle and foodstuff merchants in the hands of traffic officers.

Against the backdrop of another two-week warning from the merchants, DPA urged the government to put a multi-agency task force in place to address their grievances and ensure that food transporters are treated as essential services like petroleum.

The merchants threatened to return to the trenches after their suspended March strike failed to fetch them reprieve from the extortion they suffer from uniformed personnel like police, Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) and Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC).

Lagos DPA’s statement by the Director of Publicity Felix Oboagwina said it was sad that government and state authorities would fold their arms and allow their men unleash a law of the jungle on law-abiding citizens.

The party felt the Mile 12 merchant’s strike last month should have served as enough warning for the government to swing into action and immediately clip the wings of errant officers.

In the words of DPA: “If democracy is a government of the people for the people then a civilian government like that of Governor Raji Fashola owes citizens the responsibility to defend them and their legitimate interests as part of the social contract. Unfortunately, in this particular case the Lagos State Government has failed woefully. As it were, the government has given its men unbridled power that has led to unbridled corruption.”

On the way forward, the party recommended: “Government should stop multiple taxations. Government should clear multiple roadblocks. Citizens should be able to go about their lawful business without apprehension over agencies that were originally created to protect them.”

The party urged the food merchants to keep open the lines of communication with relevant authorities in order to resolve the prevailing issues amicably.

Apart from meat, the strike which is being called for April 20 to address government agents’ imposition of about N100,000 per trailer load of foodstuff, will also see the disappearance of pepper, tomatoes, yam, vegetables, carrots, lettuce, onions and so on.

DPA warned that such a scenario would affect domestic meal tables as well as the entire hospitality industry and health institutions.

Recalling that the traders themselves volunteered to extend a two-week, post-strike ultimatum in March to 30 days, DPA wondered why the government and concerrned Federal agencies had failed to address the issue in that latitude of time.

“Someone somewhere is toying with the lives and livelihood of the people. The onus is on the government to show him the big stick,” DPA said.

Felix Oboagwina
Director of Publicity, Lagos State DPA