News
Who is making Dr. Ikpeazu Chinese or North Korean?
Ikechukwu Ogbonna
Last week, an innocuous but dangerous story surfaced online and some WhatsApp platforms. The story, which could have fitted into an April fool’s Day treatise or at best, a comic relief, bore no source or byline of any writer.
Titled : “Breaking News”, it went on to state that in “a landmark ruling that has stunned the nation, the Abia State High Court has sentenced former Governor Okezie Ikpeazu to death by hanging after investigators traced N1 Trillion to his secret foreign account in Australia.” It went further to state that, “the money was originally budgeted for the Abia International Airport Project and a light rail system that promised to change the ace of the state.”
One fictitious Justice Chukwuemeka Nwogu, who was said to have delivered the judgement was copiously quoted and security guards were said to have kept the former Governor under heavy guard, pending the execution.
Ordinarily, the ruse of a story would have been dismissed as one of those Click baiting stories or at best, a joke taken too far. But when a prominent Igbo journalist, a septuagenarian and a columnist in major newspapers, Chudi Amuta, uploaded the story on his Facebook page and it started circulating online and WhatApp platforms, it was evident that someone was pushing the ruse but found no better way of attacking Ikpeazu, other than using a deviously mischievous means to attain the goal.
Instructively, Ikpeazu found no reason to react to the story since it existed only on the imagination of the ghost writer. Ikpeazu did not bother to react because, in the first place, there was no such case anywhere. Again, had there been such a judgement , it would have been novel in Nigeria, putting our country at par with the likes of China and North Korea, where such bizarre pronouncements are made and executed.
For sure, there is no provision in Nigeria’s Law, both the Penal and Criminal Codes that provided death by hanging for any corruption case, no matter the magnitude.
The authors and backers of the rogue article only wanted to embarrass or unsettle Ikpeazu, who had maintained his silence since he left office in May 2023. As at the time the ‘Concoction’ was making rounds, Ikpeazu was in his country home in Abia, attending to his private matters.
But a development following discreet investigations by his aides revealed something shocking. The Judge, whose photograph was used to illustrate the story pointed out that, that copy of the portrait that was used was his official photograph, which was only available to the state government, at the State Ministry of Justice. He wondered how such an official document found its way to bloggers and writers, when in the real sense, photographs of judges are not in the public domain.
The big question now is: Who leaked the photograph from the state government’s custody? Did thieves steal the file of the judge or someone in the ministry was doing a job against Ikpeazu?
The answer to that question is now left for the state government led by Dr. Alex Otti, to answer.
But certain facts stand out. It is on record that Otti had accused Ikpeazu previously of budgeting N10billion for an airport, which he(Otti) did not see on assumption of office. That was despite Ikpeazu stating clearly that some leaders of the state considered an airport project not a high priority when the proposal was made. As such, the fund was channelled into other pressing state needs at that time.
What is evident currently is that mischief makers and agents of destruction in Abia forget that Ikpeazu has finished his eight-year, two-four-year terms successfully. He is not in a contest with Otti or any other person in the state. Otti has a re-election in 2027 to battle for. He will face the people of the state, not Ikpeazu. He will face the APC, PDP, ADC and other parties that are interested in governing Abia. Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, an accomplished Academic, has no business with the success or failure of Otti, having finished his own tenure and handed over two years ago.
So, rather than chasing shadows of a past administration, Otti and his men should focus on convincing Abians on the need for his second term. He should rather worry about which platform he will use to prosecute the 2027 election, now that his platform, Labour Party is wobbly and without a sure footing.
He should also channel his energy to delivering tangible projects that will convince the people about his genuineness on the seat. It is not Ikpeazu that stopped President Bola Tinubu from coming to the state last week, after all the hype and noise about inaugurating his projects, which was eventually done by the Minister of Works, David Umahi at the last minute. That was after the president had been advertised to be coming to Abia three times to no avail.
One thing that is certain is that, Ikpeazu would not be on the ballot with Otti again. So, the governor and his goons have their work cut out. No amount of Campaign of Calumny against Ikpeazu is enough to stop the looming battle in the state in 2027.
Ikpeazu is in his home and is not under security surveillance. Neither is he under any trial by any manufactured Judge. Even if he is under trail, it will be a public issue, not a story written with no name by faceless writers. The writers should come out and boldly state their case. The Innocent is not afraid. It is the guilty that is afraid of his shadows. Nigeria is neither China nor North Korea.
Ogbonna, a Lawyer, wrote from Aba
Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Governor of Oyo State, on Thursday, finally threw his hats into the ring by declaring his intention to run for president in 2027, with a message – history beckons.
The governor, whose ambition has been a matter of speculations for months now and who had teamed up with forces angling to force President Bola Tinubu, out of power, told a teeming crowd in Ibadan on Thursday that time had come to reset Nigeria.
At a mega-rally to announce the alliance between the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and the Allied Peoples’ Movement, (APM), Makinde, expressed worry over the dwindling fortunes of Nigerians, vowing to engage Nigerians to end the drift.
Hear him: “Without a multi-party system, there is no democracy. Where is our multi-party? Where do we go from here? We have been pushed to the wall.
“They calculated and self-opposition cannot unite but I am here to say that the opposition is the everyday Nigerian. This is the time for all us to ensure Nigeria works for us. This is the time to confront it fears. It is time to engage as citizens and not spectators.
“For the opposition political parties, this is the time to unite and work in unity and give our nation the much reset it needs. The time to reset Nigeria is now. Ibadan is the city of warriors. The first grand alliance is formed. The PDP and APM is formed. This handshake will allow us to field candidates from presidency to state Assembly. And so, I declare my candidacy for office of the president of Nigeria.”
Eyo Ekpe, a professor of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), on Wednesday, gave a detailed account on how operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) manhandled him on Monday.
He told reporters that he was at sea on why he should fall victim to the assault against his person and eventually arrested given that was not right person directly involved in the information the agency sought.
Some operatives of the EFCC who invaded the hospital, had whisked Ekpe away after firing teargas to scare away the workers, patients and visitors to the hospital, following what appeared like a fracas the ensued over what it claimed was a routine duty in the facility.
Ekpe, Deputy Chairman of the hospital’s Medical Advisory Committee (MAC), described how an operative had first entered his office to make inquiries on why the hospital was yet to give a response to an EFCC inquiry over a medical report linked to a suspect facing trial.
He detailed how he briefed the operative that the said response was being prepared and even went ahead to show him the draft of a letter in that regard, which needed to go through the gamut of official endorsement before being released.
Hear him: “The head of that internal medicine department looked at the report and also discovered that the name of the doctor that signed the report is not a member of staff of that department.
“I had prepared prepared a response to the EFCC on Monday, May 11, 2026, based on the findings. When the EFCC operative visited my office the next morning to collect the document, I told him that the response was ready in draft. I even showed him the draft, but told him that the document still needed approval from the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital before it could be officially signed and released.
“He pretended to have accepted that. He left, but later later returned with another armed operative and informed me that I was under arrest. I asked him why. I was not the one that issued the medical report. My name is not on the medical report. The report was not issued from my unit.
“But he said I would get the answer when I get to their office. I then asked him to at least wait for my staff member who I sent on an errand before joining them. But they refused.
“They started pushing me. They dragged me out of the office. Then I began to cry while they were dragging me. They had warned me not to speak. They had taken my phone. My cry as they were dragging me, attracted the workers to the scene, who enquired what was going on, but because they ordered me not to speak, I couldn’t say anything. They had their guns.
The members of staff of the hospital initially blocked them from taking me away. They then made a call. After that I saw many masked and armed men came violently, broke the protector, threatening the people that were around and people ran away.
“They picked some staff that were still by me. they dragged me and other staff, five of us into their van downstairs. By that time they discovered that the gate of the hospital were locked. So, they drove towards the gate and packed and the commotion continued. We were inside the van.
“I was so emotionally and psychologically traumatised that I couldn’t even look out of the vehicle to see what was happening outside. But I know that teargas and live bullets were shot. That’s all I can say for now.”
Joyce Abdulmalik, of the Federal High Court, Abuja, heard on Wednesday, how Zenith Bank raised alarm over the huge transaction in one of its branches by Abubakar Malami, former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF-MoJ).
The bank said it immediately filed a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) in respect to the transactions, during its appearance in the ongoing trial of Malami, his wife, and son over allegation of massive looting of funds belonging to the Federal Government during his tenure.
Mashelia Bata, a compliance officer with the bank, who appeared as witness in the case, where Malami, et al, are facing a 16-count charge bordering on alleged money laundering to the tune of N8.7 billion, to which they pleaded not guilty, gave the testimony while being questioned on the bank’s roles in the matter.
Details of the testimony conveyed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), stated how the compliance officer who was cross-examined by Adebayo Adedeji, lawyer to the defendants admitted that the deposits in the account statements complied with the guidelines of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Arguments had stretched when Adedeji, opposed Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), lawyer to the EFCC, who had asked the witness to explain the meaning of a suspicious transaction report, stressing that there was no ambiguity in the term.
However, Okutepa, in response, maintained that section 215(3) of the Evidence Act did not preclude him from re-examining the witness while urging the court to allow the question for proper explanation.
After Abdulmalik, agreed and overruled Adedeji, the witness told the court that banks were required to alert the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) about fund deposits coming in a repetitive pattern, adding: “Any deposition of funds seen in a pattern or repetitive, you must escalate it to the NFIU.”
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