Gentlemen of the Press, This press conference was called to respond to a mountain of lies and very obnoxious half-truths that are been circulated by Comrade Chidi Okonji, the suspended State Secretary of the Delta State chapter of our party, APC. As you may know, his suspension emanated from the discredit he inflicted on himself by acts of impersonation, anti- party and receipt of money under false pretext which are fraudulent acts punishable under our criminal laws.
He has chosen to smear my person as part of his calculated and desperate attempt to dispel the gravity of his criminal actions.
Sadly, in doing this, Comrade Chidi Okonji chose to employ an utterly repugnant defense that has only increased his rail of offences, and ties the noose much tighter around his neck.
Comrade Chidi Okonji has made very vile allegations against my office and my person, and they have been brought to my notice by many party members who have expressed real concern about the content of his recent publications.
I wish to use this medium to address these fallacious issues as follows:
1) The statement credited to him states that I authorized him, through a letter, to collect N500,000 from delta state government, and that he gave me half of the money as per my instruction, and I am more than shocked by this claim. It is a blatant lie from the pit of hell, which truth will be revealed by an ongoing investigation by the Nigerian Police into the events surrounding his actions. A simple question to ask is: What level of urgency required him to forge my signature? On the said day 30th December 2016, where was my location and how did Comrade Chidi Okonji get to me to sign and share money with him? Let him show evidence.
2) He has requested that I return a bus that was previously donated to our party. Well, the fact is that the bus is safe and has remained under my care not only for safe-keep but to prevent mis-use. The bus is available and will be put to better and effective use as soon as we secure our office better. We have lost many party assets in a strange fashion, and I cannot allow such an asset as this to be stolen or tampered with by some "unknown" persons. I cannot imagine that we lost our generator, party seal, computers and printers within this premises when the Suspended Secretary Comrade Chidi Okonji broke into the office of the administrative Secretary.
3) He has also called out to our State Executive Committee (SEC) to address some so-called "burning issues including a N13.5m Xmas cash" gift to the party. To be fair, we made request to party leaders to support the party at Xmas; and to also help us in sorting out crucial but pending party requirements. Based on this, we received some funds and I extend my sincere thanks for their generosity. Regrettably, the funds we raised were short and inadequate. I am not at liberty to state the details here, but suffice to say that it is below the figures that Comrade Chidi Okonji is suggesting. Numerous financial commitments of our party also had to be attended to, and it was quite difficult for our State Exco to offer any significant gifts at Xmas.
The bit we could muster we shared.
4) Comrade Chidi Okonji has also alleged that I receive N5m monthly to run our party. Again he is allowing his imagination to run mock, as this is not true. Comr. Chidi Okonji should tell the public where this monthly allocations comes from and the name of my bank is paid into. However, we do receive periodic assistance from party leaders to meet commitments and obligations that keeps the wheels of our party running, as it is of all political parties.
5) He further accused me to "stop using my personal account to siphon money from party account, and his call to our national leadership to look into some purported "endless financial raping" of Delta State APC, is just a pathetic distraction to divert attention that bears no purpose. He must be ready to back up these accusations with material evidence that clears every form of scrutiny. The onus rests on him.
6) Finally, the account of our party is operated in accordance with the extant guidelines and reality of our politics. Besides, the party has both a Treasurer and Financial Secretary that are abreast with day-to-day workings of this critical aspect. The accounts of our party has never been in "Fort Knox'; so it is open for scrutiny at the relevant level.
Having attended to the accusations from Cmrd Chidi exhaustively, let me emphasize that he remains suspended from the State Exco while the investigation team carries out their assigned task to it's logical conclusion.
As I had indicated, the publication by Cmrd Chidi Okonji is aimed at smearing both my office and my person. He raised unsubstantiated allegations that are defamatory and border on libel. I will await the outcome of the ongoing investigation which will to a large extent determine my next course of action.
In the meantime, Comrade Chidi Okonji remains suspended from the position of State Secretary of our great party.
Thanks.
culled from vanguard.
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