I will Not Succumb to Blackmail, Intimidation, Otti Tells Ikpeazu

I will Not Succumb to Blackmail, Intimidation, Otti Tells Ikpeazu

Emma Okonji

A former gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Abia State, Dr. Alex Otti has accused the Governor of Abia State, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu of high handedness in governing the people of the state, insisting that he will never succumb to his blackmail and intimidation.

Otti who was reacting to a protest letter allegedly written by the state governor to the Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), agitating against the transfer of the Abia State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Eneh Okon, said the letter made weighty allegations against him, including intimidation and blackmail.

He said the letter accused him of sponsoring Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and for masterminding the removal of the state Commissioner of Police and the attack at Ohafia, a community in the state, which led to the killing of a youth and reprisal attack on police station.

In a statement signed by Otti and made available to THISDAY, he accused the governor of conniving with the former Police Commissioner to intimidate innocent citizens of the state and assured the governor that he would not be moved by his blackmail.

Otti said: “I am sorry to disappoint him as no amount of blackmail, intimidation, petitions or falsehood will make me change. If there’s any one that has to change, it is him. I make bold to challenge Ikpeazu to come up with proofs to show that I am the sponsor of IPOB or forever hide his head in shame. I consider this as a cheap attempt to pitch me against the authorities, which will fail.”

According to the statement:” I was miffed at the level of mediocrity in the state where none of these people knew that this letter which shouldn’t have been written in the first place should have gone to the Inspector General of Police (IG) and not the Police Service Commission as the latter is the board that approves or declines appointments recommended
by the IG among other
functions.

May be they had a problem with the office of the IG and had to go above him to his board. I am also surprised that the governor did not know that it is above his pay grade to determine who would be posted or retained in his state as CP and that his brief is to work with whoever the Police authorities send to him as CP. “

The statement further said that the main issue was that the governor and his Chief of Staff had formed the habit of intimidating and unlawfully arresting people who are opposed to them using the former Commissioner of Police and some policemen at the legal department of the State Command. Once they decide on who to incarcerate, the police would arrest the person, based on petitions raised by the private Chambers of the Chief of Staff, and bundle the person to a compromised magistrate court. The charges are normally cybercrime, threat to the life of the governor or terrorism.

Otti said the governor found the time to write a letter laced with a lot of lies and blackmail against his citizen at a time when the state and the country were battling to contain the spread of COVID-19 that has killed several people globally, including Nigerians.

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