By Emmanuel Addeh
The Minister of State, Power, Mr. Goddy Jedy-Agba, has refuted
imputations that he ordered the detention of the publisher of Power
Steering Magazine, Mr. Tom Ohia, by the police in Abuja.
Jedy-Agba, in a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Media and
Communications Strategy, Mr. Ofem Uket, in Abuja, noted that contrary
to the “concocted” online media reports, he is not a court of law to
remand Ohia.
It was gathered that Ohia, in one of the published articles had
alleged in the July 2020 edition of the magazine that the minister
bribed the Nigerian Police in 2012 to suppress investigations into the
ill-fated Dana plane crash.
The crash of the plane which was conveying passengers from Abuja to
Lagos, he had alleged, was masterminded and orchestrated by the
minister when he served as Group General Manager, Crude Marketing, at
the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
But Jedy-Agba, in the statement, maintained that he only reported the
matter to the police for investigation, adding that he was not the
judge who signed the court remand order bordering on allegations of
bribery against the police.
He added that Ohia accused the police of taking bribes to bury the
alleged shutting down of the airplane, noting that he was being held
in connection with his case with the security agencies.
“It has become necessary to set the records straight by disclosing
that the police secured a warrant of arrest to go after the
self-acclaimed publisher who had severally declined invitation by the
police to appear before them to answer questions bordering on
allegation of bribery against them.
“The minister was only a complainant to the police having suffered
libel in the hands of Tom Ohia because the publication was injurious
and attempted to link the minister with acts of terrorism.
“The one man magazine, which flagrantly disregards the ethics of
journalism for fair hearing and objectivity also disputed the report
painstakingly carried out by the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB),
which clearly and sufficiently analysed the dual failure of the engine
of the Dana airlines.
“The report of the AIB did not mention Jedy-Agba either as one who
masterminded or orchestrated the ill-fated air crash, which ugly
memories still lives with the families of those who lost their lives
and by extension the Nigerian state, especially the aviation
industry,” the minister stated.
He maintained that eight years after, the allegation that the minister
was responsible for the Dana air crash of 2012, in which over 190
Nigerians lost their lives, clearly, was a misrepresentation of facts,
blackmail, intimidation and libel.
“At the time of the crash and the subsequent report of the AIB,
relevant authorities did not dispute the AIB report, neither did Ohia
contest the report, and after eight years, he is coming out with
outright blackmail.
“To set the records straight, the minister has no hand in the
detention of the journalist as the police have secured a remand order
to keep him until his date of appearance in court.
“The media industry has to urgently rid the profession of quackery and
specialised blackmailers by some self-acclaimed publishers of unknown
newspapers and magazines, certainly not circulated beyond a few
communities,” Jedy-Agba stated.
