Mr. Agi said the governor, alongside one Godwin Ettah, the state
secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, are after his life because he
is presently challenging the selection/nomination of Mr. Ayade as the
gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the
April 11 governorship election on the grounds that Mr. Ayade presented
false declaration of age.In a petition dated June 30, 2015, and delivered to the police inspector general, Mr. Agi said the governor has “retained the police officers in Zone 6 to do everything to destroy me or kill me”.
The lawyer also said the Police at the Zone 6 command, based in Calabar, the Cross River state capital “advised” the governor and his “accomplices” to write a petition against him so as to enable the police invite, arrest and poison him.
Mr. Agi’s petition to the IGP, included a copy of the petition allegedly written by Mr. Ettah and addressed to the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 6, dated April 22, 2015 .
In the petition, the PDP secretary accused two officials of the party in Yala Local Government, Sylvester Owani, the chairman of Ugaga ward; and Stephen Ariku, Chairman of Okuku ward, of collecting various sums of money totalling N775, 000.00 from Mr. Agi as party dues.
The PDP secretary said the party officials failed to remit the money to the party’s coffers in the state as required by party regulations.
Mr. Ettah then requested the AIG to use his “good office to investigate this matter”.
However, Mr. Agi said the police “in a Commando style” invaded his community and arrested the ward chairman and councillor, who were then driven to Calabar overnight and detained for five days.
He alleged that while in detention, the two PDP officials were forced to write a statement that would warrant the invitation of Mr. Ayagi with a view to arresting him and “carry out their dastardly plan”.
To this end, he said the AIG of zone 6 wrote a letter inviting him “under the pretext of investigating a case of stealing”.
Mr. Agi said having had “privileged” information of the “wicked” plot, he initiated an action suit against the Police at the Federal High Court Abuja in suit No. FHC/ABJ/413/2015.
He said the court gave an order that the IGP and AIG Zone 6 should maintain the status quo until May 21, 2015.
He said the court on 21 May extended the order and adjourned the matter to July 9, 2015.
In the petition to the IGP, Mr. Agi said his staff in Calabar told him that for over a week now, policemen from Zone 6, in plain clothes, have been parading his home “with the plan to kidnap or arrest me and detain me for the offence of forgery in furtherance of the plan to assassinate me or poison me whilst in their custody”.
Mr. Agi said despite claims in official quarters that the police lack funds for its activities, the Police in the state hired a Senior Advocate of Nigeria to represent it and debrief a police lawyer.
He also said the ward chairman that was arrested to implicate him had already sworn to an affidavit denying the statement recorded by the police after his arrest. He stated in the affidavit that the statements were gotten under duress.
Mr. Agi told the IGP, “ I have decided to bring this clear and imminent plot to eliminate me because I have chosen the path of the rule of law to challenge the eligibility of Professor Ben Ayade to be governor of Cross River State
“I state that whatever untoward happens to me or any member of my family, Professor Ben Ayade (Governor of Cross River State), Godwin Ettah and their cohorts should be held responsible,” he said.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria urged the IGP to protect him.
When WE contacted the spokesperson of the Nigeria Police Force, Emmanuel Ojukwu, he said he was not aware of the petition from Mr. Agi.
He, however, said it is possible that the office of the IGP has received the petition.
He said petitions from politicians are “normal”.
When reminded of the gravity of the allegations by Mr. Agi, Mr. Ojukwu said, “there is no special petition. It is an allegation and would be treated as such. Investigations would commence and would be handled,” he said.
On his part, Christian Ita, the spokesperson to the Cross River state governor toldus that his boss is not after Mr. Agi’s life.
He accused the legal practitioner of becoming “desperate” to be governor “through the back door.
Mr. Ita said Mr. Agi is concerned because the court would give its ruling on the matter on July 22 and knowing that he would lose, he started a campaign of calumny against the governor.
“Nobody is after his life, we don’t do that in Cross River,” Mr. Ita said. “It is just the antics of a desperate man, nobody takes him seriously here, we simply ignore him.”
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