New and curious
facts have revealed that the main reason Mr. Uche Ogah is desperate to be the governor
of Abia State is to secure immunity against his prosecution for some pending
criminal charges.
Latest findings
have also exposed the fact that the recent constitutional cum legal crisis in
the state owes largely to the litany of criminal charges against Ogah, whose
only escape route might be to emerge the governor of Abia State, protected
against any form of prosecution following Section 308 of the constitution which
guarantees his immunity.
Although there
are concerns about alleged conspiracy theories from high places, the most disturbing, according to sources, is the arbitrary use of the judiciary to realise
what amounts to an anathema to constitutionalism and the rule of law.
On Thursday, June 16, 2016, the police in Lagos had arraigned Ogah,
his company, Masters Energy Oil and Gas Limited, before
a Tinubu Magistrate Court on a three-count charge bordering on
forgery and conspiracy preferred against the defendants by the police.
The police said Ogah forged a Memorandum of
Understanding between Masters Energy Oil and Gas Limited and Mut-Hass
Petroleum Limited sometime in March 2011. That he (Ogah) and some other persons
said to be at large were also accused of forging the signature of one Mrs.
Bridget Adeosun. The alleged forgery was reportedly committed
in Ikeja, Lagos.
The police said a bank aided Masters Energy Oil and Gas Limited to
open an account in the name of Mut-Hass Petroleum to perpetrate a fraud
without applying its internal control procedures in the opening of the
account. The police claimed also that UBA allowed the said account to be
opened sometime in 2011 at its regional office in Palmgrove area of
Lagos, in breach of the provisions of the Financial Institutions Act 2004.
Ogah was arraigned before a Chief Magistrate,
Mrs. Kikelomo Ayeye, by a police prosecutor, ASP Henry Obiazi,
who told the court that the offences contravened sections 363 (3)(u),
408 and 409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
The charges read in part, “That you, Masters Energy Oil and Gas
Limited, Uche Ogah, and others at large sometime in March 2011
at Ikeja, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did conspire among yourselves
to wit: forgery.
“That you, Masters Energy Oil and Gas
Limited, Uche Ogah, and others at large, on the same date, time,
place and in the aforementioned magisterial district, did forge the signature
of one Mrs. Bridget Adeosun and a document known as MoU between Mut-Hass
Petroleum Limited and Masters Energy Oil and Gas Limited, with an intent that
it may be in any way used or acted upon as genuine.
“That you, Deji Somoye, United Bank for Africa and
others still at large, sometime in August 2011, at UBA regional
office, Palmgrove, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did knowing that
Masters Energy Oil and Gas Limited design to commit an offence, failed to use
all reasonable means to prevent the commission or the completion of the crime.”
Although Ogah and his co-accused pleaded not guilty to the
charges and were admitted to bail in the sum of N200,000 each with one
surety each in like sum, he is billed to return to court on August 4,
2016, for the commencement of trial. It is against this backdrop
that Ogah is pushing, albeit through subterranean means, to be governor of Abia
State.
Presently, there is a legal lockdown in the state pending the
hearing of the appeal filed by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu. But the Abia State debacle
is believed to present yet another sad episode in the democratic evolution of
the country, with critical institutions being used as canon folders.
Hmmmm, politician with alot of character assassinations.