High Chief Nelson Agbamuche Odozi-Ani of Akwukwu Igbo Kingdom in Delta State has told persons in the forefront of the crisis rocking the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, not to drag him into the battle.
Odozi-Ani said his attention was drawn to what he described as mindless fabrications and falsehood against his person on a recent interview by Cairo Ojugboh, the Acting Director of Project, in NDDC.
In a statement he personally signed and made available on Tuesday, Odozi-Ani vowed to expose Cairo’s lies, while calling on security agencies to bring him to book “for such shameless attempts to malign my person.”
“I am glad people know him for his character, no serious-minded Nigerian will take Cairo seriously, and his atrocious antecedent speaks wherever he goes,” he added.
“He mentioned my name as a contractor for one Senator or fronting for the Senate.
“How can someone make such a hideous accusation without any iota of truth? I do not have any business relationship with anybody in the Senate and the whole National Assembly.
“How can I start fronting for anybody at my age and level? Is that not an insult? I am a High Chief in my Kingdom. I have been executing contracts in NDDC since 2012 and I have never been found wanting.
“I execute any contract I win diligently because it is for the benefit of our people who are daily deprived by these opportunists who find themselves in positions of authority. I am a Nigerian and ably qualified to bid for contracts anywhere, including NDDC.
“Cairo also mentioned a particular contract for the supply of plastic chairs. Let me put it on record that over 15 contractors were engaged for that supply. Just like other contractors, I delivered satisfactorily.
“All contractors were meant to lease warehouses for a certain period for the purpose of warehousing the goods with the supervision of NDDC because the commission’s Warehouse could not contain the supplies.
“Mine was not different, my company leased a warehouse to store those items under the supervision of NDDC officials until they were distributed by same officials. Records are there.
“I do not understand why he would barefacedly make these baseless allegations without studying his files to know the facts. Perhaps that is what happens when you are on a blind mission.
“In the said interview, Ojugboh alleged I was given 1,000 projects on behalf of some people. This is ridiculous! Since 2012 that I started bidding for jobs in NDDC, we have NOT even won up to 50 or 100 jobs. Is he not having access to files in the office?
“Can Nigerians please help me announce to all of them to leave me out of their battle. I do not have anything to do with any of those allegations; they are baseless and very fallacious.
“I and Cairo Ojugboh met at Golden Tulips Hotel in Port Harcourt about a month ago, we laughed and parted peacefully, he did not mention any of these dubious claims because none exists in the books of NDDC.
“I am particularly calling on security and anti corruption agencies to look into those false claims with the aim of bringing the purveyor of lies to book.
“I repeat, I am a High Chief in my kingdom, I do not engage in any of those things he mentioned in the falsehood,” the monarch said.