Imoke Is Prudent In Management Of State’s Resources – Governor’s Aide Replies Obla

By Our Correspondent

Against the background of petition to the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, by a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Mr. Obono Obla, against Governor Liyel Imoke, his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Christian Ita has maintained that the governor has been prudent and transparent in the management of the resources of the state.

Ita, who was reacting to the petition, said it was absolute trash, lacking in substance and truth. According to him, the petition by Obla was outright crucifixion motivated purely by politics.

He said the entire petition drips with falsehood, and accused the petitioner ‎of being a habitual blackmailer and a failed lawyer who was nearly disbarred from the law profession for un-ethical conduct.

“His claim that N15 billion was given to the Cross River State Government by the Federal Government to cushion the effect of the loss of Bakassi is completely untrue. No such money was ever given to Cross River.

“He also raised doubts about the ownership of Songhai Farm established by the Imoke-led administration. It is only a man with dubious and unstable character like Obla who would seek to suggest that the Farm which belongs to the state government, is owned by the governor.

“In what showcases Obla as a chronic peddler of falsehood and an inconsistent character, he had lied not long ago that the state government collected N18 billion from the federal government meant to cushion the effect of the loss of Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon. How do you reconcile N15 billion with the N18 he earlier alleged?”

According to Ita, “Obla lacks integrity and nobody takes him seriously. He is probably suffering from hallucination. Everybody in Cross River knows Obla as a political jobber and mouthpiece for hire, a lapdog to anyone who has the cash to meet his greed.

“As a man terminally afflicted by professional malfeasance and ethical bankruptcy, he could hardly do proper investigation on the Songhai Farm to ascertain the true ownership before embarking on stoking the embers of hate against Governor Imoke. This is how low Obla has sunk all in a bid to survive.”

Continuing, he said the petitioner is merely doing the bidding of “a gang of sore political losers who are out to crucify the Governor, who they blame for their political misadventures in the recently concluded general elections.”