By chijioke hilary & victor madumere
Contrary to widespread speculations making the rounds in Imo state that he has ran away and gone into hiding to avoid prosecution over alleged N458m bribe he allegedly collected from JPROSS for favours, the former Deputy Governor said that he is fully around and enjoying life out of government.
Speaking to newsmen after the State High Court Owerri heard the case he instituted against the Imo State House of Assembly over his alleged unlawful impeachment, Agbaso said “I have continued my life after impeachment and have no reason to go into hiding or avoid public glare”.
Radiating and full of life with his usual smiles, Jude Agbaso disclosed that he has no reason to go into hiding as he has been in court to not only challenge the illegal manner he was removed from office but also contest the trumped up charges against him.
According to Agbaso, who spoke to newsmen at the family home of the Agbasos at Emekuku, “I have no reason to run away from Owerri or Imo State as the case may be since I have publicly appeared in the state to pursue my case against the injustices and lack of due process observed in the process leading to my impeachment”.
Reiterating the fact that he never sought or received bribe for any purpose while in office, Agbaso said that he was the one who petitioned the anti-graft agencies for proper investigations of the alleged fraud adding that he has been to EFCC to put down his own side of the story.
Said he, “I cannot go into hiding as speculated because I am the one who petitioned security agencies to handle the matter. The manner I was falsely accused and removed prompted me to ask the security agencies to come in and verify the truth about the entire matter. Since I left office, I have been around doing my business and handling other issues relating to my well-being. Nobody can look for me because I have well known residential addresses in Lagos and Abuja and have been available at the State High Court to perform certain exercises needed in my case against the purported impeachment”
Agbaso dismissed certain verbal comments from Government quarters that he was paid some amount of money while in office to oil Owerri zone machinery. According to Agbaso “I never received anything for Owerri zone, except the statutory imprest needed to run office of the Governor from July 2011 to Nov 2012, I was only paid N50m as imprest to over see the office of the Deputy Governor, not to service Owerri zone as alleged. Since I became Deputy Governor till my impeachment, I never received Basic Travel Allowance BTA for tours of official functions outside the state where I represented the Governor of Imo State it is from this imprest. At a time, I was also given N25m which is not enough to run the office in terms of payment to political appointees and other official schedules of the Deputy Governor’s office like security men. It was not even enough to cater for the office I did complete renovation of the Deputy Governor’s lodge and till date, am still owed about N80m as bill”.
Speaking further, Agbaso opined that he never awarded contract and imagined how any one could say he was given 200 kilometer roads to settle any body.
Said he; “Anybody in line knows who awards contracts in the state. It is the Governor and the Speaker. I am not involved and couldn’t have used it to settle anybody. I have never collected hotel bills, DTA, Travel allowance. I cued into the Rescue Mission programme of sacrifice. There is no iota of truth for anybody to say I was given anything for the sake of Owerri zone. It is a calculated attempt to further blackmail me. Am not on the run, I have gone to make my case”.
Meanwhile, the last has not been heard about the alleged contract scam that engulfed the former Deputy Governor of Imo State, Sir Jude Agbaso who was sacked by the Imo State House of Assembly under controversial circumstances.
As people of Imo State believe that the matter has been swept under the carpet, Trumpeta can authoritatively reveal that the relevant federal agencies concerned with fraud and financial related crimes are still battling to unravel the circumstances behind the JPROSS contract scandal that rocked the state.
It was gathered that after one of the Special Advisers to the Governor of Imo State Prince Macdonald Akano, was granted administrative bail, he was later re-arrested seven-days ago and has been in EFCC cell giving useful information about JPROSS involvement in the contract scandal.
Apart from being SA to the Governor on Project Monitoring, Akano is alleged to be a shareholder and board member of JPROSS, a company handling a multi-million naira road project contract in the state.
It will be recalled that JPROSS main shareholder, a Lebanese, Joseph Dina allegedly accused Sir Agbaso of collecting the sum of N458m from him as bribe thereby stagnating the company’s effort to complete the Warehouse, Nworie, Amaigbo road project said to be valued at N1.3bn.
However, it was learnt that Government officials and Akano’s family are battling to get another administrative bail for the embattled and caged governor’s aide while EFCC sources disclosed that he may be dragged to court to face several charges related to the case any moment from now before he is left off the hook on administrative bail. The court case may be this week.
In a related development, Hon Justice Nonye Okoronkwo commenced hearing yesterday on the case HOW/295/13 filed by the ousted Deputy Governor of Imo State, Sir Jude Agbaso challenging his impeachment by the Imo State House of Assembly.
In the case which has the Speaker Imo House of Assembly, Justice Ihekaire and the Imo State Attorney General as defendants came up with Chief Niyi Akintola representing the 1st to 3rd defendant while the State Attorney General, Barr SN Njoku stood for himself as 4th defendant.
When the case was mentioned, KCO Njemanze (SAN) counsel for the plaintiff noted that both the preliminary objection and the counter affidavit filed by the 1st to the 3rd defendants challenging the competence of the suit is just the same thing. He moved for an adjournment to a day when both the preliminary objection and motion will be heard together with the substantive suit.
Both FA Afolaju (Miss) holding brief for Chief Akintola (SAN) and Barr SN Njoku did not object to the adjournment and prayer of consolidation and the presiding judge, Hon Justice Okonkwo granted the application and adjourned the matter to the 10th of July for a consolidated hearing of all issues.
In a related development the same court also adjourned the suit filed by former executive governor of Imo State, Chief Ikedi Ohakim challenging the composition of Justice Anunihu’s panel, the validity and constitutionality of the panel to the 15th of July.
Owing to pending preliminary motions filed by the two counsel in the case, KCO Njemanze who filed an interlocutory injunction restraining the panel from carrying out any probe against his client while SA Njoku counsel to the defendants filed motion challenging the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the matter, argued also that the claimant has no Locus Standi to sue. Barr Njoku however, appealed for the regularization of his replies which was filed out of time and the court granted his application and adjourned to the 15/7/13 for argument of all pending motion and substantive matter.
