ALLEGATION AND COUNTER ALLEGATION. WHO DO YOU BELIEVE?
Ahamba & Co
Chief M. I Ahamba SAN, KSC.
Principal Counsel
4th of July, 2015
PRESS STATEMENT
GOVERNOR ROCHAS OKOROCHA IS THREATENING MY LIFE
For about two weeks now, leaks from the Government House have carried the information that Owelle Rochas Okorocha and his cohorts have been concerned about me and my key witnesses, particularly Mr. Emmanuel Iwuamadi of Ngugo, Ikeduru, over the pending governorship election petition between him and Chief Emeka Ihedioha. The very reliable information came from three different unrelated sources connected to Government House. I happen to be the Lead Counsel for Chief Emeka Ihedioha and the PDP in the Election Petition.
I was informed by these sources that Owelle Rachas Okorocha who is generally rumoured to have a hit squard had instructed them to stop me and my Special Assistant who is a key witness, if I continued to remain stubborn to his warnings to me to withdraw the election petition. Since I had received threats in the course of engaging in this profession before now, which threat I have always ignored, I assumed the same attitude although the Governor had issued warnings to me directly and through my wife after the burial of Honourable Justice Mary Peter Odili’s mother at Obizi on 13th June, 2015. I had treated those warnings as a social joke. It now appears that I got it all wrong; it appears that Owelle means business.
I decided to issue this statement for information of the Nigeria Public at home and abroad and security agencies of this nation following the information received after Owelle’s last meeting with Imo State Traditional Rulers, during which he insolently stood Traditional Rulers from Mbaise area of Imo State up and sent a threat through them to me to the effect that if my client and I persisted in prosecuting this petition he would extract his ‘pound of flesh’ from us. With the reportage of this meeting by a national daily of high repute, the This Day Newspaper of 3rd July, 2015, it would amount to irresponsibility over my personal security, those of my clients and witnesses, and the future of my family and numerous dependants if I continued to treat the threat as a social joke. This is not a case of thirty ducats as in Shakespeare’s ‘Merchant of Venice’, but about human lives.
My being counsel in this Election Petition is consistent with my professional calling which I have practiced for forty-one (41) years (1974-2015) out of which 23 years have been as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. Since he has just celebrated his 50th birthday, it means he was only nine when I started practicing law! I started appearing in Election Petition Tribunals in 1979. Owelle must be made to understand that he cannot stop me now, and that he is putting himself at risk with my God.
I am not issuing this statement out of fear because, as always, I refuse to be intimidated. But Owelle Rochas Okorocha who has mustered five (5) Senior Advocate in his defence should have the courage and maturity to allow them to do their job, and allow me to do mine.
I hereby call on the Security Agencies to whom I intend to make available copies of this statement to protect us as we commence the Tribunal proceedings on Monday 6th July, 2015. Prevention will always be better than cure. I do not, and will not ask for Tribunal relocation.
It may be necessary to note that as I was preparing this statement, news reached me that the bailiff attached to the Tribunal has been shot last night. To save Democracy in Nigeria is a task that must be done!
I have always believed, and still believe in Justice For All, at all Times, at all Cost. On this I stand, even now.
Chief Mike Ikenna Ahamba, SAN, KSC
Ugo
IMO STATE GOVERNMENT HOUSE, OWERRI
PRESS RELEASE
RE: GOVERNOR ROCHAS OKOROCHA IS THREATENING MY LIFE
The Imo State Government has read reports in both national and Owerri based newspapers credited to Chief Mike Ahamba (SAN) the lead Counsel to Hon. Emeka Ihedioha in his case at the State Election Petition Tribunal claiming that Governor Rochas Okorocha is threatening his life.
In the press statement signed by Chief Ahamba himself, he also said that during the last meeting the Governor had with traditional rulers in the state, he had stood up traditional rulers from Mbaise area and sent a threat to him through them, among other disturbing claims by Chief Ahamba.
We make hay to deny the allegation. Governor Okorocha has never threatened the life of Chief Ahamba either directly or indirectly, and does not have any reason to do so. And Chief Ahamba knows that. He has only chosen to be a tool of cheap blackmail in the hands of some desperate politicians who wrongly believe that they have monopoly of political power and political offices in the state.
For Chief Ahamba to come up with his dangerous claim twenty four hours to the commencement of hearings at the Election Petition Tribunal in the state calls for concern and deep reasoning.
Chief Ahamba is a well known lawyer in the state and even beyond. He is also highly respected both in the legal profession and outside the profession. But he does not in any way constitute any threat to the popular mandate given by Imo people to Governor Okorocha to govern them for the next four years.
Chief Ahamba might have also won many cases in court but such cases do not include election petition matters. He has no record of any legal success in election petition cases, and the current one he is handling for the PDP and its governorship candidate in the 2015 election wouldn’t be an exception.
Instead of raising undue alarm over fictitious threat to his life, he should be worried about how to convince the tribunal that a candidate who won only five local Governments out of twenty-seven in the state had taken a wise action by challenging the victory of a man who won in twenty-two local Governments, with convincing spread of votes in all of them, while seventy percent of the votes got by his client came from only three local Government areas in Mbaise.
Chief Ahamba should be courageous enough to advice his client to withdraw his petition if he has seen that he has no valid claim to make with regard to his loss of the governorship election instead of raising suspicious alarm over his life just to heat up the polity.
Again, Chief Ahamba should also protect the name or reputation he has earned over the years and should not allow certain politicians to envelop such credentials that make him tick and perhaps, put on him the toga of an attack dog. He does not deserve such.
His client in the tribunal matter has the means to hire even all the best Senior Advocates in the country, and that is why threatening his life would be of no importance to any of the interested parties in the matter.
For the sake of emphasis, Governor Okorocha has no problem with Chief Ahamba. As the lead Counsel to the PDP gubernatorial candidate, Chief Ahamba is only doing his professional duty which does not pose any problem to anybody with regard to the matter at the tribunal. He is neither the chairman nor a member of the tribunal, one could say he has a role to play. All these make the claim of his life being threatened by governor Okorocha to be neither here nor there. It is not true and cannot be true.
Sam Onwuemeodo
Chief Press Secretary to the Governor
Ahamba & Co
Chief M. I Ahamba SAN, KSC.
Principal Counsel
4th of July, 2015
PRESS STATEMENT
GOVERNOR ROCHAS OKOROCHA IS THREATENING MY LIFE
For about two weeks now, leaks from the Government House have carried the information that Owelle Rochas Okorocha and his cohorts have been concerned about me and my key witnesses, particularly Mr. Emmanuel Iwuamadi of Ngugo, Ikeduru, over the pending governorship election petition between him and Chief Emeka Ihedioha. The very reliable information came from three different unrelated sources connected to Government House. I happen to be the Lead Counsel for Chief Emeka Ihedioha and the PDP in the Election Petition.
I was informed by these sources that Owelle Rachas Okorocha who is generally rumoured to have a hit squard had instructed them to stop me and my Special Assistant who is a key witness, if I continued to remain stubborn to his warnings to me to withdraw the election petition. Since I had received threats in the course of engaging in this profession before now, which threat I have always ignored, I assumed the same attitude although the Governor had issued warnings to me directly and through my wife after the burial of Honourable Justice Mary Peter Odili’s mother at Obizi on 13th June, 2015. I had treated those warnings as a social joke. It now appears that I got it all wrong; it appears that Owelle means business.
I decided to issue this statement for information of the Nigeria Public at home and abroad and security agencies of this nation following the information received after Owelle’s last meeting with Imo State Traditional Rulers, during which he insolently stood Traditional Rulers from Mbaise area of Imo State up and sent a threat through them to me to the effect that if my client and I persisted in prosecuting this petition he would extract his ‘pound of flesh’ from us. With the reportage of this meeting by a national daily of high repute, the This Day Newspaper of 3rd July, 2015, it would amount to irresponsibility over my personal security, those of my clients and witnesses, and the future of my family and numerous dependants if I continued to treat the threat as a social joke. This is not a case of thirty ducats as in Shakespeare’s ‘Merchant of Venice’, but about human lives.
My being counsel in this Election Petition is consistent with my professional calling which I have practiced for forty-one (41) years (1974-2015) out of which 23 years have been as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. Since he has just celebrated his 50th birthday, it means he was only nine when I started practicing law! I started appearing in Election Petition Tribunals in 1979. Owelle must be made to understand that he cannot stop me now, and that he is putting himself at risk with my God.
I am not issuing this statement out of fear because, as always, I refuse to be intimidated. But Owelle Rochas Okorocha who has mustered five (5) Senior Advocate in his defence should have the courage and maturity to allow them to do their job, and allow me to do mine.
I hereby call on the Security Agencies to whom I intend to make available copies of this statement to protect us as we commence the Tribunal proceedings on Monday 6th July, 2015. Prevention will always be better than cure. I do not, and will not ask for Tribunal relocation.
It may be necessary to note that as I was preparing this statement, news reached me that the bailiff attached to the Tribunal has been shot last night. To save Democracy in Nigeria is a task that must be done!
I have always believed, and still believe in Justice For All, at all Times, at all Cost. On this I stand, even now.
Chief Mike Ikenna Ahamba, SAN, KSC
Ugo
IMO STATE GOVERNMENT HOUSE, OWERRI
PRESS RELEASE
RE: GOVERNOR ROCHAS OKOROCHA IS THREATENING MY LIFE
The Imo State Government has read reports in both national and Owerri based newspapers credited to Chief Mike Ahamba (SAN) the lead Counsel to Hon. Emeka Ihedioha in his case at the State Election Petition Tribunal claiming that Governor Rochas Okorocha is threatening his life.
In the press statement signed by Chief Ahamba himself, he also said that during the last meeting the Governor had with traditional rulers in the state, he had stood up traditional rulers from Mbaise area and sent a threat to him through them, among other disturbing claims by Chief Ahamba.
We make hay to deny the allegation. Governor Okorocha has never threatened the life of Chief Ahamba either directly or indirectly, and does not have any reason to do so. And Chief Ahamba knows that. He has only chosen to be a tool of cheap blackmail in the hands of some desperate politicians who wrongly believe that they have monopoly of political power and political offices in the state.
For Chief Ahamba to come up with his dangerous claim twenty four hours to the commencement of hearings at the Election Petition Tribunal in the state calls for concern and deep reasoning.
Chief Ahamba is a well known lawyer in the state and even beyond. He is also highly respected both in the legal profession and outside the profession. But he does not in any way constitute any threat to the popular mandate given by Imo people to Governor Okorocha to govern them for the next four years.
Chief Ahamba might have also won many cases in court but such cases do not include election petition matters. He has no record of any legal success in election petition cases, and the current one he is handling for the PDP and its governorship candidate in the 2015 election wouldn’t be an exception.
Instead of raising undue alarm over fictitious threat to his life, he should be worried about how to convince the tribunal that a candidate who won only five local Governments out of twenty-seven in the state had taken a wise action by challenging the victory of a man who won in twenty-two local Governments, with convincing spread of votes in all of them, while seventy percent of the votes got by his client came from only three local Government areas in Mbaise.
Chief Ahamba should be courageous enough to advice his client to withdraw his petition if he has seen that he has no valid claim to make with regard to his loss of the governorship election instead of raising suspicious alarm over his life just to heat up the polity.
Again, Chief Ahamba should also protect the name or reputation he has earned over the years and should not allow certain politicians to envelop such credentials that make him tick and perhaps, put on him the toga of an attack dog. He does not deserve such.
His client in the tribunal matter has the means to hire even all the best Senior Advocates in the country, and that is why threatening his life would be of no importance to any of the interested parties in the matter.
For the sake of emphasis, Governor Okorocha has no problem with Chief Ahamba. As the lead Counsel to the PDP gubernatorial candidate, Chief Ahamba is only doing his professional duty which does not pose any problem to anybody with regard to the matter at the tribunal. He is neither the chairman nor a member of the tribunal, one could say he has a role to play. All these make the claim of his life being threatened by governor Okorocha to be neither here nor there. It is not true and cannot be true.
Sam Onwuemeodo
Chief Press Secretary to the Governor
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