The garbage narratives of Governor Alex Otti and his minions is putting needless operational focus on a great agency whose job is strictly to respond to issues of internal national security challenge.  We will never be dragged into denigrating the DSS even though that appears to be what Governor Otti is bent on doing with his ill-advised press statements and comments to the media regarding the abduction and incarceration of Onyekachi Nwabueze.


There is no constitutional mandate given to the DSS to chase after suspected pension fraudsters. Issues bordering on economic or financial crimes fall within the purview of the EFCC, the Nigerian Police Force and the ICPC especially when civil servants are reported to be involved.


If Governor Otti insists that the DSS was ab initio invited to investigate a case of pension fraud then we need to raise this issue at the appropriate level of the federal government.  We will also have to ask why the DSS denied holding Citizen Success Nwabueze for several days even after a lawyer representing his family came with his blood brother several times and left behind two official letters demanding to see him. Detaining Nwabueze for more than 7 days without access to legal counsel or court mandate is already an aggressive breach of his constitutional rights. No amount of press statements from Otti and his gang can cure that breach. Belatedly inviting  a Magistrate into the premises of the DSS to endorse a remand order also does not cure that breach.


For the sake of those engaging their wild imaginations, we made multiple attempts to bail Nwabueze but initially stone-walled by the refusal to admit that he was with DSS. Even after Governor Otti admitted he was in DSS custody we still approached for administrative bail which was not granted until the evening of the day preceding his shipping off to Afara. A serving house of assembly member was also ready to stand surety but the authorities insisted on a level 12 civil servant or above. Obviously no level 12 worker in Abia would want to sign such bond and risk persecution from a government that is well known for its vindictiveness. By the next day when we arranged a federal civil servant on level 15 to stand surety they delayed until the Magistrate completed the assignment given to him and the young man was transported to Afara prison. We have not relented to date, not because we believe he is innocent or guilty but simply because we want the rule of law upheld.


From what I reliably gathered, the DSS was actually invited by Governor Otti and his boys to investigate a leaked official document which they wickedly tied to state security in order to co-opt DSS into their witchhunt plot. It was during the search on Nwabueze’s phone that a conversation between him and a third party who is currently resident in London set off the alarm on possible pension fraud.


In summary, the government set out on a witchhunt with former Commissioner Obinna Oriaku being the major target with other opposition elements like “John Billions” also in their radar. They abducted Nwabueze to find evidence that he sent the leaked document of Governor Alex Otti awarding N50m to his friend and personal lawyer for “contract negotiation” whereas state institutions responsible for such negotiations did not know about the transaction nor ever contacted to do their job. That leaked transaction which I first saw on social media was to say the least wrong, with conflict of interest, procurement process breach etc oozing all over it. The subsequent citizen outrage is expected and of course avoidable if transparency was entrenched in the Otti administration, as promised. 


With the high handed approach of the government, we now suspect that the N50m was not the only money paid to the individual involved and the matter will have to be investigated further by the state house of assembly and other relevant anti-corruption agencies. Let’s know the whole truth and nothing but the truth. 


For the avoidance of doubt, there is freedom of information law in Nigeria and of course the government is expected to conduct its transactions transparently and in line with the relevant Procurement Act.  While I do not encourage and have never encouraged leaking of official documents, and, of course, nobody sent any leaked document to me, I do not agree that a very important and elite law enforcement agency like the DSS should be dragged into abducting and detaining citizens on behalf of a state government because of the leakage of a document that ordinarily should be public information. Didn’t Governor Alex Otti and his minions use a blogger to leak approvals given by his predecessor in-lieu of the road projects that were paid for from the contentious botched airport project?


Can Governor Otti himself deny knowledge of how the letter sent to him by Geometric to confirm the $3.5m investment was leaked to bloggers?  Even when I had the previous letter from Prof Nnaji in my hand, I personally refused to leak the document out of a sense of responsibility. Was it not the same man that leaked a clearly marked “eyes only” process review document from KPMG to the press? Why witch-hunt citizens for document leaks it later turned out they knew nothing about?


As per pension fraud, I worked with Obinna Oriaku in the state executive council  and know they will never be able to implicate him in any pension fraud. While we were in government, he was hard against pension fraudsters and established the structural  building blocks that led to some sanity in the pension payment system in Abia State. Attempting to link him with any pension fraud is dead on arrival.


I will never defend anyone who defraud pensioners but I will always defend the right of every citizen to constitutional protection of innocence until proven guilty. If a Governor who swore to protect the constitution decides to release statements suggesting that an accused is already guilty, the joke is on him.  


Mr Governor Sir, kindly read up the meaning of presumption of innocence in our legal lexicon which is explicitly recognized as entrenched in section 36(5) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended). 


What Governor Otti is doing to Nwabueze Success Onyekachi through his numerous press statements is prejudicial to his constitutional rights. The governor’s public communications have effectively cast him as being guilty even before trial. That is wrong!


Most crucially, attempting to use security agencies to target opposition is the stuff dictators and self-styled Emperors relish in their short sightedness. Those who defend them must also know that “e go reach everybody” one day. Whatever goes round comes around.


As for me, I have long shaved my head, packed my bags and waiting for them to knock on my door.  With four failed attempts to frame me for things I knew nothing about, I know they will keep trying and I ain’t running away from any Emperor. 


The journey of course correction in Abia State is just starting and there shall be no retreat or surrender. 


-John Billions

10/11/2024


NB: “We” as used here repeatedly includes very prominent Abia and Nigerian citizens that I am not at liberty to name. Just like I deliberately refrained from naming the Magistrate who incidentally is from same LGA with Success.