Politics
GABRIEL Ogbechie, managing director of Rainoil, has dismissed the story of his arrest by the police in the social media as fabricated lies.
Ogbechie is baffled by how anyone can sit somewhere and concoct such lies about his person and spread same all over the social media just to to embarrass and tarnish his reputation.
The Rainoil’s managing director’s musings is coming in the wake of reports in the social media last week of his alleged arrest. The report described him as a billionaire businessman, who is one of the biggest players in the oil sector, who was arrested over a dispute with Ned Nwoko, his kinsman from Idumuje Ugboko in Delta State.
The social media story falsely alleged that Ogbechie was arrested over a plot to assassinate Nwoko, a lawyer, who was a member of the House of Representatives between 1999 and 2003 representing Aniocha North-South and Oshimili North-South.
Realnews gathered that the social media story was allegedly sold to Nwoko by a prisoner, who in turn petitioned the police.
In the course of investigation, the police invited Ogbechie whose named was mentioned in the petition.
Ogbechie, as a responsible citizen honoured police invitation, responded to their queries and returned home within the hour while the social media reported that he was detained.
A reliable source told Realnews that in the petition sent to the police against Ogbechie, Nwoko alleged as follows:
1) He is from Idumuje Ugboko and he was allocated land to build on which he wants to build a University. The King , whom he referred to as Prince Nonso Nwoko, is not in support of the land allocation.
2) Due to some fracas in Idumuje Ugboko, two Idumuje Ugboko indigenes are in detention at the Kuje Prisons in Abuja.
3) A completely different prisoner whom Ned Nwoko mentioned by name, who was also in Kuje Prison, alleged that he overheard the two prisoners who are from Idumuje Ugboko saying that they plan to assassinate Ned Nwoko. The third prisoner known to Ned also stated that he overheard them saying that they are sponsored by an oil magnate
4) This third prisoner contacted Regina Daniels, one of Ned Nwoko’s wives and reported to her what he heard in prison.
5) That the only Oil Magnate he knows is ‘Chief Gabriel Ogbechie who owns petrol station’.
6) That there is a plan to compromise his own lawyer, not to plead his own case properly in court.
Ned Nwoko, who signed the petition, also attached a printout of the WhatsApp chats between the prisoner in Kuje Prisons and Regina Daniels, his wife.
Realnews reports that before the 91-year old king of Idumoje Ugboko died, he allocated 33 hectares of land to Ned Nwoko to build diary farm. Instead of building the farm, he built his own house. Ned Nwoko, however, returned to the king to give him 100 hectares of land to build University and he was told to start building the university from the land already allocated to him. But he refused and started a war of attrition with the members of the community ( from whom he want to take over their land without any form of compensation). He relies heavily on his deep pocket to instigate arrest and detention of poor villagers who are opposed to his acquiring their land. The squabble in the community has led to the arrest and detention of the reining king of the community, town union leaders and other villagers, who are languishing in detention.
Realnews learnt that it was an attempt to broker peace by Ogbechie, who is one of the prominent people in the community, that may have earned him the angst of Ned Nwoko and the conspiracy to tarnish his image with a concocted story as told by a prisoner.
It was learnt that Ogbechie considered these allegations funny and alien and raises too many questions also begging for answers here. “The first one is how did the said prisoner get the phone number of Ned’s wife, Regina? Two is, are prisoners now allowed to use phones? Three, where was Ogbechie’s name mentioned, or is he now a suspect because he is an oil magnate? Four, where and when did the meeting to plot the killing hold and who and who attended? I could go on and on, but the truth remains that some people are just out to tarnish Ogbechie’s hard-earned reputation and nothing more”, the source said.
Reacting, Ogbechie said, “I pointed out to the police that I have absolutely no idea of what Ned Nwoko was alleging”.
He said: “Ned Nwoko and Regina Daniels are in the best position to explain the relationship between Regina Daniels and a prisoner in Kuje Prisons. I wonder what relationship Regina Daniels has with a supposedly random prisoner to the extent of exchanging phone calls and WhatsApp messages.
“Besides, the random prisoner, who is apparently an acquaintance of Ned Nwoko family, only alleged that he heard them mention an Oil Magnate. Therefore the assertion that the Oil Magnate is ‘Chief Gabriel Ogbechie’ is entirely that of Ned Nwoko.” Is Ogbechie the only oil magnate in the country?
According to Ogbechie, “I left the police station within an hour of my arrival. And I had barely arrived my house in Abuja, when the WhatsApp message went out that I had been arrested. It was obviously prepared even before my decision to honour the police invitation, all in a bid to embarrass and tarnish my reputation.”
– Dec. 9, 2020 @ 8:32 GMT |
Tags: Rainoil's Gabriel Ogbechie dismisses tales of arrest as lies
