Wife Of Ex-Gov Ayade’s Aide, Ofuka petitions IGP over alleged unlawful detention Of husband

From Ene Asuquo, Calabar

As a result of what she described as unlawful detention, wife of former Special Adviser to the Cross River State governor on Cocoa  Development and Control, Mrs. Joy Ofuka, has called on the Inspector- General of Police, IGP kayoede Egbetokun, and the Cross River state governor Bassey Otu, to wade into the travails of her husband Oscar Ofuka, by the Cross River State security Adviser (SSA) Rtd. Maj. Gen. Okoi Obono.

Ofuka’s wife made the call while reacting  to the arrest and detention of her husband, who was a former aide to the immediate past Governor Ben Ayade on Cocoa Development and Control in a telephone conversation with our reporter in Calabar.

She expressed dismay over what she described as use of political power to intimidate Ayade’s former aide stressing that those behind her husband’s detention should know that power is transient, ephemeral and
not permanent.

“I still cannot understand the gang up against my husband despite the effort that he put in to ensure that money owed cocoa landlords communities for more than a decade was paid”.

“I see the gang up and torment as a tool to distract the cocoa allottees to come against my husband. Let me state here categorically clear that no dime was paid into my husband’s personal account but accounts of the state government via the smart gov. platform authorized by the court’s consent judgment.

“May I use this privilege to call on the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun PhD to wade into the matter so that this harassment and intimidation by the state security Adviser would be stopped.

“Am not a lawyer, as Nigerians we know that once a matter is taken to court no one is allowed to arrest anyone, in this matter the reverse is the case.

“The harassment and intimidation by the state security Adviser who is using his position to intimidate my family is not a good thing. What crime did he commit that took him to army barracks and whisked him to Akim Barracks and finally to federal housing police station and to zone 6 police command Calabar less than two days?

“Is he a bandits or terrorist to be treated the way and manner he was being  mal-treated. These are  questions that the state security Adviser needs to answer.

“His kids and I are really traumatized. We have not been able to sleep in the last three days. We are indeed so emotionally drained. My husband is not keeping any government money, all the cash that accrued from leases of government cocoa farms was paid into Cross River State government’s account and not  to his private pocket.

Government they said is continuum was the rationale for trying to evict the allottees out from the farms which they legitimately paid for. Why the intimidation?

“Let me use this opportunity to call on cross riverians well meaning Nigerians that my husband was  nothing but only an agent to the immediate past administration led by Prof. Ben Ayade.

“To the best of my knowledge money realized from lease of farms was money used by the immediate past administration to defray 16-years old debt that  previous administrations owed the Cocoa landlord communities as royalties for the land that the communities  donated to the state government to cultivate its cocoa estate”.

“First they interrupted the court hearing, secondly they alleged that the worker who died in the estate was masterminded by Ofuka, the question now how”?

I call on this state security adviser not to hinder the
investigation process but to allow the police to carry out the investigation rather than resorting to intimidation of our family members.

What they are doing is total distraction to scare off beneficiaries who genuinely paid for the farms to be afraid. The matter is in state high court at Effraya. I see this arrest as a gang up to do away with the life of my brother.

In a telephone call to the state security Adviser Rtd. Maj. Gen.Okoi Obono, to find out why he ordered the arrest and detention of Ayade’s former aide, Dr. Oscar Ofuka, Obono denied being behind Ofuka’s arrest saying the allegations weren’t true but lies. ” I am not responsible for his arrest and detention. ” He stated.