The Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, on
Monday, affirmed that no amount of blackmail would distract him from
discharging his functions in the cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Lokpobiri said all the allegations against him by the suspected faction of
the state Executive Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) led
by the party’s state Chairman, Chief Tiwe Oruminighe were laughable and
baseless.
Oruminighe and his group accused Lokpobiri of purchasing his ministerial
slot from the state leader of the party and former Governor of the state,
Chief Timipre Sylva.
But Lokpobiri in a statement signed by his Media Assistant, Mr. Donald
Ojogo, said he never got his appointment on the altar of financial
inducement.
He threatened to seek redress in court by filing libel suit against
persons bent in damaging his hard-earned reputation.
The statement read:
“In the last few days, the Bayelsa state chapter of the All Progressives
Congress (APC) has contended with some unsavoury moments.
”Undoubtedly, these are orchestrated by an insignificant few within the
party and oiled by some external forces who feel threatened about their
political future, especially as the APC challenges the outcome of the last
governorship election at the Election Petition Tribunal.
“ýFrom the outset, the attitude of the Honourable Minister of State for
Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri has been to ignore and avoid
responding to all such untoward moves and circumstances around the APC. To
him, such do not represent the much required cohesion, sincerity of
purpose and political maturity.
“Nonetheless, in the view of the deliberate fabrication of lies and
misrepresentation of facts on the part of those who have allowed
themselves to be used in this blackmail venture, it has become very
compelling to state the following:
“The Hon Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri
never got his appointment on the platter of financial negotiations as
expressly insinuated by the suspended State chairman of the APC in Bayelsa
State, Chief Tiwei Oruminigha and his cohorts.
“Like other appointees of Mr President, Senator Lokpobiri was duly
considered worthy to be so appointed in his position.
“It is a clear case of misrepresentation of facts to insinuate that former
governor of Bayelsa who is the leader of the APC in Bayelsa State, Chief
Timipre Sylva collected money from the Hon minister before his appointment
as minister. This is an outright fabrication”.
The statement added: “The reference by Tiwei Orunimigha to statements
purportedly made by Hon minister in the build up to the 2015 elections
ýthat he (Lokpobiri) never believed in the ability of the APC and its then
presidential candidate (now president), Muhammadu Buhari to win election
is nothing but an exhibition of either some form of delusion or incurable
amnesia.
“For the records, the Hon Minister’s political affinity with President
Muhammadu Buhari dates back to 2003 when he was the senatorial candidate
of the defunct All Nigerian Peoples Party ( ANPP) fro Bayelsa West
Senatorial District.
“He had vigorously campaigned for him to be president then. The assertion
by Orunimigha can only be a fictionalised sermon heightened by defeated
expectations. It is therefore a blackmail that cannot stand the test of
time. It is neither capable of distracting the Hon minister.
“Lastly, as a law abiding citizen, the Hon Minister wishes to state that
while an unsuspecting section of the media has the liberty to publish
unsubstantiated stories, he reserves the right to seek redress in the ýlaw
courts”.