Following last Saturday\u2019s 15thFebruary 2014 tragic death of my beloved
\ncousin, Mr. John Ndubuka, a section of the online media has been
\nappropriated by mischief makers to prosecute a mindless hatchet job of
\ncasting aspersions on my humble self; with innuendos, jaundiced analysis
\nand outright blackmail.<\/p>\n
One would not have bothered to join issues with these faceless cowards at
\nthis period of emotional devastation, but it is pertinent at this juncture
\nto put facts in proper perspective so that the unsuspecting public would
\nnot be hoodwinked.<\/p>\n
On Friday 14thFebruary 2014, I came back from a trip outside the State and
\nwhile we are chatting at home, John informed me how the 9 clans in
\nIkwuano\/Umuahia headed by Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, Chief Vin Ogbulafor,
\nChief Ukasanya, Senator Adighije, Col. Akobundu, Hon. Udo Ibeji Dr Mrs
\nUruakpa and host of others had prepared adequately to host Governor T.A
\nOrji at a Grand Civic Reception in Umuahia the following day being
\nSaturday 15thFebruary 2015.<\/p>\n
On the D-day, John was visible at the event tying up loose ends. The event
\nwas relayed live on AIT and monitored by different news agencies. At the
\nend of the Governor\u2019s speech at the reception, Late John helped me to
\nlocate my vehicle from the surging crowd while the driver waited to allow
\nthe Governor\u2019s convoy to move before us. John later reached me to
\nascertain the next direction for proper coordination. He left me to join
\none of the Hilux trucks. A few minutes later, I heard gunshots to which
\nthe shells fell on my car. I shouted into the two-way radio to ascertain
\nwho was firing those shots. My driver noticed that John was probably
\npushed down and alerted me. We discovered that John was clinging to his
\nchest, his white shirt heavily blood-soaked.<\/p>\n
I screamed when I saw the blood and instantly asked them to head to
\nFederal Medical Centre, Umuahia. On my way, I called the Chief Medical
\nDirector, Dr. Aballi Chukwu and the Chief Medical Director of Abia State
\nSpecialist & Diagnostic Centre- Prof. A. U. Mbanaso who also is the
\nGovernor\u2019s personal physician. In fairness to the doctors, they did their
\nbest in trying to stabilize him. They cut open his thorax to drain blood
\nfrom his lungs. Specialist surgeons were placed on alert in the theatre
\nfor instant surgery. Shockingly, it was discovered that his pulse fell
\nfrom 70 downwards. At this point, I was joined by the Speaker of Abia
\nState House of Assembly and the Deputy Majority Leader, Rt. Hon. Ude Oko
\nChukwu and Hon. P. C. Onyegbu respectively. Everything was done to save
\nhis life, including sourcing blood to resuscitate him. These efforts
\nproved abortive, after one hour of tension-soaked efforts at the hospital.
\nThe Chief Medical Director, Dr. Aballi Chukwu later informed me of his
\ndeath, and I was shaken to my bones to the extent that I needed support to
\nmy car as to get back to my house.<\/p>\n
After the fruitless efforts to save John\u2019s life, I then enquired of what
\nhappened. An eyewitness told me that the trigger was accidentally pulled
\nas one of the policemen on duty at the venue held his gun with one hand
\nand was clearing the surging crowd with the other hand. All these happened
\nin broad daylight and witnessed by thousands of people, predominantly
\nyouths who attended the occasion.<\/p>\n
I am taking this time and pains to make this explanation because I am a
\npolitically exposed person. In previous situations, I had been
\nembarrassed, being a character in many fabricated stories in the media. In
\none of such situations, I was accused of challenging an Army captain in a
\nsupermarket in Umuahia, who rushed to the Army Barracks at Ohafia to
\nmobilize soldiers who eventually mauled me to the point of death. A
\njourney to Ohafia and back would take not less than two hours. Curiously,
\nI waited for them to come back to brutalize me. Can you imagine that? I
\nignored these fallacies because they were insignificant ploys to set me
\nback.<\/p>\n
It is possible that due to my political exposure especially that of being
\nthe Governor\u2019s son, that I have by omission or commission, made enemies of
\nmy own or may have inherited those of my father. But this situation seems
\nto be orchestrated assiduously from one direction. For instance, scarcely
\nhad the shooting incident happened, when an Igbere Facebook T.V page that
\noperates online screened a headline that I directed the execution of my
\ncousin. There are also strong speculations that I was the target but Mr.
\nJohn Ndubuka was killed. Another one was that those who wanted him out of
\nthe way killed him.<\/p>\n
Amid these flying stories, a false picture of the incident was posted on
\nthe Internet. The picture supposedly John Ndubuka\u2019s, was wearing a pair of
\njeans and canvass but everybody saw John at the occasion, dressed in the
\nattire of Ikwuano\/Umuahia people that day which was white shirt on top,
\nblack pair of trousers with a George Wrapper tied to his waist. The
\nblood-soaked dresses are still in the custody of the FMC Umuahia.
\nIt is therefore curious that such a picture was instantly simulated and
\nplaced on the Internet, a few minutes after the incident.<\/p>\n
From the foregoing, a few questions readily come to mind:<\/p>\n
1) How did the Igbere T.V, a Facebook page come to the conclusion that I
\nordered the killing of John Ndubuka, and how come that nobody in the crowd
\nheard it?<\/p>\n
2) If somebody actually wanted John dead, why would he engage a police
\nofficer on duty in a public function to commit such a crime?<\/p>\n
3) If I was the target as alleged, why didn\u2019t the assailant shoot me
\ndirectly?<\/p>\n
It is very unfortunate that this happened. So tragic that John is dead!
\nLet me advise the mockers and those faceless, merciless and heartless
\ncriminals that death is no respecter of persons and no living creature can
\nescape death. What happened to John could be anybody\u2019s lot but because of
\nthe person involved, people have thrown caution to the wind, capitalizing
\non a tragic incident to score cheap political points. The Holy Bible
\nposits that whatever you sow, you will reap.<\/p>\n
Whatever they do, whatever they write on the social media, they cannot
\ndampen my spirit. They couldn\u2019t do it before.<\/p>\n
John took it upon himself to assist the Governor of Abia State, Governor
\nT.A. Orji to achieve his vision for the youths and women of Abia State. As
\npeople from the same hamlet, I have worked closely with him for over 8
\nyears, moving from the informal to the formal. We are related. In truth,
\nthis unfortunate death of my cousin will spur me more in that direction. I
\nam not violent. I will never be! My position as the Governor\u2019s son has
\nnever gotten into my head. Neither has it interfered in my personal
\nrelationship with people.<\/p>\n
For any story to be the truth, it must have one version. In this case,
\nthere are more than 20 versions to it. In the process of trying to level
\nall manner of things against me, they have inadvertently made mockery of
\nthemselves. They should leave me to mourn my brother in peace. Nothing,
\nabsolutely nothing, said on the social media, will dampen my spirit.
\nLet people be guided by their conscience, if they have any!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Following last Saturday\u2019s 15thFebruary 2014 tragic death of my beloved cousin, Mr. John Ndubuka, a section of the online media has been appropriated by mischief makers to prosecute a mindless…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22939,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n