Efforts by political detractors of Olorogun Barr. Kenneth Gbagi, a frontline governorship aspirant in Delta State, has met yet another brickwall, as attempt to drag his towering political image to the mud has failed.
Gbagi while fielding questions from newscasters of Arise Television News, at 10:00pm on Saturday April 24th 2021, on whether he gave his son or anyone the right to video/film the staff, said: “Not at all. I would never had decended to that level”.
The industrialist who expressed shock over the makeup, pre-planned and arranged story due to his resurfacing for the 2023 governorship in the state, recall that in 2019, he was accused of the murder of a young man in his Oginibo country home but was later exornorated by the Peace Building and Conflict Resolution Committee setup by the state government.
“All of you will recall, people in the media that sometimes last upper year, there was a sudden clamour, fighting, killing and assassination in my community in Oginibo. At that time I didn’t realize that it was all politically motivated and it was a plan”.
Gbagi who presented evidence of photographs, lamented that the young man died from gunshots in Oginibo, “the government of the state setup a panel, the social media went agog that Gbagi has done this, he has killed somebody. The people who killed and burnt houses, were the same people who were cleverer and ran into social media and started making broadcast
“The state government setup a panel. This panel sat, they made over 20 meetings and at the end of the day, the report of the Panel exornorated me. First and foremost, I was not even in the country when the incidence took place, I didn’t even know what happened. It was all a smear and planned campaign”, he stated.
According to him, “I recognize Gloria, none of the four of them are staff of my company, they were freelancers who were supposed to be working. I do not work directly in Signatious, I couldn’t have been working in any of the branches of Signatious.
“However, Gloria, was the one I heard of about eight months ago before this incidence that stole money in the hotel and she was reported. When I came, Gloria, came to me and the good thing is that I have all tape recorded, and apologized to me that she will never steal again. I told them to recall her out of sympathetic ground”.
He warned that if the matter was not handled carefully, the situation in Delta would only get worst by way of investors drifting out of the place, noting, “I will never have stripped anybody naked, I will never had authorized or told anybody to take photographs. All of these is a figment and plan of these plitical detractors who felt I was too much for them.
“They made it up, if you take the photograph of Victor, closely, you will see that Victor had an erection. If he was having any issue of stress or fight or query he will not. They were swimming. Take the pants of the three ladies, their pants are of the same packets. It was all made up. They took their videos, they knew what they were doing.
“What concerns me this evening is very simple, they were caught stealing and not by me, their account head caught them stealing. If you see these papers here, these are documents of the hotel rooms selling for N45, 000. The particular rooms in that hotel. Now, what they did was that they were selling them for N45, 000, getting the hotel guess to pay into their own accounts and they were paying N25, 000 into the hotel.
“Gloria, paid this money, Victor paid this money. These are their names, these are the transfers. They made N25, 000 each, these are thieves … (Male presenter cuts in again).
“Nobody stripped them naked. Those photographs of they or them being stripped naked as you are seeing are their arrangement, they have nothing to do with us, nothing to do with the hotel… (Female presenter cuts in)
“Let me put it clearly to you, I said they were never stripped naked. Look at their pants and the other girl, nobody stripped them naked to the best of my knowledge, nobody authorized anybody to take photographs and in any case, you and I know very well photographs that are taken have originality and you can trace them even if they were taken 20 years ago.
“I subject my system, I subject anybody that you want to find out from. Nobody took photograph. These are all makeshift plan by these people haven stolen. Now, get this clear, they made a statement … (Female presenter cuts in again)
“First, just to correct you and to correct them, I do not have any office in the hotel. I have never had one office in any of the hotels I am associated with. Never!
They talked about warehouse, you can go back to my house tomorrow in my country home, I do not have any warehouse. These are all for the political plan”.
He accused the television station od airing a doctored video as his own reaction to the allegation was not aired.
Asked if he has taken them to court and accused them of libel, he said: “Yes! Can you please get this clear. When all of these happened, I was the one and the DPO is alive today, is in the country. I was the one who called on the DPO and said this has happened. The DPO came, arrested them, these are all lies. Took them to the station. The statement they made to their accounting officer are here.
“They collaborated the statement in the police station that they want me to forgive them. They pleaded guilty and that is the police charge sheet. All of these took a twist because it is political. Now, in the days leading up just for you to get the fact, a fake warrant of arrest was issued without a Magestraterial District, without nobody signing the letter.
“The whole idea was to flank this letter, get some thugs with some policemen to handcuff me and humiliate me politically to bring my political skills to a halt. All of that were part of the plan. Now, this fake warrant of arrest … (Female presenter cuts in again).
Asked by the female newscaster if whether he should refrain from seeking political position as a leader until this matter is resolved. Are you still going forward knowing the magnanimity of the issue? Gbagi replied: “For your information, the whole intention that was intended is for it to degenerate to this level but I am not bothered because there is no truth to it, there is no fact to what they have done.
“I am on course and nobody deters me. In the course of this, just to makeup this plan, they hurriedly passed a law in the house of Assembly. It was signed to law by the governor on the 7th of October. Which means, that law wouldn’t have been used for my purpose but they cleverly, backdated the law to 8th of July to cover this event that was made up in September.
“I do not know why we will not respect ourselves. After I raised an objection, I produced an evidence that this was backdated and no law can be retroactive, they cancelled that law and went and established a new law which has not been passed but haven said so, the facts are clear, the purpose they intended to achieve failed”, he added.
