TheCable

Kassim Afegbua, spokesman of former military President Ibrahim Babangida, says the police have apologised for declaring him wanted.

He said this when he reported to the force headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday.

Jimoh Moshood, spokesman of the force, had said Afegbua was declared wanted for “injurious falsehood”.

The controversy started on Sunday after Afegbua issued a statement on behalf of his principal.

In the statement, Babagnida asked Nigerians to vote out President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019.

He also lamented over the high rate of insecurity in the country and said the current administration had lived below expectation in its fight against corruption.

However, few hours after this statement was made public, another one, said to have been signed personally by Babangida, was issued.

The second statement said the views contained in the original statement were those of Afegbua.

But the spokesman insisted that it was Babangida who instructed him to put out the statement.

On Monday, Moshood asked Afegbua to report to the nearest police station.

Afegbua and Ajulo inside the office of Moshood

Speaking with reporters after visiting the force headquarters with Kayode Ajulo, his lawyer, Afegbua said: “The police said there was a mix-up somewhere, to have warranted me being declared wanted, and they apologised.

“They said that the police is for the people; in a democracy it is their responsibility to be there for the people, not to intimidate, not to harass me.

“That they didn’t intend to harass me, they didn’t intend to intimidate me. Of course, you know we have a case in court, my lawyers will advise what steps we are going to take.”

Afegbua added that Babangida gave him the needed support all through the period that the controversy lasted.

“It will even interest you to know that when I was declared wanted on Channels TV and Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), my boss IBB was the one who called me and said ‘why are they declaring you wanted? Are you a criminal?’ And we laughed over it,” he said.

“He also asked if I was on the run and if I have been given invitation and he said, okay that is interesting. My boss said he heard on the news that they talked about defamation of character and he asked whose character have you defamed?

“So I am very much in touch with him and I am not doing anything out of the blues. He is a man I have been with for the past 14 years as spokesman. Even when I went to serve in my state, I was still very much in touch with him. I have said it before that I am part and parcel of him, we are family and so I don’t have any cause to worry over anything.

“I am only here personally because I was declared wanted. I am not on the run; I am not a fugitive to the law, and as a responsible Nigerian I feel it was unwise on the part of the police to declare me wanted when I have not been formally invited. So I am here to present myself. I am here with my wife, other family members and my lawyer.”