Godsday Orubebe, former minister of Niger Delta affairs, has described his summon by the code of conduct (CCT) as a “witch hunt”.
Orubebe will be arraigned on November 9 on a four-count charge of alleged bribery and false assets declaration.
But speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Sunday, the former minister said the charges were “frivolous”, wondering why the issue was taken to the media before commencement of the trial.
“I was served with code of conduct tribunal summons on Friday and I collected and personally signed the paper,” he said.
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“I was expected to appear on November 9 but I got taken aback by the news that I had already been arraigned.
“This tells me that it is an issue of witch-hunt which is not good for this country. It is not good to take me to the public court before being tried.
“If these things are coming out because of the role that I played at the International Conference Centre as an agent of the PDP, then it is unfortunate. The role I played that day, I played it diligently to the best of my ability as an agent representing my party and since that day, we have allowed sleeping dogs to lie quietly.
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“God has given victory to Buhari, what we expected of him is to use his good office to carry everybody along, to move Nigeria forward. It would be sad to use that office that is meant to serve Nigerians, to try to intimidate people with government departments; before now, I had been called to appear before government institutions over things that I know nothing about.
“I found these charges very empty and frivolous; I served this country as a minister for over six years which is a feat on record, that so many people have not gotten from 1960 till date.
“This was the minister, when Nigeria was going down economically in 2009, risked his life to go to the creeks, to sleep in the camps, eat with militant leaders and brought them together. I worked with so many other people and we had the amnesty programme that has economically sustained this country to date.
“To get this of treatment from the Nigerian system is unfair; it is not good enough, it is not good for the future of Nigeria
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“I want to say categorically that I, Elder Godsday Orubebe was, is and will never be corrupt; as a minister, I never took any bribe from anybody throughout more than six years when I was a minister of the federal government of Nigeria.
“I dare any Nigerian to tell the people of this country if they ever gave me bribe.”
Orubebe served as a polling agent for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the presidential election. His attempts at disrupting the proceedings of the result collation remain fresh in the memories of Nigerians.
He had accused Attahiru Jega, then chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), of working against his party.
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