C/River Traditional Rulers Defend Community Lawyer Over Alleged N21m Fraud

Effi Village Traditional Rulers Council of Okuni community in Ikom local government area of Cross River State, has denied the allegation leveled against their community lawyer, Barr. Ichire Okim, by an environmentalist, Prince Odey Oyama, alleging that Okim diverted N21m proceed from sale of a community asset (Mikes Wood Plant) into his private pocket.

The monarchs spoke on Monday while reacting to a publication making the rounds on several news platforms that their lawyer diverted N21m, which was supposed to be meant for the community, into his private pocket.

Prince Oyama had last week alleged that Barr. Okim diverted N21m being the proceed from sale of a defunct private company (Mikes Wood Plant), which the court transferred ownership to Effi community.

But, speaking on behalf of the Traditional Rulers Council, spokesperson for Effi community, His Highness Okim Emmanuel Enya Agbor described the allegation as false, baseless and calculated attempt to tarnish the good image of Okim and bring his reputation to disrepute.

“We were shocked when we read the said publication alleging that our community lawyer who had been of immense assistance for over two decades diverted the said amount into his private pocket. Our lawyer never sold any property that worth the amount.

“What he auctioned were only movable items from the said plant which worth about N4,150,000 and handed the money to the community which is being ploughed in execution of a town council project. The only money we gave to Okim was his legal fee.

“We just can’t explain where this spurious allegation is coming from, our lawyer is the one who has been assisting us to resolve various community issues and at no point had we found him wanting. All we seek for is peace and not trouble,” the monarch said.

Also speaking, community Head Chief, (HRH) Ntui Ojong Nyambi, stated that the allegation by the aggrieved environmentalist, Prince Odey Oyama, may have been generated to malign the community’s lawyer, Barr. Okim, with the erroneous belief that the lawyer was the one who advised the monarchs to publish a disclaimer regarding ownership of power of attorney on community forest against Oyama.

“Let me state categorically here that at no time did Barr. Okim advise us the Chiefs of Effi village on the disclaimer. Okim has nothing to do with the disclaimer,” The head chief stated.

He added that part of what angered the community chiefs against Prince Oyama was the expectation by Oyama that the community chiefs should have tendered a written apology letter to him regarding the disclaimer letter, which they sent to the Cross State government when ordinarily Oyama should have known that in Effi culture, chiefs don’t beg thier subjects, instead they have other cultural ways of appeasing Oyama rather than tendering public apology.