The former lawmaker representing Imo East (Owerri) senatorial district, Senator Chris Anyanwu, has dared the former governor of Imo State, Ikedi Ohakim, to bring forward the letter of apology he claimed she wrote to the military administration of the late Gen. Sani Abacha.
Ohakim, in a recent newspaper interview, said Anyanwu’s book, ‘BOLD LEAP,’ “failed to mention that she wrote a lengthy letter of apology to Abacha and the federal government and admitted that she told lies to sell her magazine.
“I challenge her to deny that, and I will publish a copy of that apology so Nigerians can see the type of person she is.”
But the former lawmaker and veteran journalist replied, “I don’t know anybody that wrote Abacha. I don’t write or talk about things I don’t know. What I know is that as far as I was concerned, that kind of heinous idea could not be contemplated, uttered, let alone written by me, even under the gun—end of story.
“And now, I dare Governor Ikedi Ohakim to produce the letter in his possession in court before forensic experts before the eyes of the world. He should remember it was a global story, not just local, and some knew better. Coming out and telling this joke will make him an international clown.
“But Let him produce the letter he got from Gen. Abacha and the government. The Federal Government is a continuum. It should verify the letter in Ohakim’s hand and explain how it manifested and who produced it. Now, the letter writer will be tested for forgery. Let us understand that the games people played in childhood may not carry them through old age.”
She stressed that Ohakim will not continue unchallenged this time, as he has claimed to have a letter and threatened to publish it.
“I dare him to bring that letter physically (not publish). Bring it to be tested for forgery. Governor Ohakim has the right to reply to any publication about him, but he must know that he is to do so within the ambit of the law.
“He cannot continue to run amok like KING KONG in the jungle, eating down the landscape, trampling humanity under his feet, fearing neither God, man or the laws of man. He will not be allowed to continue in his lawless ways; he must grow up now, shape up and stop menacing Imo State and Nigeria,” Anyanwu noted.
She emphasised that BOLD LEAP is her autobiography, meaning she wrote about herself, not Lmo State, the Imo Government, or Governor Ikedi Ohakim.
“It is about my whole life, and my life traverses many places outside Nigeria. Imo State and its toxic politics of the time were merely small chapters to what is a long story. BOLD LEAP is not an Imo story. No. It is not at all,” Anyanwu said.
She observed that Ohakim had not read the book when he spoke, having talked in rambling generalities rather than specifics; she went into the book review to borrow the reviewer’s observation on production.
“But with all the hot air he blew, he avoided talking about my accounts of some of the unforgettable things he did as Governor. He spoke like a man who took one look at himself in the mirror and went berserk. No, he should relax and read the whole book. Then reflect. Things have got to change in Imo.
“And finally, that bizarre story about a letter to Abacha (may his soul rest in peace). How does a man of Governor Ikedi’s age and standing in society sit down and conjure up an asinine, egregious lie about someone writing an apology to Abacha and the federal government? Is it intelligent to tell tales that are so hair-brained they can make a dog laugh?
“No one could write Abacha or his government, which became Nigeria’s greatest secret. How did it happen that a document that could have provided the propaganda-hungry administration its greatest campaign weapon globally got locked up, and no one else mentioned it or wrote about it in the numerous books written on that era in these 30 years? Except Ohakim.
“Where was this letter written; when was it written, by whom and to whom was it given? And how did it happen that only Ikedi Ohakim had access to it? And by the way, where was Ikedi Ohakim 30 years ago, in the Days Of Terror, when people were fighting, dying, escaping and suffering for Democracy? Was he helping the oppressors?
“There had to have been a relationship with the administration for them to have handed him this “dud”. Ohakim must explain what he did for a living then and what qualified him to keep Abacha’s secrets. When we glimpse his opaque professional past, we will appreciate why it is not beyond the realms of possibility for him to weave and fabricate this great lie,” Anyanwu added.
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