Max Ogar, legal representative to Oscar Ofuka, Special Adviser to Cross River State governor, Ben Ayade, on Cocoa Development, has informed www.calitown.com that his client, earlier arrested in Calabar this past Tuesday, “was moved out of Calabar at 4am yesterday, 7th June, 2021… and he is being held at Alagbon, Lagos.”
While Ogar maintains he has been unable to reach his client since he was transferred to Lagos, he showed evidence that he has written a petition to the Inspector General of Police, insisting that, “Retired AIG Mbu Joseph Mbu has been peddling his influence and using the instrumentality of the Police Force to harass and intimidate” his client; a kinsman of Mbu, claiming further that his client, “has refused to join him in his fight against Governor Bendict Ayade of Cross River State.”
He went on to say that; “Right now, the retired AIG is using your personnel at the FCID Annex Alagbon Close, Lagos to achieve his aim of molesting our client even when a case is pending in Court. Attached herein and marked “A” is a letter submitted to your office on 16th June, 2021.”
When we drew Ogar’s attention to the fact that Mbu has severally complained that his client has serially been used to deny some landlord communities of royalties accruing for land used in the cultivation of cocoa in the state, he responded that, “royalties are payable by government directly to the host landlord communities not through Ofuka. In any case, if Ofuka is suspected of having done anything unethical, it is the state and not Mbu that should complain. Mbu does not have the locus standi to do so.” We were however informed that since Mbu is from one of the landlord communities, he is an interested party and has the locus standi to complain.
On conditions of anonymity, a source in Ikom, CR Central district, maintained in a telephone conversation early today that, “even if you disagree on principle with the governor like Mbu has disagreed, lawyers like Max Ogar will advise their clients to say a retired and illustrious police officer like Mbu is fighting against Ayade, just to curry support that should ordinarily not be brought in here. But if for once, we have someone who can defy the emperor and his cohorts, why not please?”
The signs are all too visible that this saga will be a face-off that will not be easily abated as Ofuka’s legal representatives have also indicated in their letter to the IG that, “all attempts by distinguished retired Police Officers like AIG Egbe Ngangor Njom and CP Lawrence Eko Alobi to get Mr. Mbu to back down in his vendetta have failed.” CRSG sources sounded out at press time, refused to volunteer any information on this unfolding saga.
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