TELL Magazine

Discharged and acquitted by an Abuja High Court over bribery allegation, the kinsmen of Johnson Oghuma, the lawmaker representing Estako Federal Constituency, Edo State, in the House of Representatives have pointedly accused a well known Politician in Edo State of being behind his ordeal. They accused the said politician of sponsoring the petition to the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC using one of his cronies.

Speaking in Auchi under the aegis of Estako Frontiers, the lawmaker’s kinsmen said they were not disturbed when they read reports that he was docked for allegedly collecting N1.6m as kickback for a school project because they knew it was fake news.

National Coordinator of Estako Frontiers, Yusuf Abdullah, however urged Oghuma to forgive his detractors but focus on delivering dividends of democracy to his constituents. Abdullah
said they remained committed to their vow that he would not be cowed to resign from the House of Representatives by desperate political opponents.

In a veiled reference to the politician who is also a senior official in government at the state level, they asserted that the projects attracted by Oghuma to his constituency, have surpassed what previous lawmakers from the constituency did.

While hailing the ICPC for carrying out diligent investigation to clear Oghuma’s name, Abdullah posited that the aim of his political opponents was to humiliate him and to begin his recall process. He said it was a futile attempt by some chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to portray the federal lawmaker as bribe collector.

Recall that the Independent Corrupt Practices and other offences Commission last Thursday withdrew the case of bribery against the lawmaker consequent upon which Justice Adebukola Banjoko discharged and acquitted him of all the charges.

Abdullah appealed to relevant ministries and agencies to release funds for award of contracts for execution of constituency projects in Estako Federal Constituency, and warned against any attempt to witch- hunt Oghuma ahead of the 2023 general elections.

According to him, “From the beginning, we knew the PDP was chasing shadows. Oghuma is our respected son and well known as an upright man. The school project was delivered and he is the first lawmaker from Estako that has constituency projects in almost all the wards in the three local government areas.”