Stella Oduah: Alleged Plot To Scuttle Trial Pure Attempt To Blackmail Tinubu – Aide

Ezennia Nonso Chukwudebe, a media aide to Anambra North Senator, Stella Oduah, has refuted claims of an alleged plot to disrupt the ongoing election tribunal proceedings.

Newsone reports that the denial by Stella Oduah’s media aide came in response to a report by a group known as Today’s Anti-Corruption Network (TACN).

This online news platform understands that TACN had called on President Bola Tinubu to intervene and prevent what they claimed was a deliberate attempt to derail the trial of Senator Oduah over allegations of a N7.9 billion fraud filed against her by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

In his reaction, Oduah’s Director of Media and Publicity, Chukwudebe, dismissed the report, stating that the group demonstrated a complete lack of understanding of court processes and the clear separation of powers within the government.

Newsone Nigeria reports that Chukwudebe, in a statement, urged President Tinubu to disregard the petition, emphasizing that it was an attempt to tarnish his reputation through baseless allegations.

The statement read, “Our attention has just been drawn to a spurious, mischievous, and desperate series of sponsored diatribes on various social media platforms by political detractors of the Distinguished Senator Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah OON, masquerading under a self-styled group named “Today’s Anti-Corruption Network, TACN.” I have contacted some media platforms used for this hatchet job for our right to reply. I hope they do the professional thing and correct this lousy journalism because no one ever contacted us for our side of this.

“An informed perusal of the said petition written by these charlatans immediately reveals not only a desperate need to distract the general public from the pending litigation that arose as a result of the just concluded general elections but also a complete ignorance of court processes and the clear cut distinction between the various arms of government.

“The introspective may want to ask whether His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu now combines his executive office with that of the Chief Justice of the Federation because it is glaring that their petition purely imagines Mr. President as a despot and autocrat who interferes in issues not within the purview of his office.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the constitution of our land provides a clear-cut distinction between the various arms of government. It is quite unfortunate that the petitioners, in their haste to do this yeoman’s job, have let out a Freudian slip by imagining that we have a president who thinks like them in terms of being meddlesome.

“The tone of the petition amounts to blackmail on the person and integrity of Mr. President, and, sadly, those behind it are yet to wean themselves of their blackmailing ways as it is common knowledge that no one is spared or sacred whenever they set out to unleash such terrible behaviour.

“Again, we are at a loss to understand and situate their attacks on the judiciary. We can only opine that it takes a highly unschooled and illiterate mentality to imagine that the Judiciary is at the mercy of Mr. President.

“As you well know, the judiciary remains the last and final hope for every Nigerian, and it is fashioned in such a way as to deliver Justice, Equality & Equity.

“Therefore, for her political opponents, who should rather expend the energy they currently dissipate to confronting the issues before the tribunal, to be busy sponsoring such faceless groups whose stock in trade is casting unwarranted and unfortunate aspersions on this great institution, is, to put it bluntly, the height of insensitivity and callousness.

“The general public is advised to see this recent media attack for what it really is: a recurrent penchant for attacking an exceptional legislator in the failed hopes that it would elicit public opprobrium and distract her from the real issues at hand.”