Embattled Deputy Governor of Abia State , Dr Chima Nwafor, on Wednesday told the investigation panel set up by the state judiciary that the police found as �baseless,� the allegation by Governor Orji Uzor Kalu that the Peoples Democratic Party Board of Trustees Chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, threatened to kill him.
Nwafor who also claimed that Kalu misinterpreted his memo on the interaction he (Nwafor) had with Anenih, insisted that he was not guilty of �gross misconduct� leveled against him by the state House of Assembly.
The appearance of the deputy governor before the panel indicated that the assembly was bent on removing him despite entreaties from the PDP and even The Presidency.
The assembly had some weeks ago in pursuit of the removal bid against the deputy governor written the state judiciary to investigate Nwafor for gross misconduct and double-speak arising from his role in the hitherto Kalu- Anenih saga.
Giving testimony before the judicial panel, the deputy governor, said that he never constituted a security threat to the state and to Nigeria as alleged by the assembly.
He maintained that he had been consistent in what he told Kalu through a memo, adding that, �His excellency�s interpretation of my memo was out of context with my memo and when I was asked at Abuja whether I told his excellency that Anenih wanted to kill him, I answered No�.
Nwafor also insisted that what he told Kalu on what transpired between him (Nwafor) and Anenih, was never oral but through a memo.
Kalu, he said, had never denied that the message was written, adding he ( Kalu) had said severally that whatever he made out of the content of the memo was not anybody�s business.
Nwafor stated that when the Abia State Executive Council found out what he called an �� error�� in Kalu�s actions, it decided to manage it (error)by deciding that no party should make further public statement on it.
The council, according to him, also resolved that all the parties should reach a common ground so as not to aggravate the ��error.��
Refuting the allegation that he was a square peg in a round hole , he cited instances of how his leadership in sectors like petroleum had been commended.
He also pointed out that the assembly�s assessment of his performance in a government was not correct
Kalu had in March alleged that Nwafor informed him through a memo that Anenih wanted him dead.
Following the controversy generated by the allegation, the PDP National Working Committee and the police independently investigated it.
While Nwafor, in the course of the investigation denied telling Kalu of Anenih�s alleged threat, the governor insisted that there was a plot to eliminate him.
In a statement on the outcome of its investigation, the PDP directed Kalu to apologise to its leadership, the Federal Government and Anenih for the embarrassment caused by the allegation.
Kalu, however, apologised to the party�s leadership but not to Anenih.
Anenih later sued Kalu, demanding N5 billion as damages.
Last month, he withdrew the suit following a truce brokered by the Oba of Benin, Omo N�oba N�Edo Uku Akpolokpolo Erediauwa.
While observers believe that the truce between Anenih and Kalu signalled an end to the saga, the State House of Assembly appears to be pressing ahead with the move to remove the deputy governor.
In order to stave off the removal plot, the PDP leadership despatched a team to the state.
Some of the observers have fingered Kalu and some PDP topshots in the state as the masterminds of the removal plot.
On July 14, the PDP suspended its Chairman in the state, Chief Uzodinma Okpara, for his alleged role in the move to remove Nwafor.
The Deputy Governor had on the day Okpara was suspended approached President Olusegun Obasanjo to help save his job.
He felt that before the assembly resumed on July 26, 2004, the President could assist him, a source said.
On Tuesday, The President invited Kalu and Nwafor over the bid to remove the deputy governor.
Meanwhile, a member of the PDP BOT, Chief Benjamin Apugo, has denied being among those behind the moves to remove Nwafor.
Apugo, at a news conference in Abuja on Wednesday, said that he had nothing at stake in Abia Government House to indulge in such a project.
He said, �It is apparent that this is all a blackmail aimed at embarrassing my person and tarnishing my name.
�I made Dr. Nwafor Deputy Governor to Governor Ogbonnaya Onu in 1992. I do not even know his house; I am not his friend. Why would I want him impeached? What do I stand to gain by his impeachment?�
Apugo was reacting to the claim by the Speaker of the Assembly, Chief Stanley Ohajurika, that he knew about the bid to remove the deputy governor.
�I have nothing to do with the Abia State Government. Everybody knows that I do not have anything to do with the government. If that is why they have chosen this opportunity to embarrass me, God will frustrate their ignoble plot,� he said.
