Panel indicts Nwafor, Assembly sets him free
By Sunny Igboanugo
(Lagos)
Uchenna Awom (Abuja)
and Uche Nwosu
(Umuahia)
Abia State Deputy
Governor Chima Nwafor has been found guilty of lying and “double
speaking” by the seven-man panel that investigated the allegations of
official misconduct levelled against him.
However, the 24-man
state Assembly, which received the report earlier in the day, quickly
deliberating on it, pardoned him and told him to “go and sin no
more”.
Announcing the verdict
on Tuesday at the floor of the Assembly after considering the report of the
panel, Speaker Stanley Ohajuruka said the verdict to let him go was informed by
the plethora of pleas from a cross-section of Nigerians, including the
President Olusegun Obasanjo, Vice President Atiku Abubakar, National Chairman
of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Audu Ogbeh and Gorvernor Orji Uzor Kalu.
A jubilant Nwafor said in a telephone interview on
Tuesday that his victory was an act of God.
He explained that the
Assembly could not find him guilty as charged, going by the report of the panel
that investigated the allegations levelled against him.
His words: “God
saw him through the very turbulent period of my political life”. It is
God that saw me through and I am grateful to Him all through my life”.
The panel, according
to an impeccable source, found Nwafor guilty, not on the widely reported memo
he sent to Kalu, but on the report of a state executive council meeting at
which he had stated that the Chairman of the board of trustees of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), Anthony Anenih, Anenih made a threat on Kalu’s
life.
The meeting reportedly
held on March 10 and was presided over by Nwafor, due to the absence of Kalu.
Those present were said to have praised him for his courage in promptly
reporting the threat to the governor.
The panel concluded
that it was based on this that the council members unanimously called for the
approval of the motion calling for strong a condemnation on the threat to life
of Kalu and demanded that Obasanjo set up a panel to investigate the matter.
In the same minute of
the meeting on which the panel based the report, Nwafor was quoted as
expressing happiness over the solidarity of the council members with Kalu on the
issue.
The report was quoted
as saying: “The Deputy Governor Chima Nwafor thanked members for the show
of solidarity for the governor and their overall concern with regards to
security matters of the nation and for its citizenry. He reported that top police
officers had discussions with the governor and himself and assured all that
something was being done”.
