Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, will not dignify factional chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Victor Umeh, who has been making various allegations about him with a reply, one of the governor’s senior aides has disclosed.

Mr. Valentine Obienyem, Senior Special Assistant to Governor Peter Obi, yesterday dismissed as a piece of blackmail, the statement credited to Umeh accusing his boss of trying to destroy the judiciary.

Speaking with newsmen at the outing service by the family of late literary giant, Prof. Chinua Achebe, at St. Philip’s Anglican Church, Ogidi, Obienyem resisted all attempts by journalists to speak directly to his boss on the reason that only an idle mind would have time to respond to what he called “lies, unguarded utterances and distortions coming from the mouth of Chief Victor Umeh.” Said Obienyem: “Gentlemen, in Nigeria today, Chief Victor Umeh’s name has become a byword for garrulity. Since he has no job and depends on political hatchet job for survival for which we know who is calling the tunes he plays today, we understand that people like him thrive in confusion and that explains what he does today.”

Obienyem wondered why whenever Chief Umeh has case in court, he tries to blackmail the judiciary for reasons only himself knows.

“Much as we are not disturbed by his penchant for blackmail, he should desist from bringing Gov. Peter Obi into that to make his rantings attract the attention they do not deserve, much as one does not know what will happen in court today, but while has it become a culture for Umeh to commend the judiciary whenever judgement or ruling favoured him; condemn her with blackmail when against him; and frighten them through blackmail when judgement or ruling is pending,” Obienyem said.

Responding to Umeh’s accusation that Obi has been trying to pervert justice, Obienyem said he was aware of the meeting at which they decided to put the falsehood in the papers to frighten the judge. His words: “As a matter of fact, I received text message yesterday from somebody who told me of efforts to get the blackmail published in newspapers at heavy monetary consideration and how many editors turned it down as infantile typical of Umeh.”

Contending that Gov. Obi is busy repairing Anambra beyond compare, Obienyem said he did not have enough time to attend to numerous state and national matters he was saddled with to have time for the likes of Umeh and would not reply to his rantings for all the teas in China.

“Is it because of politics that somebody like Victor, who was only but a Personal Assistant/driver to Chief Okonkwor (Ofiadulu), should speak disrespectfully about everybody, including his Governor?” Obienyem asked. He said that Umeh’s “case has become that of a child uttering forbidden words against the elder under the guise of wisdom.”

•Photo shows Governor Obi.

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