Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, representative of Delta North, has raised an alarm over the Warrant of Arrest receiving issued against him by Wuse Zone 2 Magistrate Court, Abuja, at the instance of the Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property, which approached the court.

The Panel purportedly went to the court with allegations of impropriety against the senator, while he served as Commissioner in his state, Delta, some years ago.

Nwaoboshi in a statement issued by his Campaign Organisation, a copy of which was made available to News Express on Saturday, blamed his travails on a political rival, whom he advised to wake up and smell the coffee.

The statement, signed by Philip Elueme, Secretary of the Peter Nwaoboshi Campaign Organisation, reads in part: “On the face of the allegations, Sen. Nwaoboshi and the campaign organisation would not have been perturbed, but the fact that the Judiciary is involved, especially with the purported issuance of warrant of arrest by a court, we are constrained to state that we are alarmed, and we believe that most members of the public are, too to the development.

“Sen. Nwaoboshi is unaware of such allegations against him, and was never invited by the Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property to any session on such matters as conspiracy, diversion of public funds and official corruption, alleged against him by the Panel.

“We wish to apprise the public that the allegations are spurious and contrived machinations of one of Sen. Nwaoboshi’s political opponents, who had at different fora, boasted that he would do the Senator in and ensure that he would not participate in 2019 election as a candidate.

“The opponent, an absentee politician and serial failure at elections, has been discovered to have surreptitiously engaged some “agents” to deploy instruments of blackmail, deliberate falsehood and timid intimidation to harass and distract the lawmaker from concentrating in his re-election bid.

“Let it be known, however, that we are not surprised with the antics of this politician, with tainted pedigree, who has no defined source of livelihood other than unwholesomeness. But, we are astounded that the Presidential Investigative Panel and the judiciary could allow themselves to be manipulated by the desperate politician, always wanting to get everything by crook and ungentlemanly means.

“However, in this instance, this political opponent of Nwaoboshi, who regales in his notoriety of do-or-die politics, especially for elective office, has failed. We are mindful that he is an election-season politician and wish to educate him that what we have now is a reformed and rebranded Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) where premium is placed on integrity and commitment – no more cutting of corners, which is his trademark.

“We advise that, as an aspirant, rather than pay “agents” to cast smudge on Sen. Nwaoboshi, he should market himself to PDP delegates, who will decide who the candidate of the party for Delta North Senatorial District will be in the 2019 general elections. He should grow up and embrace the new spirit of PDP where nobility and responsibility and other desirable virtues have eclipsed blackmail and the like, which have become unfashionable and highly abhorred in the party.

“The clandestine moves by this opponent to maliciously stop Sen. Nwaoboshi, the star aspirant, from returning to the Senate to continue his visible and quality representation of Delta North have been unearthed.

“Followers of politics in Delta North will recall that the politician behind this sordid orchestration against the Distinguished Member of the Red Chamber had an abysmal outing when he represented Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency in the Lower Chamber of the National Assembly at the onset of the Fourth Republic.

“We, however, admonish that now that he is interested in the seat currently occupied by Sen. Nwaoboshi, he should dissipate the remaining energy in him to tell the people what and how he will outdo the senator. He should eschew disparaging his opponent and engage in issues-oriented electioneering, and attempt to launder his image, if any exists.”