By Nuel Suji – A former minister of Niger Delta, Godsday Orubebe has attributed his trial by the Code of Conduct Tribunal, to witch-hunting, blaming it to his closeness and support for former President Goodluck Jonathan.
The former minister is currently being charged before the Code of Conduct Tribunal on allegations of questionable asset declaration.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Sunday, Orubebe who was the party agent for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the last Presidential election, stated that he committed no offence to warrant being vilified by the present administration.
He said he had never demanded and collected a bribe throughout his six-year tenure as aminister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as claimed by the current government.
According to him, “I was served with Code of Conduct Tribunal summons on Friday last week and the paper, which I personally signed and collected stated that I was expected to appear before them on November the ninth.
“I was taken aback by the news that I had already been arraigned. This tells me that it is an issue of witch hunt which is not good for this country. It is not good to take me to the public court before being tried.
“The issues contained in the summons are that I took N50 million bribe from one of the contractors who handled a project for the ministry of Niger Delta and another N20 million from the same contractor as well as not declaring my plots of land in Asokoro and Kyame districts of Abuja. I find these charges very empty and frivolous,” he added.
