…say documents used by petitioner were doctored
A coalition of 13 Civil Society Organisations under the auspices of Global Centre for Conscious Living Against Corruption have given Senator Bassey Otu a clean bill of health to contest guber election in Cross River State as the allegations leveled against him are spurious and unfounded.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja, convener of the coalition, Dr Gabriel Nwambu said after a thorough investigation into the various allegations found out they were spurious claims from the pit of hell.
He explained that” a petition addressed to the state screening committee of the APC, Cross River state purportedly signed by one Bala I. Dakum had alleged that Senator Bassey Otu who is a Governorship aspirant in Cross River State had been convicted of fraud while working with his former employer, Mercantile Bank of Nigeria Plc.
” Sequel to the determination of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to combat corruption in Nigeria, the Global Centre for Conscious Living Against Corruption (A Coalition of 13 Anti-Corruption CSOs), decided to conduct a clinical, very thorough, independent verification and fact finding exercise to ascertain the veracity and facts of this grave allegation.
Consequently, our coalition unraveled as follows:
“That the name of the individual who purportedly signed the petition is nonexistent.
“That the address used by the petitioner does not exist in reality. In other
words, it was a fabricated address.
” That Senator Bassey Edet Otu served his former employer meritoriously
before he resigned his appointment to venture into politics. Senator Otu
was even bestowed with a meritorious service award by his former
employer for his examplary conduct and dedication to duty.
“That Distinguished Senator Edet Otu was never accused of any allegation
bothering on fraud, was never convicted, and therefore has not
contravened section 182 (e) as alleged by the ghost petitioner.
“That Senator Otu is a graduate of Social Sciences from University of calabar
” That Senator Otu has served as a two-term Member of House of
Representatives for Calabar Municipal/Odukpani between May 2003 and May 2011. He has also served as a Senator representing Southern
Senatorial District of Cross River State from June 2011 to June2015.
” That Senator Otu has contested election in 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and
2019 respectively. He has been consistently screened by all the relevant
agencies of Government.
“From the forgoing, it becomes evident that this fiction exists only in the mind of
the author of this script which was orchestrated, premeditated, designed to
mutilate the impeccable integrity of Distinguished Senator Bassey Edet Otu who has served this nation meritoriously, performed creditably well, and has made his mark in banking and public service respectively. In other word, Otu should be commended for his selfless and exemplary leadership style.
“We want to enjoin Nigerians and indeed all persons aspiring for public position of trust to face the realities of politics rather than the ‘Pull Him Down Syndrome’ which is inimical to deepening democracy in Nigeria but sadly has dominated our
political space.
