The former chairman of the Delta State chapter of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON,) and a former chairman of Isoko South Council, Mr. Askia Ogieh, as well as a fake lawyer, who doubles as legal adviser, Isoko South PDP, Mr. Arora Goodluck Eterigho, (Alias Barrister Tess,) and two suspected gun runners, named Goodluck Obrogo, and Edafemakor Agbaka, have ‘gone underground,’ over a stage managed assassination attempt.
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Impeccable sources who confided in a SaharaReporters correspondent, said Ogieh had allegedly arranged with the fake lawyer to carry out a stage managed assassination attempt on the lawyer, and to ‘frame up’ the current council chairman of Isoko South, Mr. Goodluck Idele, and his vice chairman, Mr. Dickson Ebegbare.
To perfect their plans, a police source who requested anonymity revealed that Ogieh contracted his notorious cousin, Goodluck Obrogo, and Edafemakor Agbaka, who both allegedly fired several gun shots at the fake lawyers’ car, which had shattered the windscreen.
According to our police sources, immediately after the plan was executed, the fake lawyer had quickly rushed down to the Oleh police station, and there, had made the allegation that the council boss and his vice came to assassinate him. Arora Goodluck Eterigho said that he recognized the chairman and his vice, seen with AK-47 rifles and guns, who then shot-off several rounds of bullets at his car shattering the vehicle’s windscreen. He told police that if not (for) God’s intervention, he would have been a dead man.
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“Following the assassination allegation, the council boss and vice were then called to the state police command station in Asaba, including the complainant. It was there where statements were extracted from both parties, while a police search was conducted on the houses of the chairman, and his vice, by the police. It was a search which was witnessed by the complainant, but nothing incriminating were found at either residence.
“They were again asked to report at our command headquarters at a later date,” said the police source, “but to the surprise of everyone, the complainant and his co-planners (had) went ‘underground’ and (have not been seen) to this moment.”
Our investigation shows that the attempted murder was stage managed by the former council boss, and the self acclaimed lawyer. They used two other men in this caper, Obrogo and Agbaka, to fire at the complainant’s car. We learned that Eterigho, Obrogo, and Agbaka are well known, and notorious hatchet men of Ogieh. Men he has used for other so-called ‘dirty jobs,’ and they have been arrested several times in gun related matters. As we talk, they are (now) all on the run,” the police source said.
SaharaReporters has learned that the relationship between Ogieh, and the current council boss became soured when the chairman, and his vice, abruptly stopped the monthly one million naira payment fees paid-out to Ogieh since 2012. They also refused Ogieh access to the council chairman’s quarters to alter files after he left office as the council boss.
It was reliably gathered that since taking the office of chairman that Idele and his vice had denied Ogieh other eyebrow raising governing arrangements. Ogieh, despite no longer holding the office of chair, had enjoyed several privileges, and at one time he had lied to the council boss, and his vice, that Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan had given him the directive to rule the council as the chairman by proxy.
But when Idele and his vice could no longer bear Ogieh’s over bearing pressure, the duo confronted the governor, only to discover that Ogieh had lied to the both of them over a two year stretch.
“At a time Ogieh forcefully took a possession of a room at the chairman’s quarters, not only that he directed the council boss and his vice to sack several persons, including one Barrister, Afor Irogbo, from rendering any service to the council. Yet, through all of this the council chairman and his vice stood their ground and called Ogieh’s bluff, pointing out all of his excesses. As I talk to you, do you know that this same Ogieh’s wife has been on the back of the council chairman and his vice to buy her a car?,” asked the source in an exasperated tone.
“Following the over bearing pressure of Ogieh, the chairman had several times threatened to resign from office. As we talk, for the past one month, Ogieh has been inside the Palufe Hotel, Oleh, holding meetings. Meetings with several persons, and (even) some Isoko South NULGE members, instigating them (to move) against the council leadership because they no longer give him a dime as usual. He is so very broke, and when he is (broke) he does all kind of things to frame people up, just to get money,” an impeccable source familiar to the council stated in discussions with a SaharaReporters correspondent.
It was gathered that Ogieh had taken another step by forwarding a petition to the Force headquarters, in Abuja, accusing the Delta state police command, Asaba, of having been compromised. But police sources insisted that the complainant could not provide evidence to convince the police of the culpability of the accused, saying that the complainant lacks consistency in his statement, hence they are on the run.
As at the time of this report, the self acclaimed lawyer has sent emissaries to beg the council boss, and his vice chair for forgiveness, and to settle the issue out of police hands through a political solution. But police officials have refused to accept a political solution to the issue insisting that the matter must be followed to a logical conclusion and all culprits brought to justice in this case.
When contacted, Mr. Idele and his vice who were been interviewed at the police headquarters, denied the allegations, saying that on that fateful day the self acclaimed lawyer alleged to have recognized them shooting at him and his car, he was in a meeting at the chairman’s quarters. A high level meeting, he said, while his vice chair was in Asaba, holding a meeting with Ross Uredi, a former house of Assembly member.
“I think we have managed enough all the excesses of Askia Ogieh, we can no longer cope with him. We never knew he was such a man so dangerous to dine and wine with. This was a man when we came into office, we tried to be nice to, but little did we know he was a snake,” Idele told a SaharaReporters correspondent. “This was a man we were giving a million naira every month (to,) a man we treated like a king, only to go behind (our backs) and stabbing us, and framing us up, in an offence we knew nothing about. Would you believe it, that myself and my vice, carried an AK 47 rifle, and started shooting at a fellow human being and his car and even shattered his windscreen?
“At a time he said we wanted to assassinate Hon. Ross Uredi, former house of Assembly member, and he went ahead to frame up a boy, where the boy was arrested by the soldier, directed the soldier to force the boy to implicate us, that we buy guns for boys to kill people in the local government? But in all this,” Idele said, “God has been seeing us through. Askia should go and beg all the Isoko leaders he has offended, he should go and meet peace with all men." Idele stated.
On his part, the vice chairman, Dickson Ebegbare noted why Ogieh is against him. He said, (it) was as a result of telling Ogieh the truth to cease and to desist from his evil ways.
"My offence again is that my political ambition must be tired to him." Ebegbare said.
Askia Ogieh, who owes the UBA, FCMB, and several other Banks millions of naira, has been known as a notorious man, and perhaps the most investigated and arrested council chairman in the history of the office. During his tenure, from 2008 to 2011, Ogieh never once faced prosecution because of his willingness to bribe officials of the EFCC. The EFCC was then led by former chairperson, Farida Waziri.
Several calls and text messages sent to Ogieh for a response were rebuffed. But one of his political associates who met with a SaharaReporters correspondent pleaded for anonymity smiled when hearing a recount of the events disclosed in this article. He paused for a few moments while we waited for a comment, before finally describing Ogieh as a, quote, ‘peace loving gentle man.’ There was an even longer pause in that meeting between us and Ogieh’s associate, with the words, "That is all I can say in this matter."
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