Coup Interrogations: NDDC MD, Ogbuku ‘Clears the Air, Not Under Arrest’

The Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr Samuel Ogbuku, is likely to be on air, to clear doubt that he was not arrested over alleged coup plot of which a former minister of State Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva had been allegedly fingered.

BIGPEN NIGERIA (https://bigpenngr.com) reported that multiple media reports claimed Ogbuku was arrested following the transfer of a substantial sum of money from NDDC account to Sylva.

According to reports, investigators are examining whether the funds were intended to support an attempt to remove President Bola Ahmed Tinubu from office.

Dependable sources revealed that Ogbuku, an ally of Sylva may likely be on alive television program this morning to clear the air that he was not arrested over the ongoing investigation.

The NDDC Boss was however interrogated following his closeness with Sylva who is also a contractor with the NDCC but “he was neither arrested nor detained”, the source added.

Ogbuku’s media aide, William Etim couldn’t pick calls when this medium tried to reached him by mobile but a close source said he is likely on transit heading to Port Harcourt to attend NDDC officialfunction.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Anti Corruption and Integrity Forum, and publisher of Integrity Watchdog Magazine, Comrade Prince Kpokpogri, has described the purported claims of Ogbuku arrest as handiwork of a fifth columnist.

He urged the public to disregard the reports, stressing that Ogbuku was never arrested over failed plot to topple the government of President Tinubu.

Kpokpogri queried; “When has being interrogated amount to being arrested in a sane environment where people do not read meanings into the professional routine job of security agencies? When has it become a crime to answer questions as a friend to a suspect undergoing investigation?

“Who is actually afraid of Samuel Ogbuku over the next Bayelsa State Governorship election that he has not even declared his intentions for?”

He said that Ogbuku being close to Timipre Sylva does not in any way present him as having a hand in the coup plot for which Timipre Sylva had been allegedly fingered.

Kpokpogri explained that the security agencies reserve the right to ask Timipre Sylva’s friends questions after raiding his house in Abuja, but that should not in any way be misconstrued to mean that the NDDC helmsman was arrested in connection to any coup plot.

“Let it be noted that I am not speaking as a media aide or friend to Samuel Ogbuku. I am only speaking as a concerned citizen of Nigeria. My issue here basically, is the peddling of falsehood and capitalizing on a sad event at the national space to begin to denigrate and malign one of the most patriotic Nigerians and unarguably the best administrator Niger Deltans have ever had as MD of NDDC.

“Without mincing words, Samuel Ogbuku is the best that has happened to Niger Delta in recent times. When you check the history of the Niger Delta Development Commission since inception, Samuel Ogbuku is the only MD that has carried the people along, spread contracts to not a few and unqualified people; his performance is top-notch and achievements widely spread.

“Nobody should begin to use the circumstances of an allegation against his former boss to want to stain him. So far, he has proven the integrity and transparency that were needed to run an organisation such as NDDC”, Kpokpogri posited.

Speaking on the alleged N45 billion traced to Timipre Sylva’s account, Kpokpogri said, “If Timipre Sylva was allegedly paid as reported by the Punch Newspapers, I think the Management Board of the NDDC acted in good faith without allegedly knowing his agenda.

“He is a contractor to NDDC just like every other contractor working for the Commission; what he uses his money for, is strictly his own question to answer. He handles the Shoreline Protection project for the NDDC from my understanding, and he was allegedly paid from the NDDC account.

“The Commission is not administered by one person but a team that was constituted into a Management Board”, Kpokpogri added.