Robert Obasi cautioned against working for enemies of Lagos Ohanaeze Ndigbo
Chief Solomon Ogbonna Aguene {Udochia}, President, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Lagos State, in this press statement made available to OpenLife, calls for unity among Igbos and cautions against blackmail and deceptive attitudes as Ndigbos matches to greatness
We know those who do not want peace in Ohanaeze Ndigbo Lagos. They are the ones saying ‘lets do it this way or that way.’
They are also those who are not contributing anything to Ohanaeze. They just came in, dabbled into Ohanaeze executive three year ago without contesting any election.
And they have already benefitted more than elected executives through their tricks and they have nothing to offer.
Their first technique was to start dropping names, announcing the personalities they are going to bring on Igbo-day celebration which comes up annually.
Some of them always forced themselves to take photographs with dignitaries during occasions.
They have all the telephone numbers of all the dignitaries but those personalities don’t know them and so, they don’t even pick their calls.
Example is Mr Robert Obasi who came to meet me in my Lekki home about three years ago. He told me that he is from my state, my neighbouring village actually.
He came to see me and told me that he had been searching for me because of the wonderful things I have been doing in Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
He said that nobody will believe that an Ebonyi man can transform Ohanaeze in less than a year in office to an enviable height.
He also said that he got my number few days before he met me.
I asked him, what are you doing for a living? He told me that he was one of the Special Assistants, SA, to the governor of Ebonyi state, Engineer Dave Umahi.
And I asked him again if he was living in Lagos or Ebonyi and he said both- Ebonyi and Lagos State.
Within a short time, I realized he wanted to join Ohanaeze.
I realized that anyday he came to see me, he would come as early as 9am and he will be with me till 7pm.
I began to ask myself if this man had a job to perform as SA to a governor and in Government House.
For two months, he had not reported to Abakalaki and I never heard anyone calling him to discuss anything pertaining to his SA job as he was always close to me all the day in the office.
I then decided to employ him and placed him on a monthly salary of 100k.
He told me that he had been a member of Ohanaeze in different States he had stayed in Nigeria.
But anytime I brought the issue of Ohanaeze, his response was always very strange because he would divert it to PDP discussion.
But before then, Robert Obasi had already started introducing himself to people as my Personal Assistant, PA.
He drove one KIA motor the day he came to see me in Lekki.
For a reasonable length of time, I was not seeing the car again and for about two months, Robert Obasi continued asking me for transport money whenever he wanted to leave.
One day, I asked him about the car he came to see me with. His response was that buying petrol and mechanic issues were the problems. So, he made use of the car only on Sundays.
But I told him that he should continue using the car because before you know it, that particular model will go out of fashion.
The reason I asked the question about his car was because anyday he came to me , after giving him money for breakfast and lunch, he would still asked me for transport money while leaving.
I then decided to be giving him 3k every day.
Then, I decided that since we have lots of cars in the office, whenever we were going out, he would drive one of the cars. Ohanaeze members are witnesses to this.
So, he became both my PA and driver.
Sometime, when there is fund for Ohanaeze, I support him above his salary. Sometime, I also support his house rent apart from the daily 3k transport.
One day, I called Everest Ozonweke, the secretary, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Lagos to my office and introduced Obasi to him.
I told him that they should work together and that anytime he came, he should report in the secretary’s office.
At a time, precisely before the pandemic, Obasi Robert had fixed himself properly with me and I made everybody to recognize him as my brother and PA.
All these things I was doing, I later realized that the purpose was to come and study the environment and find a way to take over.
Mind you, he is not elected executive.
Before I realized that Robert Obasi is a master of such character, it was already late.
Then, when the governor of Lagos State, His Execellecy Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu called me to go to Lagos warehouse in Ikeja and pick whatever my people in Ndigbo will need to cushion the effects of the pandemic, we went and came back with almost 13,000 items in three trucks including rice, semo, oil, etc.
During the off loading of the items in the office, the governor, who loves Ndigbos so much, called me again and made money available to share to those who were coming to pick palliative for their transport.
And it was the same Robert Obasi, the Secretary, Ozonweke Everest and chairman of all chairmen, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Lagos, Paul Nwaka that shared it.
That was where Robert began to see himself as somebody who was going to take over the leadership of Ohanaeze because of the privilege and trust I extended to him.
At that time, every money that came to Ohanaeze Obasi was part of the sharing. Even during the exercise of Fidelity Bank ID Card, he was among the ones giving directives.
He is always in the front burner of sharing.
Before then, Robert Obasi called me one day in my office and told me that what I was doing was not the way to run leadership. He said if I received any fund from anywhere, I should share it into three and take two parts of whatever I received for logistics and nobody will query it especially as all the contacts of running Ohanaeze are from me.
I told him to explain to me because I don’t have an idea of what he was saying.
He started breaking it down for me.
Still, my conscience could not allow me to adopt what he was recommending.
Then, about the same time, the issue of crowning some Eze Ndigbos in Lagos of Ebonyi origin, came up.
Immediately the first person brought his logistics support, Obasi started crying that his house rent was due and that they were going to throw his property out of his house.
I looked at his complaint and told
the treasurer to write a cheque of N500,000 which was given to Robert to pay his house rent according to what he was demanding.
I even advised him to bring his wife to Lagos to start doing business when I realized that without Ohanaeze, Robert cannot survive.
That was when Robert decided that he is ready to take over.
He told me that when I leave office, people will laugh at me. He said they will be saying that it is only Ebonyi man that can be stupid enough to misuse such opportunity of Ndigbo being close to the government and I am toiling with it.
But Robert forgot that I am ahead of him in nature.
That what a man sows is what he will reap.
This is because I was not interested in his advice especially in the area where he said that if anyone brought any issue, whether the person is right or wrong, I should be diplomatic by telling the person no problem.
From there, he joined the secretary to plan the first coup of supporting the petition they wrote to Enugu that made the Enugu national executives to bring 3-man committee named: Fact finding.
The agreement was to come and remove me and install the secretary as interim president.
By then, Robert already understood that I had known his mission of coming to Ohanaeze to play his 419 game. He was absent throughout the period the Enugu fact finding team was in Lagos until the final day when he thought they were going to remove me.
He came and hid himself in one of the vehicles parked on the street of Ohanaeze secretariat.
And when the chairman, Council of Ndi Eze, Lagos State, Eze Chris Ohia, saw him where he was hiding on the street, the Eze called him by his name “ Robert, you are not ashamed of yourself. The finger that is feeding you is what you are trying to bit because of greed. You will not succeed.”
They co opted chairmen forum to participate in that internal coup to make sure they removed me. Some of them foolishly signed the document forgetting that they are not in Ohanaeze’s constitution.
But that is why I always advised my members to be careful of how they take blackmail and gossip against their fellow members to Enugu because these men and women are sound and civilized.
They will begin to see those who are doing that as nonentity and little idiots who want to use Ohanaeze to survive. They will ask themselves: What are you contribution?
Some of them will call me virus and when they turn back, they would call me and ask me if some of these my members have nothing doing.
After failing in all their internal coups, their next was to start campaigning against me in favour of the secretary to be president while Robert will become secretary and other zoning formula of their in-coming executives. And it was also piloted by Robert Obasi.
The worst part of it is that they are collecting money and promising people positions. Someone like Robert Obasi who is not a member of Ohanaeze is participating in such ugly act by giving all the state positions zoned to them like , where women leader is zoned, where youth leader is zoned etc.
Have Ohanaeze Ndigbo members dead completely?
If yes, then such can fly but not in Chief Solomon’s regime.
So, who is Robert Obasi to even start thinking about that when he has not been an executive?
So, all the people that have been suffering, sacrificing their time and holding the association will go home and sleep.
Ndigbo, do you see the kind of people planning to take over Ohanaeze overnight?
Where are their jobs and the house they are coming out from?
Have you accessed it?
I laughed.
Robert Obasi said his father is one of the richest men in Abakaliki and maybe that was the reason I didn’t know him because I am from a poor family before now but God has changed the narrative. So, nothing to worry about.
You see how God works? After all that profile about his family wealth, he came to look for me for rescue.
That is why they have been trying time and time and God always take his position.
And there is nothing anyone can do to take position that God gives to someone.
That is why people say that with all the heat, I have never showed signs of worry.
Someone that I don’t know for the over 35 years I have been living in Lagos, just came yesterday and began to tell people the history, the life style, the misfortune of the person that he has not transacted any business with.
He met me in Ohanaeze as his boss why he is my boy. Yet, he is giving story that he wants people to believe.
Well, it pains me so much when I talk about the weak point of Ebonyi man because I love Ebonyi so much and it is a second religion to me. That is why I will limit what I reveal.
When I wanted to celebrate Igbo day, Robert Obasi was telling people that I was dropping names that I will bring Obasanjo, Obi Cubana, Forence Ita Giwa and Chisco and so many dignitaries I cannot mention here.
He thinks I am like him. He has forgotten that I was once his boss.
Anyway, not to worry, Robert’s special number is to drop names of dignitaries and use it to enter people so that you think there is something he will offer.
My annoyance is that my Ebonyi people are doing things that other States will continue to see us as lesser people.
The first coup in Ohanaeze was to remove me and use Ebonyi person to replace me, Mr. Alloy who stupidly believed those who were telling him that they will leave my elected deputy, Mr Uzor, who is from Imo State, and make him the President, if at all it is possible.
Robert Obasi has never brought cabin biscuit as support to Ohanaeze but under my leadership, the money he made from me was what he used to pay his rent and children school fee.
All the time he has been talking about me, I have not talked about him because I don’t know him very well. This is the area I have to apologise to the executives.
He sold some of the palliatives he parked. He has gained more than the elected executives.
The little I know is what I am saying.
It is not what people told me about him. I don’t believe in people’s information because you don’t know who is enemy of who.
This thing I am saying, if there is anywhere I am economical with the truth, God knows what to do to me and not man because nobody rises against God and go free, no matter how smart and exposed you are.
Above all, my sincere joy is that all the running of Ohanaeze financially since I became the president till date is my contact.
Anyone, in all the executives, who brought something to the table should come and prove it.
Chief Solomon is nobody but it is my contact they used from drinking water to all the achievements in Ohanaeze.
That is why I am not afraid and I cannot apologise to anyone to come to my forum in pursuing my demand especially someone like Robert Obasi who is not executive but has gained a lot.
Sometime, when some of these 419 men who enter people by pretence like Robert cheat you and you tell them you leave everything to God, they think it is because you are weak not knowing that that is where they are in danger because nobody can fight God. The danger is very high for them.
So, when you are talking about probe, I laugh because you can only probe someone from what you contributed.
My another sincere joy is that most of the people who are fighting me are using my contacts, people they knew through me.
Is that not a shame?
In Ohanaeze Ndigbo, nobody has introduced any of his friends, or relations even if it is an imbecile for any help till date, none.
So, there is nothing to worry about because God is not sleeping.
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