Nigeria: Dokpesi Opens Up On Bomb Blasts

Abuja — After being a regular guest of the State Security Service (SSS), over his alleged implication in the Independence Day twin bomb blasts at the Eagle Square, Abuja, the Director-General of the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida Campaign Organisation, Dr. Raymond Dokpesi, yesterday opened up on his involvement and ordeal in the hands of the security operatives.

However, Dokpesi, who was formerly the chairman of DAAR Communication, owners of the Africa Independent Television(AIT) and RayPower FM, maintained that he is not a terrorist as his detractors want the world to believe.

His principal and Peoples Democratic Party presidential aspirant, General Ibrahim Babangida, had described as ‘idiotic’ the linking of either himself or his campaign organization with the bomb blasts that claimed no fewer than 16 lives and wounded scores of others. Dokpesi, while fielding questions through a select group of journalists yesterday in Abuja, said that his implication in the bomb blasts is politically motivated, stressing that he will be vindicated in the end.

The DG who has been a guest of the SSS since October 4, explained thus: “When you ask me why I was invited by the SSS, let me say that I am still at a loss myself why I was invited because I have nothing to do with the bomb blasts.

“I was never present at the bomb blast site; I never attended to any group of persons that are involved in the bomb blasts and I have never associated with Mr. Henry Okah. I have never corresponded with him either directly or through a third party, nor has my principal, General Ibrahim Babangida, in any way associated or collaborated with anybody.”

He said that on the 3rd of October, 2010, on his way to Jigawa State he received a phone call asking him to report to the SSS headquarters the next day at 10a.m.

“When I came in, I was shown a hand-set where somebody was asking whether he had collected the N4m from Dokpesi and was asked whether I knew anything about the text message. I replied that “to start with, I am not the owner of the hand-set and the message was not sent to me. I did not even know who the party was and who and who that exchanged the text message.”

“However, I had appointed in Bayelsa State, Hon. Alowei Opukeme as the IBB 2011 State co-ordinator. I had released the sum of N4 million to him to be able to secure an office in Bayelsa State. And that is the extent to which I have had with him.

“They called me further to ask if I know the Niger Delta Rennaissance Network, and I said yes. I do recall clearly that when I was still chairman of DAAR Communications PLC, about the 26th of August, 2010, prior to my acceptance of being the Director-General of IBB Campaign Organisation 2011, that a group, about five gentlemen, wrote a letter seeking an appointment to see me. And that these gentlemen said that they were representatives of the Niger Delta Rennaissance Network, who want the PDP to uphold its zoning formula.”

Dokpesi said that he had released the sum of N4 Million to them on the 5th of September, 2010, for the hiring of the Bayelsa State campaign office of the IBB Campaign Organisation.

Asked his relationship with Mr. Henry Okah, the DG said; ‘ I have never met Mr. Henry Okah. I have never dealt with him. I have never communicated with him and I will not recognize him if I see him”.

He said that the nine persons the SSS arrested are all members of the Niger Delta Rennaissance Network, adding that he saw one of them, whose name is Ibiware. According to Dokpesi, Ibiware confirmed all that he had told the SSS.

Dokpesi said that his ordeal is “politically motivated,” as according to him, “the whole idea is to slow down the IBB campaigns’.

He said that the point of departure with President Goodluck Jonathan is the fact that he is a firm believer that there is zoning in PDP. “They are breaking this agreement and jeopardizing the chances of the South-South geo-political zone. The country is now polarized because of the eroding of this agreement,” he explained

Chuks Ohuegbe | 12 October 2010|Leadership (Abuja)