My Attackers Will Not Deter Me, Says Mbah

By Lawrence Njoku, Enugu

Peter Mbah, has described himself as a “victim of several malicious attacks,” insisting that his desire to serve the state was borne out of love to provide transformational leadership and contribute to development of the state.

Mbah, who spoke at the weekend, during the weekly ‘Freedom hour’ of Enugu-based radio station, Solid FM, monitored by The Guardian, assured that the attacks and allegations would not dampen his aspiration to win the forthcoming election in the state.

The candidate, who was recently accused of forging the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate, which he presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), dragged to court for disqualification on allegation that he engaged in plea bargain having been convicted of corruption in a case with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), among others, insisted that he had maintained a clean slate in his activities so far in life.

Mbah said: “I have been a victim of malicious attacks, people engaging in politics of lie and campaign of calumny of all sorts. I want to put the record straight; I have never made a plea bargain, and I challenge anyone with a shred or modicum of evidence of that to tender it. I have never been on trial. It was the prosecution, who moved that my name be struck out. So, I was never a part of any trial or any plea bargain.

“With respect to EFCC, you know I have served as the Chief of Staff and Commissioner for Finance at various times in the past. And, I am also sure that a lot of us are aware of a time, as a country, particularly, in this Fourth Republic, when it was fashionable for people to be held in lieu of others when there is an allegation of crime. The style then was, if you couldn’t get to the suspect, you get someone in proxy in what may be today referred to as placeholder. I think there was a time in our history where that was the order of the day. Anything I had with EFCC at this particular time that I just referred to had nothing to do with me as a person, but had to do with the office I headed, and I needed to make certain clarifications.”

Source: The Guardian