Ahead of 2015 general elections, different social pressure groups in
the state and Ebonyi indigenes in Diaspora have continued to call on
Governor Martin Elechi to make himself available for the senatorial
position of Ebonyi central senatorial district in the state.
Such groups are Ebonyi Youth Assembly, EYA and National Youth Council of Nigeria and cross section of stakeholders in all the thirteen local
government area in the state. This was a call that dominated the local
government thank you tour embarked upon by the Governor.
But even as Ebonyi Youth Association has taken the campaign for
Elechi’s senatorial ambition to churches to seek God’s intervention in
their kind request, it appears to some confidants of the governors as
action targeted to tarnish the governor’s image before the
international community.
It has become an offence to the ADC for any one to express his or her
opinion for Elechi to make himself available to the senatorial
position of the Central zone in 2015.
But with the confidence, the governor has reposed on his ADC, Elechi
does not know that his ADC is going about harassing, intimidating and
threatening his supporters.
Government house source said that Tinja has warned the Director
General of EBBC, Mr Ubaka Onwanibe for reporting in the state media
corporation the Elechi’ senatorial campaign which was undertook by
Ebonyi Youth assembly.
The source equally alleged that Tinja summoned government house
correspondent of one of the national dailies for writing a political
analysis of Governor Elechi senatorial ambition because the report
captured the efforts by Ogah and his group in the senatorial project.
It has also emerged that reports of the arrest of two suspected Boko
Haram members in the Ebonyi State capital, Abakaliki, was a security
hoax designed by the Aide de Camp (ADC) to Governor Martin Elechi,
Mohammed Tinja to enrich himself.
Police sources in Abakaliki confirmed that Tinja masterminded the
arrest of the men only to use a section of the media to sell the story
they were Boko Haram members.
A top police office with the Ebonyi State Police Command said that his
officers have since discovered that the ADC arranged the arrest of the
men and the Boko Haram story that followed.
Said the officer: “We were thoroughly embarrassed. These men were
actually mai guards who were travelling to the North. We had to
promptly release them, but not before stories had flown that we
arrested Boko Haram members.
“You can imagine how much damage the story did to our security fabric.
We all know Ebonyi is one of the most volatile states in the South. No
Governor would want an additional trouble from Boko Haram. This is
where his ADC came handy.
“As a man in charge of the immediate security of the Governor, it was
easy for the ADC to get prompt approvals to spend tens of millions of
Naira to upgrade the Governor’s security,” alleged the source.
A Deputy Superintendent of Police, Tinja, whom police sources say is
related to the Acting Inspector General of Police, Alhaji M. D
Abubakar, has reportedly, enmeshed himself with the politics of the
state.
So steeped is this police officer in the local politics of the state,
that he has reportedly deployed his influence with the Governor to
transmute into a political godfather of some sort. Miffed by this
development, some political figures in the state recently alleged that
the police officer might have become the campaign manager of
undisclosed Commissioner, who is believed to be eyeing Elechi’s seat
in 2015.
While admitting the “inalienable right of anybody to pursue his or her
political aspiration without let or hindrance,’ such pursuit they
however said must be done “without infringing on the peace being
enjoyed in Ebonyi state”.
The ADC is also believed to have masterminded the recent public muscle
flexing between the police and a political group, Ebonyi Youth
Assembly (EYA) led by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) state Youth
Leader, Hon. Chinedu Ogah.
The sudden transfer of the State Commissioner of Police in the state,
Mr. Adeola Adeniji, out of the state, many believe, may have been
championed by the ADC who is reportedly in the habit of bragging about
“na we get police”, euphemism for his relationship with the Acting IG.
The situation is said to be not much different In the Government
House, Abakaliki. The ADC reportedly hurls his influence in and around
Government House so much so that his word is law. According to
sources, not even the Chief Detail and other security details count as
far as Tinja is concerned. The Chief Detail and Chief Security Officer
(CSO) are both said to be in the dark about the security arrangements
for the Governor since the matter is solely handled by Tinja.
He has reportedly populated the governor’s security circle with
policemen and other security agents from his ethnic stock. With these
men at his beck and call, the ADC reportedly uses them to undermine
the Chief Detail and the CSO.
With no stomach for dissenting opinions, Tinja reportedly cast aside
his SUPOL (Superior Police Officer) status to physically assault a
Police Corporal who refused to obey an order to humiliate a security
officer.
Having cornered all the juicy security contracts to himself, Tinja’s
stupendous wealth is reflected in his taste for exotic Honda cars,
properties in Abakaliki, Jos and Abuja, as well as a farm where he
breeds ostriches and crocodiles.
Attempts to make Tinja comment on the allegations were unsuccessful.
As a serving police officer, he explained, he is not permitted to
speak to the press.
A close friend of his however dismissed the allegations as “borne out
of envy.” He claimed that the ADC had a very comfortable background
and did not need the police to buy choice cars or have a farm.
“We know those who are behind this. They are only being jealous
because the ADC has the ears of the governor. Of course this is
because he is competent. Elechi isn’t the only governor in Nigeria and
my friend, Tinja, doesn’t have to be ADC,” he declared.
