Chairman of the Senate Committee on Gas Resources, Senator Bassey Akpan( PDP Akwa Ibom, North East ) , yesterday declared that his arraignment by the Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property,( SPIP), in a court of law over alleged failure to declare his assets, was nothing but pure blackmail.
Senator Akpan and the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, were dragged before an Abuja High Court by the federal government over their alleged refusal to declare their assets in a manner prescribed by Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property (SPIP.
Senator Akpan in a two-page statement said the case was another political ploy by his detractors to mislead the courts and Nigerians in the face of the current political season.
He expressed implicit confidence:”In our judiciary as the last hope of the common man like me to decide the matter on its merits.” He said: “My attention has been drawn to the malicious and trumpup charges filed against me by the Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the recovery of public property (SPIP) over my alleged refusal and neglect to declare assets,” he stressed.
According to him, the fresh allegations was a face-saving measure as a result of the libel suit he instituted against the SPIP which he said was tilting in his favour before Justice Adeniyi of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja.
The Senator described the latest court case as an exercise in futility, adding that his properties were being declared every four years in line with the provisions of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
He said: “The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) mandates every public officer to declare his/her assets once within a period of four years, which I have duly complied with as a law abiding citizen since 2007 when I became a public officer and SPIP had applied and obtained these Assets Declaration Forms from the Code of Conduct Bureau for their records.” “To set the records straight, the same panel had initially filed an application ex-parte with suit no.
/FHC/ABJ/CS/378/18 to forfeit my properties and abandoned the suit.
” “My lawyers filed a counter affidavit deposing to a true state of facts that the properties sought to be forfeited were duly declared in 2015.” He added that he will not be distracted by desperate and panic measures aimed at intimidating and coercing him but shall continue to remain focused, resolute and committed to the divine project of serving people.
