The Bayelsa State government has asked a civil servant with the Ministry of Justice, Jonah Okah, to face his trial at the court, saying that government was not directly or indirectly responsible for his ordeal.
It insisted that he (Okah) brought his present ordeal upon himself.
Okah, former Speech Writer to the former Governor, Timipre Sylva, was last Wednesday nabbed by the police over alleged fictitious postings on Facebook.
Okah, who was recently arraigned at Magistrate’s Court 7 in Yenagoa, was accused of claiming to have had a conversation with the Government House Accountant, Richard Etonye, confirming the loss of $4.6m purportedly belonging to Governor Seriake Dickson.
The Government, who spoke through the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Jonathan Obuebite, distanced itself from the ordeals of the civil servant over criminal defamation of Etonye.
Obuebite in a statement issued in Yenagoa on Wednesday regretted that someone who is on the payroll of the government would be claiming to be a loyalist of an opposition figure (Timipre Sylva).
The government told Okah to stop dragging the image of the judiciary to the mire but to seek ways of getting himself out of the criminal defamation of character for which he was facing trial.
“Neither Governor Dickson nor any member of his government is directly or indirectly influencing Okah’s case. It is purely a matter between him and Richie Etonye, an accountant,” Obuebite said.
Obuebite said Okah was at various times absent at his duty post during the last governorship election but was visible at political party rallies, using the said party’s (All Progressives Congress) insignia without any sanction.
The statement reads, “Few days ago, I issued a statement entitled, ‘Stop blaming us for Okah’s fate – Bayelsa State Government’. This was after I discovered the tissues of lies being peddled by some disgruntled elements in the social media concerning Okah’s arrest and remand in prison.
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