A legal luminary and activist, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), has warned his kinsmen to desist from destroying his hard-earned image over what he described as “jealousy”.
Ozekhome gave the advice in reaction to the allegation by his kinsmen in Iviukwe community of Edo State, who accused him of being behind the arrest of some community members by the police over their ancestral land that was sold.
A member of the community, Okpame Ozekhome, had during a press conference alleged that the arrest was to stop them from asking question about the sale of the land.
Ozekhome described the allegations as baseless, untrue and an attempt to tarnish his image despite all that he has done for the people.
He said he has no hand in the arrest of anybody in the community or involved in any land sale in the community.
“The community people lied when they alleged that the land had been sold to Dangote, the said land is intact, owned by the same indigenes who are farming there.”
“When I heard of it, I wrote to Edo Geographical Information to confirm about the C of O to Dangote and they replied that there is no C of O bearing the name Dangote in their system, yet they continued to lie against me.”
According to him, some of the people had dragged Dangote, Edo State Governor and the Attorney General of Edo State to court since 2015 and the case is ongoing.
“This is the usual Nigeria pull him down syndrome. I put the community in the world map by attracting a street to them in Abuja. I always play and dance with the locals, participating in their masquerade dance among others, I wear their shoe and know when it pinches them having grew up in the village”
He however advised them to stop doing further damage to his good name and reputation as well as that of the revered Okumagbe of Uvhano Kingdom, and the good name of the community.
