He said, those peddling allegations and lies making the rounds, that he is behind the encroachment of the school land is a deliberate act of deception, by mischief makers who are looking to make him look bad to the Government of Delta State.
According to him, he is not against the order given by the Governor for those going against the law, the lands which people encroached to build Illegal structures belong to the Dennis Osadebay University, Asaba.
The Obi stated this while speaking to journalists in Asaba, adding that the land was one of the prerequisite for the accreditation of the Faculty of Agriculture of the University.
According to him, he is the leader of the Muslim faith in the state, the 1st Vice National president of Muslim lawyers association of Nigeria; a Community/Traditional leader, a PDP stake holder and leader and a very senior legal practitioner, he can never be found on the opposite side of the Government in Delta State..
He said, "let them investigate the facts before calling my name, if there is any way or document that they found my name wanting that I encroached the school land let it be displayed but if not, I will urge that my name be cleared"
"One I am a Senior Lawyer and a religious leader, not just within the state but nationally. Two, I have my family and I have my children and I also lead more than a thousand community and all of a sudden some mischief makers want to drag my name. "This is very unacceptable"
" There was a misunderstanding with the Vice Chancellor of Dennise Osadeby University, due to the investment I have in the school land, we have gone to the Police, DSS, and he has written to the Governor, a lot of petitions against me and wherever we go, they will tell him I am innocent".
" I am a PDP man, I have special love for the immediate past governor, Sen. Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa and in extension, this present Governor is my alma mater because we attended the same University." Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Nigeria, which makes me proud to see one of our own excelling.
"I see the Governor as part of me, if I look at him I see myself, that is why am in support of everything he is doing to restructure the state and there is no way I can do anything or go against anything that is detrimental to this present administration. I don't have any reason, he said
I was co-opt into an earlier committee set up by the Governor to recover these lands, after an initial investigation that cleared me of all these lies.
Encroachment on the University land is not of the best interest to Asaba because I am an Asaba title holder and this is my immediate community. It is my prayer for the school to expand and bring progress to the community, and even become a federal institution. He stressed
In the same vein, The Chairman State Taskforce on Recovery of Government Lands, Chief Frank Omare, said, the government is not doing anything to hurt anybody because an approval to build does not confer ownership of land on anyone.
"Yes, times are very hard but there are laws and what we are doing is enforcing the law to recover this land from the grabbers."
Omare said the demolition action was a state government directive and not meant to witch-hunt anybody.
"When we turn in our report, you will see that Governor Sheriff Oborevwori is doing everything possible to accommodate Deltans but through the proper way.
"This is a government land for the University. Once government takes a decision it may be slow but surely it will come to pass."