Mr. Ndifreke Aquaisua, a lawyer and former Executive Assistant to the immediate past Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) General Secretary, Mrs. Joyce Oduah, has described his former boss as high-handed and “schizophrenic,” saying she also called immediate past NBA President, Mr. Olumide Akpata “a wicked person.”
In a response to Oduah’s letter to NBA President, Mr. Yakubu Maikyau SAN which was made available to CITY LAWYER, Aquaisua said Oduah’s letter was a “potpourri of lies,” even as he said that “I had to resign having gotten fed up with her high-handedness, over bloated ego, schizophrenic nature of believing that everybody at the Secretariat is after her life.”
Below is the full text of his rebuttal.
Facts Are Sacred: Ndifreke Aquaisua Esq. Reacts To Allegations Levelled Against Him By Former General Secretary Of NBA, Mrs. Joyce Oduah (Part 1)
It is surprising and laughable that it took the former suspended General Secretary of NBA, Mrs. Joyce Oduah more than one month to react to facts contained in my Affidavit of Facts. Obviously, she needed time to concoct her potpourri of lies.
I did not want to join issues with the former suspended General Secretary based on advice and plea from friends, senior and junior colleagues I hold in high respect.
However, since the sacked General Secretary has decided to embark on a macabre dance in the market square, I am left with no other option than to set the records straight because facts are sacred and must not be skewed for personal gains.
My meeting Mrs. Oduah was facilitated by Sammy Etuk, Esq., a senior colleague I hold in high esteem at SPIDEL Conference in Aba, Abia state in 2019, who was able to convince me to work with him and others to ensure she emerged the second female General Secretary of NBA.
Within the period of her campaign, I acted as her media assistant by writing and syndicating materials to market her candidature at no cost or pecuniary interest.
That within the period of working with her, just like others, I noticed her over bloated ego, penchant for branding her opponents and anybody not in support of her ambition as diabolic and after her life.
That because Mrs. Oduah by birth is from my State of origin (Akwa Ibom) and the need to avoid being branded a person who works against the interest of people from my State, I stomached her excesses to ensure that we worked to actualize her victory at the polls.
After her victory at the polls, I was invited to work with her as an Executive Assistant, an offer I refused, I rejected at first, because of her erratic and cantercorous (sic) nature, but was prevailed upon to join her.
My first day as the Executive Assistant to Mrs. Oduah started with a lengthy briefing, where she told me that everyone in the Secretariat hated her and are diabolically trying to harm her. She mentioned some of her colleagues in the Exco as people targeting her downfall and ended up warning me not to talk or mix with any person at the NBA Secretariat.
The allegation that Mrs. Oduah physically assaulted me is true, this is evident in her admission that the only physical contact she had with Mr. Aquaisua was “a tap on his left shoulder to get his attention”. Her attempt to misrepresent facts as to her assault of my person falls flat on its face because she did not need to attract my attention when we were talking.
Her grouse with me was basically because Mrs. Kemi Beatrice (Head of Branding Department), an innocent lady she claims is also after her life offered me a lift at about 10:30pm which I ordinarily accepted her kind gesture as Mrs. Oduah never gave a hoot about how I go back to my residence when I close late at night.
On the issue of application letter, Mrs. Oduah instructed me to draft an application letter and backdate it to August, 2020 and that the said application letter should reflect “General Secretary-Elect”. I did exactly as she instructed me and the said application letter was forwarded to the President.
Immediately the President received the application letter, he drew her attention that the letter was not properly addressed as it should have been addressed to the President and not to the General Secretary or General Secretary-Elect as she asked me to address.
If in her words, I was not competent, then she herself was not also competent for failing to decern (sic) that the letter was not properly “written” and transmitting same to the President. Infact, the allegation is not only baseless but a futile attempt to give a dog a bad name to hang it.
The same incompetent Ndifreke Aquaisua is the person who prepared most of the media materials Mrs. Oduah used during her campaign and filed a good percentage of the reports from her office for the five months I worked with her and when I left she could not do it herself to the extent that it took the then Publicity Secretary, Dr. Rapuluchukwu and other members of the Exco to perform her statutory duties to cover the shame her incompetence would have brought to the Exco members who actually acted in good faith to protect the collective integrity of the Exco and shield Mrs. Oduah’s ineptitude as General Secretary.
On the baseless allegation of my acting Oliver Twist, I must state that this is a lie from the pit of hell as my salary and other emoluments as a staff of the Secretariat of our noble association was fixed and could not be influenced or changed by an individual so it is highly preposterous to give the impression that I wanted Mrs. Oduah to change or give anything outside what was stipulated in my letter of appointment. She lacked such powers to do so. I did not take Mrs. Oduah as family because she did not treat me same.
The only time I went to her home was during her thanksgiving service in Lagos which she gave me a bus fare to Lagos and caused me to sleep on mat in her sitting room throughout my period of stay in Lagos and turned me to a domestic help. A duty I carried out as a result of the respect of the office she occupies in our noble association.
Mrs. Oduah infact turned me to an errand boy who must carry her handbag, helped her put on her shoes and drive her around in my car when she visits Uyo on official assignments at my expense. Without sounding immodest, I am from a very comfortable home, owners of one the foremost and oldest higher institution in Akwa Ibom State but by our training, we are taught to be humble, modest and respectful.
So my working with Mrs. Oduah as Executive Assistant was not about the money because she could not afford to pay me, as when I resumed, I flew into Abuja and stayed in hotel for two weeks without a dime from Mrs. Oduah or my employers and got a place to live without any contribution from her.
I had to resign having gotten fed up with her high-handedness, over bloated ego, schizophrenic nature of believing that everybody at the Secretariat is after her life and I could not mix with my colleagues freely for fear of harassment by Mrs. Oduah who believed I will be used to get at her.
In January, 2021 after the Christmas vacation, I was ill and reached out to the head of Administration and Finance, Salamatu Sidi, Esq. and told her I was ill and will not be able to resume immediately, she advised me to take my health seriously and see a medical doctor and rest as well till I get fit to resume.
When I reported my poor state of health to Mrs. Oduah, she rained fire and brimstone on me, calling me unprintable names and even cursing me as a lazy and pretentious bone. She even went to the extent of putting a call across to my referee, Sammy Etuk, Esq. to ask me to report immediately or face her wrath.
I could not take it anymore, after my treatment, immediately I arrived Abuja, I tendered my resignation letter addressed to the President, then forwarded a copy to her through WhatsApp. Immediately she got it, she queried me why I had to address it to the President instead of her, that I should go and withdraw it and address it to her and also wait for her to come back as the President, Mr. Olumide Akpata being a wicked person will not accept my resignation. This to me was a cheap lie, blackmail and a ploy to frustrate my resignation and I was not ready for that.
Mrs. Oduah put a call across to senior lawyers I respect in my home State to prevail on me to withdraw my letter of resignation. For once, I chose to disobey them.
I have chosen to make this comment to set the records straight and clear my name.
To be continued…
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