Governor Alex Otti of Abia State has praised an official of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Ugochukwu Orji, for rejecting a N10 million bribe from a fleeing native doctor accused of ritual killings in Enugu State.

Mr Otti spoke on Sunday when he received in audience a 30-member delegation of the organisers and sponsors of the Oha Isiala Ngwa Grand Civic Reception and Appreciation in his honour.

Details of the event were contained in a statement by the governor’s spokesperson, Njoku Ukoha, on Monday.

Mr Otti thanked the immigration officer, Mr Orji, an indigene of Abia, for demonstrating honesty and being a good ambassador of the state.

“I have always made this point that we are straightforward people, we are not criminals. We don’t steal, we don’t cheat. Of course, out of every 12, there must be a Judas. Sometimes the Judas is so loud that he drowns the good jobs of the other 11,” he said.

“What you did is typical of us; you represented us very, very well,” the governor told the NIS official.

Mr Otti recalled that he had celebrated a tricycle rider recently who returned to the owner a huge sum of money left in his tricycle.

“Just like the gentleman who returned a huge sum of money and we celebrated him, so, we will celebrate you also,” he assured the NIS official.

The governor also urged the NIS official not to let anybody make him feel bad or discouraged about what he did.

“There is so much to gain by rejecting bribes. N10 million is a lot of money, and you could do so much with it, but you rejected it.

“And, you rejected it because it is not earned. So, I want to encourage you to continue to serve in a straightforward manner. This example you have shown, hold on to it,” he stated.

Earlier, Mr Otti appreciated the organisers of the grand civic reception for assembling all indigenes of the Isiala Ngwa together and tasking themselves to raise over N100 million for the event.

“It was so grandiose that when I entered the stadium, I was shocked. I was not expecting such a crowd of over 10,000 people.

“All of them stayed till the end of the programme, very, very happy. I want to thank you and thank all the leaders,” he said.

The governor said he was dumbfounded by the “unprecedented show of love” and promised to do more as a way of reciprocating it.

“By the time we are done, I’m sure people will not recognise our place anymore,” he stated amidst applause.

Also speaking, the leader of the delegation, Darlington Nwokocha, said they came to thank the governor for accepting to be honoured and for honouring their invitation.

Mr Nwokocha explained that they came together on their own and agreed to celebrate the governor.

“The more we celebrate you, we are celebrating ourselves because you have really made us proud,” he told the governor.

‎In his vote of thanks, a member representing Isiala North and South in the House of Representatives, Ginger Onwusibe, thanked the governor for accepting to be honoured even though he is not given to such a public outing.

Mr Onwusibe also thanked Mr Otti for the promise he made to fix the Sam Ihesilor stadium, Okpuala Ngwa, the venue of the grand civic reception.

The federal lawmaker thanked his fellow organisers for joyfully contributing for the reception, noting that at some point, he stopped releasing the account number designated for the event.

On 26 May, the native doctor, Onyeka Obu, was accused of burying several people in a pit, including a pregnant woman, for ritual purposes.

The incident happened at Umumba Ndiagu, a community in Ezeagu Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria’s south-east.

Mr Obu is popularly known as Ozo Ezeani as well as “E dey play E dey show.”

The police in Enugu State, on Wednesday, said they collaborated with Neighbourhood Watch personnel and vigilant community members to arrest three suspects linked to the native doctor.

They said the security operatives also collaborated to rescue a 13-year-old girl who was kidnapped for suspected ritual murder by the native doctor’s boys.

The police, however, said the native doctor had fled the scene before their operatives arrived.

The native doctor was later arrested by some NIS personnel at Badagry-Seme Border Area of Lagos while he was fleeing Nigeria.

He was said to have offered N10 million bribe and an iPhone to the NIS official who recognised and held him from fleeing the country. But the NIS official declined.

On Friday, NIS authorities handed him over to the Lagos State Command of the Nigeria Police Force which later moved him to Enugu State for prosecution. ‎