“The Story of Man Accused of Aiding Pilgrim Who Absconded in Israel”
Chidi Solomon Ogbuehi the lecturer who was alleged to have aided his relative who travelled to Israel on pilgrimage has urged the Nigeria Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC) to set the records straight in relation to his case.
Ogbuehi said that the allegations leveled against him has been quashed by the court on the grounds that a person in Nigeria cannot facilitate the absconding of someone in a foreign land.
Narrating his story in Lagos, Ogbuehi explained that sometime in 2021, his relative who shares the same surname indicated his interest to undertake a pilgrimage to Israel and requested he (Ogbuehi) endorse his guarantor’s form as part of requirements for all intending pilgrims.
He explained that he agreed to be a guarantor with little or no hesitation and did not envisage any plans by the intending pilgrim to abscond, only to learn of the incident three days after the 4 July 2022 departure of the pilgrims from Lagos.
According to him, three days after departure, one of the female staff members of the NCPC who travelled with them, contacted him on his WhatsApp line to alert him that his relative was missing in Israel and requested that he should try to reach him if he had his WhatsApp contact.
He revealed that the news instantly brought about conflicting emotions inside him, necessitating his making several frantic efforts to reach the pilgrim to no avail, as the line was not connecting. Subsequently he was accused of facilitating the plans of the victim and invited by the police to explain his role in the entire saga.
He honoured the visit on Friday 29 July 2022 and after going through his statement, he was granted administrative bail but the process of perfecting the bail conditions proved cumbersome and protracted. As a result, the case was eventually taken to court, while he remained incarcerated.
He claimed that while at the court, the NCPC representative opposed his bail, on the grounds that he was not working in Lagos. However, the court ruled in his favor and subsequently acquitted and discharged him of the allegation.
He lamented that a curious twist to the saga was that while the case was still in court, the NCPC issued a press release alleging that a self-acclaimed lecturer with a particular university aided the escape of a pilgrim, and added that the law will take its full weight on him.
Ogbuehi said he could not reconcile the fact that the body took the issue to media when the case was ongoing in a court of competent jurisdiction at the time.
Following his acquittal on September 23, 2022, he said he felt the body should have issued a counter statement but that it has failed to do so hence he was setting the records straight.
