The palace of the Obi of Onitsha has refuted the monarch’s claim that a phone call prevented him from boarding the recently attacked Abuja-Kaduna train.
On Saturday, it was widely reported that Igwe Nnaemeka Alfred Achebe was already at the train station when a call came in requiring his quick attention, forcing him to cancel the trip.
The palace of the first-class monarch, however, claimed in a statement on Saturday that the message attributed to Achebe was false and deceptive, and condemned those behind the fake news.
The king did not engage the media on any subject other than the keynote address at a meeting with some Igbo leaders in Enugu, according to the palace.
The monarch chose road conveyance with proper protection to deliver a lecture on Tuesday, March 29, at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, Kaduna, according to the statement.
Those who exploited the tragic national catastrophe to gain phony media exposure and fame were condemned as heartless and unpatriotic.
The statement said: “While His Majesty was abroad, the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, Kaduna State, sent a letter dated 21 January 2022 inviting him to deliver a lecture on Tuesday, 29 March 2022 to its annual training programme of officers from all security agencies in the country on internal security.
“His Majesty, on return to Onitsha on 08 February, accepted the invitation in keeping with his commitment, along with his brother traditional rulers, to the promotion of peace and harmony in the country.
“In discussing the options for His Majesty’s travel to Jaji with his hosts on 14 March, the option of travel by train from Abuja to Kaduna was considered and set aside in favour of road transport with adequate security escort.
“Thus, His Majesty travelled safely to Jaji on 28 March and returned to Abuja on 30 March with very adequate security escort provided by the AFCSC, and no hitches whatsoever.
“On Thursday, 31 March, His Majesty attended the South East Leadership Press Conference at Enugu. In his brief goodwill message, he lamented the state of insecurity and violence in the country and drew attention to the train attack in which the Onitsha kingdom lost the young medical doctor, Chinelo Megafu.
“It was in that connection that His Majesty mentioned casually that the option of his traveling by train to Kaduna on that date had long been set aside in favour of road travel by mutual agreement with his hosts. No reference was made to any imaginary phone call from anyone. This has been His Majesty’s only public reference to the tragic train attack of 28 March.
“The news media were present at the Enugu meeting and one of them would be the likely source of the false and convoluted story claiming that His Majesty made the said statement on Saturday, 02 April 2022.
“Indeed, His Majesty was mostly engaged today with the Anambra peace meeting organised jointly by the new Anambra State Government of Mr. Governor, Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo and the Joint Body of the South East Council of Traditional Rulers and the Archbishops/Bishops of the South East on Peace and Conflict Resolution.
“Other than delivering the keynote press statement of the occasion, His Majesty did not engage the media on any subject whatsoever.
“The entire country is in dire straits on internal security, and anyone could be a victim in the situation that we currently face, for instance, the unfortunate victims of the train attack. Thus, it is absolutely callous for anyone to use such a distressful national tragedy to grab fake media attention.”
