Idumange: The Fall Of A Serial Blackmailer

By Ebimo Jeremiah

Criticism is the life wire of democracy. It is the process of taking political leaders accountable.

It also affords members of the general public to analyze and evaluating or judge the quality of government policy programmes of their impact and how the processes can be improved upon to the advantage of the general public and good of all citizen.

Thus, criticizing is not the action of finding the mistake, but it is giving the expression of an object against prejudice, whether it is positive or negative. The goal to achieve is to identify whether something is appropriate or suitable and indicates why something will work best.

When criticism is mistaken for blackmail and petition writing, it becomes unhealthy for an individual, a group of persons, government or a nation.

Everyman has the right to freedom of speech but that freedom must respect the right of others.

Bayelsa as a State has been held ransom by one man through unscrupulous petitions and blackmails over the years against succeeding government under the guise of criticism.

However, many are coming to the realization that it was all for the high and mighty self-service.

Holding someone to ransom is trying to force that person to do what you want, especially by using threats or blackmail; and Dr. John Idumange, has succeeded in using this pattern all these years of dining and wining 

in government.

Idumange thinks he will continue to hold Bayelsa state to ransom through his petitions and continuous blackmailing publications as a ladder to climb to the top again but he misfired this time which has led him to his dark web.

His recent malicious posts on Facebook accusing the Governor Douye Diri’s Prosperity government of diversion and misappropriation of the three billion naira CBN Agriculture loan was another blackmail that has exposed his antics.

After several efforts to get appointment into government has failed, Idumange had thought blackmailing the government will help him secure a place in government.

When Idumange realized that the current administration would not be blackmailed into appointing anyone without need for such, he resulted to calling names of senior members of government as beneficiaries of the alleged diversion of the agric loan.

Those who know Dr. Idumange well said, he is a notorious blackmailer that has gone scot free many instances.

Idumange who has made himself the Lion King of Bayelsa State has finally lost his place and respect just like the way and manner Satan lost his position in the Book of Isaiah 14 verses 12 to 14.

His arrest following petitions by some individuals he raised allegations against has become the beginning of his down fall.

Soon, the reasons behind his deceitful blackmails will be revealed to those who do not know him.

An American Film Actress Joan Wheeler, says, "Never try to destroy someone's life with a lie when yours could be destroyed by the truth." It is on this premise that Dr. John Idumange could be seen as a serial blackmailer who thinks he could get away with blue murder due to his uncanny petitions writing prowess which got him unmerited positions of authority in the past.

No doubt, Dr. Idumange has been discovered as a man bedeviled with a pulling down syndrome just to get what he wants.

Reports have it that he had at various times launched unwarranted blackmails against the person of Chief Ndutimi Alaibe and only recently, he began a series of social media attacks against the former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. So sad indeed.

He did same to the former Governor Chief Timipre Slyva before he was given an appointment but he left the government and began to write defamatory statements against him just to bring him down to gain favour from the Seriake Dickson’s administration.

Dr. John Idumange eventually succeeded and was appointed by the immediate past Governor Senator Seriake Dickson, as Director- General,  Social Media and Documentation before he was later appointed the General Manager of the Bayelsa State Broadcasting Corporation, Radio Bayelsa.

Dr. Idumange's appointment as the General Manager Radio Bayelsa was the beginning of the fall of the station because he apparently was never a good manager but only a critic.

Like the old saying, “The Leopard never changes its skin”, he went to Radio Bayelsa with that same attitude, appointing junior officers to supervise senior officers, a situation considered an abberation in the civil service.

Dr. John Idumange does not see anything wrong in what he does but he finds fault in everything about others just to bring them down; a sandy foundation he is laying for some uninformed generation to inherit.

An ancient adage says “Every day is for the thief but one day for the owner”; Dr. John Idumange had posted on Facebook that he would be granting an interview on Royal FM 95.5 to discuss the three-million-naira Agriculture Loan and had invited government representative and that of CBN before he met his waterloo as he was arrested on his way to the station.

He was arraigned before the magistrate court in Yenagoa, for defamation of character, and publication of seditious articles against Chief Benson Agadaga and Dr. Peter Akpe.

He is remanded in police custody for thirty days to allow for further investigations into the matter.

However, the Central Bank of Nigerian has said the Accelerated Agricultural Development Scheme [AADS] is on course in Bayelsa state and that the allegations bordering on the fraud in the programmed is untrue.

The apex bank made the clarification during a courtesy visit of its Yenagoa Branch Controller, Mr. Francis Ene-Asuquo, and his team to Governor Douye Diri in Government House, Yenagoa.

A press statement released by the chief press secretary to the Governor, Mr. Daniel Alabrah quoted Mr. Ene-Asuquo, as giving thumbs up to the state government for its investment in agriculture and for the robust partnership between both parties.

He acknowledged for the first time since its creation, Bayelsa has fully keyed into the CBN’s Anchor Borrowers Scheme, which has propelled farmers to establish themselves into clusters in the state.

Undoubtedly, with the declaration by the CBN representative, it is obvious that Dr. John Idumange was on a mission to seek attention which has been his stock in trade, because if the motive is not right, the action cannot be right.

It is time everyone knew Idumange for who he is; a serial blackmailer.

The agric loan in contention is being properly managed as CBN officials have testified that much.

Idumange was just crying wolf where there is none. Therefore, every right thinking citizen should ignore him