Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN) has appealed to vandals and hoodlums who looted his personal residence in Calabar to kindly return his late father’s judge’s robes.
In a statement he personally signed on Thursday, the former Senate leader said: “The intruders broke into my house and looted it to the ground leaving only the bare floor.”
“All the toilets, baths, pumps and indeed every imaginable fitting were removed as were items of furniture, clothing, a huge collection of mainly rare, out of print books, documents and historic photographs.”
He said the attack on his residence was methodical.
“They also removed all the windows, railings, family pictures and burglary proofs. Even my private chapel was not spared. They set the cars ablaze and parts of the building after more than four hours of interrupted operations in my house. It was methodical.
“Among the intruders were obviously electricians, plumbers, carpenters, motor mechanics, panel beaters and other tradesmen. Mercifully, no life was lost. I was abroad”.
The former chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) added: “I only plead that they return my late father’s judges robes which they certainly would not be needing for anything and is surely incriminating.”
He explained he started building the house in 1991 and moved in in January, 2009.
Noting the destruction of his “house was clearly premeditated, wanton and unjustifiable but I understand the anger in the land especially amongst our youths.”
Ndoma-Egba added: “if looting and burning my home will better their lives and bring positive change to our land then it is a sacrifice my family and I gladly make.”
Recalling the incidents of the day, he said: “At about 2 am (local time, as I was abroad) on Saturday 24th. October 2020 I received a text informing me that there were plans by arranged hoodlums to attack my residence in Calabar, that of Senator Gershom Bassey and a hotel owned by Senator John Owan Enor.
“I promptly forwarded the texts to Senators Bassey and Owan Enoh. I also called the security agencies in Calabar to apprise them of the information.
“Calabar from my information was already tense from the previous day’s break-in into warehouses storing COVID 19 palliatives and the subsequent breaching of shops and other businesses.
“The impending attack on Senators Bassey, Owan Enoh and I was already public knowledge as later that morning I got many calls to that effect.
“Thereafter I kept calling the security agencies by the hour when in spite of their assurances that they will secure my house there was no evidence of any security personnel in my vicinity. I understand, the times were indeed confounding for everybody.
“For the rampaging bands, it is time to beat a retreat and reflect on whether your actions are helping you or your case in any way or not as they are certainly not part of the #EndSars campaign.
“Tomorrow is yours in-spite of your pain and anguish today. Be wise. Do not destroy it. While your past may not have been the least it should have been the future remains your nevertheless. It is yours to lose or gain. I pray that you claim it and gain it.”
