Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director of Signatious Hotel, Warri, Delta State, Chief Kenneth Gbagi, has restated his resolve to honour police invitation if invited, over the alleged dehumanisation of four employees of the hotel.
According to reports, the female workers were allegedly stripped naked, photographed, arrested and later arraigned before a Delta State Magistrates’ Court sitting in Effurun, Uvwie Local Government Area of the state over the alleged disappearance of money belonging to the hotel.
Gbagi who was a former minister of state for education told Punch correspondent on the phone on Sunday, “Any responsible person should be able to honour police invitation; anybody who does not honour police invitation is a criminal.
“The police will soon know who is sponsoring the whole incident.”
Gbagi however said the police are yet to serve him with any formal invitation to enable him state his own side of the story.
“There’s no invitation to me from the police. I will honour the police invitation if I’m invited. The police have invited people, who are higher than me, even Presidents. Who am I? I will honour the police invitation,” he stated.
A report which went viral on social media had it that the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, had on Friday issued a warrant for the arrest of Gbagi over his alleged involvement in the incident, after police personnel raided the hotel and arrested two staff members.
The former minister is said to be gunning for the governorship of the state in the next election.
Addressing a press conference in his Oginibo country home in the Ughelli South Local Government Area on Saturday, Gbagi claimed that he was busy attending to guests at the funeral of his elder sister, Mrs Doris Emareyor, and debunked the claim of his arrest by the police from Abuja.
While denying any involvement in the alleged stripping of the workers at his hotel, he insisted that the whole episode was politically motivated by those he said were out to pull him down for parochial interests.
Gbagi equally denied his children’s involvement in the alleged act, which has been roundly condemned by members of the public, especially the human rights community.
