LOOTING OF ANAMBRA STATE TREASURY: THE CHICKENS ARE COMING HOME TO ROOST We are watching with concern the sordid drama playing out in Anambra State since Elombah exclusively broke the news that there was an agreement between the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate, Mr. Willie Obiano and the APGA National Chairman, in the event that he gets elected as the governor of the state for Obiano to pay the sum of One hundred and twenty million Naira monthly to Umeh while he will pay another whooping Thirty million Naira monthly to Umeh’s National Adviser, Chief Austine Ndigwe, who was the witness in the agreement. We have also studied the denial by the All Progressives Grand Alliance, that there was no such agreement between Mr. Willie Obiano and the APGA National Chairman Chief Victor Umeh, for Obiano to pay the sum of One hundred and twenty million Naira monthly to Umeh while he will pay another whooping Thirty million Naira to Chief Austine Ndigwe. The matter surely calls for an urgent investigation. In the light of the financial and economic implications of the allegation for the good people of Anambra State and the likelihood that if indeed the allegation is true, it indicates a conspiracy to commit an economic crime, we hereby request all relevant law enforcement agencies, especially the Economic & Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to commence an immediate investigation of this matter. We are of the firm view that the relevant authorities cannot afford to shut their eyes to this manifest grave allegation of an agreement to use the resources of Anambra State to pay off certain individuals under whatever guise. We will be failing in our duty if we shut our eyes to this unsavoury development, as we are committed to ensuring that executive recklessness impunity and financial impunity is stopped in Anambra. We are convinced that there is abundance of publicly available evidence pointing to the likelihood of the agreement being true, thereby requiring an investigation. In an interview he granted Chukwujekwu Ilozue of Daily Independent newspaper published on or about December 4, 2012, Governor Peter Obi’s uncle, Sylvester Nwobu-Alor stated as follows; ‘’Umeh and his associates have been selling to the masses, the idea of under-funding of the party by the governor as a major factor militating against the growth of the party. This allegation is rebuffed by the abundant evidence that Obi has consistently and adequately funded the party through Umeh. The monthly subvention of N20million and the corporate and individual contributions estimated at about N5.5billion in the past six years is more than enough to run a political party nationwide’’. We therefore believe that there is an evidence of system in the whole matter. The whole matter suggests a sordid regular pattern of governance or business as usual. It is obviously not a coincidence that the figure Nwobu-Alor admitted had been paid to Victor Umeh, the National Chairman of APGA is similar to the sum of N5.76billion contained in the agreement published by Elombah. If anything the alleged pay-off simply increased. The statement coming from an uncle of Peter Obi and a member of his cabinet bears eloquent testimony of likely proof of how Peter Obi has been plundering the state treasury and using part of it to pay off Victor Umeh and his side-kicks while pretending to be a prudent manager of state resources. We consider as deceptive the claim by Nwobu-Alor that some of the money that made up the N5.5billion given to Umeh came from private and corporate contributions. APGA under the leadership of Victor Umeh as well as Peter Obi’s government owes Ndi Anambra a lot of explanation as to how public funds have been channelled to APGA. The drama playing may show how the leadership of APGA under has amorally contributed to the impoverishment and under-development of Anambra State. We hereby given the Economic & Financial Crimes Commission seven days to commence investigation of this matter or we will instruct our lawyers to institute an action in court to compel it to perform its functions. We must say no to this grave economic crime. We must bring these looters of our people’s treasury to book if we are to secure the future of the state. The time to act is now. AFAM ILOUNOH DIRECTOR, MEDIA & PUBLICITY IFEANYI UBAH ELECTION CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE
Posted on: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 03:19:12 +0000