Bayelsa State Revealed: N27billion Scandal Hits State Assembly Speaker, Wereinipre Seibarugu And Deputy Speaker, Nestor Binabo

The Governor of Bayelsa State presently finds his administration caught between a rock and a hard place – as he preps for a replacement for the impeached deputy governor of Bayelsa State. As ukpakareports.com reliably gathered, the governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva, in light of the emergence of the Goodluck Jonathan as the President, has opted to defer to the President as to the choice of his deputy governor.

The President who sources report has shown some interest in the choice of who is to mount the deputy governor's seat, has tapped on his closest aide in the person of Mr Sylbriki Obiriki [President's Special Assistant on Domestic Matters] to take the position. And in reaction, the members of the State Assembly have begun to rain threats and disgust over the choice.

As ukpakareports.com have gathered through credible sources within the power circles in Bayelsa, the governor of Bayelsa prior to the impeachment had promised the Speaker of the State Assembly of this same position should they succeed in the impeachment of the then deputy governor. And it was on this promise that some members of the State Assembly stood recently to give the Governor an ultimatum to fulfill his promise.

In the lawmaker's take, the President's offer of his closest aide as the choice for the position raises suspicions. According one of the lawmakers who spoke to our correspondent, the President want to put his own man in the deputy governor's seat – so that when the time is right, Gov. Sylva will be impeached – to give way to the emergence of Mr Sylbriki Obiriki as the governor of Bayelsa State.

Through this effect, the dust raised by the ongoing tussle for the number two seat caught the attention of concerned citizens of Bayelsa indigenes who took it upon themselves to unearth the unfolding scandal currently threatening to engulf State Assembly at the palms of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC].

It can be recalled that in 2008 when the current governor lost his case at the tribunal – and had to return to the field for another gubernatorial election. The re-run election period which lasted one month between the months of April and May, 2008 saw the Speaker at the seat of the Governor of Bayelsa state.

According to sources close to the Speaker who spoke to ukpakareports.com, “he corruptly misappropriated and embezzled several billions of naira public funds. It is also a fact that the said members of the House of Assembly committed a lot of misappropriation and stealing public funds of Bayelsa State between the year 2006 and date”.

During the one month period, the Speaker Wereinipre Seibarugu, while serving as the Acting Governor oversaw the mysterious disappearance of N27 Billion [N26,846,611,679.77] This is was according a signed advertorial published in Tell Magazine is pages 46-47 of Tell Magazine N0. 47 of November, 24, 2008. It was signed by Chief Asara A. Asara, Commissioner for Information Bayelsa State.

A source within the EFCC in confirming the N27billion heist told our correspondent “that monies were catered away and phony contracts were awarded and inflated to Seibarugu's cronies, friends and colleagues. Hon. Seibarugu colluded with his relations, one Mr. Okpoi and a Port Harcourt based businessman Rtd. Col. Apulu to launder, keep and invest his corruptly acquired wealth which run into billions of naira using different fronts starched away in various hard currencies. He also gave away brand new costly jeeps to his relations, friends and cronies including the above mentioned duo”.

New evidence now shows the direct involvement of the then Acting Governor [and now Speaker] in the grand scale fraud committed against Bayelsa State via constituency projects to the tone of billions of naira between 2006 to date. This, he achieved through over inflated constituency projects using fake and unregistered business names and other companies directly owned or traceable to him.

[Click here to see listing of fraudulent constituency projects]

[Click here to Corporate Affairs Commission Company listings]

[Click here to see governor's approval of constituency project]

[Click here to see letter of contract award to Speaker's company]

Fake companies belonging to the 5 listed Bayelsa State lawmakers are listed in the CAC report as owners of companies awarded constituency projects.

HON. ROBERT ENOGHA,
HON. JONATHAN OBUEBITE,
HON. ALFRED EGBA,
HON. MRS. RUBI BENJAMIN,
HON. AMALANYO YOUSUO

In the words of a close ally of the President in Bayelsa, “most of the contracts awarded to the Speaker and his cronies as constituency projects did not follow due process in the award and payment. The speaker has between his election into the Bayelsa State House of Assembly between 2003 and date has been building and buying ships, shares, hotels and now has a vast business empire worth billions of naira in utter violation of the code of conduct and the criminal laws of Nigeria”.

Those familiar with the embattled Speaker reveal the Speaker, Hon. Werinepre Seibarugu to be a known economic saboteur and one of the Kingpins of illegal bunkering of crude oil of which serves as a major source of funding militancy and armed banditry in the Niger Delta. They add that with his new position as Speaker and acting Governor, he compromises the security agencies into acquiring sophisticated vessels plying the creeks of the Niger Delta especially Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers States. These boats and vessels are manned by armed militants working for him.

Hon. Nestor Binabo, Deputy Speaker, State Assembly

Hon. Nestor Binabo, who was dismissed from the public service of Rivers State, he falsely claimed on oath to have been compulsorily terminated as a result of proven misconduct. He fraudulently sneaked himself into the public service of Bayelsa State upon the creation of Bayelsa state in 1996. In his declaration on Oath to INEC, he did not disclose this. He corruptly and fraudulently claims salaries and other emoluments from the government of Bayelsa State after smuggling himself into the Civil Service of Bayelsa State with the aid of forged documents and thereby fraudulently received money from the government of Bayelsa State.

Hon. Nestor Binabo claimed in his INEC statement on oath to have been working for the government of Bayelsa State between 1983 and 2006. And this has been uncovered as a false statement.

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In all, the struggle to mount the seat of deputy governor of Bayelsa State appears torrid for the involved parties and particularly for the innocent citizens of Bayelsa State. The governor is in a tight corner to uncomfortable for his signature smiles to the camera. The President is caught up into his quest to establish true control of the politics in Bayelsa to notice the true intrigues of the unfolding brouhaha in Bayelsa. Perhaps as the wheel of bluffs continues its grind across the political theater in Yenogua, the involved principals will see the inevitable natural solution.