A Former Governor & His Boys, Not Efcc, Are After Obiano!
Any close watcher of the Governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano's style of governance and the devilish envy it has drawn from a former governor & his boys for nearly eight years would have predicted these lifeless insinuations flying around as connecting Obiano and the anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Any time Governor Obiano’s profile peaks; and Anambra State's image rates high in good news, the former governor’s personal envy runs riots. Days would not go before e-rats and pay-per-attack writers sponsored by this sworn political opponent would fling concocted tale all over the place to deflate the governor's public reward. Anambra people and in deed, all well-meaning Nigerians should have seen it coming. The massive victory of the All-Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the Anambra State Gubernatorial election 2021 that produced and promises another sterling leadership for the state re-ignited a new Anambra hope but regrettably seem to have murdered sleep for the hardened minds of a certain former governor & co who cannot live to see anything in Anambra state that essentially shoots up Obiano's rating. In foreboding tones, community clusters of Anambra people currently discuss that the recent triumph of APGA has hurt him far deeper than the electoral loss suffered by his own party. On the other hand, the All-Progressives Congress (APC) candidate has so far woefully lost in all kangaroo attempts at using the courts to steal power in Anambra State. But the vicarious mourner on APC's candidate’s behalf is the vicious former governor. Anambra people know his antics so well that before the choreographed publication of the incoherent news of EFCC and the placement of Obiano on their imaginary Watchlist, it was almost certain that the bruised would seek Obiano’s pound of rising popularity flesh else how. It was however uncertain how and from where the counter offensive would emanate.
Suddenly there was this unnecessary hoopla over perceived mistakes in an affidavit in support filled out by the winner of the election, Prof Chukwuma Soludo. It is only a man that was born with the heart of Lucifer that can live with his own loss but never with the thought of that loss actually meaning a win for another. As people made fun of the glitch in the INEC form, the Lucifers of Anambra politics sponsored an orchestrated media frenzy over a letter purportedly placing Governor Obiano on the Watchlist of the EFCC. There was no doubt about those whose handiwork set out to create the mischief and embarrass a sitting Governor. Metaphorically speaking, in their furious chase of the Israelites, Pharaoh's men were totally blind to the gaping Red Sea. Similarly, the Pharaohs of Anambra politics did not actually know how they in pursuit of Obiano, dragged the hallowed name of the EFCC into their unintelligent scheme. Everybody except the envious Pharaohs of Anambra politics knows that prosecution cannot be meted to a sitting governor prior first, to a formal notification from the EFCC of any constitutional infringements; and that public pronouncement or open communication of guilt of an office holder serving a term firmly protected by the constitution is a serious infraction. But the former governor and his boys owned up that crime, inferring publicly that they are steeped in that criminal hand-holding with EFCC. In their blind pursuit of Obiano they dragged the name of EFCC in the mud, weakening the anti-graft agency's moral strength in this matter concerning Anambra. In the mind of every Anambra person, this bad move has already created a public mind-picture of a compromised EFCC. The angry Pharaoh and his boys have erred big time by publishing a picture of the EFCC picking its teeth after lunch with them.
The fabricated report, "Why EFCC is After Obiano" is a trending headline that was crafted to publicly undo Obiano's character but in tonality that headline roars something different. It admits that it was crafted at that lunch table. Otherwise, how on earth could a faceless third-party issue to the public with such clinical certainty the private workplans on the table of EFCC without earning a corresponding public rebuke from the anti-graft agency? It was no brainer interpreting who the face-less author of the purported infraction list is. The outlined list in the fake report is a regurgitation of a tired and retired liturgy. Here are there claims and our answers to them:
1. 11.3 billion Paris Refund squandered. To this ndi Anambra are damagingly asking: Which actually was squandered? Is it 11.5 billion or 17 billion because these two figures have been so tossed and bandied about in the social media? In their haste to imply squander, Pharaoh & company forgot to indicate if the humongous amount was in Naira or other currency.
2. Over 75 billion left by his predecessor squandered. To this ndi Anambra are damagingly asking again: Is this not like the exhumation of a body long buried? But to make the corpse look new, the concocted EFCC checklist described it as "over 75billion" to make it look infinite, attempting a stretching of the infiniteness of alleged Obiano's rascality. Again, is the humongous 75 billion in Naira or other currencies?
3. 56 million Dollars left by his predecessor squandered. To this ndi Anambra ask: Before now the 56million Dollars was recorded as a component of the phantom 75BN. May be this has now been made to stand alone in order to make the itemized list of Obiano’s alleged infractions longer in the eye of his darling public.
4. Borrowed and squandered over 111.48 million Dollars from China and India.
To this ndi Anambra ask: Before a state can access a foreign loan, it must first get the approvals of the State House of Assembly, the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Debt Management Office. But in their haste to imply squander, Pharaoh and his co-travelers failed to see these details. Or is it to be understood that Obiano jetted to China, connecting India on a spree of private, personal borrowing?
5. Owing contractors over 200 billion Dollars
To this, ndi Anambra are still shouting hehehehe e e! Can a zero or two be removed from this twelve-digit figure so that the lie can at least be sellable? How much is Nigeria's internal debt as a whole not to mention Anambra’s?
6. Collected back from contractors’ money paid to them by Obi for some projects like the three arms zone, new Govt. House, Chief Judge’s house, etc
To this ndi Anambra ask: Was it by consensus or force? And the Contractors have not rioted or gone to court?
7. 1.2 billion Naira Security votes per month
To this Anambra people muse: It looks as if Pharaoh & his boys have been obsessed with this number for eight years.
8. Unaccounted IGR stolen
To this ndi Anambra admonish: Until the checklist says how much, please spare our peace and spare yourselves of beer-parlour gossip…
9. Question on what happened to gratuities of retirees since 2017.
To this ndi Anambra say: Answers await the questions. Or should answers come before the questions?
10. To give account of some of the houses he purchased all over the world, example being the castle at 10 Ruxton rd, off Bourdillion Street, Ikoyi.
To this Anambra people simply heave a sigh saying "too petty for Pharaoh. "An allegation of global crime is citing a phantom local proof; why not cite one, just one foreign evidence!
11. Anambra International Cargo and Passenger Airport as "white elephant project."
To this Anambra people say if they prefer it as a "black elephant project", so be it. We like it. And are thankful to Obiano for the elephant, its colour being of little relevance!
Ndi Anambra long delivered the verdict by giving Obiano victory over his traducers in three consecutive elections since 2017. Obiano has nothing to worry about since records of his stewardship to ndi Anambra are not hidden nor can be denied under frenzied fabrications by unforgiving opponents and his legacies cannot be blotted.
Signed for:
Concerned Anambra Patriots
Dr Okechukwu Udokwu
Barr Okenwa Ilozue
