ACRILEGE! Worshipper gives used condom as offering in

Offering time, blessing time!” So goes the chorus from
members of the congregation whenever it’s time to give
offering in most churches.
To most Christians, the offering time is, indeed, a time of
immense financial blessing. But recently, the offering time
turned into a moment of hot curses in a Lagos church when
an already used condom, dripping with semen, was
discovered inside the offering box after the Sunday service.
It was like a weird dream, according to the former
Chairman, Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Ogba
Zone, Prophet Tobi Okonkwo, who witnessed the incident.
The cleric said he couldn’t believe his eyes when a
discarded condom, with stains, was discovered in an
envelope in the offertory box of his former church.
When Pope Paul VI warned on June 29, 1972 that the
smoke of Satan had entered the church, not many Christians
took the warning seriously.
With this recent incident, Okonkwo admitted that the agents
of darkness had infiltrated the churches in large numbers
and now occupy high-ranking positions in the gathering of
God’s children, where they wreak untold havoc on the
unwary flock.
Okonkwo, who is also the General Overseer of Living Word
Prayer Assembly, Agege, Lagos, wept over man’s
ingratitude to God during a recent monthly thanksgiving
programme of the church, tagged Manna from Heaven.
Although the service was a joyful moment where the
shepherd distributes food items and other gifts to his flock,
his startling revelation brought a hush of silence on the
congregation.
His words pierced the hearts of the worshippers, as he
explained how man had become ungrateful to divine
benevolence. His several instances of the atrocities
committed in hallowed places pointed to the fact that
messengers from hell now walked about freely in hallowed
places. “It is really bad.
It has got to a point where some people come to the church
to mock God. They are anti-Christ but they still go to
church. You could imagine how somebody came to the
church and decided to give a used condom in an envelope
to God.
You can see how wicked man has become,” he said.
Okonkwo said the giver of the abominable gift refused to
confess his crime, even when the entire church rained
curses profusely on whosoever was responsible.
He said, “A curse was laid on the person. Even before the
people laid the curse, God had already seen the
abomination committed in his house by someone, who
pretended he came to the church to worship God.”
The former PFN leader warned other members of the church
of the reality of the anti-Christ, whose reign would usher
ungodliness in the world. He lamented that prosperity
message has taken over the pulpit at the neglect of the
gospel of repentance, which had enslaved many hearts in
pleasure and love of the world.

Life in Fela’s shrine: The untold story

For the fifty-eight years he lived on earth, the Fela mystique
kept the world on the edge of their seats. There was always
something out of the ordinary in everything he did: from the
rebel streak in him, which was constantly dramatised; to the
zombifying lyrics in his music, which constantly gave
successive Nigerian military governments the jitters and, of
course, his harem of wives, which exaggerated his machismo,
Fela Kuti symbolized a cat with nine lives, and, certainly, a cat
that touched many lives in Nigeria and beyond.
If you think you have heard everything about the Afrobeat
maestro, who, contrary to his parents’ advice for him to study
medicine in London, chose to study music at the Trinity College
of Music, you could just be like a nitwit whose idea of scientific
grandeur is only limited to the gigantic Egyptian pyramid.
Needless to say, you need to read the latest book on Fela,
Kalakuta Diaries, written by his erstwhile PRO, Uwa Erhabor,
presented to the public early this week at the Nigeria Institute of
International Affairs, Lagos.
Unlike other books on Fela that has dwelled on his stage
performances, interpretation of his lyrics and political activism,
Kalakuta Diaries recounts the untold story of life in Fela’s
Kalakuta Republic, his symbolic free world, where those in
military fatigue weren’t welcome and even some sane citizens
could be charged for jaywalking. Kalakuta Diaries tells stories
of the seamy side of life in Fela’s iconoclastic home and lot
more.
It could be outlawed elsewhere, but smoking of weeds wasn’t in
his republic –of course he prefers to call it “African grass” –
and if you couldn’t charge cows and goats for grazing on
grass, why should you charge Fela for feasting on nature’s
grassy environment?
That was his contention, but the Nigerian government didn’t
just buy into his grassy defence. Marijuana has been outlawed
in Nigeria for many decades, and Fela wasn’t to be treated like
a scared cow. On many occasions, the minions of the law were
after the Afrobeat king, and the lead-up to his arrest and
arraignment in court was always melodramatic.
Don’t forget, no Nigerian soldier, soon after it was released,
loved his song, Zombie. The song’s lyrics of Zombie no go
unless you tell am to go/ Zombie no go stop unless you tell
am to stop…was a scathing commentary on their soulless lives
and that of total submission to the military command –to maim
and kill without compunction. On one particular occasion, a
group of soldiers, led by the late Major General Musa Bamaiyi,
was nosing about in the Kalakuta Republic to get a whiff of him
smoking marijuana in order to arraign him and possibly put him
behind bars.
That opportunity came when the cops caught him red-handed
one day with a mould of marijuana. To them, that was it: the
maverick musician would soon be cut out from the world and,
therefore, wouldn’t trouble anybody anymore or serve as a
negative influence on the youths.
But Fela could play the James Bond sometimes, and so he did.
Aware that catching him with prohibited marijuana was too
empirical an evidence to be condoned, Fela instantly swallowed
the stuff. The cops were perplexed by his brazen attitude, beat
him up and whisked him away to the dreaded Alagbon police
station. But another drama was yet to unfurl. The police and the
nation waited for Fela to defecate the swallowed marijuana, but
he didn’t twenty-four hours later.
If only he could do that, thought the police, it would be an
incriminating evidence to nail him. Aware of that possibility,
Fela’s mum, the late Funmilayo Ransome Kuti, decided to take
over preparation of his food in detention. Cleverly, she fed him
with vegetable soup with little garri thrice a day, and, on the
third day, Fela eventually defecated, but no marijuana was
detected in the faeces! What was the miracle?
His daily ration of vegetable soup had dissolved the marijuana.
Thus, Fela was let go. This and other weird stories are
contained in the new book. “In my 31 years of legal practice,
Fela has been one of my most wonderful and intelligent
clients,” said his former lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), at the
launch of Kalakuta Diaries. “He was one client who deliberately
committed criminal offence and his cases were the toughest yet
easiest to handle, because he would make it easier for you.” No
thanks to his wily ways.
It sounded incredible yet true that Fela had no house of his and
a car before he died, said Falana, who also revealed that he
didn’t leave behind riches but integrity. The new book was
sponsored by Chief Rasheed Gbadamosi, who said he had to do
that, because “anything on Fela is an automatic ‘yes’ from
me.”
Speaking at the book launch, he recounted how he met Fela the
first time as a university student in the UK in the 1960s and fell
in love with his music. “When we were bored in our days as
students in the UK, we always found consolation in Fela’s band
and we felt nostalgic about Highlife music in Nigeria.”
He also disclosed that, on his return to Nigeria in 1969, Fela’s
Afrobeat music took over him. If we want to break the
stereotype about Nigeria, Promasidor’s MD, Kim Roland, the
chief launcher at the vent, said we have to write more books
like Kalakuta Diaries, because Nigeria has limited written history
about it and its peoples.
For Yinka Odumakin, the greatest wealth anybody can leave is
integrity and a good name and those behind to take after him,
and Fela, he said, was a genius in that regard.
The author of the book, Erhabor, said it was saddening that
people in the western world have to remind us how great Fela
was before we begin to celebrate him. Vouching for the contents
of the book, Fela’s son, Seun Kuti, said, though some of the
things in the book sound exaggerated, they are real, indeed.
More than two decades after he died, Fela’s music has
continued to capture the imagination of the world, not just
because of its twang of resistance but in its powerful lyrical
dancing effects.
Fela, as an undergrad in London, formed his first band, Koola
Lobitos, which invented Afrobeat music, a variation of Highlife
music that fuses jazz, funk, rock and traditional African rhythms
and chants. A non-conformist, contrary to pop music norm,
many of his songs last more than 20 minutes and his live
performances, which he dubbed the “Underground Spiritual
Game” was the epitome of showmanship.
Following the release of Zombie album, Nigerian soldiers
invaded the Kalakuta Republic, beat him mercilessly, burnt his
studio and destroyed his instruments and master tapes, killed
his mother, as well. Never to be intimidated, he wrote two nasty
songs “Coffin for Head of State” and “Unknown Soldier”. He
soldiered on till the end in 1997.

CBN To Phase Out Polymer Naira Notes By June

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will stop printing the naira in
polymer notes by the middle of the year because they fade
quickly, its deputy governor Tunde Lemo has said.“By the
middle of the year, we will start to produce the second
generation of lower denomination notes, now in paper not in
polymer,” he told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday
in Washington on the sideline of the ongoing Spring Meeting of
the World Bank and the IMF.“My plea is that Nigerians should
exercise patience with us; it wasn’t the fault of the CBN, it was
just because we had to go back to the drawing board to rethink
‘Project Cure’ in the light of the wish of the public that we
should not go ahead with the N5000 notes and lower
denomination.“We will correct that in the course of the year.
Polymer certainly will be phased out. In fact, we are phasing
out polymer. No new note is being printed in polymer
now.”Lemo told NAN that when the
CBN was going to introduce the polymer currencies, its search
showed that they could last longer than ordinary paper
notes.“So, part of `Project cure’ actually was actually to move
away from polymer substrate to paper, unfortunately we had a
push-back because of the issues around N5000 note and coins.
The entire program was put in abeyance, otherwise by now we
should have stopped producing polymer,” he said. Lemo said
the CBN had awarded a contract for the printing of the higher
denomination notes to a foreign company because of low
capacity at the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting
Company.He said the CBN would begin to receive the fresh
notes from June.On the campaign on the careful handling of
the naira, Lemo said that it was unfortunate that the campaign
was not successful, but noted that it was a criminal act to
abuse the naira going by the CBN Act.“Unfortunately, CBN is
not a law enforcement institution; we left that in the hands of
the
law enforcement institutions and that has not kicked in,” he
said. “I still go to parties and see people spraying money,
stepping on money, I see touts distributing mint-fresh money
that should go to customers.”Lemo also said the CBN had
talked to the police to step up its surveillance to reduce the
abuse of the naira adding that the bank had no right to arrest
people who sold the naira on the streets. (NAN)

Obasanjo had a killer squad as president

A former associate of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo,
Mr. Richard Odusanya, on Saturday alleged that the
former chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic
Party's Board of Trustees was in charge of a killer
squad that was formed under the military regime of late
Gen. Sani Abacha.
Odusanya reportedly worked behind the scenes when Obasanjo was in power.
In a live interview, with an online news portal, Sahara
Reporters , Odusanya alleged that the former President
lodged the killer squad at a State Security Service
headquarters, known as 'Yellow House.'
He appeared on the programme alongside Mr. Segun
Seriki, a PDP member in Ogun State and a member of
the House of Representatives in the Third Republic,
under the Social Democratic Party.
According to Odusanya, the squad was used for political
assassinations and was responsible for the unresolved
killings of politicians under Obasanjo's administration.
He further alleged that Obasanjo knew about the murder
of the former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General
of the Federation, Chief Bola Ige, and a South-South
politician, Chief Harry Marshall.
Odusanya said, "I believe that a killer squad created
during the Abacha regime was kept by Obasanjo and
housed at SSS headquarters, known as Yellow House,
and was used for political assassinations."
Explaining Obasanjo's alleged link with Ige's death,
Odusanya said, "The night Chief Bola Ige was
assassinated, a top PDP member confided in me that
Obasanjo told him Bola Ige was down."
Concerning the murder of Marshall, he said, "I also took
a gift to Marshall and he was assassinated just a few
weeks later."
Odusanya also alleged that the ex-president benefitted
from an account with the defunct Trans-International
Bank and that from the funds in the account, Obasanjo,
asked him to deliver a Peugeot 607 and the sum of
N500,000 to a woman (name withheld).
When contacted for Obasanjo's comments, his Chief of
Staff, Mr. Victor Durodola, said his boss was not
available to react to the allegations.
He challenged those who made the allegations to come
out with their evidence.
Durodola said, "The former president is not available.
Therefore, he is not in a position to respond to the
allegations. However, my personal comment is that
these are people who indulge in blackmail.
"Why are they using online television? They should
come to Channels , AIT, or NTA; these are television
stations that are known.
"Definitely, that is not Obasanjo's character they are
describing and everybody knows that. Of all the military
rulers, the issue of killer squad cannot be attributed to
him. That was not his style. He is not around now but I
doubt if he would even give it any attention whatsoever.
He stressed that the ex-president could not have been
responsible for the unresolved killings under his
administration.
He further argued that Obasanjo had no reason to be
involved in Ige's assassination.
"We would like to see it (the interview) but these are
issues you know cannot be possible. The killings were
unresolved, yes, but you know that nobody could have
attributed that to him. He would kill his minister for
what? So that he (Obasanjo) could be minister?"
Durodola said.
Another Obasanjo aide, Vitalis Ortese, told one of our
correspondents on the telephone that the allegation was
a non-issue.
He said, "I don't know them. Let them prove the
allegation. I don't know any Segun Seriki or Richard
Odusanya."
Also reacting to the allegations, Bola Ige's eldest child,
Mrs. Funsho Adegbola, told SUNDAY PUNCH that her
father's killers are still alive.
Adegbola, a lawyer, called for the reopening of the Bola
Ige murder case.
She said, "I can't put anything past them. I haven't seen
the interview. I don't know the content of the report but
I can't put anything past them. I believe the people who
killed my father - the foot soldiers and the people who
sent them - are alive. They are not people from Mars.
"A murder case can go on for 30 years or more. If there
is political will and the government wants to show that
people should pay for their crimes, this can be done.
The family can't do anything about it because it is the
state versus the suspects. The family can't sue; it is the
state that can take action."
Ige, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, was shot dead in his
Ibadan home on December 23, 2001.
Following a mass protest over the killing, the Federal
Government had deployed troops in the South-Western
state to prevent a breakdown of law and order.
While security agencies had arrested some suspects
allegedly involved in the murder, including the then
deputy governor of Osun State - Ige's home state - Mr.
Iyiola Omisore, they were however discharged and
acquitted.
Just like Ige, Marshall Harry, who was the National
Coordinator, South-South geopolitical zone of the All
Nigerian Peoples Party Presidential Campaign was
murdered by at his No,28 Karaye Close, Garki II, Abuja
residence on March 5, 2003, barely a month to the
presidential election in which Obasanjo was re-elected.
The ANPP chieftain was said to have been killed in the
presence of his daughter and his niece, Loliya Harry.
The only security guard in the house, Mr. Polini Aniya,
said the assailants numbering about five forced their
way into the ANPP chieftain's residence around 3am.
The ANPP, and it presidential candidate, Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari, had insisted that agents of the PDP
and Federal Government assassinated Harry.
At Harry's burial ceremony, Buhari, alleged that in its
desperation to rig itself into power, the PDP-controlled
Federal Government bankrolled assassins to eliminate
political opponents.
After the incident, the police arrested four suspects in
connection with the murder.
However, after seven years in detention, the accused
standing trial for the murder were discharged and acquitted by an Abuja High Court.
The court cited lack of enough evidence to sustain the
charge against them.

APC Manifesto: Obasanjo To Face porob Immunity For President, Governors to go

APC Manifesto: Jonathan, Obasanjo To Face Probe • Immunity For President, Governors To Go After weeks of intense debates, the Action Congress of
Nigeria, ACN, the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, has finally adopted a manifesto, in which they enunciated plans to
tackle corruption in Nigeria.
The parties had, in February, announced their plan to merge into one party to be known as All Progressives Congress, APC. Consequently, the parties went into series of meetings during which it agreed on the constitution, manifesto, logo, motto and slogan. Some of the documents are to be submitted alongside the application for registration to the Independent National Electoral Commission at the end of the national conventions of the parties, where the merger is to be approved by members. According to the manifesto  the association spells out an ambitious action plan to aggressively tackle corruption, which a source said generated hot argument before it was finally adopted last week. Some members of the association reportedly canvassed the need to include specific details, which will endear it to Nigerians above the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which it believes has not done well in that regard since assuming power at the federal level about 13 years ago. The APC specifically declared in the 29-page document that if it comes to power in 2015, it would not only renegotiate oil deals, but would also remove the secrecy surrounding the ownership of 40% of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, NLNG, and query the utilisation of the over N50 trillion oil revenue it claimed accrued to the Federation Account in the last 13 years PDP has been in power.
During the period, the PDP produced three Presidents, namely Olusegun Obasanjo (1999-2007), Umaru Yar’Adua (2007-2010) and incumbent Goodluck Jonathan (2010 till date). The 20-member APC Manifesto (Logo, Slogan and Motto) Committee was headed by Audu Ogbeh, a former National Chairman of the PDP.
“We shall negotiate oil deals, unveil the secrecy surrounding the ownership of 49% of the Nigeria Liquefied, NLNG, query the over N50 trillion Oil Revenue which accrued to the Federation Account between 2000 and 2013 and recover billions of US Dollars which Ministries, Departments and Agencies, failed to remit to the Federation Account,” the association declared on Section 1 Page 5 of the adopted manifesto. The APC also declared that it would not only strengthen and make independent the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, and other anti-graft agencies by repealing the laws which inhibit their independent, it would also review
public service rules and financial regulations which currently permit outrageous impropriety in public
finances. It also promised to push for the removal of the immunity clause in the constitution which shields the
president, vice president, governors and deputy governors from prosecution while in office. “APC in Government shall muster the political will to
wage strident war against corruption; otherwise our post-oil-economy will be disastrous,” the manifesto
stated. “It is our considered view that none of our cardinal programs will succeed if the current level of corruption and looting going on in the land is allowed to continue.
“We shall plug all leakages which accelerate monumental corruption, recover looted funds, cap and
trim unwarranted allowances to public office holders.” With a view to sanitising the electoral process if it comes to power, the APC also adopted for its manifesto some recommendations of the defunct Electoral Reform
Committee, otherwise known as Uwais Panel, set up by late President Umaru Yar’Adua. Among the recommendations listed on Page 6 under the
same section, are that it will “make the appointment of the chairman and top officials of the National and State
Electoral Commissions public” and that the “Burden of Proof shall rest on the Electoral Commissioners.” It did
not expatiate on the recommendations.
On power, APC said in Section 4 Page 8 of the document that it will pursue the expansion of electricity @generation and distribution of up to 40,000 megawatts in the four to eight years of its administration. It added, “The party will also work assiduously at making available power from renewable energy sources such as coal solar, wind and biomass for domestic and industrial use, whenever these prove viable.” The APC also said in Section 23 Page 25 of the manifesto that, upon its assumption of office, it will begin wide consultations to amend the Constitution with a view to decentralizing the police command and expand local content. It also promised to establish a well-trained, adequately equipped and goals-driven Serious Crime Squad to combat terrorism, kidnapping, armed robbery, militancy, ethno-religious and communal clashes nationwide. On politics and governance enunciated in Section 24 Page 26 of the document, APC promised among other things, to initiate action to amend the constitution with a view to devolving powers, duties and responsibilities to states and local governments in order to entrench Federalism and the Federal Spirit; remove immunity from prosecution for elected public officers in criminal cases; ensure full implementation of the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act so that government held data set can be requested and used by the media and public at large and then publish at large, and then on regular basis; and restructure government for a leaner, more efficient and less expensive public service. “APC believes that our politics is broke. Our nation urgently needs fundamental political reform and improvement in governance to make it more transparent and accountable,” the manifesto stressed. On the social scene, APC also said it would not only invest in massive human capital that would encourage the youth, it promised to “assist Nollywood to fully develop into world-class industry that can compete effectively with Hollywood and Bollywood in due course.

UBA BANK! On the brink of a new crisis?

Nigerian banks, rich in every thing from untapped resources underground to the ever shining sun and human resources of young generations lacks leadership. The system is infested with corrupt directors and oppressors. The more the individual banker amasses from the bribes, the greedier he becomes and the more he closes his eyes to regulations. With time, access to bank credit has become the preserve of the very rich who see no reason to pay back, given the percentage they had paid officials.
In Nigeria young bank managers ride the most expensive cars, they belong in the most exclusive social clubs, they live in the choicest neighbourhoods and
they enrol their children in the most expensive schools. As for the top executives, they are the glamour
superstars. They move around town with long convoys of so-called security cars. They are by far the heaviest donors to Churches, with attendant privileges and what is worrisome about this phenomenon is the fact that it has continued unabated.
The strength of the oppressor lies in the ignorance of the oppressed. Nigerian banks are replicate of various forms of corrupt managing directors/oppressors who masquerade themselves as the people's leader. Its unfortunate that the poor are still being milked be the very people that hold their destiny. It is not just sad to see everyday stories of how the employees of Nigerian banks are enslave in their own country by these bank chiefs otherwise what is the justification for the mass sack going on in UBA plc? Over 500 staff of UBA plc have been asked to resign forthwith just like that. The worst is that no meaningful severance package accompanies this sack. Not long ago,  it was widely reported how the these UBA bank 'chiefs ' fought to stamp out unionism in UBA, a fight they worn using 'bribe money' as their weapon. Today there is no union in place to fight these occupational maladies. The press is well taken care of such that they don't say anything. An employee of the bank told Atlantic News Nigeria "we that are remaining are working in fear and those who have opportunity, waste no time in defrauding the bank".  Investigations revealed that corruption has gradually become endemic and institutionalised in UBA bank. Last week, it was reported that a staff of UBA stole over N536million from Lagos Cash Movement center. Observers believes  this was done in anger as rumour had it that the deputy managing director recently bought a bullet proof custom made Ferrari car at N128million. An employee of the bank who doesn't want his name to be mentioned questions "why is the media keeping quiet and why is this slavery allowed to persist?" UBA is gradually sinking with internal crisis rocking the bank.
Obviously this is a blow and a slap in the Nigerian financial institution. It goes to show the level of corruptions and greed in the country. Before now there was an overhaul but this does not bring tangible positive effect to the masses but continues to create suspicion and mistrust. Ernestly a new but total reform and revolution by CBN has to take it course for UBA and other banks to really move ahead.
princeht2000@yahoo.com

Ex-Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher dies, aged 87 Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has died at 87

Former Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher has died "peacefully" at the age of 87 after suffering a stroke while staying at the Ritz hotel in central London. In a statement, The National Union of Mineworkers said Lady Thatcher had "set out to serve those whose interests were profit for the few" and this had led to the"decimation" of the coal industry. Ahead of his return to the UK, Mr Cameron told the BBC: "Margaret Thatcher succeeded against all the odds. The real thing is she didn't just lead our country; she saved our country. Ahead of his return to the UK, Mr Cameron told the BBC:
"Margaret Thatcher succeeded against all the odds. The real thing is she didn't just lead our country; she saved our country.

Igbo Presidency Sold For 5Billion Naira

Have They Shamelessly Sold Igbo Presidency For N5 Billion Naira?/
By Obinna Akukwe
It is obvious to informed political strategists that the
Igbos have schemed themselves out of possible
presidency for 2015 for a probable paltry sum of
N5billion naira (subsidy thieves stole N1.7 billion naira).
Since the Ohaneze crisis started in February 2012,
various versions of how much was released to the body
through various guise, means and reasons was rife. A
news media reported that ’’ Jonathan’s
N5billion bribe tears Ohaneze Apart ‘’and went on to
publish together with another media site ( Elombah) one
of the secret bank accounts used to siphon the funds,
but since the South East Governors set up a committee
to look into the matter, facts before them suggested that
the amount surpasses the N5 billion reported in the
news. Some Committee members were availed of some
secret account including the Diamond Bank account
where over N275 million naira was withdrawn over a
period of about two years without the knowledge of
Ohaneze Secretariat. Informed sources have explained
that the South East Governors were shocked when they
realized that the presidency have been bombarding
Ohaneze with cash, contracts and businesses and some
Reconciliation Committee Members were so ashamed
that they buried their heads in and sought an exit
strategy. That is why a two-week assignment turned to
over eight weeks and was concluded just before the
Easter week. Their assignment is likened to a doctor
called to cure malaria fever only to discover that the
patient had acute Hepatitis B and needs complicated
medication.
Bishop Emmanuel Chukwuma , at the peak of the
Ohaneze crisis , put a call through to Governor Peter
Obi, and asked what Igbo Governors were doing to
checkmate the spiraling crisis. Peter Obi responded by
scheduling a meeting of the five South East Governors
at Government House, Enugu, and they responded within
24 hours to deliberate on the matter. The five governors
of the South East set up 11 man committee to look into
the Ohaneze crisis after the controversial January 2013
elections, unify the aggrieved chieftains and make
Ohaneze stronger. The committee members include
Bishop Emmanuel Chukwuma, Rev Prof Obiora Ike,
Senator Uche Chukwumerije, Senator Ben Obi, Prof Joe
Irukwu, Hon Ohuabunwa and among others, but the
extent of shit oozing from the place was such that even
the Governors were reluctant to call for speedy
conclusion of the report.
Among the revelations which shocked them, though not
new to the informed observers was that the Ime Obi
meeting of Ohaneze was called only four times
throughout the four year tenure of the immediate past
leadership. Ime Obi meeting is like the council of elders
and they hold monthly meetings during which they
review situations that concerns Igbos with a view to
taking appropriate positions. The aggrieved parties
alleged that the organization was run front Asaba
without due consultations to forestall any attempt for
Igbos to rally in pursuit of common agenda.
Another revelation was that the past leadership had
audience with President Goodluck Jonathan 21 times
and there was no infrastructure in Igbo land to show for
the meetings. They alleged that he never attended any
of the meetings with President Jonathan in the company
of any member of Ime Obi nor member of the National
Executive Council, therefore nobody knows whether Igbo
interest is being sold during the meetings. However, the
immediate past president Ambassador Ralph Uwechue
had countered that the president had always requested
to see only himself and as such he cannot be expected
to carry crowd to the Sate House.
The committee were told that all the monies collected
on behalf of the group was never lodged into the
account and that the organization as at the time of
swearing in of new executives, had less than N100,000
naira in the account. They were informed that if not for
the magnanimity of Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State
who came to the rescue of Ohaneze with N2million
naira , the elections would not have held, wandering why
the deliberate starving of funds to the organs when the
members know that Ohaneze had excess cash in secret
accounts. The committee was told that the reason for
the starvation of funds was to frustrate a free and fair
election and impose some presidency anointed
candidates on the Igbos .Uwechue countered the
starvation of funds argument by explaining that he
personally released N1million naira to the body for
conduct of the said election , describing the taunted
intervention of Orji as a blackmail.
The committee members were told that there was never
any agreement between President Jonathan and
Ohaneze that the former will support an Igbo man for
president either in 2015 or 2019 and that Ohaneze’s
blind endorsement of Jonathan 2015 is motivated by
personal and business interests and they revealed some
multi billion naira business interests of some Ohaneze
Chieftains championing Jonathan 2015 projects.
The committee members also discovered that the
presidential aide on Subsidy Reinvestment Programme,
Nze Akachukwu Nwankpa was not acting alone in the
bribery scandal. They were told that some people, who
returned their bribe cheques issued through a proxy
company, were given cash equivalent of between $
120,000-150,000 dollars to shut up their mouth while
Igbo interests is being sold. Nze Akachukwu on his own
part have threatened to expose anybody that tries to
drag his name to the mud and reportedly told some
Igbo elders that he did everything with the consent of
Ohaneze leadership.
Ambasador Uwechue had always maintained that the
Ohaneze foundation was run by the Akachukwu in
concert with the past publicity secretary, Chief Ralph
Ndigwe, who was managing the Ikenga Express fleet of
buses and that he was denied vital information and
access to the funds. That was his submission to the
earlier committee set up by Ohaneze to investigate the
matter and that was the stance he maintained while
speaking with some members of the committee.
The committee was told that the new leadership of
Ohaneze has already foreclosed any support for Igbo
presidency in 2015. The statement by the Ohaneze
spokesman Prince Tonnie Ogonna that ” If President
Jonathan declines to run in 2015, it then makes it
quicker for the Igbo. The bottom line is that Ohanaeze
supports Jonathan in whatever decision he takes in
2015” was tendered as evidence that the new
leadership have sold off without any concrete
agreement. This stance of the new Ohaneze leadership
is already yielding dividends of financial transformation
for some members.
Some Committees members, together with the Governors
were disappointed that all the hues and cries that
Ohaneze lacked funding was all lies and that Ohaneze
was swimming in billions. Some of them expressed
disappointment that the group had acquiesced to the
President Jonathan second term agenda cheaply while
others believe that Ohaneze is in order.
Governor Martins Elechi of Ebonyi State felt slighted that
a president was elected for Ohaneze from his state and
he was not allowed to either make input. He demanded
a new election whereby according to the Ohaneze
constitution, three persons must be presented from the
state from which the General Convention can chose
one.
The Committee had concluded its reports, however,
informed sources revealed that while Governors Obi and
Orji of Anambra and Abia States respectively are in
support of the continuation of the present executives,
Okorocha and Elechi favours fresh elections . It is
expected that the Governors will harmonize their
positions and probably appease the aggrieved parties.
Whichever way it goes, through acts of sabotage, it is
obvious that Igbo presidency has been sold and those
expecting the Igbo to preside over Nigeria in 2015
should blame their leaders for sacrificing their desting
for paltry appeasement of a few billions.