For Concerned Ndi –Anambra for Good and Transparent Governance (CONAFGAT),
While Ndi-Anambra have sentenced Obiano to perpetual condemnation for collecting 1.2bn monthly security vote, it is very unfortunate that Soludo has retained this wasteful gesture; not minding the sorry state of Anambra treasury.
When Nuhu Ribadu assumed office in 2003, as EFCC Boss, one of his first tasks was handling high profile crimes involving Fred Ajudua and Charles Orie (Akuatuegwu na Umuokanne) who were alleged to have defrauded some foreigners to the tune of about $2m.
While these renowned conmen were standing trial at Lagos High Court presided over by Justice Olubunmi Oyewole, little did Ribadu know that their case was a mere joke compared to the daring and audacious fraudulent expedition and exploits of Maurice Ibekwe (Okwelle Holdings) and Emmanuel Nwude (Owelle Abagana).
Nwude was alleged to have defrauded Nelson Sakaguchi, a Director at Brazil’s Banco Noroeste based in São Paulo of $242 million: $191 million in cash and the remainder in the form of outstanding interest.
Simultaneously, the late Ibekwe, a sitting House of Reps member, then, was being tried at Lagos High Court, Ikeja, with his accomplice Mr. Augunous Okoro. They were standing trial for defrauding a German, Klaus Munch and his company the sum of $30m in 1992.
The above scenario provides a lunch pad and lead into what is going on in Anambra State under Soludo. When bad governance is talked about, especially in Nigeria, citizens lament how leaders gamble with state funds. Daily Nigerians pour out their hearts, with undiluted pains, thinking that they have seen it all; unfortunately, Soludo’s story in Anambra exposes how people presumed to be the best mount leadership rostrum and end up becoming huge disappointment.
While Solduo continues to parade himself as the Star boy of the Southeast, meticulous observers that have paid solemn attention to the happenings in and around Agu Awka have an entirely different tale other than what he is peddling to the gullible public.
Soludo’s few months in office reveals how he has invented, invoked and unleashed deadly political fangs to perpetuate himself in power, using public funds to alter what has been written. How can a Professor, a lettered man, have forgotten that what is written is written (quod scripsi, scripsi)?
Perhaps, no other definition provides sufficient insight into the facade impression that politicians hawk during campaigns, elections and in office. Just like conmen, politicians invest so much time, money and resources to sell an impressive image of themselves to the electorate, before and after the elections. This false, pretentious, sanctimonious and Holier Than Thou image are sustained using public funds.
Once they assume office, their true nature unravels; as desperate, ferocious, deadly and retrogressive minds merely seeking power. Without any apologies, this is exactly what the man Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo represents. And to wrap it up, Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce, a foremost American journalist described politics as ‘strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. Precisely, Bierce defined politics as ‘the conduct of public affairs for private advantage.’
Who would have believed that the staggering amount of 100bn which Soludo sought its approval from the House of Assembly was to procure Wole Olanipekun to ‘alter’ the Judgment of the Supreme Court in Suit No: SC/CV/686/2021.
On July 16, 2022, barely 4 months into his administration, Soludo approached lawmakers at Anambra State House of Assembly seeking for approval of 100bn loan and revised the Appropriation Bill to 170bn. According to Chinagorom Ugwu of the Premium Times in March, during a program on Arise TV, five days after his inauguration, Soludo told the world that he met 400m in the State treasury, but inherited 109bn debt.
Pathetically, one would have thought that a man who met this nebulous debt would be seeking for loan to better the lot of Ndi-Anambra, painful this is not so. Soludo has his own agenda.
Our team of investigators uncovered that upon approval of the loan Soludo doled out $10m to Olanipekun, a drowning and ethically challenged lawyer, to thwart the corrected version of the Supreme Court Judgment of May 9, 2022, which declared Chief Edozie Njoku the National Chairman of APGA.
For months, Soludo and his allies have continued to proclaim to inexperienced people that he is working on something that will upturn the Supreme Court Judgment. It is incumbent on the intelligible and discerning minds to query, how far has he gone?
It will take a lot of deep thinking for Ndi-Anambra to understand that Soludo’s deception and hypocrisy is as tall as the Eiffel tower. This explains why Victor Oye, Sylvester Ezeokenwa and Tex Okechukwu, like Squealer, in the Orwellian satire, ‘Animal Farm’ has kept deceiving gullible minds that the Supreme Court Judgment was forged.
The question is, why spend billions on a forged Judgment? It is time for Ndi-Anambra to prepare for hard times, as their monthly allocations are being channeled to Olanipekun, Ikweto and others, who are now feeding fat at the expense of Ndi-Anambra.
A humble and respectful leader that has respect for his people and regard for public funds would simply hold a meeting with Njoku and find a way to resolve the impasse in APGA. But, this is a no, no, for Soludo. Rather he finds solace in using Anambra funds for fruitless ego battle.
So far, to retain his seat, Soludo distributed extra $10m. Similarly, he has continued to boast to his mannequins and close associates that rather than allow INEC to recognize Edozie Njoku; let all the allocations of Ndi-Anambra burn. Unfortunately, men that have made comments like this in the past have ended up eating their words.
Therefore, the entire grammar, projections and highfalutin projects contained in Soludo’s request to the Anambra House of Assembly on the 5th July, 2022, seeking for approval to secure a 100bn loan, is a huge hoax.
The N100bn loan from CBN has no business with construction and refurbishment of key infrastructures in the state. Simply put, the money is to prosecute a war incredibly driven by pride, arrogance and bumptiousness.
To make matters worse, Soludo increased taxes for the long suffering Anambrarians. It is unimaginable that Soludo would borrow money to prosecute a futile war, whilst using Ndi-Anambra as collateral. God forbid.
Recently, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) had written to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) requesting that Chief Wole Olanipekun, a former President of the Association, step down from his current position as the Chair of the Body of Benchers, a top regulatory body of the Nigeria’s legal profession.
Olanipekun’s notoriety is legendary. Here is a man that lacks professional decorum and finesse; it is this morally bankrupt lawyer that Soludo has rented to lead an ignoble crusade against the oath of his profession.
Chief Olanipekun SAN, OFR, is currently the Chairman of the Body of Benchers, which is the highest ruling body in the Nigerian legal profession. This body is made up of Supreme Court Judges, Presiding Justices of the Court of Appeal and Chief Judges of all State High Courts. Statutorily, Chief Olanipekun, is the head of the entire legal profession in Nigeria.
Unfortunately, rather than transmogrify himself into the Lord Denim of the Nigerian Judiciary through leaving impeccable legacy and upholding the tenets of judicial ethics, on the contrary, Olanipekun has seized and conscripted the platform and exploited the platform for his private advantage. The platform now serves as a cover which he uses to lobby, influence or malign Judges into doing his bidding.
Nothing is as worrisome as the petition from Ajumogobia revealing the facade, delusional and ‘phenomenal’ Olanipekun whose true identify and modus is enmeshed in filth and wrapped in mythology.
Ndi-Anambra must rise up and present another wasteful second missionary journey that will end in futility.
Ndi- Anambra, juno ekwensu na otito nya na nlafu nya nine. Read more.
Frederick Ezeokeke Esq.