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Without prompting, they are profusely confessing their evil deeds. Their obvious sins against us. The deals wrapped in top secrecy are fast coming into the open.
Facts and fallacies are carelessly being thrown at our face. They are being displayed recklessly. The speed is unmatched.
All the conspiracies conceived against us. They are fast becoming public property. The deals and counter-deals perfected in their inner chambers. They are being ripped open effortlessly.
The rapidity is unprecedented. They are doing it with prompt dispatch. Imagine. If half of these efforts could be appropriately channelled! Bet, we wouldn’t be where we are.
Pity! They are doing it for the wrong reason. Yes, for greed and selfishness. We are more than convinced. They are maximum rulers. Eternally wolfish, ravenous, gluttonous and insatiable.
At no time do they care for us. We are to be forever preyed upon. We remain their permanent victims. The reason we’re delighted in not trusting them. Not anymore. They have lost it with us.
We are down and out with these eerie characters. Don’t blame us. They have abused the thin confidence we once had in them. They have abased themselves before our very eyes.
They are the pretenders of our times. Pathological liars all! Very compulsive and obsessive. They thrive in official falsehood, deceit and denials.
See what is playing out ridiculously. Governors, ministers, consultants fight dirty. They opted to expose themselves; to the good of us all. It is a voluntary impulse. And we have no problem with that.
The $418million Paris Club fund is the bait. They are trapped and hooked. They are sunk in the deep shit of embarrassment.
The carrot is huge and juicy. They couldn’t ignore it. The attraction is much and irresistible. They are ensnared by its sweetness.
None of these weird characters is taking it kindly. In fact, they are dastardly out to out-do one another. We’re grateful the face-off is getting messier everyday. A “roforofo” fight of some sort.
It had been a jolly good ride. That was until Kayode Fayemi stirred the hornet’s nest. Then the cocoon crumbled. And the bubble burst.
Fayemi governs Ekiti State. He leads the pack christened Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF). He vowed he and his colleagues would not give up on the $418 million delicacy: “NGF will pursue it to the logical conclusion at the Supreme Court.”
A short flashback: The controversy over the refund first reared its ugly head in April 2021. NGF and Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) petitioned Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed.
They detested deductions from the states’ statutory allocations from the Federation Account. And they voiced it out:
“We hope that you will exercise restraint by resisting any urge to issue promissory notes to anyone (including Dr Ted Iseghohi Edwards, Mr Ned Munir Nwoko, Panic Alert Security Systems, Dr George Uboh, Riok Nigeria Ltd, Prince Orji Nwafor-Orizu and Bello Olaitan Busayo) pending the determination of these actions by the court.”
This was where NGF and consultants parted ways. Nwoko, one of the consultants, was particularly infuriated. He didn’t fail to display it. He practically called out the governors to war. He spilled the dirty beans:
“In paying the first tranche of the refunds to states and local governments, the Federal Government wrongly paid the consultancy fees to the NGF. Consultancy fee paid to the NGF is $86.5 million and N19.4 billion.”
Nwoko was on a mission: “During an altercation with Yari Abubakar (former NGF chairman), I confronted him about the unconscionable quest to appropriate the $86.5m and N19.4 billion.”
Yari’s alleged response will throw you off balance: “He (Yari) claimed it was not for his personal use, but was needed for the purposes of the elections in Bauchi, Ekiti and Ondo states.”
He did not stop at that: “Additionally, some of these monies found their way to some of the leadership of the National Assembly at the time. EFCC was able to clamp down and recover some of the money funnelled away by the NGF.”
He claimed only five states and the FCT gave their local governments what was due to them. But he blatantly refused to name the states. That is a gross dis-service. We yearn for openness, honesty and transparency.
He then lay bare his claim: “The outstanding fees owed my firm with regard to last work done for the states are approximately $68 million and not $418 million as maliciously sought to be conveyed by Fayemi and Co.”
He insisted: “There is no court judgment in favour of NGF against either Linas International or Ned Nwoko Solicitors. On the contrary, we have judgments against them, which they are trying to circumvent by all means.”
These “expose” forced the governors out of their comfort zone. They were visibly charged. They were surprised to be so dared and rubbished.
Yet, they were resolute. They put up stout resistance. They fought back. Their spokesman, Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, faulted Nwoko:
“While he (Nwoko) strenuously tried to single out and justify his own bogus claim of $68 million; the total amount, which all the consultants, working in concert, collectively seek and claim from the states and LGAs, albeit unlawfully, is $418,953,690.59.
“Broken down as follows: Nwoko $68,658,192.83; Edwards $159,000,000 and Panic Alert Security $47,831,920.
“Others are Riok Nig. $142,028,941.95, Orizu $1,219,440.45 and Bello $215,195.36, which makes $418,953,690.59.
“The attempt by Ned, therefore, to separate his own claim of $68 million as if it is not related to the claims of other consultants is being clever by half.”
NGF was not done yet: “In his desperation to justify his claim, Ned peddled untruths that his team was a member of the Federal Government committee constituted to reconcile figures under the Paris Club refunds to the states and local governments. That is patently false. The report of that committee dated May 2007, shows that only the FMF, OAGF, CBN, DMO and RMFC (secretariat) were members.”
The governors are in a peculiar mess. They are in a very tight corner; tighter than Nwoko’s. The fire on them is not going out anytime soon.
The Paris Club refund is a drop in an ocean. A dot in the circle! It’s a minute fraction of many secret deeds against us by these tyrants. Many more of such shoddy deals litter the corridors of power.
This deal was secretly signed, sealed and delivered. But at the sharing stage, it collapsed like a house of loose cards.
Hitherto. There was unkind exchange of damning correspondences. The governors and Abubakar Malami, Minister of Justice were involved. He doubles as Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF).
Claims and counter-claims were flying in reckless abundance. But Nwoko came in and raised the bar. We sincerely thank him for that. The reason we do not want it to end now. There are grey areas to be sorted out.
We keep our fragile fingers crossed. Trust us, we are enjoying every bit of the debacle. It’s our turn to laugh. And ours will last a lifetime!
So? Let the beats go on…
