Elechi: You drag me, my children for money laundering
Umahi: My govt not behind your visits to EFCC
Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi Nweze and his predecessor and former benefactor, Chief Martin Elechi, have taken the political animosity that trailed the 2015 governorship to a new low. Both Ebonyi leaders, recently exchanged hot words in correspondences, accusing each other of promoting official corruption in the state.
It all began with a forwarding letter from Governor Umahi through the Secretary to State Government (SSG), with reference No. EB/SSG/M43/T./365 dated June 2, 2016, through which was conveyed approval for a donation of one V8 Toyota Jeep to Elechi.
Although the forwarding letter disclosed that the donation “was as award in recognition of your role in the promotion of democracy in Ebonyi State and for other meritorious services in that regard,” the former governor, after thanking his successor and former deputy, noted that “in considering the reasons for which the award is being made, I am at a loss to convince myself that I fit into the category of those you wish to honour.”
Further Elechi stated: “Firstly, my role in promotion and sustenance of democracy in Ebonyi State from all indications is the antithesis of what is being practiced in the present day Ebonyi State. Recall, Your Excellency, that I opposed the falsification of the delegates’ lists from the Ward Congresses held on 1st day of November, 2014.
“Your good self and the powers in Abuja worked together to procure a court injunction (not consistent with the real court order) banning the use of any other list of delegates, except the one we knew to be faulty. Your Excellency will also recall that a Presidential directive halting further Congresses in the four States of Adamawa, Ebonyi, Ondo and Taraba was the outcome of the Meeting the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors (including me) attended in the Presidential Villa in the night of 27th and 28th November, 2014.”
The letter read: “I hurriedly came home and announced that decision; to the chagrin of the world, the Presidential directive was disobeyed, and Congress was disobeyed and Congress was held in Ebonyi State, using the falsified list of congress delegates. That was how you emerged as the gubernatorial candidate of Peoples Democratic Party.
“Disillusioned by such an outrage, the majority of our party members decamped to the Labour Party in search of a new political space. And because I did not (could not) stop them from decamping, I was maligned, vilified, hated and traduced, booed at/in public rally and promised death in Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) cell, together with my wife and children. My impeachment out of office was instigated and attempted but failed.
“What happened in the main election is now history. Ordinarily, one would assume that the fundamental principle of democracy is the unmitigated freedom for one to vote according to one’s conscience. In the present day Ebonyi State, it is an offence, almost bothering on capital offence, to have opposed someone who was declared a winner in an election. So, the important question to ask is, ‘If my antecedent has consistently been in contradiction to the preferred observable, prevailing democratic norms and practices in Ebonyi State, from the last quarter of 2014 to the present time, why and how am I being recognized in the promotion of democracy in Ebonyi State? Do my actions and posturing portray me as a democrat vis-à-vis the current social and political order in Ebonyi State? I think the contrary holds good.”
Elechi accepted the observation that he “made an impressive impact in Ebonyi State in manpower development with institutional reforms, attitudinal change philosophy, and infrastructural development.” However he stressed that “notable in the last category are the bluest water schemes by any State Government in Nigeria; the biggest and best State Secretariat in Nigeria; and the biggest Regional Market in Nigeria.”
“(But) by the time I bowed out of office, only one bridge (at Egu Uhuo) out of the 38 bridges we embarked on constructing was left uncompleted due to the death of the contractor handling it. More than 300km of roads with asphalt pavement were constructed in both rural areas and State Capital. By the end of 2014, we had completed the renovation and (in some cases) expansion of all general hospitals in the state, while five new ones with doctors and nurses Quarters were also completed, awaiting furnishing and equipment.
“Your Excellency will also recall that when I brought you on board in 2011 as my Deputy, we made you the Chairman of the Executive Council Committee on Inspection. You never criticized or condemned the need, quality, or pricing of any project. Our problems always bothered on slow pace of work of some contractors and/or scarcity of funds to pay others.
“But with your assumption of office on 29th May, 2015, every one of my projects had become a subject of public ridicule, outrage and outright condemnation. The only exception is probably the ultra-modern digital radio and television complex, which I conceived of and completed from scratch to finish. It is not condemned or criticized, because it is an organ by which I am regularly vilified and rubbished. The permanent secretaries I appointed and/or trained have been swept out of office for no known reason. Ebonyi State is today the only state being governed without Permanent Secretaries.”
The former governor noted that “as if the bad verdict on projects is not enough, there is the saga of malicious and false petitions against me and two of my children to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).”
Giving instances, Elechi lamented: “It is now a point of reference that I am the first Ex-Governor in Nigeria invited to the EFCC in less than two weeks of his exit from office. This is courtesy of Your Excellency’s ingenuity with your team players.
“Most of the expatriate construction companies I succeeded in attracting to Ebonyi State have been intimidated, hounded and caused to flee from Ebonyi State with their debts unpaid. They were presumed and alleged to be my channels of money laundering.
“In the multitude petitions against me and my children to EFCC, the key points centre on money laundering, diversion of public funds, misappropriation, contract inflation, payment for jobs not done, etc. Not one of these allegations has been proved or substantiated. On the contrary, many of the contracts were found to be undervalued, while many jobs done were not paid for.”
He said that it was “because of the fear that I may not be indicted and charged to court”, that fresh petitions are swelling up to the anti-graft agency on weekly basis, adding, “as I am writing this letter, my two sons are on their way to the EFCC to answer to fresh charges. When I left the EFCC on 10th May, 2016, after eight (8) hours of interrogation, I was notified of another petition against me for which I will be invited again at the appropriate time.”
The former governor said he chose to go down memory lane even though the issues raised above are only a tip of the iceberg, because “with so much calumny, character defamation and outpouring of invectives and unabated fresh petitions swelling up to the anti-graft agency on weekly basis, why am I considered worthy to receive a State’s honour?”
“Where and what are those “meritorious services” that justify my consideration for a gift of car, when I am being hounded day and night with my children? Is this not the height of contradictions?” he queried, reminding the governor that “for the past twelve (12) months, I have not been paid my salary arrears and second term severance allowance. These are my entitlements under the law of Ebonyi State; they are not a favour.”
He added: “I have discussed this with you face-to-face, in writing and through text messages to the point of feeling justified to refrain from any further entreaties. But of what use is this practice of sending seasonal gifts to a man who is being hounded and denied his lawful official entitlements?”
But feeling impugned by the narrative of his perceived ill treatment against his predecessor, Umahi responded, reminding the former governor that his people equally wrote petitions against his administration.
He denied that he headed the Executive Council Committee on Inspection during his (Elechi) second tenure as governor and the allegation that he (Umahi) was behind a number of petitions before the EFCC against Elechi and some of his children.
Speaking during an Agriculture summit organised for clerics in Abakaliki, Governor Umahi, who expressed the belief that Elechi’s letter was leaked to the media, said “the Exco had agreed to ignore the letter, but since the former governor had decided to make it public, it was necessary to put the facts correct.”
His words: “I would not have commented on the letter of my former boss if it had not been published… We agreed in the Exco that we should ignore it, but when I started seeing it published, I felt that in a public gathering like this, we have to clear some certain issues.”
While explaining that he was sometimes drafted to a monitoring team if there were engineering difficulties in some projects during Elechi’s tenure, the incumbent said some of them included; the Oferekpe water project and the Agba bridge, which he said that his involvement helped to save the state a whopping N1.6bn.
The governor stressed that vehicles were purchased for former governors, including Elechi and a former Senate President, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim; but added that “rejecting the car was not the best option” as according to him, Elechi had written to him shortly after he left office to give his wife two cars, which he obliged.
On the issue of not rendering advise, Umahi said: “How can I advise somebody who does not take advice and never changed his mind when he says something? I advised him on the issue of Nigercem and the clergymen also did, which by now, Ibeto would have revived the company, but he refused.”
Umahi said some of the petitions that had made Elechi a regular visitor to the EFCC were written when both of them were in government as governor and deputy governor “by someone who is now in his (Elechi) camp,” insisting that his administration never wrote any petition against the former governor.
Umahi said he had personally appealed to the EFCC to leave Elechi alone, because of his age, recalling how he also told the commission that if Elechi was found wanting in anyway, he would pay back.
He stated that Elechi’s children who were involved in contract scams would have to answer for their actions adding, “this administration has never written anything to the EFCC. I say this between God and myself. I told the EFCC that they should allow this man (Chief Elechi) some peace, because he is aged.
