[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has launched a massive probe into alleged looting of over N150 billion by the immediate past governor of Abia State, Chief Theodore Orji, and members of his family.

His sons – Chinendum Orji Eyinanya (currently Speaker, Abia State House of Assembly) and one Ogonna Orji – are also being investigated for having a hand in the alleged looting.

Orji is currently the senator representing Abia Central in the National Assembly.

The EFCC suspects that Senator Orji collected N48billion as security votes during his eight years in office at N500million per month.

He is said to have also been the authorising officer for the monthly withdrawal of N500million when he was the Chief of Staff to the jailed ex-Governor Orji Uzor Kalu.

Investigators handling the probe rate Chinedum as a key player in laundering money for his father.

As at Thursday, the EFCC had traced 100 slush accounts to Chinedum.

Eighty per cent of the accounts are still active, The Nation gathered.

Chinedum went through a fresh round of grilling on Thursday before he was released on administrative bail.

However, a source told The Nation in Abuja that what has been uncovered so far against ex-Governor Orji and his sons, is a “tip of the iceberg” because more accounts linked to the family have just been uncovered.

“We are investigating the ex-governor and members of his immediate family, especially his two sons. They are Chinendum Orji Eyinanya (who is the present Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly) and one Ogonna Orji,” a reliable source said.

“The former governor has been intermittently coming for interrogation since November 22, 2018. So, for more than 13 months, our detectives have been painstaking in their covert operation including surfing of documents and invitation of some public officers.  But the quizzing of ex-Governor Orji’s two sons has led to the unearthing of dirty deals during his tenure as the governor of Abia State. He is now a serving Senator.

“Preliminary investigation revealed that over 145 accounts have been linked with the family and the amount allegedly looted in eight years by the ex-governor was over N150billion. Chinedum alone has been operating 100 out of the 45 accounts with 80 per cent of them still active.

“Although we are still profiling more accounts, records confirmed that the ex-governor earned about N48billion in eight years as security votes at N500 million per month. He was also the authorising officer of the N500 million per month as security votes when the convicted ex-Governor Orji Uzor Kalu was the governor. He was Kalu’s Chief of Staff.

“The most interesting aspect of the investigation by EFCC is that most of the looted funds were withdrawn in cash and deposited in cash.

“Our detectives recorded a breakthrough on this fraud case through Bank Verification Number (BVN) system. So, it is not a case of witch-hunt, it is a matter of facts and figures in all the accounts.”

A brief on the preliminary investigation obtained from the EFCC gave an insight into the alleged looting of Abia State as follows:

“A petition dated March 17, 2017 was by filed by Fight Corruption: Save Nigeria Group alleging that the former Abia governor, Theodore Orji of receiving and diverting various sums of monies that accrued to Abia State.

“Such monies were:

*N383 billion revenue from federal accounts

*N55 billion Excess Crude Revenue

*N2.3 billion Sure-P

*N1.8 billion Ecological funds

*N10.5 billion loan from First Bank of Nigeria through the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Local Government Affairs.

*N4 billion loan from Diamond Bank

*N12 billion Paris Club refund

*N2 billion Agricultural loan for farmers

*N55 billion ASOPADEC

“The petitioners alleged that the funds were received by Abia State government and nothing could be shown in commensurate with the received funds. Based on the petition, the EFCC commenced investigations.

“In the course of investigation, it was discovered that the former governor who was Chief of Staff to the convicted ex-governor Orji Kalu was the Authorising Officer drawing N500 million monthly purported to be Security Votes which were being converted.

“As he became the governor in 2007, he continued to draw the N500 million cash monthly from June 2007 to May 2015.

“The N500 million, investigation revealed, is aside of the security funds expended on the Nigeria Police, The Nigerian Army, DSS, Navy anti-Kidnapping Squad, Anti- robbery Squad, purchase of Security equipment and vehicles for the security agencies.

“Investigation was extended to his family members to ascertain the link and culpability of the alleged fraud.

“The ex-governor’s first son, Chinendum Orji Eyinanya, who is currently the Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly, is now a frequent guest at the EFCC headquarters to throw light on his involvement in the fraud.

“A check on his financial activities revealed that he had about 100 accounts in different banks, with over 80% of the accounts still very active. The accounts which were both corporate and individual received so much deposit in cash without evidence of job or services rendered.

“Fotoworld Industry Limited, with GTB account number 2022025805 is traced to Chinedum. The company received deposit of $20, 849, 044.21

“Same company with another account number 2022025764 in First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) received a cumulative deposit of N362, 573, 056.50.

“Fotoworld has several other accounts with FBN. The accounts and deposits are: 2026144229, $84, 000 cash deposit between 2014 and 2015; between 2012 and 2015, account number 2022025764 housed N342, 573, 056.50; Account number 2022025939between November 2012 and July 2015 received a deposit of £1, 689, 320.89.

“The GTB account 0039060117 of the same company housed N88, 300, 000 between February 2009 and July 2014.

“Exact Construction Limited, traced to Chinedum, is believed to have no record of any construction work in the country; also received humongous deposits in Keystone Bank where account was opened.

“Between October 2008 and February 2015, the company account number 005374800 had deposits of N1, 188, 924, 190.41(One billion, one hundred and eighty eight thousand nine hundred and twenty four thousand one hundred and ninety naira forty one kobo).

“Another deposit of N636, 372, 642.85 into Exact Construction Limited, Keystone Bank account number 1001538949.

“The GTB account 0039060117 of the same company housed N88, 300, 000 between February 2009 and July 2014.

“FBN account number 2008232908 also received lodgment of N599, 771, 424.25 between January 2011 and June 2016; account number 200823298 had N731, 135, 357.04 between 2007 and 2016.

“Fotofast Industry Limited is another company registered by the first family to siphon the resources of the state.  Several accounts were opened in FBN by the company.

“The sum of N20, 861, 165.95 entered into the FBN account number 2014629152 between 2011 and 2017. Between 2011 and 2016, another N223, 929, 515.37 was lodged in Fotofast’s account number 2015559102 domiciled in FBN.

“Other lodgments in different Fotofast Industry Limited accounts with FBN were: account number 2014629152, n4, 103, 574, 603.59; account number 2015559102 (N223, 929, 515.37); account number 2005428513 had N1, 719, 939, 006.77 between 2007 and 2015; account number 2015559102 had N273, 941, 436.47. Between 2011 and 2015, FBN account number 2014668964, received the sum of N64, 898, 657.77.

“Several accounts were also opened in GTB by Fotofast Industry Limited. They include: account number 0040777462  which received deposits of N425, 606, 131.71 between 2002 and 2009; account number 0040777479 received N71, 815, 987 between 2002 and 2008; account number 0040777486 had N23, 463, 880 between 2008 and 2010 while N158, 499, 815 was the deposit in the GTB account number 0040777493. Another N50 million was lodged in GTB account number 0039691058.

“Orji Chinendum Eyinaya’s Diamond’s (now Access bank) personal account number 0029937780 in 2011 alone had $47, 726. 64. His personal account number 2014435973 with FBN had N117, 743, 822.01; his account number 0023390147 with Diamond Bank had $124, 284, 624.18; while his FBN account number 2005428506 had N342, 699, 356.36 between 2007 and 2017.

“Other personal account of the Speaker is the FCMB account number 3237996011 with N384, 914, 501.50 between 2016 and 2019; another n205, 508, 500 in FCMB account number 3237996028 between 2016 and 2019.

“Another FBN account number of the son, 2024073408 also received $601, 716.62 between 2013 and 2015. His FBN account number 2014435973 also had N153, 943, 822.01 between 2009 and 2016. Another N153, 000, 000 was deposited in account number 2014435973. His Access bank account number 0023390147 had N178, 389, 547.25 between 2011 and 2019 and another $48, 000 in the same bank account number 0029937780 in 2010.

“Cheetah Press Limited is another concern of the ex governor’s son now Speaker of the State Assembly. The company with FBN account number 2006413367 had deposits of N1, 083, 731, 890.93 between 2007 and 2017. In Union Bank, the same company had a deposit of N430, 980, 632.18 in account number 0034400341 (This account had consistent cash lodgment to the said amount.)

“Cheetah’s Standard Chartered account number 000171072 had N42, 009, 795.36 between 2011 and 2016.

“In GTB account number 0107577738, N241, 059074. 24 was traced to Cheetah Press between 2011 and 2016 and another N966, 041, 454 between 2011 and 2016. In UBA alone, Cheetah’s account number 1015210129 had N143, 851, 800 between 2010 and 2018; while account number 1008016040 had N2, 226, 458, 581.35 between 2016 and 2020. Yet another UBA account number 1011361993 of Cheetah had N782, 694, 255.77 between 2007 and 2019.

“Travel BETA. COM Ltd with 3002133811 had $788, 174.22 between 2016 and 2020; BETA.COM, yet another concern of the Orji’s had $788, 174.22 between 2016 and 2020.

“The analysis of several other accounts are still ongoing. The Speaker, Abia State House of Assembly was with operatives of the Commission on Thursday in continuation of the investigation.”

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s part of its preparation ahead of the 2023 general elections, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has launched an initiative to reconcile its warring governors. Also to be resolved are the disagreements among aggrieved chieftains across the country.

Top on the list of such feuds is that between Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State.

The talks are to be kept as secret as possible with a view to achieving a high rate of success, we gathered on Saturday.

Party chieftains were disappointed that previous efforts to forge unity in the party had not gone as expected.

They blamed those they branded as fifth columnists within and outside the party for truncating such previous peace efforts, hence the need to keep the fresh reconciliation plans secret.

“The party has since discovered that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and its agents are working hard to keep the PDP divided as 2023 approaches,” a well-placed source told The Nation.

“The APC, which benefited from the division within the PDP in 2015 and 2019, has perfected plans to keep our party divided more and more so as to continue benefitting.”

The PDP chieftain also said that the unending media war among the warring persons and groups within the party was always reconciliation difficult.

“It is for this reason that the National Working Committee (NWC) in one of its meetings, resolved, on the suggestion of our national chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, to keep our reconciliation efforts as secret as possible. When these fifth columnists are less aware of our moves, the less havoc they can wreck,” he said.

Wike/Dickson face-off

Chieftains of the PDP, it was gathered, are immensely worried by the sharp division between Governors Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State.

Dickson’s tenure will be over this week.

The two PDP governors are locked in an unending verbal war which reached a head in the run up to the November 2019 governorship election in Bayelsa State. The PDP lost the polls to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The Nation gathered that as part of the ongoing moves to return the party to the path of peace, the PDP national chairman and Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State have met severally with the two sides in the crisis with a view to ending the face-off and uniting the two governors in the interest of the party. “Prince Secondus understands the need to have these two great PDP leaders on one page and he is doing a lot along with others to achieve that,” our source said.

Another person who is said to be involved in settling the Wike/Dickson feud is the Board of Trustees (BoT) chairman of the party, Senator Senator Walid Jibrin.

“The PDP BoT chairman and many of our trustees are not comfortable with the situation between Governors Wike and Dickson,” a source said.

“Many have attributed the loss in Bayelsa to the situation and they are working hard to change the situation. Several meetings have been held and we are sure of positive result this time.

“One thing we have achieved is the halt in media allegations and counter allegations between the two camps. The several meetings among our leaders brought that about.

“All those involved are passionate PDP members and as such, they are aboding by the advices of our leaders currently working hard to end the face off. You can see that noting is being heard in the papers about the disagreement.”

Last month, the PDP noted that the crisis between the two governors was as a result of recent disputes between their two states. The party, in a statement, said that the national leadership, having noted the issues, would move to end the rift as soon as possible while urging the media and fifth columnists to stop escalating the crisis.

The statement which was signed by Kola Ologbondiyan, National Publicity Secretary of the party, urged both Governors Wike and Dickson to sheathe their swords while the leadership harmoniously resolves the issue.

“We therefore assure all our leaders, critical stakeholders, members and supporters of our great party, particularly in Rivers and Bayelsa states, to remain calm and united, as the issue is already being resolved,” Ologbodiyan said while insisting that “the PDP remains one big indivisible family and will not allow anything to undermine its unity and focus especially at this trying time in the history of the nation.”

Party leaders approach Jonathan

The Nation also gathered that some prominent leaders of the party, under the leadership of a former Senate President, recently met and resolved to approach former President Goodluck Jonathan to come forward and lead the PDP reconciliatory efforts in the interest of the party. According to a party source who was at the meeting, the parley was held at the Abuja home of a former Kogi State governor, last week Sunday.

The source said: “The leaders are not pleased with the aloofness with which the former President treats party issues. They noted the fact that he remains the strongest bridge within the party as at today and should not be treated as less important if the PDP really wants to return to winning ways in 2023.

“Jonathan is one of the most respected and loved chieftains of the party alive today. So, the decision is to appeal to him to come and lead us to unity.

“It has been observed that he may not have been treated well since he left office, even by our own party leaders and some governors. But being the man of peace he is, he has not raised any alarm but we must not continue to ignore the issues as they concern him. That is why we will be approaching him to come take charge of our march to peace. We need him on the frontline as 2023 approaches. We will go to him and offer him leadership.”

Similarly, the BoT chairman, Senator Jibrin, had in December, hinted on plans by the party to embark on reconciliation to strengthen it ahead of the 2023 elections. “The Board of Trustees is making necessary arrangement to reconcile the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, and his Bayelsa counterpart, Seriake Dickson, and of course, other party members to make our party stronger with a view to taking over government from the ruling APC in 2023.”

Atiku/Jibrin too

The Nation also gathered from insiders that the face-off between Senator Jibrin, the BoT chairman and the camp of former Vice President and presidential candidate of the party in the 2019 elections, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has also been looked into and the warring parties urged to end the disagreement in the interest of the party. According to sources, parties in the face-off have agreed to sheath their swords while talks continue.

Jibrin had, some weeks back, alleged threats to his life over his refusal to endorse an automatic ticket for Atiku in the 2023 general election.

During a media briefing, he said some unidentified persons visited PDP Secretariat in Abuja, warning him that Atiku should be endorsed for the 2023 Presidential polls or he (Jibrin) should be ready to face the consequences.

He said: “I have received calls from some people threatening my life for not mentioning that the presidency should be zoned to the Northeast.

“They told me that I am a traitor and that I should have said only Atiku would get the ticket because I said the Supreme Court had already overthrown him (Atiku). They said I should say Atiku is the man that I want because I am a leader. About three people went to Wadata Plaza and demanded to see Munir Yerima. When they were there, Yerima called me saying some people wanted to talk to me, and that they were intermediaries between me and some party men.

“They told me on telephone that I have gone astray and if I don’t recant, they would arrange bandits to deal with me wherever I go. So, I told them to go and do whatever they want to do that I’m equal to the task. Then I realized it was only a demonstration, but they may be planning to assassinate me,” he explained, adding that he had written to the Director General of the Department of State Service (DSS) and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to ensure that the matter is seriously handled.

Though yet to be confirmed, there are indications that former Senate President Bukola Saraki was instrumental to the intervention of prominent PDP chieftains in the matter. A prominent traditional ruler from the northern part of the country, who was once elected into the national assembly to represent his constituency on the platform of the opposition party, was also said to have intervened in the matter and sued for peace.

Culled from The Nation

[dropcap]P[/dropcap]resident of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, yesterday, constituted a 56-member Constitution Review Committee to handle all bills seeking one alteration or the other in the 1999 Constitution.

The committee consists of eight principal officers who will serve as steering committee heads within the larger committee, a senator from each of the 36 states and two senators from each of the six geo-political zones.

The announcement of Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege as chairman of the committee and presiding for the first time since inauguration efffectively laid to rest rumour of rift between him and Lawan.

For several months, there have been speculations of a friction between the duo as many wondered why the Delta-Senator had not been allowed to preside over plenary sessions.

Names of members committee include the Senate Leader, Abdullahi Yahaya, Deputy Senate Leader, Prof. Robert Ajayi Boroffice, Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, Deputy Minority Leader, Emmanuel Bwacha , Minority Whip, Philip Tanimu Aduda, Deputy Minority Whip, Sahabi Alhaji Yau and former deputy Senate president, Ike Ekweremadu.

However, Ifeanyi Uba (YPP Anambra South) has kicked against his exclusion from the committee, alleging that the whole members were drawn from the APC and PDP, which he said was unfair .

But the Senate President in his response, said the composition was not based on party but on states and zonal basis.

“This composition is not about party affiliation but of equal representation from states and geopolitical zones,  since the assignment before the committee is for the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians devoid of partisanship.”

He admonished the committee members to be patriotic in their conducts and activities, saying, “what is expected of you is to give Nigerians constitution that will enhance stability, unity and enabling environment that will afford every Nigerian to actualise his or her dreams without let or hindrance.”

He, therefore, called on all Nigerians seeking alteration in any of the provisions of the 1999 constitution to submit their memoranda to the committee.

Announcing the de-registration of the 74 parties in a press briefing in Abuja, INEC Chairman, Yakubu said they were deregistered for their inability to fulfill requirements for existence based on Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

He recalled that prior to the 2019 general election, Nigeria had 91 political parties while one more party was registered by court order after the election, making a total of 92 political parties.

Yakubu said that the 1999 Constitution (as amended) vests in INEC, the power to register and regulate activities of political parties.

He also recalled that in 2018, the Constitution was amended.

“In addition to the extant provision for the registration of political parties, the Fourth Alteration to the Constitution (Section 225A) empowers the commission to deregister political parties.”

Yakubu said that in order to implement the provision of the Fourth Alteration to the Constitution, the commission carried out an assessment of political parties to determine compliance with the requirements for their registration.

He said that similarly, following the conclusion of the 2019 general election, including court ordered re-run elections arising from litigations, the commission was able to determine the performance of political parties in the elections.

Yakubu said that in addition, the parties were also assessed on the basis of their performance in the Area Council elections in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) the only Local Government elections which INEC was empowered to conduct.

He said consequently, the commission had determined that 16 political parties fulfilled the requirements for existence based on Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution, while 75 parties did not satisfy the requirements of the fourth alteration to the constitution.

“However, one of the political parties, the Action Peoples Party (APP) filed a suit in court and obtained an order restraining the commission from deregistering it.

“The party remains registered pending the determination of the case by the court.

“The new political party, Boot Party (BP) registered by court order after the 2019 general election will also continue to exist.

“Accordingly, 74 political parties are hereby deregistered. With this development, Nigeria now has 18 registered political parties,” Yakubu said.

Yakubu recalled that based on this provision, the commission, between 2011 and 2013, deregistered 39 political parties.

“However, several of the parties challenged the power of INEC to deregister them, particularly on the grounds that the Electoral Act is inferior to the constitution and that deregistration infringed their fundamental rights under the same constitution.

“Subsequently, the courts ordered the commission to reinstate the parties.

“It was for this reason that the National Assembly amended the Constitution to empower the commission to deregister political parties on the following grounds:

“Breach of any of the requirements for registration as a political party.

“Failure to win at least 25 per cent of the votes cast in one State of the Federation in a Presidential election or 25 per cent of the votes cast in one Local Government Area of a State in a Governorship election.

“Failure to win at least one ward in a Chairmanship election, one seat in the National or State Assembly election or one seat in a Councillorship election.”

The deregistered parties included, Alliance National Party (ANP) Abundant Nigeria Renewal Party (ANRP) African Peoples Alliance (APA) Better Nigeria Progressive Party (BNPP) Fresh Democratic Party (FRESH), Hope Democratic Party (HDP) and Nigeria Community Movement Party (NCMP).

Others included, National Unity Party (NUP), Peoples Coalition Party (PCP), Peoples For Democratic Change (PDC), Peoples Trust (PT), Reform and Advancement Party (RAP), United Democratic Party (UDP), Unity Party Of Nigeria (UPN) and United Progressive Party (UPP)