SGF in Corruption, Bribery Scare over A’Ibom, Kogi Guber Race

By Inibehe Udosen

Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal has come under serious criticism from Nigerians, following indications that he supports and promotes corruption and bribery in a bid to produce APC candidates in elections.

The Akwa Ibom All Progressives Congress Candidate in the April Governorship election Mr Umana Umana revealed Lawal’s inclinations to sharp practices in Uyo while responding to criticisms from the leader of the party in the state, Senator John Akpanudoedehe.

Mr Umana who spoke through his media advisor Engr Ita Awak on Planet Radio Uyo, revealed that a committee chaired by Mr Lawal was set up by the national leadership of the APC to resolve the crises in the Akwa Ibom State chapter of the party.

He said that Mr Lawal convinced APC gubernatorial candidate to ‘settle’ (bribe) Senator Udoedehe with some (undisclosed) cash inducements in addition to power to produce five commissioners and five local government chairmen in the next local government elections as well as emerge the new Minister from the State.

Ita Awak the Akwa Ibom publicity secretary of APC said the SGF tried to persuade Senator Udoedehe on the bribery offer, but that Udoedehe rejected the bribe and even tore the agreement oath form which he threw back at Mr Babachir Lawal, before storming out of the meeting

In an interview earlier, Udoedehe had accused Umana of going round to buy his way into the heart of every APC major stakeholder in the country.

Senator Udoedehe hinted that the current SGF and his team were ‘pacified’ to the tone of N1.3bn naira out of the N1.6bn he realized from selling one of his houses in Ikoyi, Lagos.

This is not the first time the SGF is linked to corruption as indications emerged on Friday that chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Lamorde, wrote to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, advising on the disqualification of the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Prince Abubakar Audu, from contesting the November 21 governorship election in the state.

Audu, a former governor of Kogi State, won the primary election of the APC on August 30 amidst calls by some Nigerians that fielding a candidate currently standing trial for corruption was a mockery of the governing party’s much touted war against graft.

In a letter dated September 21, 2015, with reference number EFCC/EC/SGF/03/59, and titled “F.R.N Vs Abubakar Audu & 1 other Charge No: FCT/CR/115/ 2013”, the EFCC chairman wrote to the SGF reminding him that Mr. Audu was standing trial for corruption.

“The candidate was arraigned by the Commission for abuse of office, theft of public funds and money laundering during his tenure as Executive Governor of Kogi State between 1999 and 2003 at both Kogi High Court, Lokoja in 2006 and the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Apo Abuja in 2013”, Mr. Lamorde wrote.

“The Lokoja case was stalled for six years on the account of frivolous interlocutory applications by the accused person, which has taken us twice to the Supreme Court and eventually decided in the commission’s favour on 23rd November 2012.

However the advice against Audu was ignored while the EFCC chairman was summarily axed by the federal government.

Several Akwa Ibom people in the diaspora, as well as some lawyers have fumed at the ugly development, saying that APC leaders have so far displayed corruption as their authentic rope to power.

CIAPS Rating Of Governor Udom Is Misleading - Aniekan Umanah

The Akwa Ibom State Government has dismissed as false and misleading,  the performance rating of Governor Udom Emmanuel by  a  Lagos-based group, Centre for International Advanced and Professional Studies (CIAPS), which rated him among the lowly performed governors in October 2015.

In a statement by the state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mr. Aniekan Umanah, said the purported comparative analysis of the governors’ performance in Nigeria, as reported in some newspapers and published online, was a spurious fabrication that insults the sensibilities of Akwa Ibom people, who are witnesses and beneficiaries of the good governance brought to bear by Emmanuel.

According to the commissioner, the governor was perhaps “the best performing governor in his set” and evidences abound to prove this contrary to the fabrication by CIAPS, noting that as reported, CIAPS simply targeted PDP governors.

Umanah said: “Even if one was to go by the CIAPS claimed criteria: payment of salaries, new projects, education, security and leadership by example, Emmanuel will score excellent in all”.  For the avoidance of doubt, the commissioner stated: “Akwa Ibom State Government has paid all its workers’ salaries to date, has the most robust project rollout as shown in the 100 days score card of the governor. The state is implementing the Free and Compulsory Education Programme and in October 2015 paid subventions to heads of Primary and Secondary Schools for the administration of school children.  Akwa Ibom is one of the safest states in the country and governor Udom Emmanuel has remained exemplary and focused in his pursuit of the wellbeing of the people.

He outlined some of the achievements of Emmanuel to include; ongoing construction and dualisation of about 140 km of roads with nine bridges across the state, the Ibom Deep Seaport development drive, the on-going construction of the second runway, massive electrification projects, the ground-breaking for the establishment of different industries; the construction and rehabilitation of blocks at the St. Luke’s Hospital, Anua; training of 1,000 youths in Oracle Database; emergency intervention in threatening erosions along Calabar-Itu Federal Highway and School of Nursing,  Anua; he said the governor has so far worked tirelessly to keep faith with the covenant he made, when he was sworn-in on May 29.

Other laudable achievements for which Mr. Umanah said Emmanuel deserves commendations are, the payment of the 10 years arrears pensions and gratuities to primary school teachers and local government employees; re-commissioning of Peacock Paints Industries.

Umanah maintained that in just over five months of his administration, the governor had spiced up the story of Akwa Ibom as over 50 foreign investors are currently discussing with the government on modalities for setting up businesses in the state.
He expressed the belief that if CIAPS had sent its members to visit the state for a firsthand feel of the situation on ground, they would not have released their faulty findings.

The commissioner advised CIAPS not to engage in armchair concoctions to  mislead unsuspecting members of the public, but should rather conduct proper findings so as to provide unbiased reports to the generality of the people.

He urged members of the public to discountenance the reports and be wary of politically motivated reports, so as not to fall victims of the antics of agents of disaffection.