Eagle_Eye_Reports

AN ENCOUNTER WITH DR. OKEY UMEANO, CHAIRMAN, ANAMBRA STATE CHAPTER OF THE ALL PROGRESSIVES GRAND ALLIANCE.

QUES: How is your party, APGA planning for 2010 election?.

ANS: All progressive grand Alliance in Anambra state has found its true bearing with the INEC’s recent confirmation of Chief Chewas Okorie as the authentic chairman of the party. The party has hit a record speed of growth. The party has been massively admitting new members from other political parties as well as receiving some of those who have realized the deceptive antics of Mr Peter Obi. APGA will soon announce the road map to 2010 Gubernatorial Election. Of course, that will include the primaries where the gubernatorial candidate will emerge. If Mr Peter Obi’s ambitions in the PPA materializes, that will be good riddance to bad rubbish as it is quite clear that he is very likely to be defeated in the primaries in the first place. You know, he will be going there as a defeated person from APGA. Even if he leaves the party, I doubt if he can take with him, up to one percent of the party faithful for over 99% of APGA people will not leave APGA with him. So, we are still the party to beat in Anambra state. We shall be able to pick our pieces together before long.

QUES: What is the truth about the 250 million naira allegation; what is the party's position on this?

ANS: APGA is a party founded on probity. We have asked so many questions but have got no answers yet from either the EFCC or police . We want to know the account from which the money was withdrawn and who did the withdrawal. What was the contract ?. And who the contractor?. Why were the government and governor's vehicles used? Why were there so many contradictory accounts of the incidence by the governor’s aides? Why the denials?. Why have the police not made any arrests and prosecute every prosecutable in the scam? APGA has distanced herself from this shameful act and has condemned in no uncertain terms. We have called for full investigations into the matter.

The questions that APGA in Anambra state would want the Governor to answer, perhaps in a public enquiry to be conducted by the House of Assembly, include:

- What is the name of the contractor’s company whom he allegedly paid the N250m?

- Which year was the company registered with the CAC and registered with the State Government as its contractor?

- Which contracts were the company awarded and the total costs of the contracts?

- When were the contracts advertised and awarded?

- What is the status of the contract? Is it at the mobilization stage or completion stage?

- What is the name of the bank that paid the contractor on Sunday – a non working day?

- Where is the copy of the cheque by which the contractor was paid?

- If the sum paid to the contractor was not up to one tenth of the seized N250m, what was the exact sum paid him at Awka?

- Or was the contractor paid in cash? If the contractor was paid in cash, who made the cash payment? And from which bank and which account was the money withdrawn?

- When have the laws changed to permit cash transactions for any business of the government?

- If the payment was made through a bank, was the withdrawal of the money reported to the EFCC by the paying bank as required by the law?

- Why was a government vehicle used by the contractor to carry his money?

- Why was the money conveyed for the contractor by the Governor’s Spokesman, Valentine Obienyem?

- What is the relationship (business and filial) between the contractor and the Governor?

- Why did our Governor fly to Lagos the same Sunday evening?

- Did our Governor meet with the suspects (contractor and his accomplices) and at what time; what are the names of the other co-suspects?

- Did our Governor plead for the suspects with the arresting police? Did he meet with or speak with the Commissioner of Police Lagos State and the Inspector General of Police and did he deploy, as alleged, huge sums of State funds in trying to suppress or the closing the case at the police and suppressing its publication in the media?

Why did the Governor have to order an investigation of a matter for which he was sure he paid the contractor?

Why did the Governor make radical summersault in less than 48 Hours that now saw him admitting that the money belonged to him?

If the money belonged to the Governor, the EFCC, ICPC and even the House of Assembly must obtain answers from the Governor on the following:

-Was the money withdrawn from the government or his private account?

- Was the money withdrawn in instalments and in what instalments?

- Where are the copies of the cheques and the cheque stub used in effecting the withdrawal?

Was EFCC informed by the paying bank of such huge withdrawals in accordance with the extant laws?

- How and when did the Governor make such money?

- Was the sum withdrawn on a Sunday, a non business day for all banks?

- Was the sum part of the bribes the Governor admitted he constantly collects from contractors? What are the names of the contractors who gave him the bribes and how much did each give?

- If the N250M was a cash payment and cannot be traced to any bank, then the money must be confiscated by the EFCC pending the outcome of the trial of the suspects.

There are, indeed, an avalanche of other questions the governor must answer.

QUES: Are you reconciling with the other faction for 2010 election ?.

ANS: Every political watcher should know that Victor Umeh has lost out finally in his quest to illegally change the national leadership of APGA. INEC has finally maintained respect for APGA constitution. There is also no hope for Victor Umeh in any court of law, since there is no instituted litigation to pronounce him the national chairman of APGA. We have therefore, called on all APGA members who derailed to move back to their various wards and register with APGA. Victor Umeh's card they are carrying is not APGA card. You have to first of all register to get readmitted into APGA. The general amnesty still stands as granted. APGA people are special people, APGA is not an ordinary political party like PDP. APGA is a spirit and it is a movement of the oppressed people of Nigeria.

QUES: The credibility of the party has plummeted following the current financial scandal rocking the APGA government; what message do you have for Ndi Anambra concerning this?

ANS: It has to be stated clearly that Mr. Peter Obi is on his own in this scandal. APGA as a party does not condone corruption. The crisis therefore cannot rub off on the party. If anything, it is his mess and the mess of his kinsman, Chief Victor Umeh. We have stated it earlier on, that we are calling on anti-corruption agencies to investigate the matter thoroughly. I repeat, All Progressives Grand Alliance Condemn treasury looting in all ramifications. The All Progressives Grand Alliance wishes to use this medium to reaffirm its commitment to accountability and the principles of good governance. As a people oriented political party, we deem it fit to state clearly before the good people of Anambra State and the entire world that Mr. Peter Obi is on his own in the 250Million Naira Money Laundering Crisis mess. The All Progressives Grand Alliance condemns the abominable act of looting Anambra State treasury in its entirety.

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