posted
So this okotie eboh sef was another common criminal “ị kwa?” Hmmm, I’ll make sure his kids in Houston are made aware of their father’s treachery.
quote:In 1956 the present writer was ordered by the Governor General to take all Department of Labour staff and vehicles to campaign in Warri for the chief stooge of the British in the South, Festus (Festering) Samuel Okotie Eboh, the most corrupt and probably therefore the politician most favoured by the British in the South.
… After that close brush with the law, a great manipulator took control of Zik's party. Zik had made many great personal sacrifices for his NCNC and had personally financed it for years at great personal cost. Now he was broke and someone who could raise vast sums of money, as if from thin air, would be the real power-broker in Nigerian politics. Chief Festus Okotie Eboh - 'Festering Sam' - was not only a very cheerful character and master crook, he was much loved by the British in Lagos and Whitehall. Okotie Eboh was not his real name - he thought it sounded good. Like Robert Maxwell, not much about him was what it seemed. Like Maxwell too, he was greatly feared and he was also a great wheeler-dealer. The Governor General knew him to be a thief, a master criminal, a trickster, someone totally corrupt. He was also something of a rapist. - By Harold Smith, former British colonial official
___________________ BIAFRA: The land of my ancestors now, yesterday and always. So it will be! Posts: 2482 | From: Ala Igbo | Registered: Apr 2004
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So you didn't know that Okotie Ebo was so corrupt, I think people who continue the claim that 1966 Coup was Igbo Coup, are disingenuously hiding the purpose of that coup, which was to wipeout corruption that was eating into that administration.
posted
I have never met anybody who had a good word to say about Okotie Ebo. He was a complete Britsh Mugu. Harold smith has no good words about him: Okotie Eboh was the most important politician for the British. This is why such extraordinary measures had to be taken to make sure he won. I knew this in 1956, which is why the Governor General warned me that I knew far too much. If I revealed what I knew, he said that means would be found to silence me. The British could always deliver election results to please their friends, even when one British official broke ranks. There was one exception and it illustrates how grotesque Post's conclusions were about the Independence elections.
and more from Smith: Also in 1956 the Governor General ordered my boss Charles Bunker to pressurise British and other firms to provide large sums of money, cars and petrol to Okotie Eboh who was the National Treasurer of the NCNC. It was this vast financial power which made it possible for Okotie Eboh to become the major force in the NCNC, drive Dr Zik into a back seat and seal an alliance, as the British demanded, with the NPC
Smith goes into further detail in his autobiography : The Minister of Labour, Okotie Eboh, was like a child presented with the keys of a sweet shop. He exercised no restraint and in the Ministry did anything he wished and was never stopped. As he had timid officials who believed in obeying orders, it was little wonder that he was noted for his geniality. He quickly acquainted himself with every secret and racket in the Department of Labour and, being a born practitioner of interlocking blackmail, known to the British as 'Scratch my back and I'll scratch yours,' rapidly acquired the reputation of being the most corrupt Nigerian politician. The competition was quite strong for the title and although there were other strong candidates perhaps the others did not have such complaisant and co-operative officials to put the deals through.As VIP's in Lagos were introduced to local colour, so Okotie Eboh in London was granted VIP status and entertained by the Foreign Office hospitality section. White prostitutes were laid on by that section when Okotie Eboh was in London. He so enjoyed having the Foreign Office pimp for him that he soon acquired a reputation for his trips abroad ostensibly to attract capital investment for Nigeria. The London prostitutes soon recognised this rotund black ruffian and began to protest, "Oh, not Festering Sam again!" They would with reluctance take him into Hyde Park and perform their services while the taxi driver went for a walk. Curiously at one time taxis were not allowed into the Royal Parks, perhaps for this very reason, but a saint of a socialist minister, Jowett of Bradford, thought this was an injustice and allowed taxis to use Hyde Park. To the British, Okotie Eboh was 'sound'. A Nigerian we could trust and work with. That he was totally corrupt, a crook and absolutely depraved was beside the point. He was one of 'ours.'
___________________ Biafra is inevitable.Illegitimis nil carborundum. Posts: 760 | From: europe | Registered: Jan 2005
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posted
From Harold Smiths Autobiography chapter11 I was then invited to Government House myself. It was only a garden party but it was not one for the lower ranks. Most Heads of Department were there, but there were few Africans. It was either a sick joke or another warning for me. The reception was to honour the Minister of Finance, Chief Okotie Eboh. The Governor General knew that Okotie Eboh was a crook, and I knew that he knew. Had he not warned him to be more circumspect! The Governor General also knew that Okotie Eboh's name was a byword for corruption. His notoriety was a talking point in London, let alone throughout Nigeria. And as I have already stated, we even knew the London broker who was handling his Swiss numbered bank account.
It was also true that Okotie Eboh knew I was the expatriate officer who wanted his criminal behaviour stopped. And it seemed that quite a few departmental top brass at that reception knew that I was the Governor General's bęte noire. As I passed through the gates of Government House on to the lawn, there was a hush and I turned round thinking the onlookers were staring and then turning their backs on someone behind me, but I was alone. It was me they were turning away from. People I knew were scuttling away, as well they might, for watching us from a raised dais were Okotie Eboh and Sir James Robertson. Government top brass were peeling away on either side as I walked slowly across the lawn.
Here was my friend, who had been warned by Sir James. I greeted him and strode towards him.
"Keep away," he yelled. "Sir James will see us!" and he ran away.
As if sensing that I was being ostracised, which I most evidently was, the Postgates came forward and ostentatiously took me by the arm and, under Sir James's steely gaze, introduced me to some of their friends. At this point the Governor General called for attention.
"I have the honour today," he announced, "to present a medal to the Minister of Finance, my good friend, Chief Festus Okotie Eboh.."
"Festering Sam!" I heard an onlooker murmur.
"...for his honesty and integrity..."
Even the VIP's were stunned. There was a silence and then, as the Governor General's aide began to clap his hands, a most unwilling and perfunctory clapping of hands followed. This was too much even for the thick-skinned British administrators.
'The bastard!' was a common expletive. Presumably they meant Okotie Eboh.
'Insane! Nauseating! Disgusting!' These were the whispered reactions as Sir James pinned a medal on Okotie Eboh's voluminous robe.
My thoughts were of the young English girl who had been one of the staff accompanying Okotie Eboh on one of his missions abroad. On some pretext he had called to see her late at night and had tried to rape her. The Governor General must have known of this young woman's distress.
I thought of all the honest, decent, young Nigerian people who were struggling out of poverty and, with the help of the missionary schools and dedicated church people, trying to create a new society, a new nation. They deserved better than this.
___________________ Biafra is inevitable.Illegitimis nil carborundum. Posts: 760 | From: europe | Registered: Jan 2005
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