posted
Well our clean and green governor is not so clean afterall but it seems that rather than green, the words that best describe him are greed and corrupt. While Ohakim has been championing the clean and green campaign in Imos state, he has been making away with billions of Naira of belonging to the people of Imo state.
This is a man who has the distinction of having travelled abroad more times in 6 months than Achike Udenwa achieved in 4 years. During this time, this governor has aquired choice properties in Dubai, South Africa, London, Atlanta and Washington DC just to name but a few.
The question that remains is when will the people of Imo State wake up and chuck him out?
quote: Gov quizzed in London - Over money laundering
By Tayo Ligali - 23.03.2008
A SERVING governor in one of the south eastern states of the country was quizzed by a team of armed policemen from the Fraud and Money Laundering Special Scotland Yard Squad, on Monday 17 March, 2008 over money laundering.
The governor, Sunday Tribune learnt, jetted out of the country on Friday, 14th March, 2008 with his entourage and checked into Inter-Continental Hotel, Park Lane, Central London under an assumed name.
It was gathered that the governor had a reception for indigenes of his state resident in the country the following day. The reception also had in attendance, the Nigeria Acting High Commissioner and representatives of a foreign company planning to build an oil and gas company in the governor’s state.
The governor was said to have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the representatives of the company at the reception.
The next day, Sunday March 16, the governor paid homage to his people who came calling on him at his hotel room.
He was said to have retired at about 11 p.m, when the last visitor left, only to be woken up early the following morning, Monday, by the men from Scotland Yard.
The security operatives, who, acting on a tip off, searched his hotel room, and documents linking him to a house purchased late last year at the cost of £1.8m in South Kensington, London and another in Atlanta, USA at the cost of N$2.1m. Another document showed that the governor is a co-owner of a company in China.
The police also recovered a sum of £1.2m cash from the room of one of the governor’s aides. The governor and the aide were arrested and taken into custody where they were quizzed.
The governor was released the same day but his aide was released the following day because he had a British passport. The money is still in the possession of the police, pending the end of investigation into the source of the money the man claimed was genuinely earned by him.
It was rumored that the money was brought into London through an agent who uses one of Nigeria’s neighbouring countries diplomatic bag. The agent, Sunday Tribune learnt, was paid 20 per cent of the total money successfully brought into the UK and had been successfully transacting such business in the past.
Sunday Tribune findings revealed that that particular transaction went awry because the governor failed to settle all his accomplices whom he had earlier promised would get their share of the loot.
Our source disclosed that when the governor took possession of the money on Friday night, he handed it over to the aide for keeps.
posted
I cannot believe it. Why are the enemies of Imo state trying to drag our good governor out. I have read the tribune article and I have not seen where the governor was mentioned by name.
Wacko I am really disappointed in you. Shame on you!
Posts: 7 | Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
Wacko, Still that does not prove it is Ohakim. I will be very disappointed if he turns out to be the one. It will be a real shame if this guy who got in by miracle has become so corrupt in less than one year!
Posts: 623 | Registered: Mar 2001
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From the evidence so far, I agree with Wacko that it is Ohakim. I was at the Imo State association gathering reported by the paper. We all heard the rumour of the arrest but I did not believe it till now. I am still reeling from shock
Posts: 4 | From: Not Yet Uhuru | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
You guys should quit being cry babies. Let the man enjoy his loot. It's nothing new in Naija. Oh, by the way, where is that lunatic who goes by the name Dr Opara? Who knows, he might be the one sharing the loot with Ohakim, since he is based in London.
Posts: 39 | From: Kokori Villa, Benin City | Registered: Apr 2004
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MORE troubled days appear ahead for a South-East governor recently quizzed by the Metropolitan Police in London with an emerging indication that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) are set for a full scale investigation into the alleged money laundering allegation against the governor.
The first step into the planned probe, the Nigerian Tribune gathered, would be the unravelling of the governor’s identity.
Nigerian Tribune further learnt from a source within the EFCC that the working relationship and understanding between the British police and the commission would be a veritable tool in sourcing all required information on the matter, especially the statement reportedly obtained from him by the London Police.
Though, money laundering issue falls within the purview of the EFCC, the ICPC said it would be focussing on those who could have assisted in the movement of the money allegedly laundered, especially the civil servants in the state.
ICPC spokesman, Mr. Folu Olamiti, in a telephone interview with the Nigerian Tribune, stated that knowing the identity of the governor would be the first step to take in the investigation of the alleged crime.
Olamiti added that the focus of the commission would be on the state civil servants who were always in the know before illegal money was moved and often participate in such movement.
He said the commission would not spare anybody found to have collaborated with the governor regardless of his or her status in government.
Efforts to get the official reaction of the EFCC on the matter yielded no result, as calls made to its spokesperson, Osita Nwajah, were not answered.
It will be recalled that the Federal Government, through the office of the Attorney General of the Federation, had said that any sitting governor indicted for corruption while in office would be investigated, while anybody found to have collaborated in the crime would be prosecuted alongside the governor.
There is no need to doubt the veracity of the story and to be abusive in our response like Uduma has done. We should hail Wacko for bringing this issue here. Personally, I thank him very much.
Our people say that "ihe agwo muru aghai ito ogologo" (whatever a snake begets is always tall). I am not surprised!! I knew from the word go that Ohakim will still Imo dry just like his master, Orji Uzor stole Abia dry, especially with Maurice Iwu's younger brother as the Secretary to the Imo State Government.
My prayer is that PDP does not succeed in taking over Abia. If that happens and Ohakim is not impeached, then Imo is finished, because the looters in Abia will descend on Imo State resources.
May God save us from these 419 governors.
___________________ "Udo, Njiko na Nwere onwe anyi" Posts: 56 | From: PH, BIAFRA | Registered: Dec 2003
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President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has requested the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to furnish him with more information over the circumstances that led to the arrest of Governor Ikedia Ohakim of Imo State by the Scotland Yard operatives last week.
The governor was allegedly quizzed by a team of police officers in London, on Monday, March 17, over issues relating to money laundering.
Acting on security report from EFCC, the security operatives were said to have invaded Inter-Continental Hotel, Park Lane, Central London, in search of a huge amount of money, which he allegedly took to London through some of his political aides.
LEADERSHIP gathered that vital documents which suggest that Governor Ohakim has a house worth £1.8 million in South Kensington, London, and another in Atlanta, USA, at the cost of $2.1 million were allegedly recovered in his hotel room.
Our source said, "A huge amount of cash, running into millions of dollars," was also recovered from persons linked to the governor.
The governor and one of his aides were allegedly arrested and asked to make written statements before they were released by the security officials.
LEADERSHIP gathered last night that President Yar'Adua, in line with his anti-corruption crusade, had asked for more detailed information relating to the case.
"The attention of the presidency has been drawn to the case, and he had directed the commission to do its work," a source at EFCC corporate headquarters told our correspondent last night.
"You know, the president has the principle of not interfering in our activities, although he has indicated interest to know more about the case, he however directed the commission to do its work."
Chief DSP Alameyeseigha and Mr. Joshua Dariye, former governors of Bayelsa and Plateau States respectively, had been arrested and prosecuted for similar offences.
An anti-graft source told our reporter that the money and other documents allegedly recovered in Mr. Ohakim's hotel room are still in the possession of the London security operatives, pending when the investigation into the matter is concluded.
In a decent society, the governor would by now have addressed the people of his state on this issue.
___________________ No Biafran will be permitted to play Mother Theresa to the Yoruba and Hausa-Fulani, but play Osama Bin Laden to the Igbo or Biafrans! Posts: 1185 | Registered: Mar 2001
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Waooh, Nigerian Newspapers and the act of reporting. guess it will be fair to call them Tabloid. READ THIS IN CONTRAST TO THE ABOVE
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has described as mere ruse media reports that Imo State governor, Ikedi Ohakim, was arrested and questioned by law enforcement agencies in London over alleged money laundering.
This refutal is coming as officials at the Nigeria High Commission in Britain also denied knowledge of the alleged incident. The man in the eye of the storm himself, equally denied the allegation, describing it as false and grossly misleading. Leadership, an Abuja-based newspaper had reported in its Tuesday edition, that Ohakim was arrested and interrogated by Scotland Yard operatives in London for alleged money laundering. The governor was said to have got into trouble over his ownership of a house worth £1.8 million in South Kessington in London and another in Atlanta USA valued at $2.1 million as well as one million dollars allegedly found on one of his aides during the search of their hotel rooms when they visited the British city on March 17. The newspaper also reported that President Umaru Yar’Adua had subsequently directed the EFCC to furnish him with detailed information on the allegation. The newspaper report was sequel to a previous one published last Sunday by Ibadan-based Nigerian Tribune. Although the Tribune’s report was speculative, Leadership apparently blew off the anonymity of the South East governor involved in its own news story. But, the EFCC in a statement signed by its Head, Media and Publicity, Osita Nwajah, debunked the reports, saying its investigations and checks with the law enforcement agencies mentioned in the affair did not “bear out the stories of arrest and interrogation.” The full statement by the commission reads: “The attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has been drawn to some reports in the media alleging that law enforcement agencies in London, UK, acting on some security report from the Commission, arrested and questioned Imo State governor, Mr. Ikedi Ohakim. They are also reported to have, on the strength of the same security report, confiscated large sums of money and documents found on the governor, after a search of his apartment. “The Commission wishes to state that no such security report was issued by it on Governor Ohakim and no such report was sent to any law enforcement agency within or outside Nigeria, with the intention to arrest or detain Governor Ohakim. Further, EFCC checks with the law enforcement agencies mentioned do not bear out the stories of arrest and interrogation of the said Governor, either based on the spurious security or other reports of the Commission. “The media are advised to always crosscheck their facts before going to press.” Daily Sun’s checks at the Nigeria High Commission in London also corroborated EFCC’s position. A highly placed official who spoke on phone with Daily Sun on the condition of having his identity protected said: “We don’t have any more details or facts than what you have. We too only read of it in the newspapers on the internet. “But do you know there was a similar allegation against (Olusegun) Obasanjo last year, which we were forced to investigate here. And there was no truth in it. It was totally false.” Also reacting to the allegation, Imo State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Chief Chuma Nnaji, described it as baseless, and of no substance. Chief Nnaji who briefed newsmen on the government position, said he had received over 17 telephone calls which drew his attention to the said publication which, he, however said, lacked credibility. Nnaji added that, “when the Tribune Newspapers came out with their own version of the same story, I quickly went to His Excellency and he told me categorically that there was nothing like that, and I should be able to believe what he told me because I was not with him on that trip.” Nnaji, made it clear that the governor was in London on Friday, March 14, 2008, with some of his commissioners and returned five days after, wondering how the newspaper obtained its facts in respect of the purported money laundering. “I do not see how that story will be real because you know as much that the Metropolitan Police could not have released him as soon as possible if that story is real, that is why I believe it is false. I have spoken with my colleagues and some special advisers who travelled with the governor on the project he went for, and I have asked them and they said that it is all false.”
CAN HE SUE?
Hail Biafra Posts: 1692 | From: Minnesota USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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Tribune is at it again, How can Tribune which doesn't even have reporters outside Southwest be the one to break this false news. Ohakim as much as I don't like the way he came to office have being doing fairly a good job. Ohakim have done a better Job in his short term than the 2 terms of Udenwa. Next time we read any breaking news from Tribune we better verify before we run with it.
I agree with you, Tribune is Awolowo's newspaper I don't think they have any credibility outside the South West.
The truth is that the news about the Yoruba woman who stole at the ministry of health (Adenike Grange) together with OBJ's daughter was about to break so they decided to divert attention from that ugly mess by publishing the false story about Ohakim.
Please don't remind me of Udenwa again it is better we don't even remember that era in Imo because the man was a complete failure. Tufiakwa.
Posts: 1533 | From: USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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