A coalition of civil rights organizations
in the country is mounting pressure on
the Lagos State government to initiate an
investigation into the N255m naira
intercepted by the police on Sunday,
May 31, 2009, in the office of Next
International, the private firm of
Anambra State governor Peter Obi
located at 7, Aerodrome Road, Apapa in
Lagos.
In a statement today in Abuja, the non-
governmental organizations (NGOs)
which come under the umbrella of
Transparency In Government Coalition,
advised Lagos State to investigate the
interception of “this huge sum with a
view to prosecuting the governor from
next March when he leaves office if he is
found culpable.”
The group disclosed that it wants the
outgoing governor investigated so as “to
stop the terrible practice of governors
stealing their states blind and investing
their loots in places other their own and
consequently under-developing their
states”, accusing Mr Obi of having just
completed building the largest shopping
mall in Abuja worth over three billion
naira.
The coalition explained its reason for
calling on Lagos to look into the matter,
rather than wait for the police and the
Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) to do so.
“Public confidence in the two anti-graft
institutions has been declining rapidly
on account of the lethargic manner they
have in recent times been going about
their business”, it declared in the
statement signed by the president of the
coalition, Comrade Joseph Ifedinobi, and
the secretary, Barrister Jeremiah Tumba,
as well as the publicity secretary, Tunde
Oladimeji.
“The offence was committed within the
Lagos territory, so it is, in our view,
within the legal and moral competence
of the Lagos State government o
investigate and prosecute the case, just
as the state government has been
prosecuting Major Hamza El Mustapha,
General Sani Abacha’s chief security
officer, for the murder of Mrs Kudirat
Abiola, wife of Chief Moshood Abiola
who won the June 12, 1993, presidential
election, the group stated”.
It observed that if it had not been the
practice of state governments in Nigeria
since the restoration of democratic rule
in 1999 to prosecute corruption cases,
the Lagos state government could set the
precedent “in the overriding interest of
the Nigerian people who have been the
victims of the rapacity of their rulers”.
Outgoing governor Obi was fingered in
the media immediately a sport utility
vehicle (SUV) belonging to Government
House, Awka, was arrested with the
money in the premises of Next
International by police who were acting
on a tipoff by a policeman attached to
the governor.
“All circumstantial evidence suggests that
His Excellency was behind the money
which was part of the state’s security
vote of N300million for the month of
May, 2009”, argued the group which
recalled that once the news of the arrest
broke out the governor hurriedly flew by
Dana Airline to Lagos to personally
cover up the story, thus cancelling his
official trip to Abuja.
Besides, noted the activists, the
governor’s closest personal aides quickly
went into a frenzy of spins to cajole
Anambrarians in particular and the
Nigerian people in general but ended up
with contradictory versions
of the story accounts.
“”One of the accounts denied that Mr Obi
went to Lagos and held an emergency
with journalists, but when confronted
with strong evidence of the hurried trip,
the story was changed to read that the
money belonged to a person who
‘hitched hiked into His Excellency’s
three-man convoy’.
“The spin doctors now hit upon another
idea: that the raw cash belonged to one
Ejike Onwusogbulu who won a contract
to supply vehicles to local governments
and security agencies in the state.
“But the Commissioner for Transport,
Emeka Ojukwu Jr, was to deny any
knowledge of the transaction and
immediately resigned from the cabinet
to protect his family’s name.
“The spin doctors, as expected, refused to
disclose that Mr Onwusogbolu, the fall
guy, is the brother in law of Ndibe Obi,
the governor’s younger brother and the
manager of his Next International
business”.
The coalition threatened “to sue the
Lagos State government for grievous
dereliction of duty if it fails to
investigate within two weeks the grave
offence committed within its territory by
its Anambra State counterpart ”.

The worst mistake Fashola will do is to think about such!!!

All this because of election??

See season film. 3D goggle activated...

gleaf: The worst mistake Fashola will do is to think about such!!!

y, is it because d thief involve is ur brother? bt i think u igbos claim without u lagos lose its existence, see ur life, criminals.

So such a thing happened. The wicked shall surely be judged.

Accusations and counter-accusations. Everybody is witch-hunting everybody. This can make or break us o. BTW, where the F are the antigraft agencies?

Does those Morøns pressuring fashole not know that lagos state is currently under one of those worst corrupt govt in africa?

geeez: You can't break the laws of the land in Yoruba territory and go scot-free

It has nothing to do with where you're from

Even if you're from Lagos, the law must take its course

If you quote me and post crap, may your money be laundered as well and never recovered

May your hard-earned money be squandered and wasted,the same way Tinubu and fashole are using niger-delta money given to the SW as monthly awoof,you self-deceiving scum.

gleaf: The worst mistake Fashola will do is to think about such!!!

h ow would it amount to being a mistake? Just how, please?

.

Easy oil money. Abeg leave him alone jare!
Onye ube ya ruere ya rachaa..

Try and see nah. Useless apc.fashola should sue him and will witdraw the case as usual

Any need? he, fashole will later beg as usual.... Obi is a scum, that said, it will be a mockery of justice if a Tinubu protege starts to act an Idiagbon, you can only go to equity with clean hands

Thief de sue thief ?

owobokiri:
Any need? he, fashole will later beg as usual.... Obi is a scum, that said, it will be a mockery of justice if a Tinubu protege starts to act an Idiagbon, you can only go to equity with clean hands

so you know that Peter Obi is a thief