http://thestreetjournal.org/pages/content/view/66/58/


How Mike Oghiadomhe, The most powerful man in President Jonathan's cabinet extorts money from Governors and other top government officials
Written by Administrator
Sunday, 25 July 2010




The appointment of Chief Mike Aiyebeni Ogiadomhe as the Chief of Staff to President Goodluck Jonathan has generated quite a number of reactions. While the Edo State former Deputy Governor is being celebrated as the ‘Pride of Edo State’ in some quarters, Mr. President has come under criticism for the singular act of appointing the Etsako Central born chief. In short, Oghiadomhe is a man many love to hate, even in his own backyard. That notwithstanding, the former Deputy Governor of Edo State has risen to become one of the most powerful men in Nigeria today.





Sources revealed that not only dose he have the ears of Mr. President, he is one of those who dictate who gets what and when.

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The Man Mike Oghiadomhe

Having worked as Deputy to former Governor Lucky Igbinedion while he served as the Chief Executive of Edo State, many see Chief Oghiadomhe as one of those who should be held responsible for the current plight o the state. Some indigenes still remember him as the man who allegedly sold out the state’s rubber plant for personal gains.

Incidentally, in his immediate constituency, it is often said publicly that he cannot point to a single individual he has helped to climb to the top in the whole of Edo State; rather there are numerous people he has used and dumped.

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The Many Allegations He Should Respond To

Apart from the land issue that pitched him against his own people, so many factors have taken away the respect the average Edo indigene should have for the former Deputy Governor of his or her home state. One of such was the conduct of Chief Oghiadomhe during the 2007 elections. It was alleged that there was absolutely no voting in Etsako Central Local Government where the former Deputy Governor hails from.

He reportedly supervised his personal security team as they took electoral materials and took them to the home of a senior chief in the area where they thumb-printed the entire ballot papers available.ÂÂ

What has kept many people wondering is Mike Oghiadomhe’s invincibility. Law enforcement agents seem to have a kind of fear for him. Not only has the EFFCC not probed him as recommended, it was gathered that the Chief of Staff has turned into a consultant of sorts for those having cases with the anti-graft body. A good number of past and serving Governors have consulted him to help them ensure that their issues are not treated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Not less than five serving Governors that have cases with the EFCC have parted with large sums of money just for him to help settle their cases. For instance, the Ogun State Goovernor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel has allegedly coughed out N 175 million to Oghiadomhe. The fund is for the sole purpose of settling his case with the EFCC. His Oyo State counterpart, Otunba Alao-Akala allegedly parted with N 115 million to help ensure his second term ticket.

The mode of operation makes it rather difficult to trace anything to the Chief of Staff. He has a front in the person of one Ozaekhemen, a Senior Advocate. The SAN is the one that goes to those who have cases and make them understand that to settle such matters, money would be involved.

It was even gathered that the seemingly fearless Farida Waziri has tremendous respect for the Chief of Staff. She too was alleged to have coughed out a whooping sum of N 300 million in order to save her job. Inside sources revealed that she was sure that only the Chief of Staff could help her ensure that Mallam Nuhu Ribadu’s return as EFCC Chairman does not see the light of the day.

And those who think it is just about the CoS might be wrong, his wife too is said to be in business. She is said to have some phoney companies with which contracts are cornered, especially between Israel and Nigeria.

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His Lifestyle of Betrayals

It is on good authority that the love, if there ever was any between Chief Oghiadomhe and the people of Azukala Epken, a community in his home local government has since gone cold. Chief Oghiadomhe was alleged to have illegally acquired a land mass covering about 12 square kilometers while he was the Deputy Governor. The said land has been part of the government’s reserved land since 1959 and since then, most citizens in the agrarian community have been using the land to empower themselves economically.

Oghiadomhe’s goons sometimes dressed as mobile policemen and sometimes in mufti have continually terrorized people over the land thus leaving them with nowhere to farm. He even went as far as ordering the arrest of the traditional ruler of the town. Those speaking in favour of the former Deputy Governor claim he has a Certificate of Occupancy dated April 17, 2007 to back up his ownership claim.

That is being seen as a betrayal of the trust reposed in him by the members of his immediate community. To most members of the community, Oghiadome’s men have done a lot to undermine the security of the area.

One of those who cannot forget Chief Oghiadomhe in a hurry is Dr. Dogo Mohammad, the former head of the National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS. His grouse is that Oghiadomhe was particularly responsible for his premature removal from office. Ordinarily, Dr. Muhammad should have had a five year tenure as the Executive Secretary of the NHIS, having been appointed in March, 2007. While he was still looking forward to his tenure running till 2012, the Head of Service directed all civil servants holding tenured appointments to retire from the civil service and continue with their tenured appointments which Dr. Muhammad did with a letter dated 3rd of December, 2009 since the pre-retirement activities were to begin on the 1st of January, 2010. His request was however turned down on the allegation that his letter was belated and that he failed to comply with the Head of Service’s directive. He was subsequently removed from office.

On the 1st of March however, a letter was written to the Minister of Health by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation that the then Acting President had reversed the decision to sack Dr. Dogo Muhammad and that he should be allowed to complete his five year tenure.

While still basking in the euphoria of the reversal of the Presidential decision, Dr. WMB Dogo Muhammad received another letter on the 11th of March from the office of the Minister for Health. Attached to it was a letter from Chief Oghiadomhe who was then the Principal Secretary to the Acting President. In Oghiadomhe’s letter dated 2nd March, 2010, he disclosed that ‘after further investigation on the matter, the approval earlier given by the Acting President that he should complete his tenure has been withdrawn.’

Of course Dogo Muhammad’s associates could not but smell foul play, how could the President ask the SGF to reinstate someone and ask his principal secretary to firs him the following day? Some of them have read between the lines and they believe Oghiadomhe is behind the whole issue.

Those who know Edo politics well will tell you that when the relationship between former Governor Lucky Igbinedion and Chief Mike Oghiadomhe started with an atmosphere of oneness, dedication and loyalty. The Deputy Governor was put in charge of local governments and their allocations, boards and parastatals, of course he was always on hand to brief his boss how things went but at the latter end of Oghiadomhe’s stay in the Igbinedion government, mutual suspicion, and anxiety became characteristic features of both the Governor and his deputy.

Till date, many still find it very difficult to absolve Chief Oghiadomhe from the attempt to impeach Lucky Igbinedion then. In some quarters, it is believed that he went into it for the sole purpose of accomplishing his aim to become the Governor of Edo State. And since he had a weak political base at home, that was the easiest way possible.

Apart from tracing the plot to unseat Igbinedion then to his deputy, some people in the former Governor’s camp believed the plot was coordinated and bankrolled from Bayelsa State. The evidence some held on to was that Oghiadomhe’s letter congratulating Goodluck Jonathan on the assumption of office after the impeachment of Dipreye Alamieyesegha was published in four national dailies. And coming at such a time when the political atmosphere in Edo was getting tense, not a few people believed the existence of a ‘Bayelsa connection’ in the impeachment plot.

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Oghiadomhe’s Ride To Power

The emergence of Chief Oghiadomhe as Lucky Igbinedion’s running mate was not without the help of Vice Admiral Mike Okhai Akhigbe, the Chief of General Staff in the Abdulsalami Abubakar administration. The Vice Admiral is Oghiadomhe’s close relation.

He and President Goodluck Jonathan became very close friends in 1999 when they were both serving as Deputy Governors. Sources even revealed that whenever Jonathan visited Benin then, he always slept in Oghiadomhe’s house. By the time the latter became Vice President, he brought his friend to the Presidency as the Deputy Chief of Staff but the office was downgraded by the late President, Umar Yar’Adua, thus leaving Oghiadomhe as a Principal Secretary.

With the restoration of the office of the Chief of Staff by the President however, Chief Oghiadomhe emerged as the occupant of the office.

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His Ambition

Ever since the impeachment scare rocked the Edo State Governor’s office during the Igbinedion years, no one has been in doubt that Chief Oghiadomhe had a governorship ambition. It was however nipped in the bud as the Governor was advised to cage his deputy or be consumed in the political heat that would follow his failure to do so.

Another thing that put paid to his ambition was the fact that he was part of the Lucky Igbinedion team that failed the whole of Edo State.

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What His Appointment Has Caused President Jonathan

Not a few Nigerians who are in the know of things in Edo State are now wondering if the government’s war against corruption has any element of sincerity. In political and social circles, what is being said is that ‘Lucky Igbinedion and his team milked Edo State dry. How on erath then could Igbinedion’s deputy have found his way to the Presidential Villa as the Chief of Staff?’ One of the many questions begging for answers is “is the President ignorant of the looting that took place in the Igbinedion years?”

The fact that while their government lasted, they ran Edo State together; Oghiadomhe cannot be dissociated from the many atrocities and financial mismanagements that took place in the state. The EFCC and ICPC have recommended that he should be probed alongside his former boss.  Instead of sharing Igbinedion’s travails however, he is having a swell time as the Chief of Staff to Mr. President.

In some quarters, it is already being said that if Yar’Adua’a government was fraught with corruption, the present government definitely doesn’t look set to fare nay better. ÂÂ

Na now una know sey the man corrupt?
After he has been caught carrying out his bosses directives
He was the aide that GEJ directed to call okah

Please spare us all these craps.[size=18pt]The truth is out already [/size]

na wa oh!!!!