Chime Probes Nnamani

After what seemed like an eternity, the Judicial Commission of Inquiry on the Activities of 17 Local Government Areas of Enugu State, set up by Governor Sullivan Chime on assumption of office in 2007, commenced its public hearing Tuesday, August 4. (Pictures show Chime (left) & his predecessor, Senator Chimaroke Nnamani (right)

The commission’s mandate was to investigate such mismanagement of council funds during the eight years of Senator Chimaroke Nnamani as governor of the state, that is, from 1999 to 2007. Governor Chime had launched the inquiry in the face of an asphyxiating cold-war between him and Nnamani, his predecessor and political mentor who, single-handedly, installed him governor in June of 2007. Both Chime and Nnamani parted ways even before the former’s inauguration as governor, a broken relationship that has refused to mend even with the passage of over two years of Chime’s administration of the state.

Chime set up the commission, headed by a High Court Judge, Anthony Onovo, sequel to a resolution by Enugu State House of Assembly, led by Hon. Eugene Odo, urging his government to probe former Governor Nnamani and the seventeen past local government chairmen over alleged illegal deductions from allocations belonging to the councils.
Thus Governor Chime, in February 2007, set up the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Activities of Local Government Councils in Enugu State from January 1999 to December 2007 to conduct the seemingly procured probe request. Other members of the commission were listed as N.A.U Ojike, Igwe (Dr) Chris Ngene, Chief L.O Ugwu, G. Obu, Mrs. J.U Ovaga and Henry Nwalu (Secretary).

Understandably, the setting up of the commission was trailed by suspicions from the camp of former Governor Nnamani which believed that it was politically motivated, Indeed, the camp remains of the view that the indictment and subsequent caging of Nnamani is the primary target of the exercise.

And to give the commission legal backing, past chairmen of councils were said to have been propelled to call for probe of the Nnamani era in the state. Operating under the platform of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), the council chiefs (who were even part of Nnamani’s administration), fired a petition to the state legislature, bringing forth the allegations of embezzlement of council funds against his government.

These council chairmen, in a letter to the House, dated February 1, 2008, claimed that they had been inundated with calls by civil society groups, employees of local governments, press and other relevant stakeholders for an audit of accounts of past councils in the state.

Exonerating the legislators from the alleged looting of the councils’ funds, the council henchmen called on the Assembly to order a probe, as well as an audit of the accounts of the past local governments in the state within the stipulated time range.
"Furtherance to our collective resolve that the local government system in Enugu State must be transparent, accountable and service oriented, ALGON wish to call for the probe/audit of accounts of past local government councils in Enugu”, the petition stated.

No wonder, the subsequent House 7-man adhoc committee on the issue, chaired by former Speaker Abel Chukwu, came out with a damning report, prodigiously indicting the past government of Nnamani for mismanagement of the councils’ funds. Indicted alongside Nnamani by the House Committee, chaired by former Speaker, Chief Abel Chukwu, was Prince Sam Ejiofor, ex-Commissioner in charge of Local Governments.

Ejiofor was, particularly, allegedly corruptly enriched himself, using proceeds from unauthorized deductions from the monthly allocations to the local governments in the state. Chukwu’s co-panelists were Mike Onyeze, Chris Ugwu, John Anichukwu, Oke Nwoke and Chika Ene (Mrs).

It is worthy to note, at this juncture, that the Onovo commission seemed to have slipped into coma for several months Governor Chime inaugurated it until lately when opposition parties in the state, of course, led by Senator Nnamani’s Ebeano Political Family, peaked their activities aimed at stopping his (Chime)’s re-election bid come 2011. The opposition parties, including Action Congress (AC), Labor Party, Peoples’ Progressives Alliance (PPA) and the Ebeano faction of the state chapter of People’s Democratic Party (PDP), chaired by Barrister Ray Nnamani, former National Auditor, among others, recently, went into a rainbow coalition of sort, and pronounced what they termed ‘Project 2011’.

At the center of this pet-project of the opposition is the scuttling of Chime’s second term ambition and his subsequent replacement with a ‘more fashionable candidate’. Apart from Senator Nnamani, perceived as the rallying point for the realization of the project, Prince Ejiofor, also, plays a leading role in this ‘Operation Stop Chime’s Second Term Bid’.

It would be recalled that Prince Ejiofor was set to emerge the state’s Deputy Governor but for his arrest and incarceration by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), in January 2007, over alleged financial crimes. Other prominent politicians involved in the ‘Project 2011’ include Okey Ezea, governorship candidate of the Labor Party in the past election and KGB Oguakwa, a member of the Federal House of Representatives from the state.

Findings by the magazine show that Governor Chime’s ouster, similarly, tickles the fancy of some other politicians in the state, especially, those who contested for the PDP guber ticket with him before he got anointed by Nnamani. Those who struggled for PDP nomination alongside Chime included Ezenwata Okey Itanyi, Deputy Governor then, Dr. Walter Oji, incumbent Chairman of Udi Council, Okey Ezea, Prince Ude Maduka, an Abuja high flying businessman and politician, US based John Nwokeabia and Group Capt. Joe Orji (Rtd), just to mention but a few. It was after Chime’s emergence that aggrieved aspirants like Ezea sought succor in Labor party, on the platform of which he ran for the plum position. It is instructive that, apart from Oji and, perhaps, Itanyi, to a limited extent, most of these PDP aspirants, including those of other parties, are said to have suffered one form of alienation or the other from Governor Chime.

It will be recalled that the duo of Chief Ugo Agballah of Accord Party and Dr. Oscar Egwuonwu of Democratic People’s Party (DPP), also, contested the governorship of the state, and gave a good account of themselves. It is yet to be deciphered whether they have rosy tales to tell about their relationship with Chime’s government.

Although many of these personalities are yet to mouth open support for the ‘Project 2011’, there are indications that it is a matter of time for the interested persons to come up with their own game plan on the 2011 governorship election.

With the peaking opposition against Chime and his second term dream, it is, therefore, not surprising that the ‘sleeping’ Onovo commission was whipped into action at this point in time. So far, the commission has summoned over fifty past council officials and contractors across the state to come before it to testify on their dealings with the councils under Nnamani as governor. And the grand finale of the public hearing is expected to be the invitation of Senator Nnamani himself to appear before the commission. And Nnamani’s appearance is going to be as tension-laden, as it is expected to be dramatic. That is, if he accepts to present himself for such a probe.

The on-going public hearing, however, followed an interim report to Governor Chime by Onovo’s commission. Although the report is yet to be made public, the magazine gathered that the commission established cases of corruption, misappropriation and diversion of council funds, fake projects and other sharp practices by those who operated the local government system within the period under review.

Assuring openness of the probe, Onovo confirmed that some discoveries had already been made from the records made available to the commission and from oral interviews already granted to the people.

Speaking before commencement of the public hearing, Justice Onovo disclosed that the commission has painstakingly gone through the books and payment vouchers provided by the 17 councils in the state. The senior jurist maintained that members of the commission have also undertaken a tour of the 17 local governments for the purpose of project inspection and verification, as a result of which, according to him, an interim report was submitted to Governor Chime.

Onovo disclosed that the commission was, after a long period of indoor investigations, opening its doors to the public, adding that so doing would enable those the commission summoned to come forward and shed some light on some of the transactions and documents in its possession. The commission, Onovo said, would, also, give an opportunity for interested members of the public to come forward for testimonies.

"As you are aware already, this is Judicial Commission of Inquiry. In line with the Rule of Law, which is the bedrock of every decent society, fairness, equity and justice and to afford fair hearing to all the parties, we cannot conclude this hearing without hearing from all those who had in the past operated the system," the jurist stated.

Stressing that the commission has resolved to be fair and to offer reasonable opportunity to all concerned to air their views on what transpired at the local government councils in the past, the Judge gave an indication that the public hearing would be concluded by October 31.

"I am certain that at the end of the day, we shall all be happy with the outcome of the inquiry - at least if for nothing else, that what happened in the past and the recommendation of this commission would guide the future conduct of those in charge of government at the local level and at other levels of government and in all spheres of our public life”, Onovo enthused.

For now, all eyes are on Onovo Commission. Will the commission, eventually, acquit former Governor Nnamani? Or, will it indict him as forecast by his camp? Time will tell.

Culled from THEWEEK