*Plots to Secure South East for Buhari
Special report by Sharpedgenews.com, Kansas City, USA
Billionaire businessman and self styled king of all Igbo kings “Authur Eze is now being accused of spending
close to four million dollars to influence several judges of the court of Appeal and the Supreme Court in an attempt to unseat the Governor of Abia State, South-East Nigeria.
The revelations on how Arthur and certain powerful individuals got the money delivered into the hands of Justices, if proven true, would remain a slight on the seriousness of President Muhammadu Buhari to push back on judicial corruption and individual impunity, serious manifestations of institutional decay in Nigeria.
Chief Arthur Eze threw himself into the self-succession agenda of the late military dictator of Nigeria, General Sani Abacha. Like many other close associates of Abacha from the North, West and other parts of the country, he was handed the mandate of nominating candidates that would become the governors of the different state in the Eastern part of Nigeria. Prior to the political race that was midwifed through what was described by the late lawyer and politician, Chief Bola Ige, as the “five leprous fingers”, the five rubber stamp political parties of the time, Arthur Eze, becoming increasingly egocentric, took on the task of sponsoring military officers, who would later become, state military administrators. Through them, he was awarded phony contracts, the proceeds diverted.
In the present dispensation, he had sought to continue as the political godfather of Governor Victor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia state. He had committed to donating a total sum of one hundred million naira to the project he was only able to come up with about #10million.
Many of our sources said that Arthur Eze had thought that he would use the opportunity of financial contributions to pocket Ikpeazu. But when Ikpeazu could not be compromised, the businessman felt his thought of personally commandeering the funds of Abia would also perish.
When the doors of reckless political influence peddling was shut on the face of Arthur Eze, he executed a major move by commissioning a team of lawyers who studied an original suit instituted by one Mr. Friday Nwosu, a lawyer seeking to technically undo the political works of Governor Ikpeazu on the ground of tendering false tax clearance.
The courts where the papers by Mr. Nwosu were filed deliberately frustrated the process. However, the man who stood close to play the willing servant for the ploy of Arthur Eze, Uche Ogar sprang out of the blues and used the papers from lawyer Friday to dig the ground under the foot of Ikpeazu in the law court.
Arthur Eze had allegedly devoted a sum of $4m to the vast war chest, largely through the courts, in order to insect Governor Ikpeazu. And for him, it was not going to be difficult, since he had made a close contact with General Muhammadu Buhari, whose multi-billion naira agency, Petroleum Trust Fund, (PTF) was a major financial machine for funding Abacha’s ambition in the 1990s. Eze was said to have allegedly promised Aso Rock that he should be supported in an effort to “knock sense into the heads of South-Easterners”.
According to some of our sources, the ambition of the Muhammadu Buhari political movement to take over the Eastern part had found a matching mate in the ambition of Eze for the financial take-over of the East.
The moment Arthur Eze was convinced that Aso Rock had brought into his project of total take-over of the East, he allegedly invited a former member of the House of Representatives, Muhammed Adamu Bulkachuwa and started deploying the financial weapons from the ear-marked four million dollars war chest.
Through Bulkachuwas’s wife, the present President of the Federal Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, it was not exactly clear to our investigators the total sum paid to the appellate judges, but Justice Zainab allegedly got two hundred thousand dollars.
Apart from the justices of the court of Appeal, some Federal High Court Judges were also paid undisclosed amounts, while the largesse also extended to some Supreme Court justices, although not all.
Justice Ibrahim Auta, a High Court Judge allegedly handled the “booty” on behalf of the “beneficiaries” of that cadre of the bench.
Our sources, pleading anonymity, because of the sensitivity of the scandal said Justice Okon Abang got paid an eye popping $200,000 also.
In the evil plot to completely take over the treasury of Abia state and enjoy contract monopoly in the state after Uche Ogah must have been fraudulently installed by judicial over-reach, a sum of $500,000 was sent by Arthur Eze to a Supreme Court Judge. A source has since confirmed to us that one of the oldest member of the apex court actually collected the stained money.
An informed source confirmed to our investigators that the different judicial officers concerned in the saga so far have restrained the judges involved at various levels the bribery scandal are said to be proceeding with caution in the handling of the matter because they want to be sure that everything and the details of money movement has not leaked to avail the possible hoopla that could arise if the secret leaks to the public.
Arthur Eze is a man with huge ego. He has often paraded himself as both a traditional kingmaker and an anointer of political office holders. He was instrumental to fielding so many military officers as political office holders.
Although, Igbos by tradition are republicans, the paramount stools created for colonial indirect rule and tax administration has become so serious for him in independent Nigeria, that he calls himself the Eze of UKPO, a dormain in Anambra state. Throwing titles, money and influence around, we often benefit from contracts that are signed and never executed.
In 1991, he was awarded the contract for the purchase and installation of a transmitter for old Anambra State Broadcasting Corporation, through his Triax limited in the sum of $774.95m
Around the same period, using his military contacts, he was awarded another contract in respect of equipment for Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS) in the sum of #85m. Similarly, he sweet talked the administration in Anambra state into securing an African Development Bank loan for rural electrification project in the sum of $115m.
In Anambra, Nanze limited, his company got a job for rural water supply, scope included borehole extension scheme, pipeline extension, reservoir maintenance. Contract sum #142,845,910 = $14,338,000 and #28,569,182. From February 12, 1992 later increased by $2,353,784 and $5,182,950 on February 2nd, 1999.
The consultants to the project were DHV of Nigeria and Netherlands. Contract executed with a loan obtained by Anambra from ADB, between August 1995, a total of $4,708,112 and $9,381,149 was paid to Nanze by ADB as loan for Anambra state government. The project has never materialized. The state is blacklisted .