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September 20, 2005
Governor Kalu of Abia State Should Shut Up!
by Paul I. Adujie (New York, US) --- Governor Kalu of Abia State is PDP enfant terrible! He often speaks before he thinks!
Not long ago, he accused President Obasanjo of corrupt practices, and true to type, the rabble rouser that he is certifiably is, was returning to the scene of his previous crimes of screaming allegations of corruption without specifics and by this, he makes nonsense of real anti corruption efforts by all.
It has become a common practice among some Nigerians, to behave like Governor Kalu, who while hiding under the immunity clause of our constitution to break our laws, immunity as enshrined in section 308 has become a tool for impunity by too many office holders in Nigeria and prime among them, is this governor Kalu of Abia state.
In October 2004 I wrote the article below: Governor Kalu of Abia State must tell Nigerians and the entire world, what he knows! He must do so at once or immediately!
http://www.amanaonline.com/Articles/Adujie/P_Adujie_150.htm
The governor must make full material disclosures of the names of Nigerian public officials who he has accused of corruption. This is not the first time, highly placed members of the PDP current government in Nigeria have alleged being privy to corruption information, in connecting state governors and other high level officials. Governor Kalu must submit the information in his possession to the Police, SSS, ICPC, EFCC, the president of Nigeria and international organizations, such as the Interpol.
We have to assume that Governor Kalu made these public declarations, with all sense of responsibility and a high sense of national duty. We further have to assume, that his intentions are honorable. Governor Kalu’s declarations must not be taken lightly!
However, if these accusations are deliberate falsehoods or made for rabble rousing purposes, Governor Kalu must face the law now or whenever he leaves public office.
This is crucial, because fighting corruption requires information, accurate information that would lead to conviction after a fair trial; Further, it is very important, that allegations of corruption are not and must not, be made carelessly or lightly. Frivolous accusations that are not substantiated will demean the persons accused, as it will equally demean or belittle the efforts to eradicate corruption in Nigeria. We must cry wolf, only, when there is wolf.
Those who genuinely seek to eliminate corruption in Nigeria must not engage in any smear tactics. Allegations of corruption must be factually based, and anyone making such allegations must come forward with specific information in their possession.
The Nigerian public must keep their eyes on the ball regarding Governor Kalu’s corruption challenge, they must demand and insist, that Governor Kalu and others like him, who possess evidence of corruption against public officials, from the president to local governor councilors, must provide or disclose such evidence publicly, the same must apply to anyone with evidence of corruption in the private sector.
It should be clear to all Nigerians by now, that our country cannot continue to have the unsavory label and reputation of endemic corruption, only this past Sunday October 10, 2004, The New York Times castigated Nigeria, particularly, Nigerian Universities as citadel of corruption when it wrote, in “THE ETHICIST” By RANDY COHEN Acceptable Bribe http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/10/magazine/10ETHICIST.html
Thereafter, Kalu recanted and apologized to President Obasanjo and everybody else. now, Kalu is at it again! Again, he has tantalized Nigerians at home and abroad, with his hot and heavy allegations of President Obasanjo, and who in turn forwarded the allegations to the EFCC for investigations, Kalu is invited by the EFCC, Kalu ignores the EFCC with impunity, because he selectively insists that the EFCC is not a neutral or independent body!
In America where I live, the President of the United States appoints Directors for the Central Intelligence Agency CIA and Federal Bureau of Investigations FBI, just as the president of Nigeria appoints EFCC Chairperson, I cannot imagine, any circumstances, where the governor of my home state of New York, flippantly makes a hot and heavy charge against the president of the United States in connection with corruption and abuse of office, but without specifics, no facts, no evidence and much worse, the governor of a state in the United States who so accuses a United States president, when invited by the FBI to submit the specific exactitude of his corruption allegations, he resorts smugly, that the FBI Director is appointed by the president, and so, the FBI is not neutral and independent, and as a consequence, he the governor refuses to attend a hearing and refuses to submit documentary evidence that he had claimed he had, as proof of corruption by the American president! Where is Governor Kalu’s logic?
The other day, a lawyer in open court, accused the honorable Chief Justice of the Federation of Nigeria of corruption, if the allegations were true, his actions will be courageous in the most monumental sense, but the lawyer did not bring forward, the facts, the proof of what he alleged.
In essence, this lawyer, governor Kalu have resorted to flippant and flimsy accusations and allegations of corruptions against office holders, but without adducing evidence to establish such allegations and in doing so, they undermine all of us, our institutions and our nation. Labeling the Chief Justice of Nigeria corrupt without evidence or proof, and labeling the president or vice president corrupt without facts or proof, undermines all of us and our institutions and our nation!
If you allege, you must prove or you must shut up!
Paul I. Adujie (New York, US)
Lawcareer@msn.com
New York, United States
Posted by Administrator at September 20, 2005 07:33 AM
Comments
Mallam Nuhu Ribadu,
Executive Chairman,
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,
Plot 1017/1078 Corce Bay Crescent,
Off Ademola Adetokunbo Crescent,
Wuse II, Abuja
I have just arrived from Los Angeles, United States of America, where I had gone to attend the annual World Igbo Congress, to behold a letter from your commission and addressed to me in connection with my private letter to President Olusegun Obasanjo entitled: Working for Posterity to Judge Us. I thank you for the interest you have shown in the matter even though your action is unconstitutional and smacked of confidence-trickery, deliberate deceit and sheer gimmickry.
It is preposterous that your commission could deliberately embark on an exercise it knew ab initio was unrealistic, morally wrong and unattainable. You knew quite well that your commission lacked the power to investigate the President by virtue of Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution, and still went ahead to engage in a wild-goose chase with tax-payers’ money. Even at that your assignment has been made more onerous by the fact that you cannot clinically investigate the same President who appointed you and picks the bills of the commission, which you head. Have you forgotten that he who pays the piper calls the tune?
I would be shocked to the bone if you say you did not know that my letter to the President was a private and personal letter, and therefore has no business with your commission. That the President referred the letter to you does not, in any way, obviate or obliterate its import. All it has succeeded in achieving is to expose the intolerance and insincerity of our leaders.
I was surprised when I heard it in far away USA that the President had referred a personal letter I wrote to him to your commission for investigation. After all, I know the address of your office if I had wanted to refer the letter to your commission. It was even more ludicrous to read that you claimed that your men had quizzed the President. Can somebody stand before a moving train and come out alive?
Permit me to observe that I was terribly baffled when I read in the dailies that you claimed to have called my house in Umuahia and London to invite me to appear before your commission over the matter. I have inquired from my personal aides and none could confirm you did so. You probably could have said this to create the impression that I was evading your commission when there was no compelling reason to do so.
Having said that I wish to state unequivocally, that there is no need to appear before your commission when I know that its assignment amounts to nothing but a nullity. As things stand now it is only an independent platform can guarantee an unbiased investigation on the matter. Anything short of this is a deliberate abuse of the Constitution, breaking of the law, and, therefore, unacceptable to me.
Please accept my best regard.
ORJI UZOR KALU
GOVERNOR
September 2005
A SPECIAL PRESS STATEMENT
My attention has been drawn to a recent press conference by a faceless and innocuous group by name ABIA ELDERS FORUM, and which was widely publicized by the media. At the Press Conference the group, comprising political jobbers, charlatans, and expired office holders, made some inaccurate claims in its morbid effort to smear my integrity and divert attention from the truth.
I make bold to say that all the allegations raised by the group at the Press Conference are absolutely false and designed, by the sponsors of the group, to destroy my political career and reputation. It is no longer news that my person and office as governor have come under severe and repeated attacks since I declared publicly interest in the presidency of our great country for 2007.
I must confess that I am deeply worried by the way some persons play politics. All through my career as a politician I have played the game with candour, humaneness, decency, and without bitterness. The action of the so-called Abia Elders Forum amounted to nothing but barefaced falsehood, character assassination and ego-tripping – all aimed at castigating my person, and justify the pittance they got from their sponsors.
For the benefit of doubt, I wish to state unequivocally that I duly declared my assets with the Code of Conduct Bureau in accordance with the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I have addressed this issue copiously at several forums, and wonder why any right-thinking person should continue to allude to it.
Let me state the umpteenth time, that in the Assets declaration form I filed with the Code of Conduct Bureau at the end of my first term as governor I declared the three (3) houses I owned abroad, in addition to other assets acquired by me before assuming office as governor. It is important to clarify that some time in July 2003 I had a cause to sell my house at Boston, Massachusetts, USA, and purchased another one at 14900 River Road, Potomac, Maryland, USA. This transaction was duly declared with the Code of Conduct Bureau in an addendum I submitted to it on October 1, 2003 after the process for its documentation in America was duly completed.
For those familiar with how things work in America it is a compulsory civic duty to pay tax. It was, therefore, preposterous, and the height of ignorance on the part of the pseudonymous group to accuse me of paying tax on my properties abroad, even when they knew I am legal USA resident.
Those picking hole with my assets declaration do so out of selfishness, crass individualism, arrogance and callousness. I have never hidden anything about my person or business from the public. In fact, I was the only governor who publicly declared a total asset package of over N2billion in 1999 before assumption of office.
Why should anybody now make a fuss about my house in Potomac, Maryland, USA, when the cost of the property is slightly equal to the $1million (One million US dollars) I donated to President Olusegun Obasanjo’s Presidential campaign in 1999 at an exchange rate of N84 to the dollar?
For the avoidance of doubt, I wish to restate my resolve to submit myself to any inquiry anywhere in Nigeria, United States of America, United Kingdom or Europe as far as my assets declaration is concerned; and I challenge other leaders and political office holders to follow suit.
ORJI UZOR KALU
GOVERNOR
__________________________________________________
Posted by: ogbuefi naijaman at September 20, 2005 10:07 PM
