“If I had six hours to kill a goat, I would use five and a half hours to sharpen my knife” stated the then Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi in response to question from Journalist at the Government House in mid-2008 following concerns that the Obi administration was dragging its feet slowly towards development of the State. The questions arose as reporters in Awka tagged Governor Peter Obi as the first “Baba Go Slow” before the name was borrowed to the late President Yar’Adua.
While the then governor of Anambra State sharpened his proverbial knife – over a period of 2.5 years, Anambra experienced little or no expenditure away from the salaries of workers and mandatory compensations – this was as the federal allocations due to the state was remitted monthly. The monies being accumulated by the governor during the said period were kept and never utilized for the budgeted purposes stipulated in the appropriations bill. And limited questions of the whereabouts of the said monies were not posed largely owing to the political weather of the period – following the failed impeachment and the repeated trials by the Andy Uba led Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] to unseat the only seating All Progressive Grand Alliance [APGA] governor.
However information recently made available to 247ureports.com through competent sources indicate Peter Obi was primarily preoccupied with devising crafty means of laundering monies from Anambra state treasury into his personal account.
Two days to the March 17th day of his official last day in office as the Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi commandeered for some of the brand new Sports Utility Vehicles [SUVs] and Pick Up trucks that were parked at the Government Lounge in Amawbia. The vehicles were then loaded with eleven and a half [11.5] bags onto the vehicles – with each bag containing N200million. They were secretly stored away inside the Governor’s private toilet at the Government Lounge.
Mr. Peter Obi then instructed the drivers to drive the vehicles over to the residence of the Auxiliary Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Awka. Mr. Peter Obi got the clearance of the Bishop, Jonas Benson to store the vehicles carrying the eleven and a half bags containing the N2.3billion. 247ureports.com is not certain if Bishop Jonas Benson knew of the content of the vehicles but Bishop Jonas Benson had served as the chaplain of the Government Lounge throughout the period Peter Obi served as the Governor of Anambra State. Our source indicates that both men enjoyed a close and brotherly relationship. During the campaign 2013 along with previous campaigns, the Bishop has been known to openly campaign for Governor – regardless of his priestly gown of non-partisanship. Jonas Benson hails from Adazi Nnukwu within the same local government area as Peter Obi.
The whereabouts of the vehicles after the March 17th date became unknown. The vehicles were relocated to an unknown destination by the outgoing governor along with the contents of N2.3billion. The whereabouts of the N2.3billion has remained unknown till date. Our source claims Peter Obi walked away with the money.
Another crafty manner with which the then Governor Peter Obi devised to systematically drain away the monies of Anambra State was through the usage of bank accounts with fictitious identity. He used his colleagues at the Diamond Bank and Fidelity Bank to set up many accounts – where he would make monthly payments into – of about N350million monthly. One of the accounts was the one set up supposedly for Anambra indigenes leaving in the diaspora particularly the Anambra State Association in the USA [ASA-USA]. He opened an account under the name of ASA-USA that was supposedly used by Anambra indigenes in the USA to send contributions to the home state. Using the opened account in early 2008, Peter Obi began making automatic monthly payments of N300million into the account – with occasional deposits as low as N150million. At the eve of his stepping down from office in March, the account recorded an available balance in excess of N14.2billion. The account was closed down immediately Peter Obi left office – and the account personal manager transferred to Zenith bank. The whereabouts of the N14.2billion remains unknown. Our source points to Peter Obi as the only one who knows for certain the whereabouts of the money.
What also remains uncertain is the culpability of the administrators of the ASA-USA. During the said period, the ASA-USA was administered by Dr. Anakwenze for the earlier part and then Dr. Anadi for the later part. Both gentlemen operated a very friendly executive to the then Governor of Anambra State. Some within the ASA-USA executive cabinet were given free land allocations in the state capital, others were awarded lucrative contracts. It is not certain if the same executive members were privy to the Diamond bank account operated under the association’s name.
Peter Obi prowess to launder cash money did not come to bear to the close observers of the former Governor until the 2014 general elections came. As the campaign period neared, Peter Obi made a withdrawal of N4billion from a ‘coded’ Fidelity Account. The money was to be used to finance the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] campaign in Anambra – from presidency to national assembly and state assembly. But as Peter Obi began disbursement of the same N4billion in cash, the handlers of the campaign including security agents observed that the same money withdrawn in 2014 from Fidelity bank had 2008 bank stamps on the straps – meaning the withdrawn since 2008 and stored possibly at an outside facility.
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Peter Obi money laundering escapades did not hit the public terrain until the failed heist to deliver N250million by road to his Lagos office at 7 Aerodrome Road, Apapa. The money which was being conveyed by his media assistant, Valentine Obieyem in early 2009, was intercepted by security agents who exposed the heist attempt. It took the long legs of the then Governor Peter Obi to quell the anti-graft agencies from investigating the failed heist.
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Interesting while Mr. Peter Obi occupied his time with devising crafty avenues of draining the funds of Anambra, the insecurity levels reached epic heights – the type never witnessed in the history of old and new Anambra. Anambra quickly became the capital of kidnapping in Nigeria. This notwithstanding that Peter Obi collected a total sum of N48billion in security votes in the 8 years he was in office. Some of the affected parties – whose relatives were kidnapped during the height of kidnappings called Peter Obi’s laundering escapades “blood money”.
Within three months of Governor Obiano’s arrival to the Government House, kidnapping to curtailed to the barest minimum. Our source indicated that the governor applied the security votes to the security of the state – and “it did the trick“.
