Date Published: 04/26/10

N170 Million Fraud: Ogbulafor begs Jonathan

...You must face the law -Jonathan

Mr. Vincent Ogbulafor

Embattled Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Mr. Vincent Ogbulafor has asked Acting President Goodluck Jonathan to prevail on the Independent and Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC to stop his prosecution over a N170 Million fraud he committed while serving as a Minister under President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration.

The PDP chairman is expected to be arraigned today by the ICPC over a N170 Million fraud he allegedly committed using fronts when he was Minister for Economic Matters under President Obasanjo.

Ogbulafor who had stormed the Aguda residence of Acting President Jonathan on Friday alongside three other party chieftains spent over three hours trying to convince the Acting President on the need for his prosecution to be stopped.

But the Acting President who has made the fight against corruption as one of his focal points stunned the PDP chieftain when he calmly told the delegation that the constitution of the country must be followed and whoever breaks the law must face the consequences.

In a confessional statement to the ICPC during interrogations on the allegations in 2005, Ogbulafor owned up to the charges against him and the anti-corruption agency recommended him for trial in its final report. The report is yet to be implemented.

According to a source privy to the meeting on Friday told pointblanknews.com that “the acting president was not surprised with the visit, he knew the chairman would be coming and he had a ready answer for him. He told him he doesn’t have a hand in his travails and he would not want to interfere with the activities of the ICPC especially on issues bordering on corruption.”

Ogbulafor’s face-saving visit is believed to be an anti-climax after weeks of grandstanding on his behalf by some PDP Governors who were misled into believing that the case was politically motivated by Jonathan’s perceived thirst for the Presidency in 2011.

Chairman of the Governors Forum, Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara State had rallied some of his colleagues to save Ogbulafor from the grating attacks from the Senator Nnamani-led PDP reform group.

The PDP reform group had asked Ogbulafor to step down in few of the weighty allegations against him. Soon after their repeated calls and criticism of the PDP leadership, the group led by former Senate President Ken Nnamani was suspended from the party.

Others suspended were: Chief Adolphus Wabara — a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Masari; a former governor of Rivers State, Dr. Peter Odili; and a former Transport Minister, Mr. Abiye Sekibo.

Also suspended were an ex-Presidential aspirant of the party, Owelle Rochas Okorocha; the PDP governorship candidate in Abia State, Chief Onyema Ugochukwu; a former Minister of Commerce and Industry, Chief Achike Udenwa; a former governorship candidate of the party in Imo State, Chief Ifeanyichukwu Ararume.

Others are Chief Tony Ukasanya; Chief Sunny Iroche; Senator Emmanuel Agboti; Senator Sylvanous Ngele; Alhaji Awal Tukur; Mr. Bawa Bwari; Prof. Alphonsus Nwosu; Chief Bernard Eze; and Chief Chris Ekpeyong.

Ogbulafor may also have to contend with another scandal bothering on his claims that he did his NYSC in 1993- some 17 years after he claimed to have received his bachelor’s degree. Curiously, the PDP chairman was a serving commissioner in Abia State in 1993, the same year he claimed to have done his youth service.

The PDP national chairman was recently in the news for allegedly buying a N400 million mansion in highbrow Asokoro, Abuja, a few months after he assumed the party leadership. The alleged purchase, in the estimation of several party chieftains, fuelled suspicion that Ogbulafor, who a few months before becoming the PDP chairman, had put up a section of his modest house in Gwarinpa Estate, Abuja, for sale, was using his office as PDP national chairman to enrich himself.