A Tsunami wave of in-house rift is now threatening to consume the Nigeria Diaspora Organization, NIDO. At issue: The refusal of the former Chairman of NIDO, Dr. Ola Kassim to agree to full disclosure of successful and non-successful applicants for parcels of land at the proposed Diaspora Village, Pyakasa, Abuja Nigeria.
Also, Kassim is being subjected to close scrutiny and his conduct alongside that of the Office Manager of NIDO, Ms. Stella Onuoha is said to be raising red light as they are purported to have refused to abide by appropriate statutes of the United States before a staggering amount of $135,000.00 accruing from application fees for the Diaspora Land could be paid to the Abuja Geographical System, AGIS.
Pointblanknews.com learnt that Dr. Ismaila Iro of AGIS recently came to the United States and demanded that a cashier check in the sum of $135,000.00, be issued to him on behalf of AGIS as payment foe the Abuja land. An hurried attempt to effect the payment was aborted by dissenting board members of NIDO. Dr. Iro went back to Nigeria disappointed.
Many more otherwise responsible heads are being bloodied in the present squabble at NIDO: Dr. Bolaji Aluko of Howard University, Washington DC, a leading NIDO ideologue, cyber columnist and son of Nigeria’s well known Economist, Professor Sam Aluko has already been dragged into the fray. So also is Dr. Etti Williams who is said to have been providing flawed and fraudulent excuses for the secrecy at NIDO.
Inside sources alerted pointblanknews.com that a fierce underground disagreement had dogged the leadership of Dr. Kassim which was recently dissolved as it resisted the demand of full disclosure, openness, transparency and accountability for more than nine months. Rather than make a simple commitment to due process, Dr. Kassim and many of his former executive lieutenants were said to have given “vague” and often contradictory statements and explanation on the truth concerning the Diaspora Land deal.
Pointblanknews.com gathered that only Kassim, Onuoha and very few executive members of NIDO understand the internal workings of the organization. In particular, about 380 Nigerians living in Canada, United States, Brazil and others were said to have paid $400.00 application fees each for plots of land measuring 950 square meter and 3953 square meter each. A total of $152,000.00 was said to have been realized. However, not every applicant was allocated a plot of land. Out of 380 applicants, only 338 were approved for land allocation. The modus operandi, according to an insider was not made public. “Kassim is secretive, discreet, selective and touchy in explaining what actually transpired.”
Indeed, when Pointblanknews.com first broke the NIDOgate land scandal in June 2007, the tangible list of beneficiaries of the land allocation gave a preponderance of Toronto, Canada residence who were then accused of commandeering several plots which made them emergency land speculators in Abuja. Kassim had dismissed the allegations, promising to make available a much more comprehensive list of beneficiaries.
NIDO sources said that Kassim made the same promise with the executives of NIDO especially those with vast understanding of the law. He never did. Pointblanknews.com was hinted that having failed to live up to the terms of his assurances to his followers, Dr. Kassim began desperate moves to stampede other exco members to give approval for an hurried transfer of the proceeds from the application fees to Dr. Ismaila Iro, a Director of AGIS, a move that is being met with determined resistance from some members of the Board of NIDO.
In particular, Kassim had written on Christmas day 2007 that “338 Applicants were approved.” Yet he sent out another letter on December 29, 2007 with figures at variance with his Christmas day letter.
Kassim wrote: “ 249 Award Letters and Right of Occupancy Certificates were delivered to me on camera by Mallam Iro through the Ambassador Baraya during the AGM in Dallas in June 2007. Mallam Iro randomly pulled out and read the contents of one award letter after delivering the parcel to me. While still on camera, I quickly called Stella to the stage and delivered the parcel to her for onward distribution of the documents to the successful applicants .”
Elsewhere in the same letter Dr. Kassim said: “To address your second question concerning whether NIDO board members should have access to the list of 249 successful candidates, I would have to say a cautious Yes on the condition that this should also be made available to board members on a "read only" basis, without any copies electronic or hard copies for the reasons that I addressed in item 1 above. Again, I will also defer on a final decision by a majority of the NIDO board.”
Another inside source told pointblanknews.com that very serious discrepancies and juvenile contradictions continue to pop up in the claims of Dr. Kassim. One such example is in a sum of $16,800.00 which was said to be the non-refundable surplus from unsuccessful applicants. And every time a genuine attempt is made to make NIDO accountable there is usually a belligerent Ms. Onuoha waiting to dish out primitive, uncouth verbal insults and abuses. Dr. Kassim himself uses several pseudonyms on the internet to cast aspersions and outright blackmail on critics and reporters.
Genuine criticisms continue to pour like tropical torrential rain in the hope that a judicial nemesis be averted. One such warning was issued by Ms. Chioma Ikejiani, a Co-Coordinator of NIDO. Her voice of wisdom highlighted the seriousness of NIDO’s gaffe on December 27, 2007. She wrote: “ As Co - coordinator of NIDOA I am very concerned about the ominous signal of bad times for Nigerians in Diasporas and I will like to state for the record that the Abuja land deal was facilitated by Dr. Ola Kassim and Stella Onuoha. The total amount of 135,200 was deposited into the account of NIDOA INC. A request has come from Dr. Ola Kassim and Stella Onuoha to the Board of NIDOA requesting that a total amount of 135,200 be paid in cashier cheque to one Dr. Iro a Director at AGIS.”
“In the interest of accountability and transparency and in fulfillment of my fiduciary responsibilities I (Chioma Ikejiani) requested the following minimum requirement:
REQUIREMENT FROM AGIS:
An Official Letter requesting for the total amount as well as an authorization to release the cashier cheque to an individual or to mail the cashier cheque to an address of record.
REQUIREMENT FROM DR. OLA KASSIM AND STELLA ONUOHA:
PLEASE PROVIDE THE FOLLOWING PAPER TRAIL TO THE BOARD OF NIDOA INC.
A) The names of all applicants
B) The names of all successful applicants C) Total amounts collected
D) Total amounts deposited
E) Total amounts reimbursed (If any)
From all indications the information requested has not been submitted to the Board of NIDOA. As a result I (Chioma Ikejiani) will not authorize the release of any cheques without proper accountability and administrative protocol. Dr. Ola Kassim and Stella Onuoha have had 9 months to meet the minimum requirements and have not. I am asking Dr. Ola Kassim and Stella Onuoha to help facilitate and expedite this process by providing the required "Paper Trail" and "Documentations" so that this transaction can be successfully completed.”
Ikejiani is not a loner. Positions continue to shift and members continue to form new alliances which they hope would help to steer the ship of NIDO from sinking. Robert Ngwu is another Board member of NIDO. On December 28, 2007, he wrote an email in which he captured the pervading doubts and hopes of NIDO’s members: The Board of NIDO Americas, Inc. is pretty much shut down for the year. There are numerous pending issues that were moved to next year. As you know, Board members serve on a pro bono basis, and therefore are entitled to spend quality time with families during this festive period.
An issue was informally introduced to Board members via email. Ms. Stella Onuoha, the NIDO Administrative Assistant to the Executive Director, wrote to the Board about a check the Board is fully aware is in its possession.
The Board was informed that Dr. Iro was in Washington DC and would like a Cashiers check in the amount of $135,000.00 made payable to AGIS be released to Dr. Iro on behalf of AGIS.
Normally, if there is no objection, the check would have been released, and the Board would have backed its decision with a Resolution during the next Board meeting.
Nevertheless, in this case some Board members raised some valid objections.
One of the Co-Coordinators, Dr. Lawal Garba, erroneously reasoned that since the previous Board authorized a check, which was not tendered for payment; that another check should be reissued to replace the first one. Most of the Board members, shared similar opinion.
The other Co-Coordinator, Ms. Chioma Ikejiani, after required due diligence, since she was not in the Board when the transaction took place, discovered the following:
- The previous Board did not authorize the check via a Resolution
- Dr. Kassim authorized the previous check with the postulation that the Board will back him up when needed. However, the Board official input was not sought.
Note : Naturally, there were some benefits of doubt and trust that existed before the June 2007 AGM, which I must say do not exist anymore in the current Board.
- There were no PAPER TRAIL whatsoever on the transaction for Board perusal after nine months.
Based on above discoveries, Ms. Ikejiani requested the following from Ms. Stella Onuoha:
I. An official letter from AGIS requesting for the amount, as well as, an authorization to release the check to an individual or mail to Address of Record. Equipped with that letter, NIDO will then cancel the previous check, and reissue a new one.
II. Ms. Ikejiani requested the following from Dr. Ola Kassim and Ms. Stella Onuoha.
i. The names of all applicants
ii. The names of all successful applicants
iii. Total amounts collected
iv. Total amounts deposited
v. Total amounts reimbursed (If any)
Tell me why would these simple requests receive so much hostility from Bolaji Aluko and others, especially when there are clear evidence that information sought is at the possession of Dr. Ola Kassim and Ms. Onuoha?
Nevertheless, Dr. Lawal Garba vetoed Ms. Ikejianiʼs request, supported by Dr. Kassim and others, basically asked Ms. Onuoha to ignore Ms. Ikejiani request. Something that would have been resolved with an honest presentation was turned into this monster.
When I saw Ms. Ikejianiʼs request, I supported it with additional disclosures. They are as follows:
I. I am one of the lucky recipients of Abuja Diaspora land and am very interested in making sure nothing is done to jeopardize this opportunity.
II. The previous Board was told that NIDO Americas, Inc. collected 380 (three hundred and eighty) Applications: (380 * $400 = $152,000.00).
III. $135,000.00 was deposited into NIDO account representing application for 338 applicants
IV. Based on above, $16,800.00 is MISSING. Where is it?
V. Dr. Kassim indicated that AGIS allocated lands to 338 Diaspora Nigerians accounting for the amount deposited in the bank ($135,000.00).
VI. Unaccounted for are the monies paid by unsuccessful applicants (I know a lot of them including current and ex-Board members of NIDO Americas, Inc.).
VII. Those applicants, who were told that their $400 is non-refundable, are patiently waiting for the 2 nd Phase of the Diaspora Land Allocation as promised by Dr. Kassim on behalf of NIDO Americas, Inc.
VIII. The problem here is their application fee are not accounted for.
IX. I also know (as well as Dr. Kassim and Ms. Onuoha) that some Nigerians (including Nigerian lawyers) in Dallas are threatening a Class Action lawsuit against NIDO Americas, Inc. based on the way the process was handled; which they believed was not transparent.
X. If they will actually follow up with their threat is unknown. Since we do not have errors and omission insurance, I must insist that Dr. Kassim and Ms. Onuoha produce information requested above.
XI. It is a public record that Dr. Kassim promised to publish the names by end of June 2007. Itʼs been 9 months since the transaction took place.
As you can see, clarifications were highly needed to put the matter to rest since I was aware of the transaction, participated in the process and was still confused about the numbers.
Dr. Kassim ignored my request for clarification and accountability until 34 hours later. Instead of clarifications, he became rather defensive and accusatory in his response. Ms. Onuoha prior to that also attacked Ms. Ikejiani and myself with very graphic verbal abuse. The Board looked the other way and one of the Board members (Dr Etti Williams) wrote to praise Stella for her expression of her freedom of speech rights.
On Christmas day, Dr. Kassim made some clarifications. In his previous email he mentioned that 338 Applicants were approved. However, the email sent after Christmas indicated that 249 Applicants were approved. Meaning based on check collected that 89 people were unsuccessful (The previous number presented may have been a slip of keyboard).
Dr. Kassim also stated that:
NIDO Americas does not have access to the information on the total number of plots of land awarded by the Minister of the FCT beyond the initial estimate at the beginning of the program that 300 plots of land were available for the following reasons:
Granted that the facilitators of the program (Dr. Kassim & Ms. Onuoha) may not know what they will not know. However, the information about the 249 successful applicants and 89 unsuccessful applicants should not be pushed to AGIS because Dr. Kassim and Ms. Onuoha were fully responsible for:
- Collection of personal data copies like Driverʼs License, Nigerian and US Passports, Green card, and other information of applicants that applied through NIDO Americas, Inc.
- Processing of the applicantion
- Distribution of 249 Rights of Occupancy
- Collection of Cashiers checks made payable to NIDO Americas, Inc.
Even by Dr Ola Kassimʼs admission below, the inquires from Ms. Ikejiani and myself are valid:
Based on the above, I advised the board that NIDO's position, responsibility and liability for the Abuja Diaspora Land Allocation Program should be limited to the following:
a) accounting for and remitting to AGIS the total sum of money (Application Fees) and Application forms to AGIS
b) distributing the Right of Occupancy Certificates and the Award Letters entrusted to NIDO Americas to the successful applicants
c) referring all other enquiries on the Abuja Diaspora land Allocation to AGIS officials in Abuja.
# a has not been fulfilled, as the $135,000.00 has not been accounted for with any form of paper trail with regards to who and where do the money deposited come from (in addition to Board members that we already know).
Even Western Union or Money Gram, and UBA need to know who you are before remitting your money to your relatives in Nigeria. Why do you think?
I also mentioned and educated the Board that once a request is made for the amount of $135,000.00 Cashiers check (which by the way is a lot of money) from the bank, the following process will follow; especially for an organization that earns less than $3,000 per year:
- Homeland security alerted and will get involved to ensure money is not being sent to a terrorist network
- IRS will be notified since NIDO is registered as a 501c Corporation to check against money laundering
And what do we have as paper trail? Dr. Kassim's and Ms. Onuoha's word! YOU MUST BE KIDDING!
My request is purely selfish as I do not want to go to jail for approving remittance of funds I do not confirm source of. At the same time, I am also doing a favor to some of my colleagues who reside in United States who may not know the consequences of their action as Board Directors of a US based Corporation. We have examples of WorldCom and others to show that IGNORANCE IS NEVER AN EXCUSE IN LAW. My colleagues in Canada and Brazil may not worry too much as US laws do not have jurisdictions over them.
I am not accusing anyone of embezzlement. I am simply requesting Accountability and Transparency in the Abuja Diaspora Land Allocation.
We in the Diaspora who are always seeking accountability from Nigerian Government officials should PRACTICE WHAT WE PREACH!
For the records, I am in support of a speedy remittance of funds belonging to AGIS so long as proper banking laws of USA are followed.
Finally, AGIS is also interested in Accountability and Transparency; evidenced by their request that you send a copy of Your Nigerian Passport, Green Card/US Passport/Drivers license before accepting your application. Why should NIDO be different?”