A petition signed by civil rights activists, Bishop Dr. Osadolor Ochie and
\nMarxist Kola Edokpayi has been addressed to the Economic and Financial
\nCrimes Commission (EFCC), accusing the immediate past governor of Edo
\nstate, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole of defrauding the State to the tune of
\nover N50 billion while in office as governor.
\nAccording to the petitioners, who also forwarded copies of the petition to
\nthe president, Mohammadu Buhari and the senate president, Bukola Saraki,
\nthey said 80% of contracts executed during the Oshiomhole administration
\nwere never advertised.
\n\u201cThroughout Oshiomhole\u2019s tenure, over 80% of contracts that were awarded
\nwere never advertised or made public, and the costs were inflated.
\nThe scheme used was called \u201cvirement,\u201d and this approach allowed the
\ngovernor to approve new contracts as additional work to the tune of N99
\nmillion without advertising such contracts or seeking the approval of the
\nstate executive council,\u201d the petitioners alleged.
\nThe former governor was also alleged to have used N5 billion for chartered
\nflights during his time as governor of the state.
\nThe petitioners added that, Adams Oshiomhole engaged in contract
\nsplitting, where contracts for roads were awarded along with road
\ninfrastructures such as street lights, walk ways, drainage which were
\nlater re-awarded to the same contractor.
\n\u201cContract splitting amounting to N76,390,306,746 was awarded to Messrs
\nHani Associates Ltd. for the preparation of the bill of quantities for
\nconstruction and renovation of public schools (dates of approvals of
\npayment 21\/01\/2016, 20\/10\/2016, 18\/10\/2016, and 25\/10\/2016),\u201d the petition
\nstated.
\nHe is also being accused of diverting funds for security votes running
\ninto billions of naira.
\n\u201cDiversion of security votes to proxy accounts vis: Chief M. A. Kadiri
\nvouchers from 2008 to the last day of the tenure of Comrade Adams Aliu
\nOshiomhole, totalling N42 billion.
\nAlso, in December 2014 alone, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole approved
\nN700million and Chief M. A. Kadiri was on hand to sign and collect it via
\nattached vouchers and detailed documents,\u201d according to the petitioners.
\nThe petitioners further alleged that the former governor inflated the
\nprice of the purchase of 2 units of Toyota Prado TXL at N28,953,600.00.
\n\u201c Sata Motors Ltd., 3 Oyaide Street, GRA, Benin city,\u00a0 purchase of 2 units
\nof Toyota Land Cruisers V8 at N45,031,200.\u201d
\nThey added, \u201cWe have at our disposal a truck load of approvals and
\nvouchers if the one supplied is not enough for your investigation and we
\nare prepared to supply more photographs of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole\u2019s
\nproperties all over the world and relevant vouchers and approvals that he
\nmade while in office to misappropriate Edo State funds, particularly for
\nthe Edo University whose funds were not approved by the Edo State House of
\nAssembly.
\n\u201cAnother issue of concern is the construction of 168 male students\u2019 hostel
\ncomplex at the rate of N10 million per room at the University of Science
\nand Technology, Uzaire awarded to Messrs A & K Construction Ltd. at a
\ntotal cost of N1,880,483,836.66.\u201d
\nComrade Oshiomhole was also alleged by the petitioners to have used state
\nfund for an on-going event centre, cinema theatre hall and shopping mall
\nat finishing stage directly opposite the University of Benin, Ugbowo,
\nBenin city.
\nThey also alleged that Comrade Oshiomhole expended N20 billion on personal
\nmansion at Okoro Otun and an on-going hotel being constructed next to
\nBenin Club in GRA.
\n.
\n.
\nMore allegations leveled against the former governor, according to the
\npetition iclude;
\n.
\nFormer Guinness Building on Reservation Road, GRA, Benin city
\n.
\nOur investigation shows that Oshiomhole bought the Guinness guest house
\nlocated along Reservation Road, GRA Benin City soon after he was sworn in
\nas governor in 2009.
\nThe property was quickly converted to the office of HANI and ASSOCIATES,
\nthe consultancy firm that has supervised all civil construction works in
\nEdo State since 2008.
\nWe are reliably informed that Governor Adams Aliu Oshiomhole bought the
\nbuilding for over N100 million.
\n.
\nOffshore Properties (USA, South Africa, London and Dubai)
\nWith the benefit of the global fight against corruption, the EFCC should
\ninvestigate allegations of Oshiomhole\u2019s acquisition of properties in the
\nUnited States of America; which are located in Miami, Florida and in
\nLouisiana (where his first son, Dr. Cyril Oshiomhole stays); as well as a
\nluxurious apartment valued at one hundred million dollars at Peachtree
\nCorners (Miami) FL; acquisition of the Penthouse of One and Only Hotel in
\nCape Town, South Africa, as well as apartments in Dubai, and London (UK).
\n.
\nMisappropriation of Local Government funds
\nGovernor Adams Oshiomhole administration took advantage of the Joint
\nState\/Local Government Account to appropriate and misappropriate the
\nmonthly allocations accrued to the 18 local councils to the disadvantages
\nof the chairmen and people of the local governments.
\nThe helpless chairmen could not complain openly because their election or
\nappointment and tenure are at the mercy and discretion of the Comrade
\nGovernor.
\nThe irony of this prevailing arrangement is that the local government
\ncouncil chairmen were cajoled to take responsibility for the expenditures
\nthey never made, in the first place; like the purchase of inflated SUVs.
\nThe Commissioner for Finance and that of Local Government deducted their
\naccounts at source.
\nThis sort of irresponsible and unnecessary expenditure, which is prevalent
\nin the administration of the local government councils in Edo State, led
\nto the inability of councils to pay the salaries of their staffs until the
\nbailout offered by the Federal Government.
\nIt will interest you to know that the 18 local government areas in Edo
\nState have in the last 6 years received over N212 billion as statutory
\nallocation.
\nWe believe these breaches deserve investigation.
\n.
\nSupply of School Desks and Chairs
\nThe state government, through the Ministry of Education awarded a contract
\nin November 2009, worth N1,547,910,000.00 (One Billion, Five Hundred and
\nForty-Seven Million, Nine Hundred and Ten Thousand Naira only), to Itex
\nFurniture Limited of Plot 512, Cadastral Zone C16, Idu Industrial
\nDistrict, FCT, Abuja, for the supply of 35,000 units of single seaters
\n(chairs and desks) and 40,000 units of double seaters (chairs and desks)
\nto all public schools in Edo State.
\nThe contract was purportedly \u201ccompleted\u201d and a completion certificate
\nissued for full payment for the job, which only a middle-level staff of
\nthe State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) inspected at the Abuja
\nfactory of Itex Furniture Limited in 2011 (two years after the contract
\nwas awarded).
\nDue diligence was not made to verify whether the advance payment
\nguarantee\/performance bond provided by Itex were ever authenticated or the
\nquality and quantity of 75,000 units verified too, before the full payment
\nfor this supply of this school furniture in 2012.
\nOn Friday, April 4, 2014 (two years after the purported supply of 75,000
\nunits by Itex Furniture Limited), the state\u2018s Ministry of Education placed
\nan advert on page 16 of the Vanguard newspaper, requesting for bids, for
\nthe \u201cconstruction and supply of schools desks and chairs for all Schools
\nin Edo state\u201d.
\nSources in the Ministry averred that the advert was a mere window-dressing
\nas the advertised contract had been awarded to the same Itex Furniture.
\nNo due diligence was made to find out whether the initial 75,000 units
\nwere manufactured and supplied. The contracts eventually snowballed into
\npaid advertorial contest between ITEX and the state government.
\nHowever, most schools in Edo State have no chairs and desk.
\nIt is instructive to state here that the pioneer chairman of the State
\nUniversal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) under Oshiomhole\u2019s administration,
\nSir Emoabino and a former Secretary to the State Government to Gov. Adams
\nOshiomhole, Dr. Imuokheme, were arrested and tried by EFCC for fraud
\ntotaling N300million.
\nThe Subeb contractors were criminally directed to pay part of their
\npayments proceeds to Oshiomhole\u2019s campaign account in 2011.
\n.
\nN1.172Billion Certificate of Occupancy Waiver\/Dangote Cement shares
\nOn June 1, 2013, Governor Oshiomhole granted Alhaji Aliko Dangote a
\nstaggering N1,089,530,370.00 (One Billion, Eighty Nine Million, Five
\nHundred and Thirty Thousand, Three Hundred and Seventy Naira) waiver for a
\nCertificate of Occupancy.
\nAlso on the same day, another waiver of N81,763,200.00 (Eighty-One
\nMillion, Seven Hundred and Sixty Three thousand, Two Hundred Naira) to
\nAlhaji Dangote, all for the land allocated to the billionaire for a
\nproposed Dangote Fertilizer Factory at Agenebode in Etsako East Local
\nGovernment Area.
\nThe so called factory never saw the light of the day.
\n.
\nConversion of Edo University to Privately-Owned Insitution
\nOshiomhole has spent over N30 billion of state funds on infrastructure in
\nthe Edo University he built opposite his country home in Iyamho, which
\ndocuments have revealed is a privately owned university by private
\npartners, fronting for the governor.
\n.
\nSapele Road N600 Million Street Light Cotract
\nIn 2012, Governor Oshiomhole awarded the contract for erection of street
\nlights from 3rdJunction (Sapele Road) to Country Home Road Junction
\n(Sapele Road), a distance of less than 2KM for N600 million.
\nSadly, this work was never executed.
\n.
\nThe N950 Million Contract for the Beautification of 5-Junction in Uselu,
\nLagos Road
\nThe sum of N950million was approved by the exco as cost for the
\nbeautification project, which was just planting of flowers.
\n.
\nEdo State Government and the Bank of Industry Counterpart Fund Scheme
\nIn December 2009, Edo State Government signed an agreement with the Bank
\nof Industry to support Small Scale Industries with N500 million; made up
\nof N250 million from the state and N250 million from the Bank of Industry.
\nAccording to Edo State government records, only N41.6 million was
\nreportedly disbursed.
\nHowever, credible sources informed us that the balance of N458.5 million
\n(approximately) has vanished into private pockets.
\n.
\n$225 Million World Bank Loan and Edo State Open Governmnt Initiative
\nIn 2012, Edo State Government received $75 million as first tranche of
\n$225 million loan from the World Bank under the first Edo State Growth and
\nEmployment Support Credit Project (with the Project Identification Number
\nP123353).
\nTill date, government is unable to account for the initial $75 million and
\nanother $75 million that was approved by the World Bank in 2015, despite
\nmassive protests by Edo people and senators from the state.
\nWe are informed that the unsubstantiated contracts that were tied to the
\nloan led to the resignation of Ms. Yemi Keri who was the Managing Director
\nof the Information Communication Technology office in the Governor\u2019s
\nOffice.
\nThe computerization of government activities by the Directorate of ICT in
\nthe Governor\u2019s Office was used to syphon resources from the state.
\nThe second tranche of $75 million which was domiciled at Access Bank has
\nlargely been transferred to offshore accounts while the remaining was
\nround-tripped at the detriment of Edo state.
\n.
\nAccident and Emergency\/200 Bed Central Hospital and Iyamho Country Home
\nProjects
\nAn initial contract was awarded to an Italian company, for the sum of N2.7
\nbillion before it was reviewed upwards to over N3 billion when Governor
\nOshiomhole demanded for an extra floor; a process that made a large part
\nof the construction within the premises of the Central Hospital, Benin
\nCity, to collapse on June 4, 2012.
\nMany workers were injured with a lone casualty, Dr. Stefano De La Roca,
\nthe owner of the company and confidant of Adams Oshiomhole.
\nThe contract was later re-awarded to SCL without penalizing those
\nresponsible for the building collapse. The cost of the reconstruction is a
\nclosely guarded secret.
\nWhat many did not know at the period was that SCI was also the contractor
\nhandling Oshiomhole\u2019s multi-billion naira sprawling palatial complex at
\nIyamho, Etsako West Local Government Area.
\nThe umbilical cord or nexus between the medical complex projects in Benin
\nCity and the astonishing Mobutu Sese Seko country home project of the
\nComrade Governor is far more than a coincidence as SCI was the main
\ncontractor for both sites and most, if not all, of the construction
\nmaterials and workers shared a common pool.
\n.
\nRoads, Drains and Bridges
\nThe flagship of road construction, re-construction and rehabilitation
\nprojects done by Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is the six-lane Airport Road,
\nBenin City.
\nThe contract was originally awarded to Servetek Construction Company
\nLimited to handle the \u201cconstruction of drainage structures and dualization
\nof Airport Road from Ring Road to Ogba River Bridge (a distance of 7.2Km
\nof road and 14.4Km of drainage\u201d at an industry record-setting N611million
\nper kilometers, totaling N4,401,101,722.50).<\/p>\n
In a fit of anger over Servetek\u2019s reluctance to allow any further
\ntampering with the contractual sum, the contract was truncated and
\nre-awarded at over N12 billion to Setraco Nigeria Limited.
\nIt is instructive to note that the state government ingeniously padded the
\noriginal contract description with \u201c17 access roads\u201d that ran parallel to
\nAirport Road whereas these roads (access and internal roads such as the
\nShittu Alao Airforce Base, Oko-Ogba for instance), were re-awarded as
\nstand-alone ones, with new cost tags.
\nThis organized rape of Edo State treasury was replicated in the award and
\nexecution of the over 100 intra and inter-city road projects that were
\nturned into veritable Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).
\nOne of such roads is Sapele Raod, awarded to Setraco for N
\n1,429,446,044.25 for a length of 2.1km.
\nEven the \u201cdetailed design of storm water drainage and associated roads
\nmaster plan for Benin City was awarded to a South African Firm for a
\nwhopping sum of N 446,969,250.02.
\nThe pattern of sleaze ran through all the contracts he awarded and
\nfinanced through suffocating portfolio of debts that future generations of
\nEdolites will inherit and pay.
\nSetraco and Hartland Nig Ltd both companies chaired by Abu Inu Umoru, a
\nclose associate of Adams Oshiomhole are the major beneficiaries of
\ninflated road contracts in Edo State.
\n.
\nThe N31Billion Storm Water Project
\nOn April 11, 2011, Governor Adams Oshiomhole went ahead to borrow N25
\nbillion from the capital market through the issuance of bonds.
\nWhile presenting an FCMB cheque of N6 billion to Mr. Saad, the managing
\ndirector of Hitech Construction on March 2, 2011, Oshiomhole listed
\nseveral roads as part of the First Phase of the Storm Water Project to
\ninclude Adolor College Road, Textile Mile Road, Otote Road, Uwelu Road,
\nAkugbe Street, Iyoba areas among others.
\nThese roads are still earth roads today; just the Storm water project has
\nbeen abandoned by Hitech and the gullies they left have killed over six
\npersons, including children.
\nWe are also aware that when Adams Oshiomhole went to the capital market to
\nborrow 25 billion facilitated by Godwin Obaseki\u2019s Afrivest company, the
\npurpose of the loan was not just the storm water project but also included
\na power project.
\nThe Azural Power Project has since started in Edo State but without the
\ngovernment being a major investor apart from the paltry shares given to it
\nby the promoters as compensation for the land acquired.
\nCuriously, Philip Ihenacho the original founder of Afrivest, the same
\ncompany Godwin Obaseki, Oshiomhole\u2019s close ally owns, is a major investor
\nin the Azura Power Project.
\nEdo people believe that they have been shortchanged in this Azura
\nHoldings, and what should have been Edo State shares have been allocated
\nto private individuals holding brief for those who have abused the
\npeople\u2019s trust.
\n.
\nEwohimi General Hospital Project
\nConstruction of Ewohimi General Hospital in Edo Central has gulped over an
\nadditional N200 million through the bogus practice of \u2018virement\u2019.
\nOshiomhole\u2019s brother in-law, Mr. Victor Eboigbe, allegedly coordinated the
\nhospital project.
\nHis company was also reported in the press to have supplied Dando water
\ndrilling rigs and two street sweepers to Edo State government for inflated
\ncontract sums of N800 million and N356 million respectively.
\n.
\nConstruction of Hostel Block at N10M Per Room at Iyamho University
\nGovernor Oshiomhole awarded the contract and the payment in a week for the
\nconstruction of 168 hotel rooms in Edo University Iyamho at the sum of
\nN1.680 billion (one billion, six hundred and eighty million naira).
\nThe average cost per room translates to N10 million (ten million naira)
\nper hostel room.
\nThe firm, A & K Construction Limited was also awarded additional contract
\nworth N12,282,852,413.69 (twelve billion, two hundred and eighty two
\nmillion, eight hundred and fifty thousand, four hundred and thirteen
\nnaira, sixty kobo) to construct Edo State Teaching Hospital at the
\nUniversity of Science and Technology, Uzairue, Edo State (Iyamho
\nUniversity).<\/p>\n
: @olikareporters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A petition signed by civil rights activists, Bishop Dr. Osadolor Ochie and Marxist Kola Edokpayi has been addressed to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), accusing the immediate past…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n