Anthony Anwukah, one of
President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet nominees, was implicated in a
scandal involving fraud, racketeering, and illegal allocation of funds
in Imo State, SaharaReporters has learned.
Anthony Anwukah, former Imo State Secretary to Government and Ministerial Nominee for President Buhari
Documents
obtained by SR indicate that Mr. Anwukah, a professor and former
Vice-Chancellor of Imo State University (IMSU), was in fact found guilty
by an Imo State High Court. According to the documents, a 2009
government White Paper concluded that Mr. Anwukah was guilty of
“administrative racketeering,” which included contriving to admit more
students than the capacity of IMSU and charging the students fees for
file jackets and processing, the award of contracts without due process,
and the use of special assistants to circumvent the bursary in order to
furnish the Vice Chancellor’s residence.
The
White Paper also noted that the then VC purchased a Mercedes-Benz
vehicle for himself at a price of N3.8 million, claiming it was a
“retirement entitlement.” In addition, the document recommended that Mr.
Anwukah be immediately dismissed from his post as Vice Chancellor.
On
January 29, 2013, an Imo State High Court judge upheld the validity of
the White Paper, and that Governor Rochas Okorocha had a duty to
implement its recommendations. The court judgment, signed by Justice
Ngozi Opara, declared Mr. Okorocha’s appointment of Mr. Anwukah “into a
position of authority” to be “unconstitutional, illegal, immoral, null
and void and of no effect.”
Despite the ruling, the governor retained Mr. Anwukah as Secretary of State for Imo State.
In a
petition dated March 2, 2013, a non-governmental organization, Every
Child Educational & Advancement Foundation (ECEAF), urged then
Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly, Benjamin Uwajimogu, to
remove Mr. Anwukah from his post on account of the former VC’s criminal
conduct. The petitioner disclosed that they had waited patiently to see
Governor Okorocha’s administration “obey the court ruling given by a
reputable Judge of Imo State High court on the 29th of January 2013
which ordered the sack of all those indicted by the IMSU whitepaper.”
Contacted
by a correspondent of SaharaReporters, Mr. Anwukah claimed he had been
“cleared by the court three years ago.” He referenced a letter sent to
him from Imo State University, dated December 21, 2011, which stated, “I
am pleased to inform you that the Imo State Government has directed
that the compulsory retirement placed on you through the Government
White Paper on the report of the Visitation Panel be rescinded.”
But a
source in Imo State told SaharaReporters that the letter was simply
engineered by Governor Okorocha, noting that the document emerged a few
months after the governor won election in 2011. “The letter is not
superior to a judicial ruling, and it does not infer that a court
cleared Professor Anwukah of wrongdoing during his tenure as Vice
Chancellor,” the source said.
Mr. Anwukah also told SaharaReporters that the accusations against him were either grossly exaggerated or false.
Mr.
Anwukah did however provide SaharaReporters with court papers after the
existence of the January 2013 Imo State High court order was raised by
our correspondent. These court papers, made available to
SaharaReporters, are dated February 19th 2013 and show that Justice
Ngozi Opara decided to “set aside/annul the entire proceedings leading
to the Judgment in default entered by the Honorable Court in the Suit on
29th January, 2013.”
The
reason for the decision, as stated by Justice Opara was because “no one
challenging the application and more importantly the respondent had
notice of the pending application and either decided not to challenge it
or refused so to do.” His ruling continued, “The Court cannot wait
indefinitely for him while the Judgement sought to be set aside hangs
like a sword of damacle [sic] on the neck of the applicants.”
The
“indefinite wait,” it should be noted, was only 21 days from the time of
the January 29th ruling and the February 19th annulment.
The controversial former VC was only removed as Secretary of State after Governor Okorocha ran for a second term.
Several
members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Imo State told
SaharaReporters that they were shocked that Governor Okorocha would
recommend Mr. Anwukah to President Buhari as a ministerial nominee.
“Does it mean that Imo State doesn’t have men and women of moral
integrity and intellectual endowment who are capable of rendering
service to the country?
Why is
His Excellency Governor Okorocha bringing shame to the people of the
state by sponsoring a man whose record is so tainted?” one of the
critics of the nomination said.
Contacted
by SaharaReporters, President Buhari’s senior special assistant for
media and publicity, Garba Shehu, said the president “will not meddle in
the affairs of the National Assembly” or its vetting process. He added,
“it is the duty of the National Assembly to vet candidates for
ministerial posts.”
Okokobioko!
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