From my email: OKOROCHA AND THE N650M PENSION THIEVES

I recieved this article on 17 sep. 2017 but decided to publish it today.....

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Must read: OKOROCHA AND THE N650M PENSION THIEVES

OKOROCHA AND THE N650M PENSION THIEVES

The bar clock ticked. Jane stubbed out her cigarette, lit another and
dropped the pack on the table. I stared at her. She had a perpetual smile
which never reached her glassy, expressionless eyes. On my left was Sunny.
I still have not worked out why he is so attached to her though he has told
me she could cook. She smokes like mad. Here she is, scattering cigarette
ash on the floor in spite of the ring of ash trays around us. She was on
her third bottle of beer, Heineken of course. Unlike her, Sunny is a non
smoker and a non drinker but he loves fruit juice. Although he is in his
fifties, he kept himself in a nice trim. He is tall and lean. We were
having a good time in Owerri. Bills were not on me. Wink!
Looking up, I saw “Hamper’’. That is his Nickname. He was seated four
tables away from ours. Hamper is a young man in his forties . He was
putting on short sleeves, a hat and a nice trouser and was busy with his
phones. His fat face was expressionless and on his
table was a can of beer.
He looked harmless though he has grown pot belle. I was told that the
Governor of Imo State mentioned him in a N650M pension scam and claimed to
have him and his accomplices arrested. He has been in the Pension Board in
Imo for the past 10 years. You see, I have always told you how big men and
women are stealing millions upon millions of Imo state monies. Like Fela
Kuti I have exposed some evils in government dealings in Imo. I have called
some persons ‘ITT -International Thief, Thief’’, “VIP -Vagabonds in
Power’’. I cry out because In the midst of oil money, Imo working
masses live in abject poverty. The majority of Imolites are kept in
unstable and difficult conditions while a tiny fraction have exclusive
access to things and comforts of life.
Sven Johnson once wrote “before you speak, your intentions must pass
through portals three, one of each kind in letters bold to see: Is it true?
Is it necessary? Is it kind? “This saying has been attributed to
Buddha. Though
claimed
as been one of the sayings of Buddha, there is no documentary
evidence to support this. Some say it was first formulated by Rumi, the
13th century Persian mystic. Still there is lack of documentary evidence. Some
say it came from Abraham Lincoln. But in all, it was Mary Ann Pietzker who
made the saying popular in 1872 in her book “Miscellaneous Poems’’ But I
have my own ideas about this. For me, things I say must be true and
necessary. I don’t care if they are unkind. I have put myself in jeopardy
several times due to things I say. There are times, though, when a person
must be willing to put himself in jeopardy with others in other to give of
himself, whether it is to another person or to an animal. And because he is
willing to take this on in order to give a service of love, he receives
God’s protection.
Recently, a few highly placed civil servants and some government officials
between themselves and their accomplices tried to steal over N650m of
pension funds in Imo. Unfortunately for this set of
looters, their case was
made public by the governor of Imo. Like late Fela Kuti's song in one of
his radical albums, Imolites continue to remain "original suffer head"
while the cabals continue to steal our money. We were told how they
discovered six hundred and fifty million naira, pension cheque fraud and
that some persons had been arrested in connection with the fraud. We all
know that this talk of arresting persons over pension fund fraud by the
Okorocha’s administration is just a ruse. The governor does not only
permit corruption, he encourages and even glorifies it. Hamper who was
mentioned in the scam is already in Ibari Ogwa Village, Owerri having a
good time. So also are others.
In 2013, I exposed pension scam in Imo. I pointed out that the primary
reason for the embarrassing state of absurdity as per pensioners in our
State was a “profit first” capitalist aide of the Governor .He had a gang
of pension thieves at the Pension Board. I spoke of how they looted
1billion naira pension funds
in the State when he was the Board Chairman.
That year, I condemned in strong terms the insensitivity to the plights of
pensioners in the state. I mentioned his name and sent copies of my
discoveries to the Governor.Fortunately for this man, his matter was not
investigated and he was rewarded with the number three position in the
state. It was because of same man that Commercial banks operating in Imo
State shut their doors against their customers for some days. I exposed how
when he was the Special Adviser to the Governor on Internal Revenue
Generation (IGR), he collected millions of naira from commercial banks in
the state as tax but diverted the monies into his own pocket. The State
government later demanded the same tax that he had collected from the banks
and the banks had to go on strike for excessive taxation.
When I made these revelations, Okorocha’s praise singers and professional
spin doctors called me all sort of names . Now in September 2017, the Imo
State Governor claimed he handed over
some Pension Board staff to the
Personnel of Directorate of Security Services (DSS) over monumental fraud
dictated in pension cheques amounting to N650 million naira. Who is fooling
who? He should start his investigation and arrest with the man I exposed
in 2013. Former Senate President, David Mark, once placed a curse on some
pension thieves. Early in 2014, at the commencement of a probe into pension
funds administration by the Senate, Mr. Mark declared that “pension fund
administrators pilfering funds meant to pay pensioners are accumulating
“blood money.” He lamented that many people had gotten rich on “blood money
while pensioners were left suffering and dying. He declared, “for any
living human being to have stolen the money of those who have laboured for
this country, I think it is only God who can decide their fate.” “But, as
human beings, we have just made our recommendations and hope that the
Almighty God will see them to hell,” Mr. Mark concluded. Like David Mark I
share the anguish and anger o
some Pension Board staff to the
Personnel of Directorate of Security Services (DSS) over monumental fraud
dictated in pension cheques amounting to N650 million naira. Who is fooling
who? He should start his investigation and arrest with the man I exposed
in 2013. Former Senate President, David Mark, once placed a curse on some
pension thieves. Early in 2014, at the commencement of a probe into pension
funds administration by the Senate, Mr. Mark declared that “pension fund
administrators pilfering funds meant to pay pensioners are accumulating
“blood money.” He lamented that many people had gotten rich on “blood money
while pensioners were left suffering and dying. He declared, “for any
living human being to have stolen the money of those who have laboured for
this country, I think it is only God who can decide their fate.” “But, as
human beings, we have just made our recommendations and hope that the
Almighty God will see them to hell,” Mr. Mark concluded. Like David Mark I
share the anguish and anger o
the ordinary Imolites against this kind of
capitalist looting. To me even the stoning of persons that stole money
belonging to pensioners would not be sufficient to compensate the affected
pensioners, if on retirement they could not receive their pensions. Many
pensioners have died in Imo after years of waiting for their pensions. When
they were paid little percentage recently, the amount was too small.
The greatest mistake, the brunt of which the people of Imo had to bear was
, no doubt, the voting of the present corrupt and duplicitous government of
Okorocha. I say so because of the administration’s clumsiness in handling
our affairs .We will never forget the governor’s tenure of nothingness, the
years of embezzlement, the reign of misplacement of priorities, the rule of
ineptitude, the term of enthronement of cronyism, the period of crass
nepotism, the era of corruption. A government that destroyed the houses
and businesses of the citizens without compensation. A government that
could not conduct
council election. A government of thieves and without
plans or focus. Do you want to tell me that a Governor with focus will take
14 days just to celebrate his 55th birthday? He even gave N5.5M of Imo
money to a Facebook blogger from Afikpo just to play “betnaija’’ with Ndi
Imo. I still don’t understand the fanfare currently going in the name of 55th
birthday celebration and stagnant performance in office. Sidney Barima
once cried ‘ Our money, wonna money eh , Africa money eh, Oga dey chop am
fuga fuga. E dey steal am nyaga nyaga’ .

*-Kenneth Uwadi writes from Mmahu-Egbema, Imo State*

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