Bode George’s many sins: How he planned to celebrate with 5 cows, 4 Aso-ebi • The Tinubu, OBJ, Yar’Adua angle
By Daniel Alabrah and Olusola Balogun

Sunday, November 1, 2009
Also See: The conviction of Chief Bode George might as well be only symbolic (Pictoral)
by Temple C. Ubochi

For former deputy National chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olabode George, the chicken finally came home to roost on Monday, October 26.







http://odili.net/news/source/2009/nov/1/500.html

Against all expectation, the retired Navy top brass was handed a two-year jail term by Justice Joseph Olubunmi Oyewole of a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja.

George, who served as the Director General of Yar’Adua Jonathan Presidential Campaign Organization in 2007, was sentenced along with former NPA Managing Director, Aminu Dabo, Captain Olusegun Abidoye, Abdullahi Tafida, Zanna Maidaribe and Sule Aliyu.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned them in August last year on a 68-count charge bordering on N85 billion fraud at the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA). George was the chairman of the NPA board at the time under scrutiny.

However, competent sources told Sunday Sun that weeks before the verdict, George, who prides himself as the ‘garrison commander of Lagos politics’, had confided in some close associates that ‘the case has been settled’ and that he would ‘shame his enemies’ on the judgment day.

According to the source, the PDP leader was confident of returning home victorious that his associates in Lagos took three different designs of ‘Aso-Ebi’ (uniforms) while another group linked to Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala of Oyo State, took another design.

“They were sure a massive party is in the offing because feelers received indicates that the corruption case against ‘BG’ (as his supporters fondly call Bode George), would be quashed. Several cartons of assorted drinks, including champagne, were also provided and five fattened cows tied down for the butcher’s knife to mark the anticipated victory,” the source added

But there was no victory party, instead BG was shepherded into a van for onward journey to Kirikiri Maximum Prison where he would take sojourn for the next two years unless a higher court overturns the conviction.

In the judgment, Justice Oyewole had sentenced all the six accused persons to two years each on seven counts of abuse of office, and another six months for 28 charges bordering on disobedience of lawful order. They will be in jail for two and a half years as the counts are to run concurrently.

The judge held that all the accused persons were guilty of splitting numerous contracts as members of the board between 2001 and 2003.

He said there was incontrovertible evidence that all the six accused persons “intentionally and knowingly” condoned the splitting of contracts.

Justice Oyewole also held that the accused persons disregarded lawful order passed to them by the Ministry of Transport, stipulating a new approval limit for contracts in all government parastatals, including the NPA.

According to the judge, all the accused persons in their evidence acknowledged receiving the said order from the Ministry of Transport but chose to disregard the order.

The judge, however, held them not liable for contract inflation.

However, a top party source insisted that the fate might had not befallen George had he listened to the advise by some legal minds that he should frustrate the case through ceaseless technicalities.

The source told Sunday Sun that the politician was advised to instruct “his lawyers to stay on technicalities so as to prolong the case, but he ignored it. Apparently, he was confident that he wouldn’t have any problem and then insisted on going on with the trial.

“It is funny, he apparently is relying on his numerous political connections, especially his famed ‘Abuja contacts’’ to assist him and so he insisted that on going on to the full trial of the case”, the source said.

The source that cited the unending trial of former Kogi governor, Abubakar Audu, stressed, “Audu is enjoying himself while his lawyers are slugging it out in the court over technicalities. They will drag it till they get to the Supreme Court and you know that can take a long time.

“It is simply a matter of paying your lawyer to be permanently looking at technicalities till thy kingdom come, it is like letting your money work for you.”

Knowledgeable political source also said “George might be suffering from the poor politics he played.” The source explained that the political connections that George thought would work in his favour are no more there, or are now weak under the administration of President Umaru Yar’Adua.

According to him, “while Obasanjo was in power, he was the man Friday of the former president; he dictated who got what in the southwest and he was worshipped by many including governors. But he parted ways with Obasanjo towards the end of that regime. Interestingly, he was not able to integrate himself into the Yar’Adua backroom cabinet as was seen as an irredeemable Obasanjo man.”

The source added that ‘‘the negative brand of politics’’ he played was also responsible for the nonchalance of the Presidency.

“You can’t really place him on issues and with a man like that you better beware. The role he played in causing disharmony between Obasanjo and Atiku Abubakar is still fresh in the mind, so those people were not willing to work with him,” he said.

But another PDP top source insisted that the hands of the president was truly tied over the matter due to the circumstances surrounding the case. The source explained that “apart from the fact that Lagos is in the opposition, don’t forget that this case was instituted by Nuhu Ribadu, and that man had at every fora written off the anti-graft war of this government.

“Unfortunately, this conviction is also the first high profile one under this government, so if the government is not careful it will become a big image problem for Farida Waziri and that is why the government is cautious. How, for instance, will the new EFCC boss handle the case? Is she to mellow down only for some people to say she is not performing or what?”

But another source confirmed that the fall of George has something to do with the failure of the PDP to capture Lagos. The source who is sympathetic to George said that “if PDP was in control of Lagos, it would have been very easy to dictate to the chief judge the particular judge who would handle the mater instead of a tough judge like Oyewole. With Oyewole, it was difficult to play politics with the case, and add it to the fact that the judge is very unbending.”

Another source however identified the intractable internal crisis in the state PDP as another problem. He said, “there are three different factions in the party and all attempts to ensure cohesion is not yielding result; it is a shame, but the fact is members of the party cant see eye-to-eye.”

The source identified three factions as fighting for control of the party to include the Ogunlewe faction, Obanikoro faction and the Bode George faction, adding that “the three factions were working at cross-purposes and already warming up for another battle over who should be the flag bearer of the party in 2011”.

Sunday Sun indeed learnt that some members of PDP in the state are still clinking glasses over the travails of George. It was learnt that while the executive of the state PDP were unhappy with the conviction of the PDP chieftain, some members of the two other factions saw it as “good riddance to a bully.”

A member of one of the rival groups said George was sent “on compulsory holiday and I am sure he won’t be back till after the 2011 primaries”, adding that the party would be ‘‘at peace’’ while he is tucked away in Kirikiri on “sabbatical”.

He alleged that George was already positioning a particular politician to be the party’s flag bearer in 2011 adding, “It was the same way he did the last time propping a person he knew couldn’t win.But in his absence now, we will have some peace and we will be able to operate without his soldiers.”

To him, “the travail of George is no big deal and I can assure you it will not affect anything. It will only make us to be on equal ground and one group would not be able to lord it over the other.”

The source recalled how George, allegedly, sabotaged the ambition of Obanikoro to be governor of the state in 2007 when he decided to appoint zonal commanders for the campaign team on the eve of the election. ‘‘Without trying to open an old wound, that man caused the 2007 defeat. What is the wisdom in appointing zonal commanders and area commanders few days to election when we were doing very fine?” he blurted.