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EFCC declares Kalu’s mother wanted
By Dotun Oladipo
Published: Wednesday, 11 Oct 2006
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Tuesday declared Eunice, the mother of the Abia State Governor, Chief Orji Kalu, wanted.





Also declared wanted by the EFCC were 18 others who are officials of the Abia State Government, local government helmsmen, personal staff of the governor‘s mother, some security aides and two brothers of the governor.

They were declared wanted for conspiracy, stealing, money laundering, official corruption and diversion of public funds.

But Kalu told our correspondent on Tuesday that all those declared wanted were ready to submit themselves to a fair trial.

He added that the EFCC was only pursuing the bid to resuscitate President Olusegun Obasanjo‘s third term agenda.

The EFCC in a statement on Tuesday by its Head, Media and Publicity, Mr. Osita Nwajah, said that the bid to arrest Eunice and others on Monday, based on a court order, was foiled by some of the security aides of the governor‘s mother who shot at the commission‘s operatives.

Nwajah said, ”Mrs. Kalu is wanted for questioning over allegations of conspiracy, stealing, money laundering, official corruption and diversion of public funds.

”However, as soon as the EFCC operatives made their identities and mission known, persons said to be her security guards shot at the EFCC men who in the face of open hostility, had to withdraw from the scene, without exchanging fire with the hoodlums supposedly providing security for the suspect.

”The warrants of arrest have therefore not been effected on Mrs. Kalu and 18 others wanted for questioning on sundry allegations of financial impropriety.”

The other 18 suspects are Kalu‘s Chief of Staff, Mr. T.A. Orji; his Personal Assistant, Chuka Odum; the state Commissioner for Finance, Moses Agoh; the Chairman, Aba North Local

Government Area, Mr. Duru; a member of the House of Representatives and brother of the governor, Prince Johnson Uzor; another brother of the governor, Mascot Ikweche Kalu; Personal Assistant to the governor‘s mother, Mrs. Mary Agha; former Accountant-General of the state, Mr. Anyanwoke; and the Director of Slok Group, Mr. Obienyi Anyaogu.

Others were the Permanent Secretary in the Abia State Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr. O. Iheke; four cashiers of the Government House, Umuahia - Romanus K. Madu, M.A. Udo, Okey Ude and Jone Udeugu; Kalu‘s police attaché, Johnson Okoro; I.D. Okoro; the Secretary of the Abia State Association of Local Government of Nigeria, Chinedum Elechi; and the state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.

Nwajah said further in the statement that the commission had uncovered a plot to get the governor‘s mother out of the country through Cameroon in order to frustrate her prosecution.

The EFCC statement added, ”Interpol and other law enforcement agencies around the world have been alerted. EFCC has also sent an alert to all diplomatic missions in Nigeria to treat the suspects as fugitives from justice if they set foot in their respective countries.

”Anyone who aids and abets the escape of suspects who have warrants for their arrest duly issued by a court of law will be in serious contravention of the laws of Nigeria and will be accordingly dealt with under the law.

”The commission hereby warns the suspects to surrender themselves for questioning, immediately.

”No one is above the law.”

But Kalu said the allegations by the EFCC were merely meant to distract the attention of those opposed to the failed third term bid of Obasanjo, which he said had been resuscitated.

He told our correspondent on the telephone, ”That (the declaration by the EFCC) is their headache.

”It is an embarrassment to the Abia State Government.

”But those who are doing this should know that they cannot live in glass houses and be throwing stones.

”There is massive fraud in the Presidency and nobody is talking about it.

”Why do you declare people wanted when you know where they are?

”This is all about resuscitating the failed third term bid of the President.

”They should know that if they have been doing it in other parts of the country, they cannot come to the South-East to try to destabilise any state government.

”They will find that very tough.

”What I still insist on is that Obasanjo himself must be probed for serious cases bordering on corruption.

”There should be a probe of his Temperance Farm account and other accounts.

”In 1998, before he was elected, those accounts had no money in them.

”Now, they are in billions.

”How did the money get there?

”How did he make all his money?

”There are several companies undertaking multi-million naira projects in his Bells University, yet no one has said anything.

”I have been in business before I became governor and will still be in business even after my tenure.

”So, I can account for all the money I have in my accounts.

”No one can cajole me to support a third term for anybody or do anything unconstitutional by making false allegations against me or those who work with me or my family.

”Let me make it clear that in Abia State, we will fight when it is necessary and will be calm when the need for it arises.”

Also on Tuesday in Abuja, the Chairman of the EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, reiterated his stand that some governors were corrupt.

Ribadu, at a seminar on National Brand and Economic Development conference: ”Mind the Gap,” also said that over N128bn had been returned to those who fell victim to Nigerian fraudsters.

Ribadu said the commission still had 90 cases pending in courts against fraudsters and corrupt public officers.

He alleged that some lawyers, judges and policemen served as accomplices to fraudsters as they collected money from them to stall cases.

Ribadu noted that the EFCC had sent the names of 40 lawyers to the Nigerian Bar Association for possible sanctions.

He told the gathering of branding professionals, lawyers, diplomats and corporate executives at the function that the EFCC did not interfere with legislative proceedings in Plateau State.

Ribadu said the corrupt attitude of some public officials had smeared the image of the country and given Nigerians a negative identity among the comity of nations.

Reeling out figures that elicited some response from the audience, he said a ”particular governor”‘ in EFCC net had accumulated more than N50bn of public funds.

Ribadu said many of the governors were on the EFCC list for corruptly enriching themselves with public funds at the expense of the poor that they were expected to protect.

He said the EFCC had recovered more than N200bn from persons who had floated banks with the objective of swindling their customers.

Ribadu faulted allegations that the EFCC was flouting the law to achieve its aims.

He, however, said there were several instances where the judiciary manipulated the law to favour some corrupt officers and fraudsters.

He stressed that he would rather stand by the majority who are underprivileged.

Ribadu said the Swiss government had invited him to head an initiative concerned with repatriating stolen funds to governments and individuals.

The President of the NBA, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba, commended Ribadu for his fight against fraudsters and corrupt public officers.

He advised Ribadu to always observe ”due process” in the commission‘s activities.

In igbo language it is said dat" okuko nyuo aruru,ala achuba ya oso"

what does that mean? what a disgrace to involve your mom in frivolous activity.

good for them and she must be found, she is infact ruling Abia state,

EFCC is acting rather late. She was supposed to have been arrested since 1999.

You may not know, her convoy is larger than that of the VP

OK has been saying he's got nothing to hide and if that is so he should tell his mum and
others declared wanted to go clear theselves. Period. Enough of this noise

lewa what part of chi town you dey

@ Odeku
Southside, wey u?

I don't think its right to declare someone you know where is he/she wanted, I think thats just politics, there are some things EFCC does that call for worry especially in a democracy, we are witnesses to some people declared wanted who actually were around and they never bothered to know their whereabouts, also the way and manner they treat people who are invited for questioning is worrisome, EFCC always make it look as if , once you are inivited for questioning that means indictment, no its not so, they should do their legitimiate and great job with utmost decorum and due regards for laws of the land.

I don't know much about Kalus mother, but I do know that Kalu has been a thong in the flesh of OBJ, if indeed they are corrupt they should be brought to book. As regards her using convoy, in Nigeria all you need to do before using convoy is to have money, Kalu I know for sure was and is still a very rich man , he once said in d national dailies that he gave OBJ 1 million dollars in 1999 for his election, all OBJ can say is that he should produce receipt he gave him for d money, I don't know who gives such receipt for favour done, it will be most disgraceful if his mother is actually involved in money laundering but I doubt EFCC claim, until they produce us facts to prove it, they are just acting a script, we need to be careful at either condemining or commending EFCC on some issues, while they have done wonderfully well their method is crude and undemocratic. But I hope as we go on they will improve.

Have you seen a wounded lion charging before?

Mama na tif.Son na tif.Make we kuku pack di grandshidren one time cos all of dem go be tif o.Abi wetin una tink?

omofineboy if they indeed invited her for questioning and refused to show up. sure they can declare her wanted, the news show she deserted her house and is no where to be found. why is she running if she is not guilty is my question.

From what I read today they never invited her for questiioning, we can take on example of Mike Adenuga, who was never invited the only time they had anything to do with him was the day they went to his house with equipments which they used to pull down his doors, its not right, thats my worry, rights are trampled upon, you dont go to someone's house in d mid night and say you want to arrest him/her and ofcourse before arrest you should invite the person to hear his/her own side of the story, EFCC is great, but the method to me is crude and undemocratic. I cant hold brief for Kalu and family but I dont even know him, but there are instances I salute his courage, for example Kalu was taken to code of coduct tribunal for operating foreign accounts, he stated that he has always live in the US, his family is there, and pointed out that OBJ too has account and even quoted the account number, that was the end of the story, at least we never heard anything about it again. OBJ to me has no moral right to fight corruption, hes just too corrupt. Let EFCC be independent and follow the law of the land. This is not to say Kalu is not corrupt, but let all of them be dealt with, ofcourse OBJ cant do that.

omofineboy its not possible
How did Kalu get OBJ account number. this is USA we talking about and not Nigeria. there are laws in the for privacy protection. maybe Kalus son works at OBJ bank, people be realistic when opposing please. A criminal in my book deserve no rights, if you eat hot pepper soup you will get burn, so don't eat hot pepper soup.

@Odeku,

I wouldnt know how he got the account number, but nothing is impossible, but thats the truth, am not saying Kalu is a criminal or not, I was just being factual without sentiments or being emotional, what I am saying is OBJ is not better and if you must deal with someone let it be under the ambit of the law. No jungle justice. I hope you got my point now.

I expect OBJ in months time to have arrested and if possible jail all corrupt government officials, so that his journey to jail will be interesting.

"Mr. President should stop deceiving us with this corruption issue. When I said he was the owner of Bell University, he denied it. Bell University is there. They are building a massive structure there of about N4 billion to N5 billion contract, which the President paid them directly. The President is the owner of Temperance Farm account."

"I can give pictures of how Otta Farm looked like in 1998 and go and see the same Otta Farm. They are putting more than N30 billion investments there. So why are we deceiving ourselves? All these things are about deceit."


''If 20 governors had followed me and said it was bad, and we go to Obasanjo and said this is bad, these things would not continue. So, it is not about me. When they were dealing with me for six years, I told Vice President Atiku Abubakar, you people are keeping quiet, this thing is turn by turn. Whenever he tells me; please make up with Mr. President, you know he is our friend, please make up with him, I told him (Atiku) they are dealing with me and you are there laughing. It is not about Kalu, it is about the system and that is where we are today." -  Orji Uzor Kalu

Thought provoking quotes. Only time would tell who's deceiving who in this country.

Get the criminals,but respect and follow rules of law!

I wonder how some folks brings out point on this topic.

Kalu's mother is wanted by the EFCC and she was hiding and refusing to show up until she was bursted there is nothing wrong about that wether it is a midnight raid or whatever. Nigeria is so corrupt and here we have a body that is trying to reduce the mes yet we are saying they should not infringe on rights what right?

They should arrest any corrupt public officer or anyone who has looted public funds wether selective or not they should go on as long as those they arrest are corrupt.

@stanech

No indication that EFCC invited Kalus mother, at least Gov Kalu said it and no rebuttal from EFCC, so are u saying that a legitimate law enforcement agency of govt, should arrest people in a manner thats not different from armed robbery? not at all, all I said and am saying is that we should operate within the law, we shouldnt be crude about it.

@mofineboy
From all I know the media is nt helping matters on this issue. they always make the story loo as if the Efcc is not trying at all. How can a body headed by a non illiterate like Ribadu trample on peoples right The mediais biased in their reports I insist

Stanech,

Have you forgotten many cases of disobedience of court orders by EFCC? I dont think its really the media, the truth is that EFCC acts atimes above the law which is not right. ok

A lot of people think funny-following this thread i have come to realise that many people
still don't get it.If EFCC is going to resort to pulling down gates((Adenuga), kidnap rogues(assembly
legislators), or bombard Mama OK's house at the wee hours so what? How many Court injuctions
do this people themselves obey,ie these so called politicians. Nigeria is a special case and at times any means necessary to effectively nail these brigands is to me fair.Ribadu has fowarded to the NBA a list of
so called SANS and other lawyers who have been investigated,or arrested or even have been petitioned
for fraudulent crimes but what has the NBA leadership done?Ditto for judges and justices refered to the NJC
and chartered accountants to ICAN? Millions of otherwise Nigerians who are unheard suppotr EFCCand wish
him God's abiding cover

@Iewa

Thank you very much

I think these governors are respecting the rule of law by stealing public funds

omofineboy,
from ur writeups in this topic, i want to believe u read and understand the politics of the country and ur position is so neutral that u want the right thing to be done at anytime.
kalu is saying obj is spoiling her mother with gifts. he even mentioned that obj bought a jeep for his mother.
he also said that his mother is always a guest at aso rock.
from what i read, efcc went to the woman's house in aba 12:30am and will that be an officail time for an arrest in country where assasins kill without notice.
the truth of the matter is that obj, efcc and the governors are into a movie without a caption. we are all watching a country where the presidents through his arms points and kills.
when did kalu's mother become too big for nigeria to arrest. i will not even be surprise if the woman will come out on the pages of the newspapers to say nobdy has invited her officially for questioning.
obj if at all has anything reasonable to do shld invite the woman as usual and arrest her.
on his side, he shld be able to prove to nigerians that all the accusations from kalu are all false.
the country is becoming worse and worst on daily bases. obj shld simply accept the fact that he is a failure and stop decieving the masses.
if with all the available resources, even with a blind man as the president of nigerian, there is no steady power supply in nigeria till date and the security system in the country has become the worst ever on record since the inception of the country.
i think the yoruba traditional system of government shld have a role to play here advising obj to go and commit suicide.
we have pressing national issues to address and nobody is talking about them insteady the old man is here talking about atiku and orji uzo kalu.
how do we progress when personal interest is over-riding the public interest.
whatsoever the governors are doing, they learnt from their president who is also the petrolium minister as well as the party chairman. he decideds who to arrest and release as the chief security officer. he appoints and disappoints. he controls the nation as his personal property and makes laws as if there is no judiciary in place.
his attitude towards the much praised okonjo iwuala proved his selfish nature and his great greed to remain unchallaned.
he that took abacha shld also repeat the action as he is proving to be above all. we are in dare need of the invicible hands.

@Stanech
thanks

This is the problem with some of you guys: you never give the EFCC or Obasanjo any benefit of
the doubt. Because Kalu said he is mother was never invited for questioning, then automatically
he must be right, and the EFCC is wrong. Same with Adenuga, he was invited repeatedly but
failed to appear until the EFCC raided his home. Let me ask you, if Adenuga was clean and had
nothing to fear, why is he on the run? Let me guess, "oh because he was against 3rd term".
You guys are hilarious.

You want the country to turn around, yet you sympathize with every victim of the EFCC. Wasn't
Marwa from the same country? He was invited, he appeared, and took care of the situation and
he is a free man today. Same with Jimoh Ibrahim who was picked for supposingly writing a bad
check, he cleared himself and he is a free man today. None of you see any of this, rather when
ever any of these jackasses start blabbing out nonsense, you believe whole-heartedly. Really, I
am not surprised that Nigeria remains jacked up the way it is because of its people, we allow this
idiots to do whatever and get away with it.

Rule of law? When was emptying the treasuries sanctioned by the law? Think for a second, why
will the EFCC raid a home where a woman who must be at least 60 or more years old is staying?
Even when they arrested Adenuga or IBB's son who are arguably more high profiled and potent
that Kalu's mom, they didn't have to resort to this tactic. You guys don't even think its remotely
possible that Kalu's mom disobeyed any invitation to appear before the EFCC?

Iyke-D ABEG THANK YOU what state are you in America so I can send you some crystal, how come only the people here in the state see and understand the issues in Nigeria, there is a guy here promoting babangida his name is BigB1 he think ADENUGA IS CLEAN as a whistle, this man was a cab driver in the state and said he went back to Nigeria after his BSC in Oklahoma and became millionaire over night at the age of 26 How many Nigerians cab driver do you know that has that much money if he wasn't crooked? some people self are so blind.

Odeku,

I am in Texas. Not until the masses refuse to have sympathies for these ass-holes, we will continue to have
the rot that is called Nigeria. You will think Kalu is a seer or a prophet, he knows Obasanjo's personal account
number. Only he claim that Obasanjo has 51% ownership interest in Transcorp, again just having a diarrhea
of the mouth, no facts, just whatever comes to his head. I am not aware of any visionary thing he has done
for Abia state, and he has the nerve to criticize Obasanjo and now wants to be elected president. I hope EFCC
do him in come May 2007 because its clear there is no with any spine Abia state that can challenge him or his
mother. He sees and dreams 3rd term even after the vast majority of Nigeria have accepted that it is a dead
issue, I believe the man is really paranoid.

@ Iyke-D
Goodman

@Odeku
@lewa
@stanech
@Iyke-D
May the good Lord bless U guys tremendously.For once I feel people actually voicing complete sense.

For the first time in Nigeria's history looters and so-called "untouchable" powers-that -be are being touched.For the first time these sacred cows are being hounded.They now know what it means to fear.Fear of losing their hard-"stolen"-money and fear of losing their undeserved freedom.
But what do we get butcountless shameless Nigerians crying foul-saying due process is not being adhered to.GOD!!![/b]These guys make me sick!!
People who have bled this country to the tune of over $500b under 30yrs and we are trying to protect their rights!
Pls [b]Ribadu just shut your ears to all the crap pple are saying and DO YOUR JOB! Y'HEAR?DO YOUR JOB!!! GOD,history and posterity will vindicate and reward you

@Bolarge,dankie.German for thanks