₦airaland Forum

BondRiv:
Being the son of a lawyer and actually being a lawyer yourself are two different things. Parts of your comment here, including your last sentence reveal that you don't have a good knowledge of the law on this issue. Another thing that is clear from your comment is that the corruption in the system has shaped your perception.

Let me start by correcting you where you said "the court can argue..." The court does not argue. It reaches a decision after listening to the arguments of lawyers before it.

This case can't die by the family accepting any "settlement and calling it a sex deal gone wrong" as you wrongly stated. I find it troubling that you hold this view given the fact that you stated that:

"The guy definitely forced himself on the girl and the girl wanted compensation for it."

You also stated that: "She went there for sex and must have gotten cold feet and didn't want to proceed until a fair agreement was reached."

How did you know that she went there for sex? Nothing supports this your position.

An important thing you must know is that all crimes are against the state, even though there are victims of crime. In lesser offences, there is a possibility of plea bargaining with the involvement of the family. But in serious offences such as rape which carries a life sentence, you can't settle to mitigate sentence.

Indeed, it is always advisable to have legal counsel in matters like this before speaking. Now he has made the admissions he did. What I think everyone should be concerned about now is justice. This is a serious case of rape that has also led to suicide. The family can still be awarded compensation after conviction. However, he cannot settle this. It is in the interest of the public that he should be prosecuted.

It's good to think and process your words in your head before you talk. I have been to courthouse and read multiple case files from my dad's library. it is obvious you don't know how the court works or how reality works. This case is something I follow cause I know people handling it. There multiple rape cases that have been settled with families and nothing has happened to the person that committed the act. Before a case is taken to court it has to be submitted. If the family and the arresting officer as well as everyone involved in the primary stage of the case is settled it will never see the day of court. There are multiple evidence that suggested she went there for sex. The girl in question is a twin and has been buried by the family which I am sure you don't know. You are not even from our town where the girl is from. A courthouse is just a stone throw from my house. The girl in question was supposed to go to Abuja to meet someone else, but this guy told her to come to asaba to meet him in an hotel that he will teach her content creation. She mentioned she was a virgin and the guy said no problem. After the whole rubbish that happened the girl messaged him that it would have been better she went to Abuja because the guy there would have given her more money, but now she lost her virginity she was keeping for 10k, if the chat provided is true. In the chat she also wrote to the guy that he forced himself on her and he has to compensate her properly. The lawyer representing favor family currently is trying to use the case to extort money. it is a lady. You can do your research and see. Just because the public has been made aware of the case doesn't mean it has gone to court. If all parties involve come out and say it was a misunderstanding, the only way that case goes to court is if the government sue the guy to court. Right how it's not the state vs. it wasn't the state that lead the arrest of the guy. It was Israel Joe who told the family that he knows who to call in the police force that he trusts that will get the useless Ifeanyi.

JoeEeL:
People may admit to crime when there is a devastating consequence such as death. They do that to prevent public justice in this 3rd world country and to assuage the emotions of the public until things bcom clearer and more facts appear. As u can see the new developments, even the case of rape is now being debated.

Its just like hitting a young chap to the floor while driving. In most instances you the driver instantly bcoms the villain, whereas many accidents are actually caused by the victims, usually by jay-walking, crossing the road carelessly, refusal to use a head bridge, failure of the government to provide pedestrian crosses and traffic lights etc. Most drivers first flee, a tacit admission of guilt. But are they really guilty?

Use ur upper

You are speaking to the son of a lawyer here. There is a reason lawyers always tell their clients never to speak without them being there like the case of adeyemi who refused to even to respond to what his name is. The moment that guy admitted and started pleading he gave a confession right there. The chat posted online can not paint the full picture. The court can argue the girl responded that way due to emotional instability. Even the chat has to be proven to be legit in the eyes of the court. The only way the case dies now is if the family accepts a settlement and agree to accept the story that it was sex service deal gone wrong. The guy definitely forced himself on the girl and the girl wanted compensation for it. She went there for sex and must have gotten cold feet and didn't want to proceed until a fair agreement was reached. The guy overpowered her and forced himself on her. She then demanded that she be compensated fairly and the matter will die, the guy refused her demands. The girl killed herself and the guy knows he bleeped up. The fact he deleted all the messages from his end is another rope around his neck. His only saving grace are two things, he has enough money to influence the judge in his case to pick out minor things and make them look like important information, the second is settlement which I am sure will happen. The parents from the video, their body language look like people who will rather settle than go to court.

Kobojunkie:
Sadly, I can see her parents settling for financial compensation on this, and this guy might end up avoiding prison then, too.

Normal, the dire situation of the country will prompt the family to take a compensation and forget the issue

Those who don't know the guy has admitted to the crime and was begging the girl's parent and her twin sister for forgiveness. The girl is a twin. It was a fellow content creator who lead the arrest against him and he was pleading they settle the matter. That there is confession. The only thing now is if the family will take the settlement and forget the matter or take the matter to court. He has to prove it was an agreement to have sex and he simply didn't pay well and she killed herself, but information is that he deleted the chat from his end.

The amount of energy people put into trying to drag Lagos down is funny. If they channelled that energy into developing their home states I am sure they wouldn't be flocking to Lagos seeking a better life. Lagos is not the problem of Nigeria, not holding your state leaders accountable is one of the major problems. I don't like Lagos because it's overcrowded, but what will investigating who built Lagos do for me? It won't increase Nigeria gdp, it won't win me any awards in investigation journalism. It's like being obsessed with your neighbors wife and ignoring your own.

If I am given work permit, I will gladly relocate there. But the policies he is implementing there, many nigeria citizens will fight because it will expose how so many rich people in Nigeria are into illegitimate businesses

Dogalmighty17:
Is it not just logo? Can't the NDC submit another one?

They have do registration again. Dickson is at fault here, not anyone fighting Obi. NDC took inec to court last year because of this issue and it was a court order that forced INEC to accept NDC. That same court has now seen the issue INEC was talking about. The best way forward for NDC is to settle the party that says they stole their logo, pay them off so they abandon the logo for NDC, but they will burn all their money doing so and nothing will be left to campaign with except they go and borrow. This is why Obi should have built his own party instead of looking for free food. Most of this parties are formed by people who skip important steps, you don't notice their Bleep ups because they don't aim high. When they aim high you start to see they are only wearing shirt and naked from the waist down.

Major7:
There's wisdom in keeping silent but some foolish people up there will just want to exhibit their stupidity. Instead of condemning the wrong act,there are spewing trash trying to quote the law. God have mercy on us all in this country 😔

You can expect them to condemn what they love

Ofunaofu:
Tinubu has no clear path to victory, and he knows it.

Majority of Nigerians, across tribes, religion and ethnicity want him out. After what they have endured under his administration, the thought of a second term is frightening and difficult to imagine.

Even if he intends to rig the election, you still need a reasonable level of popularity to make it believable. Right now, he doesn't appear to command even 20% support nationwide.

Campaign season is around the corner. What exactly is he going to tell Nigerians? That the hardships of the first term were just a rehearsal for the second?

The 2027 election has longed be decided, the smart politician are looking into the next election, the dumb ones are running around nagging and dragging everything with them as they sink and blaming others. I won't vote for Tinubu, but Nigerians are fall worse than the leaders that rule them. Come 2027 the corrupt citizens will put in place a corrupt person to rule. Nigeria has been a sinking ship since 1960. Tinubu is just the captain at this particular time as the ship sinks, the person after him will perform badly. And why is no one calling out their tribesmen in state government office and local government? There is no sector that has ever worked in Nigeria but some how the people only drag the sit of the president. No local government chairman is working or has worked, the senators, the house of reps, the labour unions, the workers union, the arm forces, the regulators, the religious ministries and many more have all been corrupt forever. Is it Tinubu that started all these? The high rate of immorality that parents allow their children to engage in the name of open eye and times have changed let them have their fun, is that the job of the government? Nigerians can come together to watch a show called big brother that dulls their senses, but can't come together to encourage the brilliant minds. Most of our rich people and entertainers are into shady and criminal businesses, we the citizens know but will sing praises for them. The problem with Nigeria isn't Tinubu, it's everyone wants to fight corruption but that fight against corruption should start with another person and not me or my loved ones. When that good leader comes, the same citizens will say he is a dictator when he starts arresting their loved ones for the crimes they have been committing. Bad society will not give birth to a good leader. You drink only water daily and expect more than liquid waste to be coming out?

The obi movement is like the maga movement in USA, both feel entitled and discriminate against anything that isn't part of them. The difference, maga movement got their seat. NDC was already known before obi went there, ADC was also known before Atiku and his crew came in. Atiku successfully hijacked ADC and obi crew wanted to do the same to NDC. They failed, watch them make issues in the party like a spoilt child. APC is bad but obidients and atikulated movement are just borderline toxic. If we could dispose of them along with the other corrupt parties like PDP, Nigeria might have hope.

Fiscus105:
Yes, but nevertheless, man must strive hard to do his best in other not to push his wife outside, and which stop treating wife as if she is servant, believing the culture already forbidden them to cheat. They too are human that blood and water run through their veins
I know acts that, some men indulging in, in which even, the most saint woman might look outside.

Wen a man abandoned his wife sexually, but same man sleeping with every hole outside,even unto knowledge of wife.

Wen a man working, yet using all the money to do only his own enjoyment(drinking and womanizing) etc.

All these habits full outside today, what do you expect from wife of such men?

No saint wife will look outside because husband maltreatment. They simply exit marriage. Most cases of men abandoning their wives sexual is as a result of of lies people start to tell themselves and believe. Women love sex, let society lies not fool us that sex is a man's thing. Hollywood did a movie in the days called a good man is hard to find. When you investigate some of the sexually unsatisfied women you see they married for stability, the man has money and a good job. But you can't cheat nature, women sexual drive goes up as they get older, that 20 minutes sex the man can provide them is no longer enough. The nature of the man's job doesn't allow him focus on other things, the environment the man is another factor, and lastly the man doesn't find the woman attractive anymore. I repeat, it is stability that made many marriages, and that stability alone can not sustain the marriage forever. People need to be honest with themselves, especially women pretending they don't enjoy sex. Marry who can match your energy and desire. The people who got in right don't have two heads. It's all about being real with ourselves. If one man or one woman is not enough, be real about it. I have seen women who say a man with one wife is not a man. I have seen women who like physical abuse saying it's how they reset their brains. A woman can be in an abusive relationship to you and being crying in front of you, but deep down she loves the abuse and see it as love. If you like take her from that abusive man, she will find another abusive man to love. If you doubt me, make a friend with a marriage counselor who sees couples regularly, they will tell you they are mentally tired of the gymnastics they see in couple sessions. I'm sure you had a female friend you advised once because of who she was dating, only for her to double down on that same guy or she ends with another version of that guy and you say down to complain to yourself or someone with the question what is even wrong with women.

Who wants to sleep outside will sleep outside. Nothing pushes anyone to cheat. A cheater or multiple sex partner will always look for reasons to look outside and build a narrative around that lie, that same lie would be adopted by fellow cheaters and be made to sound like facts. That false narrative will be told to the future generations and it becomes a lie accepted by society. There are many cases of men and women who don't cheat despite how bad their partners are. They simply walk away from it all and try to start all over with someone else or abandon it all and be alone. Someone who likes to smoke will always find a way to be in the presence of smokers. Someone who wants to give up smoking will do everything to give it up.

joelbooks:
UPDATE ON THE BENIN-SAPELE ROAD

You cannot watch this and say President Tinubu isn’t solving real issues facing the common man.

https://x.com/osazenoo/status/2063741420112855471

Right now the common problems are insecurity, lack of job opportunities, high cost of surviving(living has left the common man), oppression, poor power supply, no social welfare programs, poor medical care, and no belief in a better tomorrow.

Ofunaofu:
Of course Tinubu no suppose get mate. Mandate wey bring hardship and deaths no fit get rival. Abi I lie?

All leaders in Nigeria have brought hardship and death. There has never been a time there was growth. We keep recycling the same people into power and expect a different outcome every time. It wasn't today the song Nigeria jaga jaga was sung. We were warned from different people like Africa China. Fela in his time still sung about bad leadership. When will Nigerians finally wake up?

150m is better than nothing. Our sport sector is poorly invested in. Only the sport minister and his crew eat while the athletes don't.

free2ryhme:
na compesation season be this

bandits dey collect rehabilitation allowance

The post is about band A electricity supply. Google what band A electricity means. Band users were promised at least 18 hours daily power supply. From February to March that promise was failed. Hence the compensation. So I fail to see how bandit come into this.

free2ryhme:
una dey compensate bandits so this one no be new thing

Did you read before commenting? What does band A and bandits have to do with one another?

IbrahimSola:
Jokers. This Labour Party will come 10th in 2027 presidential elections. A party that came 1st or abi na 3rd dem declare in 2023. And then idiyets took over and bastardized everything.

Pls someone should enlighten me. Is there money that they pay to political parties for fielding presidential candidates? Because I don't understand why parties that know that they can NEVER come 3rd are declaring candidates. Pls how much do they give them? It's so obvious that there's something they stand to gain. In 2028, INEC shd deregister 90% of all the hungry-man parties that are distracting Nigerians without adding no value to the polity.

They get paid to work for those in power. They gather people and send proposals to top dogs that they can deliver and have influence. Why do you think despite the poor state of the nation we have not had a true uprising or revolution? Why do you think people are never united? This one's are hoping to have enough people and influence to be noticed by a big fish who will call them. Only a dumb person with no plans will buy form and hope having good intentions will win you a post.

Can't blame her, she saw Nigerians only support who make the loudest noise and have nothing to offer and she felt she had a chance to loot her own share. It's funny she expected to win over people who built the party from scratch and worse couldn't contest in her home town.

Obi follower and their obsession with Abuja and Lagos needs to be studied. And why the tag clinch? He ran against no one and you make it look like a decisive victory. The way politicians suck the sense from the followers in Nigeria is amazing.

Everyone has a plan until they sit there and start stealing. Him and OBJ contributed to this mess from day one. It was just easier to hide their misdeeds then and the world wasn't as messed up. In a sane country all former heads of states both governors and past presidents and Senators should been given the death penalty. But if you want to fight corruption in Nigeria, 70% will end up in prison.

Why can't we promote good fathers online? Why is it so hard to see news about a caring father and daughter, but so easy to see the bad ones? And mind you the bad ones are in the minority. A community of 1000 good fathers only need a man to do a bad thing to his daughter and then society will label them as all bad. I know a lot of fathers out there raising their daughters well but nobody is interested in telling their story. The narrative has to be that men are evil. Not some men are evil.

Justnation:
You missed the narrative.

The problem is that tinubu and APC are bent on frustrating the opposition so that no notable politician especially PETER OBI will contest against him knowing fully that tinubu will loose the election against PETER OBI.

PETER OBI was in LP tinubu instigated charlatans to forment trouble there, the moment OBI left the party the trouble makers stopped action.

PETER OBI joined ADC, tinubu came again and instigated another crises, at least his chief of staff gbajabiamila confirmed these narrative.

What will you do if you are in the shoes of PETER OBI and kwankwaso?.
Remain in the troubled waters and get drowned by the wicked enemy?, or seek to fish in another safer water?.

Please answer me.

Stop the agbado propaganda machine and join hands to rescue Nigeria from these killers of democracy

APC has nothing to do with what's going on in ADC. The way you Peter Obi supporters reason is just like your Lord, you guys use emotions to handle politics. Obi has managed to destroy everything he touches because of greed. ADC was never a unified opposition. PDP and ADC suffers from the same problem, clash of egos. Peter Obi is overrated by his supporters which cause Obi to think he more relevant than he is. Atiku only wanted obi and amaechi to get the south east on his side cause he assumes he has the entire North and middle belt vote. The crazy thing is the core voters in Nigeria are not online. The ones who come to brag online won't step out to vote, but they want to rip the benefits of those who vote. ADC are busy campaigning online while APC is busy closing deals offline. Both APC, PDP, LP, NDC, ADC will field thieves and con men for the election. But the master con will win, while the rest will run to court.

Infotubia9ja:
In America if you catch a squirrel and do this and you get caught by the authorities you are going a minimum 40 nights in jail.

And so what? In USA a bunch of politicians rape and assaulted kids, why are they not in prison?

Sugar has the same brain response as cocaine. You addicted to that high. You might find a replacement and that new thing will become a problem later. Try seeing an addiction expert first. Then do this two things in the meantime, try jogging or doing light workout and eating okra related dishes. Okra is good for controlling sugar levels in the body. Make sure to see an addiction expert to help you. I have seen people run from addictions to addictions cause no self control. You might have oral fixations and might replace that Pepsi with berry blast and now you have a berry blast problem, or move to beer and develop a drinking problem.

Exousiang01:
You are displaying ignorance here Oga.
Do you know the capacity of those panels?
Or you think all panels are the same?

Forgive him, he did expo all his life

franchasng:
This is not enough, you need to go back and copy more and paste here.



Nigerians know the truth

Nigerians know the truth about but obidients rather use lies to hype him up. Characteristics of a cult.

aswani:
If any of this is true, and I can believe every single word, then Obidients need to enter house.

Obidients, so all this time, you people have been diddling us, to quote my Australian friend, haba Obidients, una suppose fear Baba God nau?!

The crazy part is the same people praising obi were people attacking him when he was a governor. But now they feel it's their turn to loot the national Treasury. If you have a sound debate with obi you will quickly discover he is a snake oil salesman. He doesn't know Nigeria problems. Someone that couldn't properly develop Anambra a state with a common language and religion wants to develop Nigeria with multiple religions, cultures, languages, ideologies? The non ibos just want a Christian to rule. Obi was lucky that during his time social media exposure wasn't a thing.

Claims by the immediate-past governor of Anambra state, Peter Obi, that he ran a very lean administration and consequently left billions for his successor, Willie Obiano have been faulted by one of the aides of the ex-governor, Benji Obi, saying his former boss was far from the truth.

The former Special Assistant on inter-party Affairs to Chief Peter Obi, who spoke during a telephone chat with journalists in Abuja queried his former boss on the use of public funds for private functions. “Who built the first Helipad at the Government House in Anambra for his personal use?

“Peter Obi used helicopters to travel often while he was the governor, and he usually travelled alone or with one trusted aide. It was not a secret within the administrative circles in Awka. When he went to the burial of his wife’s sister, he flew in a helicopter. He took off from the Government House”, he said.

The former governor who was an Independence Day guest at a church programme, The Platform, in Lagos had told his audience how he ran Anambra state successfully and left a huge amount of money for the incumbent governor.

“Peter Obi increased the money for his private kitchen at the Government House to N2million monthly and increased the feeding for the Police officers attached to him to N7million monthly”, he alleged saying the increase was never translated to increased feeding

He alleged that his former boss lied when he said he stopped the buffet-styled dinner being served at the Government House.

“What he did was to sack all the previous cooks and butlers and employed over 30 cooks/butlers/stewards from Akwa Ibom and expanded the kitchen budget. The bills are still there. It is verifiable. The Akwa Ibom cooks and stewards were over 20; who were they cooking for? Buffet was always there.

“Peter Obi purchased a bulletproof BMW for his wife and two bulletproof land cruisers for himself. He even bought an additional one for his brother, Damian.

“He was always using private jets to travel as often as any other state governor in Nigeria. The records are there and can be made public.

I don't want to add how obidients were beating people voting APC and yet they scream for free and fair elections. Both Tinubu, Atiku and Obi supporters are like religious cult. They lie about their messiah, try to force their way of thinking on others. Very abusive online and offline. Lack critical thinking. Nigeria is beyond doomed.

Mr Obi has two children- a daughter, Gabriella Nwamaka Frances Obi, and a son, Gregory Peter Oseloka Obi. Sometime in 2010, more than four years after he became governor, the politician developed an appetite to set up his first discreet company in the British Virgin Island. He named the company Gabriella Investments Limited, after his daughter

To set up what has now become a convoluted business structure, Mr Obi first approached Acces International, a secrecy enabler in Monaco, France, to help him incorporate an offshore entity in one of the world’s most notorious tax havens noted for providing conduits for wealthy and privileged corrupt political elites to hide stolen cash to avoid the attention of tax authorities.

Tax havens are politically and economically stable offshore jurisdictions or countries with extensive laws and systems that provide little or no tax obligations, but enable high secrecy and privacy protection for foreign individuals and businesses.

Mr Obi also paid Acces International to provide nominee directors for the company. Nominee directors are residents of tax havens paid to sit on boards of companies to hide the identities of real owners of offshore firms.

So, after accepting a brief from the then governor or his representatives, Acces International officials headed to the British Virgin Island, a notorious tax haven, where it contracted a local registered agent – Aleman Cordero Galindo & Lee Trust (BVI) Limited (Alcogal) — to set up Gabriella Investments Limited for Mr Obi.

The 36-year old Alcogal is a Panamanian law firm that went on to open overseas subsidiaries offering company formation and registered agent services in BVI, Seychelles, Belize, and Bahamas, and the preparation of corporate documentation in relation to the companies formed. It also provides trust services through its subsidiary trust companies in Panama, BVI, and Belize.

After extensive documentation, Gabriella Investment Limited was born on November 17, 2010, with registration number 1615538. Two figureheads – Antony Janse Van Vuuren and Lance Lawson — were appointed its first directors while ultimate control resided with Mr Obi.

On the same day the company was incorporated, the nominee directors met and issued 50,000 shares of Gabriella Investment in favour of Hill International Holding Corporation, a shell International Business Company operating under the laws of Belize, another tax haven. The director of the company is Mr Van Vuuren, also one of the directors of Gabriella Investment.

It is unclear what businesses Mr Obi transacted with the entities but in some communications, they were sometimes referred to as investment vehicles. Mr Obi told PREMIUM TIMES the offshore entity is the holding company for most of his assets and that the business structure he adapted was to enable him to avoid excessive taxation.

“I am sure you too will not like to pay inheritance tax if you can avoid it,” he told the reporters who interviewed him.

The Memorandum of Incorporation of Gabriella Investment said it was set up to carry on or undertake any business or activity, including trading of any commodities or goods, to do any act or enter into any transactions.

Recalibrating the structure and bringing family under the umbrella
Mr Obi has since rearranged his offshore businesses. First, he renamed Gabriella Investment. Beginning February 10, 2017, the company became known as PMGG Investments Limited in what is a combination of the first letters of the first names of Mr Obi’s nuclear family. P for Peter (ex-governor), M for Margaret (the ex-governor’s wife), G for Gabriella (the ex-governor’s daughter) and G for Gregory (the ex-governor’s son).

Mr Obi has also now created a trust known as The Gabriella Settlement, an entity also registered in the BVI. According to Fidelity Investments, a trust is a fiduciary arrangement that allows a third party, or trustee, to hold assets on behalf of a beneficiary or beneficiaries. Experts believe that trusts are traditionally used for minimising taxes even though they can offer other estate plan benefits as well.

By the current structuring of Mr Obi’s wealth and offshore businesses, The Gabriella Settlement, which appears to hold all or a majority of his assets, is the sole shareholder of PMGG Investments.

In turn, a New Zealander entity, Granite Trust Company Limited is the sole trustee of The Gabriella Settlement. Sam Access International, the Monaco-based secrecy enabler Mr Obi first hired in 2010 to set up his offshore structure, was until August 23, 2019, the sole shareholder of Granite Trust.

Antony Janse Van Vuuren, who has acted as a consistent and perpetual director for almost all of Mr Obi-related offshore entities popped up again, making the filing that brought in another Monaco-based company, Rhone Acces Sam as the sole shareholder of Granite Trust. However, Rhone Trust and Fiduciary S.A., a Swiss entity, is the ultimate holding company for Granite Trust.

Mr Peter Obi and his Man Friday
A central and recurring figure in former Governor Obi’s network of offshore companies and on whom the politician appears to place immense trust is Antony Janse Van Vuuren, a 70-year old South African based in the principality of Monaco in France. Experts in Illicit Financial Flows consider Monaco a tax haven because of its generous tax laws and policies.

According to KPMG Multi Family Office, the principality of roughly 30,000 inhabitants does not charge wealth tax, property tax, investment income tax, and capital gains tax. It also does not tax dividends and directors’ fees and unless they are French nationals, resident individuals are not subject to personal income tax while inheritance tax is zero per cent for spouses and direct beneficiaries. It is unclear if it was this mouth-watering tax regime that attracted Mr Obi to Monaco.

What is however clear is that, in 2010, four years after he became governor, the politician or his representatives hired Monaco-based Acces International, where Mr Van Vuuren has been partner and director for 25 years, to help him create a secret and intricate scheme for managing his assets. Mr Obi told PREMIUM TIMES that British Lloyds Bank’s advice informed his offshore structure decision.

From Monaco in France to Tortola in the BVI, to Wellington in New Zealand, and to Geneva in Switzerland, Mr Van Vuuren has travelled around the world running business errands for Mr Obi and taking major decisions on his behalf.

While Mr Obi stays comfortably behind the curtain, the South African has remained the face of the ex-governor’s companies and the assets they hold. For the past decade, he is the politician’s number one business arranger in the offshore world as well as the custodian of the politician’s business-related documents and correspondences.

Mr Van Vuuren, a veteran nominee director for possibly tens or hundreds of shell companies, attended the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where he graduated in 1967 with a Bachelor of Commerce, Accounting and Business Management. He also obtained an MBA from Durham University in 1977.

A History of Playing Offshore
A 1991 leaked incorporation document reveals a certain Peter Obi and two other individuals – Donatus Ogbogu and Uche Okagbue – to have incorporated Beauchamp Investments Limited in Barbados.

The firm was incorporated as an international business company on August 20, 1991, with registration number 7305. The setting up of the company was handled at the time by a certain Peter L. Chase. What businesses the company does and what assets it holds remain unclear. Mr Obi denied knowledge of the firm as well as of Messrs Ogbogu and Okagbue. He said the individual who incorporated Beauchamp was possibly another businessman who happened to bear a similar name as him.

However, Next International (UK) Limited, another of the former governor’s overseas companies, was incorporated on May 16, 1996, in London. Mr Obi and his wife, Margaret, were listed as directors while Next International (Nigeria) Limited (with 999 ordinary shares) and Mr Obi (with one ordinary share) were listed as shareholders.

The exact businesses the company undertook in its 25-year history remained unclear, although, on March 8, 2001, the firm reported taking a mortgage from Lloyds TSB Bank Plc for a property on 53 Clyde Road, Croydon.

Breaking the Law: Number 1
In Nigeria, a person is statutorily obligated to withdraw from engaging in or directing a private business, except if it is farming, upon becoming a public officer, Section Six (6) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act stipulates.

However, our investigation, based on records obtained from the UK Companies House shows that Mr Obi continued to be a director of Next International (UK) Limited for 14 months after becoming the governor of Anambra State, thereby breaking Nigeria’s law. The politician resigned from the company on May 16, 2008, 14 months after he assumed duties as Anambra governor. He took office on March 17, 2006.

Mr Obi and missed tax opportunity
In June 2017, the federal government launched the Voluntary Assets and Income Disclosure Scheme (VAIDS), an initiative seeking voluntary disclosure of previously undeclared assets and income with a view to paying all outstanding liabilities. The VAIDS offered a nine-month window and incentives that included immunity from prosecution for tax evasion and undeclared assets, which would have benefited people like Mr Obi.

A key objective of the VAIDS was curbing illicit financial flows and tax evasion, which commonly feature the use of offshore holdings to shift taxes from where they are earned to havens where little or no taxes are paid.

The government in 2017 said defaulting individuals and corporate bodies who failed to take advantage of the VAIDS would be subject to criminal prosecution.

A number of Nigerian public officials with previously undeclared assets tucked away overseas participated in the VAIDS and got clearance certificates. Mr. Obi shunned the scheme and continued with his opaque business dealings in breach of the law

No northern politician means well for anyone, all are thieves and criminals. Atiku deserves firing squad, same hell rufai,bitter obi and drug baron Tinubu.