Ex-SGF, Anyim bought Centenary City for N1.2bn, Ojougbo alleges

In from Olumide Olaoluwa…
Peoples Democratic Party’s National Vice Chairman (South-south zone), Dr. Cairo Ojougboh, has accused the immediate past Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, of unilaterally acquiring the multi- billion dollar Centenary City located along the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
He said he was ready to face the ex- SGF in court to prove his sole ownership of the controversial housing estate.
Ojougboh, who spoke with reporters in Abuja, accused the former SGF of acts of desperation “to cling unto his loot and spoils of office without putting into consideration the millions of Nigerians he is depriving of the dividends of democracy”.
Calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to probe transactions relating to the Centenary City, Ojougboh stated that Anyim persuaded former President Goodluck Jonathan to sign the Centenary City documents without the ex- president reading the contents or consulting with his Advisers.
The Centenary City project is sitting on a land area covering over 1, 500 hectares of land, the size of three existing districts in the federal territory put together.
The PDP chieftain said he had sent a petition to President Buhari, stating the facts relating to the transaction and the role played by Anyim in what he described as “a scam” perpetrated by Eagle Hills, a United Arabs Emirate company, allegedly operating as front for Anyim.
Ojougboh said: “Yes, the former president signed the papers as was presented to him by the former SGF. He was not properly briefed because of vested interests.
“I can defend him; he was not part of the fraud. If Jonathan had been properly briefed, he would not have approved the project, not to talk of going to perform the ground breaking ceremony of the project.
“The former President thought that Centenary City was for the good of all Nigerians because of the centenary spirit. Unknown to him, it was the private project of the former SGF and his cohorts.

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“I am calling on President Buhari now to revisit the centenary city project and he will be shocked at the findings that the project was owned by a private individual, but procured with government funds”.
Anyim’s media aide, Mr. Sam Nwaobosi, said the matter was already in court.
In a telephone conversation with reporters in Abuja yesterday, Nwaobosi said Anyim would not join issues with Ojougboh.
He said: “Senator Anyim has gone to court to sue him for defamation on the previous press conference and interviews that he granted in which he accused Anyim of almost all these things you said he is saying now.
“So the matter is already in court and Senator Anyim does not wish to join issues with him on matters that are already in court.
“Since he feels aggrieved by what Cairo (Ojougboh) has been saying and writing against him, he is pursuing a very civilised cause by going to court to plead his case.
“So whatever Cairo Ojougboh is making, he will have an opportunity in court to explain and then plead his case”.

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