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N450m bribe for polls: Stop lying and own up, ex-lawmakers tell ex-Gov Chime

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A group of ex-lawmakers, Nigerian Ex-Legislators Forum, NELF, has called on the immediate past Governor of Enugu State, Sullivan Chime, to stop passing the bucks and accept responsibility for the N450 million he received for Enugu State.

The funds were alleged to have come from the alleged N23 billion election bribe money coordinated by the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke.

The NELF also said it was dismayed over the callous behaviour of the former Governor on the ongoing investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

The group, in a statement signed at the Weekend by Hon Tambuwal Ahmed Muktar, who was the Chief Whip, Bauchi State House of Assembly in the Third Republic (1991-1993) and its National Coordinator; Elder Hon Ideke Onyeukwu, who was the Deputy Majority Leader, Enugu State House of Assembly in the same Third Republic, and its National Secretary; and Prince Dr Abel Adewale, who was the Deputy Speaker, Oyo State House of Assembly during the Second Republic (1979-1983) and its Board of Trustees Chairman, warned Chime to stop passing the buck and playing a blame game and accept responsibility for receiving, hosting and disbursing the fund purportedly sourced from the Petroleum ministry and shared out through Fidelity Bank.

The group was reacting to the series of press statements Sullivan Chime issued and media interviews he granted on the matter, wondering how the Chief Executive Officer of a state and the undisputed leader of the PDP in the state suddenly surrendered his power and authority to known and unknown aides to the extent that he can no longer recollect what precisely transpired in the whole sordid transaction or account for how every single kobo kept in his care was spent.

The statement read in part: “Assuming that the PDP had won the 2015 Presidential election and Former Governor Chime was asked to render account of how the money was spent to the Campaign organization, would he bury his head in the sand, ostrich-like, and declare irrationally as he has been doing, that he shouldn’t be held responsible because his subordinates presided over the expenditure?

“In essence, what Sullivan Chime is telling the world is that if he were to be called upon to render the account of his stewardship as the Governor of Enugu state from 2007 to 2015, he will feign ignorance about how government resources were expended, preferring instead to place the blame for non-performance at the doorsteps of his commissioners, advisers and assistants,” the group said.

The Ex-Legislators also called on Chime to stop roping innocent people into the mess he brought upon himself and face his responsibility as a leader, as the former Governor of the state, and as the leader of the PDP, while charging the EFCC to ignore Chime’s illogical, meaningless and senseless statements and hold him fully accountable for the money in question.

“No matter how many times he tries to drag the names of people like Prof Chinedu Nebo, the former minister of power, Prof Osita Ogbu, the former Chief Economic Adviser to President Yar’adua, Joe Mmamel, Ikeji Asogwa, Rita Mba and Victor Atuonwu and others into the mess in other to save his opportunistic hide and launder his tattered dignity, the truth is already out in the open.

“Transactions of that magnitude can only be controlled and discharged at the highest level of government and we dare say that nobody in Abuja will place the responsibility of disbursing and accounting for such an amount on any other shoulder other than the Governor Sullivan’s”.

Calling on the former governor to stop playing on the intelligence of the people of Enugu State, they equally tasked him to emulate the principled stance of leaders like Chief Olu Falae, Achike Udenwa, Ali Modu Sherrif and Olisa Metu in accepting responsibility for the funds they collected, in defending why they collected it, and in either remaining firm in their stance that they did no wrong or expressing their desire to return same.

“None of these leaders ever called other people’s names as accomplices even when they must have disbursed money to them; they rather, like real leaders, protected the integrity of others, and accepted responsibility for whatever happened. Olisa Metu’s case is instructive in that he averred that even though he disbursed money to people who delivered on the assignment given them, he pledged to return the money and refrained from naming others. Sullivan Chime should borrow a leaf from this act of courage, cease from dragging people’s name in the mud and accept his responsibility like a leader, if he is truly one.

“As an elders’ council made up of representatives of the people in the past 37 years, some members of which are well in their 70s, it will never stand aside and watch latter day leaders like Sullivan Chime destroy people’s reputation on the alter of his selfish desire and unconscionable self-survival antics.

“We will bring Sullivan Chime’s unbecoming conduct not only to the court of public opinion but will also write to the EFCC, the South East Governors’ Forum, the Nigerian Governors’ Forum and the PDP Governors’ Forum to call him to order. We will also be consulting with younger members of the civil society movements about the prospect of a coordinated mass action against Sullivan Chime if he persists in his perfidious path of infamy and immoral political conduct.”

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