Nwaoboshi’s Greek Gift to Rev. Sisters, Agenda 2019

on 31st May 2017 at 16:07

Christmas came early for the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy Congregation (DMMMC) Ibusa, Delta State. And playing Father Christmas was Barrister Peter Nwaoboshi. The self-styled Oracle of Delta politics and senator of the Federal republic of Nigeria, representing Delta north senatorial district, and a man well-known by his close political associates and within his community for his stinginess, has uncharacteristically opened his wallet.

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On 27 May 2017, he unveiled a tastefully furnished 3-bedroom bungalow he built for a group of Reverend Sisters who offer selfless services for the well-being of the poor and underprivileged in the society by caring for them in hospitals, schools, homes and orphanages. The Catholic Bishop of Issele-uku Diocese, His Lordship, Bishop Odogwu Elue, was full of praises for the avowed traditionalist and unrepentant heathen, and is quoted to have remarked at the Eucharistic celebration for the house warming that “Nwaoboshi’s investment in the thing of the Lord was in the right direction because he has equally built his treasures in heaven.”

It was not only the Church that was celebrating. Ibusa, a serene town in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State and the ancestral home of Nwaoboshi, was also agog. Although the indigenes are not direct beneficiary of Nwaoboshi’s largesse, for a gift of such nature to come from such a tight-fisted man appears to give them hope that their turn will come soon.

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Ibusa, a town just five minutes drive to Asaba, has been without Electricity for over ten years. And during this period without power supply, it has accumulated light bill of about twenty four million Naira (N24m), according to the representation of Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), an agency responsible for retail distribution of electricity in Delta, Edo, Ekiti, and Ondo States. XCLUSIVE MAGAZINE understands that it has always been his people’s expectation, right from when they stood behind him in 2015 on his way to the senate, that Nwaoboshi would use his new influence at the federal level to attract significant development to his long-suffering people, and solving the light issue was one of their important wishes.

“I do not want to appear too critical of the Senator,” a close political associate to Nwaoboshi who do not wish to be named tells XCLUSIVE MAGAZINE, “but the money used to build that bungalow for the reverend sisters would have cleared whatever amount BEDC claims we owe them. Electricity is the most pressing need of our community at the moment.”

It is particularly striking that just a day, precisely on 28 May, after unveiling the three-bedroom bungalow he built for the DMMMC, Nwaoboshi gathered his 2015 campaign coordinators from the nine local government areas in Delta north for feast and merry-making. These co-ordinators were members of the two core groups; “Ofuobi Anioma” and “Equity 2015” that deployed “system politics”, underpinned by a dubious arrangement that was tagged “Tripod Agenda 2015,” to rig the elections that took Nwaoboshi to the Senate, Pat Ajudua to the State House of Assembly and Louis Ndukwe to Oshimili North Local Area Council as its Chairman.

Nwaoboshi's Greek Gift to Rev. Sisters, Agenda 2019

2015 Campaign Coordinators Agenda 2019 Meeting

Two years after these men and women literally put their lives on the line in a hard-fought Senate elections with the former Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Rt Hon. Victor Ochei, that meeting with Nwaoboshi was just the second time. The first meeting did not end on a happy note. They all received a paltry N1million to be shared amongst them, and it provoked anger and extreme emotion to the extent that some of them threatened to throw his “chicken change” back at him. It was also at that time that Nwaoboshi was besieged by the PDP aggrieved Councillors who claimed that they were duped into paying N1.5m each for election forms. The arrogant Nwaoboshi told both his campaign coordinators and the aggrieved councillors to go to hell. He already got the senate seat that he wanted. He was Abuja bound and no one could stop him then.

But Nwaoboshi is currently embroiled in a legal battle with Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFFC) and has forfeited temporarily his 12-storey property at 27 Marine Road Apapa Lagos to the federal government on a ruling by a federal High Court in Lagos. The EFCC has argued in court that he purchased the N7b Delta State House for less than eight hundred million Naira in connivance with then governor of Delta State, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan.

Nwaoboshi had reacted to the ruling in his characteristic “bolekaja” (come down let us fight) manner by accusing EFCC of being sneaky in the way they obtained the court order. In a statement by PON Media (the media team of Nwaoboshi), signed by Luka Igbonoba, Nwaoboshi said: “it is surprising that EFCC could sneak into a federal high court in Lagos to obtain the said order after entering unconditional appearance through their lawyer, Yetunde Alabi, who appeared before a federal high court in Asaba on the 17th of April 2017, on the same subject matter, and pleaded with the court for adjournment, and the court graciously adjourned to 25th of April 2017.”

Whatever manner EFCC got the court injunction, the seizure of the Delta House, which he had spent hundreds of millions to renovate, was a huge blow to Nwaoboshi, a man Friday to Senate President Bukola Saraki, who is also entangled in his own legal battle with the government for corruption. Before now, the self-styled Oracle of Delta politics had seen himself as untouchable, so the EFCC judgement appears to have brought him down to earth and the realisation that his political stock has fallen drastically. And as elections 2019 bacons, he has now thought it wise to open his tight-fisted hand for the church and to remember his forgotten men.

Hon Leo Nkeaka, a self-appointed spokesperson for Nwaoboshi, reports what transpired at the close door meeting: “Senator Nwaoboshi reminded them how the journey to senate started. He informed them that so far it has been so good, stressing that he was doing well at the Senate and that some co-ordinators have felt the impacts of his presence at the senate. He further said that Projects had also been attracted to some areas in our Senatorial district and more developmental plans were on the way for our people. He urged all to always apply intelligence while advising, or rather call his attention whenever he was straying.”

XCLUSIVE MAGAZINE is yet to ascertain how much cash each person received at this second meeting, but there was no one throwing money back at Nwaoboshi. This is understandable. It’s been two years since the 2015 Elections and these men have been without a job and no political appointment. They are hungry and broke and desperate. So whatever Nwaoboshi might have offered them this time around have gone a long way.

Tripod Agenda is back, but it is standing on one leg. Princess Ajudua and Nwaoboshi parted ways acrimoniously not quite long after the 2015 Elections. It is yet to be seen if Ndukwe still has a future at the Local government having so far performed woefully. At the moment, the only item on the Agenda is Nwaoboshi for Senate 2019.

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