Corruption Continua At The Watch Of Mr Integrity; How Arthur Eze Paid $4million To Judges To Remove Gov. Ikpeazu

Chairman of Atlas Oranto Petroleum, Chief Arthur Eze allegedly paid $4million in bribes to High Court Judges, Appeal Court Judges and some senior Supreme Court Justices to remove Governor Okezie Ikpeazu whom he vowed to “teach a lesson” for refusing to take his calls, pointblanknews.com reports.

The huge sums were allegedly delivered through cronies of Arthur Eze to Hon. Adamu Mohammed Bulkachuwa, a former member of the House of Representatives and husband of Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, President of the Court of Appeal.

According to pointblanknesw.com, Hon. Bulkachuwa allegedly collected $1million and transmitted $200,000.00 to his wife, Justice Bulkachuwa while $800,000.00 was shared among four members of the Court of Appeal.

Justice Ibrahim Auta, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court allegedly handled the “booty” on behalf of the “beneficiaries” of that cadre of the bench.

Anonymous sources said Justice Okon Abang who delivered the earlier Judgement removing Governor Ikpeazu, got paid an eye popping $200,000 from Justice Auta.

Apart from the justices of the court of Appeal, some Federal High Court Judges were also paid undisclosed amounts, while the largesse also extended to some Supreme Court justices. A Source confirmed that three very influential Supreme Court Justices collected $500,000.00 each.

The revelations on how Arthur and certain powerful individuals got the money delivered into the hands of Justices, would remain a slight on the seriousness of President Muhammadu Buhari to push back on judicial corruption and individual impunity, a serious manifestations of institutional decay in Nigeria.

Chief Arthur Eze threw himself into the self-succession agenda of the late military dictator of Nigeria, General Sani Abacha. Like many other close associates of Abacha from the North, West and other parts of the country, he was handed the mandate of nominating candidates that would become the governors of the different state in the Eastern part of Nigeria. Prior to the political race that was midwifed through what was described by the late lawyer and politician, Chief Bola Ige, as the “five leprous fingers”, the five rubber stamp political parties of the time,

Arthur Eze, becoming increasingly egocentric, took on the task of sponsoring military officers, who would later become, state military administrators. Through them, he was awarded phony contracts, the proceeds diverted.

In the present dispensation, he had sought to continue as the political godfather of Governor Victor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia state. He had committed to donating a total sum of one hundred million naira towards the Governor’s election but he was only able to come up with about N10 million.

According to the report, Arthur Eze had thought he would use the opportunity of his financial contributions to pocket Ikpeazu. But when Ikpeazu could not be compromised, the businessman felt his thought of personally commandeering the funds of Abia would also perish.

Once Alex Otti of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, whom Arthur Eze had supported lost out, he found a new ally in Uche Ogah. Arthur Eze, according to pointblanknews.com investigation, executed a major move by commissioning a team of lawyers who studied an original suit instituted by Barrister Friday Nwosu, a lawyer seeking to technically undo the political works of Governor Ikpeazu on the ground of tendering false tax clearance.

The courts where the papers by Mr. Nwosu were filed deliberately frustrated the process. However, the man who stood close to play the willing servant for the ploy of Arthur Eze, Uche Ogah sprang out of the blues and used the papers from Barrister Nwosu to dig the ground under the foot of Ikpeazu in the law court.

Arthur Eze had allegedly devoted a sum of $4m to the vast war chest, largely through the courts, in order to remove Governor Ikpeazu. And for

him, it was not going to be difficult, since he had made a close contact with General Muhammadu Buhari, whose multi-billion-naira agency, Petroleum Trust Fund, (PTF) was a major financial machine for funding Abacha’s ambition in the 1990s. Eze was said to have allegedly promised Aso Rock

that he should be supported in an effort to “knock sense into the heads of South-Easterners”.

According to some of our sources, the ambition of the Muhammadu Buhari political movement to take over the Eastern part had found a matching mate in the ambition of Eze for the financial take-over of the East. In the evil plot to completely take over the treasury of Abia state and enjoy contract monopoly in the state after Uche Ogah must have been fraudulently installed by judicial over-reach, Judges and Justices are

said to be proceeding with caution in the handling of the matter because they want to be sure that everything and the details of money movement has not leaked to avail the possible hoopla that could arise if the secret leaks to the public.

The Abuja division of the Court of Appeal, had last week reserved judgment in the appeal by Ikpeazu, where he is challenging the ruling of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which sacked him as governor of the state.

After listening to all parties involved in the matter, a five-man panel of Justices of the appellate court led by Justice Morenike Ogunwumiju, deferred the matter to a date yet to be fixed, as at the time of filing this report.

Arthur Eze is a man with huge ego. He has often paraded himself as both a traditional kingmaker and an anointer of political office holders. He was instrumental to fielding so many military officers as political office holders.

Although, Igbos by tradition are republicans, the paramount stools created for colonial indirect rule and tax administration has become so serious for him in independent Nigeria, that he calls himself the Eze of Ukpor, a domain in Anambra state. Throwing titles, money and influence around, he often benefit from contracts that are signed and never executed.

In 1991, he was awarded the contract for the purchase and installation of a transmitter for old Anambra State Broadcasting Corporation, through his Triax limited in the sum of $774.95m. He collected the money but never executed the contract.

Around the same period, using his military contacts, he was awarded another contract in respect of equipment for Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS) in the sum of N85m. He abandoned the contract.

Similarly, he sweet talked the administration in Anambra state into securing an African Development Bank loan for rural electrification project in the sum of $115m.

In Anambra, Nanze limited, his company got a job for rural water supply, scope included borehole extension scheme, pipeline extension, reservoir maintenance. Contract sum N142,845,910 = $14,338,000 and N28,569,182. From

February 12, 1992 later increased by $2,353,784 and $5,182,950 on February 2nd, 1999.

The consultants to the project were DHV of Nigeria and Netherlands. Contract executed with a loan obtained by Anambra from ADB, between August 1995, a total of $4,708,112 and $9,381,149 was paid to Nanze by ADB as

loan for Anambra state government. The project has never materialized. The state has since then been blacklisted by ADB. Source; Pointblanknews.com.