INCREDIBLE! Odili Claims He Spent N5BN on Security Every Month for 8 Years

If Dr. Peter Odili, former Governor of Rivers State is eventually brought before the court of law to answer to charges of corrupt acts and abuse of office, the revelation of sums purloined from the treasury of the State would go into the records book as new highs in stealing in high places.

Odili, a medical doctor, had voluntarily told a team of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s investigators that he spent a mindboggling N5billion on security matters in his state. Prompted to detail how this sums were deployed, the governor evasively told the investigators that he was not obligated to give details of how he spent the monthly N5billion security vote. He, however, offered that the N5billion monthly expenditure on security was undertaken because of the volatile nature of his State.

If he spent this amount for the eight years of his two terms in office as governor of the State, he would have spent N460billion on to maintain security in the State. Yet, some indigenes of the State observed that it was during Odili’s stay in power that the security situation in the State degenerated into a state of anarchy.

Another Rivers State indigene noted that the sum claimed by Odili to have been spent on security would have transformed the state into a modern day Dubai if properly expended.

Another worrisome disclosure by Odili to EFCC’s investigators was how he spent N30.31billion on the construction and installation of gas turbines as part of the State’s Independent Power Project (IPP). Justifying the money spent on the gas turbines, Odili insisted before the EFCC investigating team that the IPP produced 80 percent of power generation in Port Harcourt which translates to 3,800 Mega Watts of electricity while NEPA generated a mere 15 percent.

The statistics provided by Odili obviously seem to be far fetched especially as Port Harcourt residents continue to grumble over continuously long periods of power outage.

“If Odili had given us 50 percent of the power he claimed to be able to generate we would have bettered the whole of Nigeria in power generation because I know that the Power Holding Company of Nigeria has problems sustaining even a power generation of 2,500 Mega Watts. But we cannot see any evidence of such investment or hope of accessing such huge supply of electricity power,” said a Port Harcourt resident.

Odili, however, insisted that the contract for the construction of the gas turbines was properly bided for even as he noted that the contractor showed similar jobs done for Shell, Agip and the Federal Government of Nigeria, explaining that the contractor was the most competent in power project.

As it turned out, the contractor was Rockson Engineering, the company owned and managed by his (Odili) bosom friend and front man, Mr. Johnson Arumemi-Ikhide, who also owns controlling interest in Arik Air.

The EFCC notes observed that the elaborate electricity project was executed without the appropriate legislation by the State House of Assembly in flagrant abuse of constitutional requirements.

The Odili’s loot revelations continues next week

EFCC TO PROSECUTE EX-GOV.ODILI OVER N100BN LOOT …N25bn Investment In Arik Air

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is believed to be finalizing arrangements to prosecute the immediate past governor of Rivers State, Dr. Peter Odili. To this end, the anti-graft agency has assigned its officials to validate an initial report of the agency put together after an investigative process in 2006.
At the heart of the criminal misconducts thrown up by the EFCC investigative panel in 2006 is how the then governor, Dr. Odili, actively used an associate, Mr. Johnson Arumemi-Ikhide, the man famously known to be the owner of Arik Air, to loot sums estimated to be over N100billion from the treasury of the state.
The EFCC report trails the relationship between ex-Governor Odili and Mr. Arumemi-Ikhide thus:
“Prior to becoming a major contractor to the state government in 2000, Mr. Johnson Arumemi-Ikhide was a shareholder of, and an executive director in, Negris Engineering Nigeria Limited. He worked for the company for over 18 years before leaving the company as a result of misunderstanding with other management staff, to form Rockson Engineering Nigeria Limited in 2000.
“While he was still with Negris, he provided an interface between Negris and Rivers State Government during which two major contracts were secured for the company. The contracts were the supply and installation of generating sets and transformer worth N401,016,101.00. The other contract was for the supply, construction and installation of turbine power station worth N4,256,076,000.00 in 2000.
The report notes that:
“The second contract was about 60 per cent completed when Mr. Johnson Arumemi-Ikhide left Negris and suddenly became the consultant to Rivers State on the same contract using his then newly formed company, Rockson Engineering Company Limited. The remaining payments for the Negris contract were routed through his company where the sum of N734,764,749.00 is yet to be remitted to Negris.”
The report adds that:
“The incorporation of Rockson Engineering Company Limited in 2000 immediately Arumemi-Ikhide left Negris marked the beginning of siphoning huge government fund that ran into several billions of Naira through gas turbine contract scam.”
The report highlights how several billions of Naira were transferred into accounts owned by Mr. Arumemi-Ikhide:
“Rivers State Government diverted the sum of N30,031,446,589.70 at various times to account number CA 6010914407 at Zenith Bank Plc belonging to Rockson Engineering Company Limited between January 07, 2004 and December 06, 2006. Investigations also reveals that Rockson Engineering has several bank accounts with Bank PHB, Sterling Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa, First Bank Plc, Intercontinental Bank Plc and Union Bank Plc. These banks were involved in the inflated contracts between Rockson Engineering and Rivers State Government.”
The EFCC report further notes that its investigations revealed that funds were diverted from Rivers State Government’s account to Rockson Engineering Limited, where it was transferred instalmentally between March 2005 and November 2006 from bank account number 6571020007472 with Union Bank Plc to the following companies.
a. Alpha System and Commodity Company Limited—N3,957,734,700.00
b. Sea Petroleum and Gas Company-N6,623,940,500.00
c. Peg Magreet Shipping and Trading Limited -N638,320,000.00
d. Wopat Nigeria Limited – N276,100,000
e. Dairy and Livestcok Limited – N281,000,000.00
f. Arula Investment Limited – N330,000,000.000
All totaling N12,107,105,000.00.”
The investigative report made more revelations on how Mr. Aruremi-Ikhide, who the report claims has a long lasting relationship with Dr. Odili which dates back to the 1980s, was used as the main front man for Dr. Odili.
“It has also been discovered that a parallel account called Account 2, account number 0130215431600, was opened with UBA Plc in the name of Rockson Engineering. Form 2001, when the account was opened to 2002, the sum of N12,064,988,787.61 was paid into the account from the Rivers State Government. Interestingly, Mr. Arumemi-Ikhide denied knowledge of the existence of this account. So far the sum of N12,059,602,734.20 has been withdrawn from the said account. This is clear evidence of direct looting of the treasury of Rivers State,” the report asserts.

While he was still with Negris, he provided an interface between Negris and Rivers State Government during which two major contracts were secured for the company. The contract were the supply and installation of generating sets and transformer worth N401,016,101.00. The other contract was for the supply, construction and installation of turbine power station worth N4,256,076,000.00 in 2000.

In direct reference to how Arik Air was funded and established, the report explains:
“It has also been established that Arumemi-Ikhide, the business partner of the Rivers State governor, is the owner of ARIK AIR LIMITED. He used money received from the Rivers States Government to acquire all the assets and aircraft of the company estimated to be worth over N25billion.”
Further establishing a direct link between Dr. Odili, Mr. Arumemi-Ikhide and Arik Air, the report submits that:
“The political and business relationship between Dr. Odili and Mr. Arumemi-Ikhide has become more obvious since the former’s declaration to run for the Presidency. Investigations conducted at various hotels, such as Transcorp Hilton, Le Meridien, Sheraton, etc; in Abuja revealed that the Odili Campaign Organization made bookings worth N130million through his campaign management team. The money came directly from the accounts of Arik Air Limited. The origin of the money is linked directly to Mr. Arumemi-Ikhide for Dr. Odili’s campaign.

To be concluded next edition.