Brewery scandal: Peter Obi must go

Posted by admin Anambra, Headlines, State News Monday, September 3rd, 2012

A former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Chudi
Offodile has asked for the removal of Gov. Peter Obi of Anambra
over the controversial Sabmiller Brewery located in Onitsha area
of the state.

In a statement, Offodile said it is obvious that Obi is the owner of
the brewery, which was funded with the state’s money.

He said since he revealed the scandal to the public, Obi has not
denied it “but resorted to calling him all sorts of names.”

According to him, a press statement by an aide of the governor
only went further to confirm his position that Obi owned the
brewery.

“I had raised the issue of the brewery scandal and the need for
Mr. President to avoid the brewery in my article titled: “Anambra:
Oil Prospects and Brewery Scandal” published online and in the
Sun Newspaper of 28th August, 2012.

“The Governor responded in a Radio interview on the same 28th
August on SAPIENTA EXPRESS, Onitsha, calling me names
without denying or debunking the facts contained in the write up.

“His Media Assistant issued what he believed to be a rebuttal but
was indeed an admission that NEXT INTERNATIONAL LTD is
owned by Governor Peter Obi but that he (Obi) resigned as a
Director of the company before he was sworn in as Governor.

“He also admitted that the land belonging to INTERNATIONAL
STEEL COMPANY “was truly revoked for overriding public
interest, for they abandoned the land for years and it dilapidated
a lot, but it was not allocated to SABMiller.”

The truth is that as we speak, INTAFACT BEVERAGES LTD is in
possession of the land in question and INTERNATIONAL STEEL
CO has already filed a suit in the High Court of Onitsha Judicial
Division against the Attorney General of Anambra State and
INTAFACT BEVERAGES LTD.

“I maintain, therefore, that it is illegal to revoke a parcel of land
for overriding public interest and grant the same parcel of land to
a private company and that it becomes immoral and symptomatic
of greed, avarice and a capricious abuse of state power when
the beneficiary of the revocation is the governor himself.

“The shareholders of Intafact Beverages Limited (sabmiller) in
the records of the corporate affairs commission (CAC) as at 22nd
August, 2012, are Sabmiller Nigeria Holdings, Anambra State
government and Next International Limited owned by Peter Obi
and his family.

“Now, I stated clearly that Governor Obi personally handled all
negotiations between Anambra state government and Sabmiller
group and visited South Africa several times on the subject. And I
raised the question; did sabmiller allocate the shares in Intafact
beverages limited to Next International Limited as “bribe” to
further its business interest in Nigeria?

What did governor Peter Obi have in mind when he invested N2
billion naira of Anambra state money in a company he has direct
interest? What other assets of Anambra state did he contribute
on behalf of the state to further his own business interest?

“Did NEXT INTERNATIONAL (Obi’s company) pay for the shares
allotted to it in “cash or kind” and how was the payment, if any,
effected?

”What does Governor Peter Obi understand by the oath he
swore to, on assumption of office; “that I will not allow my
personal interest to influence to my official conduct or my official
decisions.”

“1. In the absence of clear answers to these questions from the
Governor and his Team, it is safe for me to conclude that
Governor Peter Obi has abused his office as Governor of
Anambra State and grossly violated his Oath of Office by using
his official position to pursue his business interest.

“2. That he represents foreign interests in Nigeria using his
position as a member of the Economic Management Team of the
Federal Government and Governor of Anambra State of Nigeria.

“3. That he received shares as compensation or bribe, as the
case may be, for his services to the foreign interest in this case
SABMILLER, through his company NEXT INTERNATIONAL LTD.

“4. I do hereby state, that Governor Peter Obi’s continued
membership of the EMT is not in the best interest of the Federal
Government of Nigeria and if he has any modicum of INTEGRITY,
he should resign his position as Governor of Anambra State.
Ofodile said
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