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A POODLE AS A DOG OF WAR
(A REJOINDER TO DR JOHN OKORIE IN HIS DEFENCE OF
JIMI LAWAL)
By
Kennedy Emetulu
London
Can anyone imagine the sight of a poodle as a dog of war? Its lunges and
yelping must at once provoke a paradoxical mix of comic laughter and pity,
because while it may provide great entertainment, more sober heads would
realize it is on a suicide mission. And when it has a paymaster who doesn't
care, who creeps around in the shadows while sending out this poor little
fella to his death, you just have to wonder how many poodles it will take
for the message to sink in.
The unhealthy phenomenon of glorified idiots leading otherwise knowledgeable
people by the nose is certainly not new, so to see poor Dr Okorie groveling
at Mr Lawal's feet cannot be the worst of sights, but to think that such a
thing is being done in the name of defending Jimi Lawal's presence on the
NIDO Executive Board rankles to no end, and that is why this poodle must be
put out of its misery as quickly as possible, before it soils the place with
its peculiar mess.
Now, the main purpose of my response ordinarily shouldn't be to say anything
on the allegations Okorie is making against Ugwuonye. I am firmly of the
view that the allegations should be investigated and that Dr Okorie should
be encouraged to substantiate his claims. However, I do not think I would be
doing Nigerians justice if I keep back what I know, at least pertaining to
some of the allegations. Some of these are facts available in documents that
I have seen. All I will do now is present this evidence, including the
result of my further investigation and call on Dr Okorie and anyone who
supports the lies he's spewing here to prove me wrong.
For instance, one document, the "NIDO AMERICA, INC. BOARD CONFERENCE
WASHINGTON, DC. FEBRUARY 28, 2004 MINUTES 9AM-1PM" provides some insight.
Those in attendance at that meeting were Emeka Ugwuonye, Nkemdilim Okeke,
Dennis Balogu, Joseph Igietseme, Emmanuel Okpalaugo, Jimi Lawal, Robert Ngwu,
Uzoma Obi and Ola Kassim. Clearly stated as one of the issues discussed, is
the "tax exempt application" which Dr Okorie referred to in his piece. Below
is an excerpted portion from the Minutes dealing with the issue:
-------------------------------------------
Report on Tax-Exempt Application and comments (see handouts)
" Filing was delayed because the standard IRS questions were not answerable
at the time
" NIDO letter requesting extension of time to file until March 22, 2004 was
verbally granted by IRS
" As of Jan. 29, 2004, David Koucky is the IRS representative responsible
for handling our application
" The $500 application fee has already been paid to Chairman
" Solutions articulated: 1) Committee (Okeke/Kassim) to work with Chairman
on filing; and 2) resolution was passed to amend bylaws for purposes of
completing the application
" Pursuant to item 5 on the Jan. 28, 2004 IRS letter, all board members must
disclose if they are involved with a similar organization as NIDO. Chairman
will collect this information via e-mail.
" Chairman does not need financial assistance from NIDO beyond the $500
application fee already paid. Stella will handle all out of pocket
expenses.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
So, what does this prove placed alongside Dr Okorie's allegation? Well, it
simply proves he's a fantasist because the facts do not bear him out. The
facts as can be seen from the Minutes of their meeting just a month ago is
that the Chairman got $500 which he's paid for the application and that he
did not ask for anything more from NIDO; that there's a named officer in the
IRS handling the application and that the filing was delayed or is being
delayed "because the standard IRS questions were not answerable at the
time".
The Chairman in his rejoinder to Dr Okorie gave us an idea of what these
questions relate to:
"Permit me however to state, only in one respect, that despite my
volunteering to obtain a tax status for NIDO, the continuing lack of clarity
in the relationship between NIDO and Nigerian government had been a huddle
of immense proportions for the IRS authority. That relationship had to be
clarified in order for NIDO to obtain a tax status. For me, given my
professional stake, I couldn't lie to the IRS, even though apparently this
is the type of thing some people would feel comfortable with under the
circumstances. I insisted that it had to be done the right way".
The questions obviously concern "the relationship between NIDO and Nigerian
government". I'm reliably informed that there are various forms of tax
exemption applications, much like immigration. You'll need to know the
category you want to apply to before making your application. It is so
complicated that you have to make sure you meet that requirement, in other
words, you need to have a distinct purpose to meet a distinct category. NIDO
clearly cannot get anywhere with its application without clarifying the
issues. Besides, this is further complicated by the fact that NIDO was set
up by government, receives government funding and from what we can see so
far, at least as it concerns this Dollar Salaries matter, heavily influenced
by government or agents within the government as well, whether acting on
their own or with the blessing of government. In fact, NIDO's office is the
Embassy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria! So, how can they expect to get a
tax status exemption from the IRS without clarifying these issues?
Obviously, the Crooked Brigade is blaming the Chairman (as voiced by the
poodle, Okorie), because he wouldn't go before the IRS to lie that
government of Nigeria has no hand in NIDO! Yes, Dr Okorie and his principals
are pissed because their Chairman will not go before the IRS to tell a white
lie. I mean, if it is not the height of stupidity, how can anyone think of
getting away with such lies, when NIDO itself was formed right there in
Atlanta, US, by the President himself? Of course, the fact that the NIDO
Board has just set up a Committee for the filing and the fact that they have
to amend the bylaws for this purpose at some latter date further pooh-poohs
Dr Okorie's claims.
I quickly dismissed the second and third allegations of Dr Okorie - first, I
couldn't find anything on the claims that ECU and Associates owe NIDO for
advertisement; I mean, I just couldn't find facts either way, so, I'll leave
that out and hope Dr Okorie can prove it, but the claim about the Chairman
sponsoring "non-NIDO members whose votes he used to secure election"
interested me only to the extent of observing, at least from what I heard,
that the election for NIDO Chairman is usually by the Board or some
collegial system (not some "non-NIDO members"); so how could these 19 "non-NIDO
members" have made it to vote? In any case, are these 19, if they ever
exist, not Nigerians and if this is the case, why wasn't the election
nullified and why is Dr Okorie waiting till now to mention it? Well, I
didn't investigate this claim because it sounded ridiculous since what he
claims to have happened couldn't have been possible because of what I've
come to know about the NIDO structure and the way it elects its officers.
But the most worrying of the allegations is the one about Ugwuonye setting
up some account as sole signatory and being outsmarted by the Treasurer and
the Embassy's "Financial Officer". While I couldn't get any "Financial
Officer" to verify this claim (Dr Okorie actually gave no name), I think Dr
Okorie is referring to Mr Njoku, the Finance Attache at the Embassy. I
couldn't speak with him before publishing this, but I was able to talk to a
few high-ranking people who laughed in my face! They told me the allegations
just can't be true. Why? Because, according to them, Ephraim Ugwuonye is the
Embassy's lawyer and if there was such a thing, they wouldn't have remained
his client! I tried getting Mr Ugwuonye to confirm or deny the allegations
and to further confirm if indeed he's Legal Adviser to the Nigerian Embassy.
He denied the allegations in toto, referring me to the Statement he's made,
a copy of which he sent to me, but chided me for raising questions on his
relationship with the Embassy, since, as a lawyer, I ought to know the
nature of a lawyer/client relationship. He said he had no problem with my
investigations and indeed welcome it, but that he cannot comment on anything
to do with his clients.
However, that did not put me off my investigations. For instance,
information we got indicates that he's presently representing the Embassy of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria and another corporate defendant, Globescope
in the case of MOHAMMED F GAMBARI v EMBASSY OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF
NIGERIA (Case No: 03CV4359) at the United States District Court for the
Southern District of New York, before Judge Cedarbaum, who handled the
Martha Stewart case.
In the meantime, I discovered that the NIDO "Treasurer" being referred to by
Okorie is Uzoma Obi. Now, here is one character that can truly be described
as a Jimi Lawal's foot soldier, along with the Financial Secretary, Robert
Ngwu. Both of these characters are known to have converted the NIDO Account
for personal use, carrying NIDO chequebook around the place and issuing it
as they please. A classic display of this thievery, according to sources,
concerned the NIDO event in Atlanta and the budget for Entertainment. The
Board was said to have approved the total sum of $5000 or $6000 for
entertainment, $3000 of which was supposed to be payment for the ticket of
Onyeka Onwenu and the rest for other musicians and other headings under the
entertainment programme. As it happened, Onyeka Onwenu did not make it and
in spite of the fact that the budgeted $5000 or $6000 was for everything
under the entertainment programme, including Onyeka's ticket (she was not
being paid any fee) and other acts, Uzoma Obi (with Robert Ngwu supporting)
signed off a cheque of $5000 to their musician friend, Ekechi Nwoka, alias
Dozie, the musician! Indeed, they were seen by some members of the NIDO
Americas Atlanta Chapter signing this cheque in secret and those ones
quickly alerted the Chairman who issued the duo a query. But Jimi Lawal, the
original godfather was said to have waded in, pleading with the Chairman to
exercise patience on one hand, while going back to the duo to tell them the
Chairman was after them but promising them protection, thus ensuring that
there is enough bad blood flowing around to keep him useful. In fact, this
duo went to the extent of trying to impute wrong motives to one of the
ladies from the Atlanta chapter who made the complaints, accusing her of
holding on to more than $1000 of NIDO fund, which was a white lie! In the
guise of trying to investigate the matter, they effectively buried it!
Now, the background to all this is that Uzoma Obi and Robert Ngwu had
actually made sure that the financial aspects of NIDO America's dealings are
totally out of the control of the Chairman, who, investigations reveal, has
never (up till now) signed a NIDO cheque. In fact, Uzoma Obi is not supposed
to be the substantive Treasurer, having lost an election to another for the
post. But, having consistently refused to hand over to the new Treasurer,
Uwa Osunbor, and having continually frustrated the efforts of the Chairman
to follow the bylaws which clearly states that NIDO cheques should be signed
by the Chairman and two others (Mr Uzoma Obi and Ngwu refused to take the
Chairman and the new Treasurer to the bank to introduce them as the
legitimate signatories), the new Treasurer became frustrated and refused to
attend the meetings anymore. This was the perfect stage for Mr Jimi Lawal to
introduce the idea to the Board that Uzoma Obi continues to act as Treasurer
for the time being, which, unknown to other honest members of the Board was
a scheme to continue in this thievery.
Mr Lawal and his acolytes are said to have worked very hard to cover up this
case of public theft, that is, the signing of the cheque of $5000 without
authorization, in spite of the Chairman's insistence; but the Chairman was
powerless, since all money matters of NIDO were in the hands of the Crooked
Group. When I raised this issue with him, he said he actually had to seek
other means to forestall a crooked handling of the NIDO Account. He said he
actually had to open another account with his own $300 since a subvention
was expected from the embassy (from money usually held for NIDO) which he
did not want to fall into the hands of these crooks. He said this account
was opened at Riggs Bank, but with the NIDO office address, not his personal
office address, which means all correspondence from the bank was to go to
NIDO office for accountability purposes. He said it was something he and the
organization had to do to save the situation. He said no NIDO money came
into the Account and that in any case, a few days later, the Board, in that
February meeting approved him as a signatory to NIDO Account in line with
the bylaws, thus rendering the new account irrelevant. He insisted that what
he did was to forestall fraud.
Again, below is part of the Minutes indicating that it was not until last
month at the said meeting that the Board finally approved of the Chairman as
a signatory to the NIDO Account:
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NIDO Financial Position (see handouts)
" Financial position in 2003 was not good
" Money spent in 2003 - $84,108.24
" Net loss on Atlanta Convention - $20,051.99
" Year to date revenue has not been reported
" Stella has sent out letters requesting more money
" Decided that budget committee will rework budget
" Unclear whether Modular will pay the $2,500 due to NIDO--Chairman will
follow-up with Modular
" Resolution passed that the new NIDO signatories with Sun Trust Bank are
the Chairman and Uzoma Obi. Okeke will serve as back-up signatory in the
event the Chairman or Obi is unavailable.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
When I asked the Chairman if he'd signed any cheque on behalf of NIDO; he
said no and when I asked if he'd signed any cheque since last month when the
Board approved him as a signatory, he said no. He said he'd never signed any
NIDO cheque.
I tried to contact Messrs Uzoma Obi and Robert Ngwu to inform them of our
findings and to seek their response.
Below is copy of a mail I sent to them:
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Dear Messrs Obi and Ngwu,
ALLEGATION OF UNAUTHORIZED SIGNING OF NIDO CHEQUE FOR THE SUM OF $5000
An allegation has been made against you, which we've investigated to a
certain extent, claiming you signed a NIDO cheque for the sum of five
thousand dollars ($5000) to a musician friend of yours invited to the NIDO
event in Atlanta. This cheque is alleged to have been signed without
authorization, which, if true, can be construed as theft of public fund.
Could you please furnish us with your side of the story and any other
information you think will be useful for the purposes of our investigations
into the financial affairs of NIDO Americas, especially as it concerns the
allegations being made by Dr Okorie in his rejoinder to Mr Emetulu's piece?
We are sending this message through the manager@mail.org and Rngwu@aol.com
and would expect that you get back to us on this matter as soon as you get
this message. We do not have a direct email to reach Mr Uzoma Obi, but we
expect that he can get this information through the email addresses we are
using here and through the person of Robert Ngwu.
Please get back to us as soon as you get this message. This is absolutely
important.
Thank you
Yours faithfully,
Kennedy Emetulu
*The message was sent on 27/03/2004 11:54:25 GMT Standard Time.
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As at the time of publication, only Robert Ngwu responded. Below is his
response:
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Subj: Re: ALLEGATION
Date: 28/03/2004 00:30:38 GMT Standard Time
From: Rngwu
To: Emetulu
CC: nnenna_nnoli@hotmail.com, OKQuincy, uobi@yahoo.com, jbi8@cdc.gov,
seethay@netzero.com, Emmaokpalaugo, Npwem, igietsem@flash.net, jali@bellsouth.net,
ISONOGHAE, FOdere, emmasteve@yahoo.com, manager@nidoamericas.org
Mr. Emetulu,
I think you need to see a Shrink. Everyone knows who you are. I actually
feel sorry for you because you have manipulated yourself into a deadend.
If you are not careful, you may actually lose your Licence to Practice.
I also noticed you wrote this around 6:54:57 AM, which tells me you probably
did not sleep very well last night.
Good Luck on your worthless ventures!
Robert Ngwu
Financial Secretary NIDOAmericas
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And this brings me to a salient point, perhaps the most important point in
this whole business. These people insist on running NIDO like a secret
society, keeping information away from Nigerians. In all our investigation
into all this affair, the only person who has been most helpful has been
Stella Onuoha, the NIDO Americas Office Manager, a paid employee who seems
to know her job (though, I must point out that she may not have known that
the NIDO members she was communicating with are also members of Concerned
Nigerians, especially as they had instructions not to give the game away).
But even she in these latter days has been evasive. I suspect that the
Chairman or someone on the Board must have warned her or something. And even
the Chairman himself has been cagey. He gives only bare information that,
most times, isn't very helpful. Of course, I understand his position -
having being accused and yet willing to be open, as a lawyer, he perhaps
thinks he should be careful of what to say, especially as his instincts are
essentially to protect the organization he heads. Dr Ola Kassim has elevated
evasiveness into an art. Throughout this episode, he's said nothing
publicly, even though he's a subscriber to the NaijaPolitics@yahoogroups.com,
the same listserv I contribute and where the issue is being extensively
discussed. Yet he's busy sending out mails to members, calling on them to
ignore the issue and carry on as before, while scheming behind the scenes to
take over the Chairmanship through subterfuge. Uzoma Obi has refused to
respond to our inquiry and Robert Ngwu, who responded (above) wants me to
see a shrink, and this is the same man put in charge of the website, a
supposed public place, who, on learning that I went there to legitimately
gather information shuts down the site! Even Dr Okorie is irked that I got
this or that document as though these things are supposed to be secret
documents. These are things that should be available to all Nigerians and
acting this way only forces us to go to extraordinary length to get the
necessary information. They must be told that NIDO is not a secret society;
it must be open, except, of course, if they have things to hide from fellow
Nigerians.
So, having investigated these allegations by Okorie against Ugwuonye and
finding them to be tissue of lies, how can we take him seriously on his
claims about Lawal? Now, isn't it a shame that a man who 'signs' PhD after
his name would actually consider Lawal who barely managed to finish Class
Five and may be possessing one or two banking certificates a "whiz kid"? And
just imagine the circumlocution over whether or not Jimi was convicted in
absentia - on one hand he's ready to sue me to my pants for saying Jimi was
convicted for absconding with depositors money and on the other he was
himself admitting that yes, indeed he was convicted, but only "for giving
unauthorized loans to one of the investors in the group" and then in the
same breath, quickly refers us to court documents he couldn't tender! Apart
from the mountain of ignorance he's got to navigate before knowing who can
sue, would someone please tell him that he's made Jimi's case worse by that
admission? Well, when finally he gets to court, he would bite his nails so
hard, his fingers would look like half-chopped sausages! The chap is a
felon, is a felon, is a felon; now am I making sense to him?
Okorie was enjoying his lies so much he failed to realize when he lost all
sense of logic. If Jimi was convicted unjustly, and if he's been this useful
to the fund recovery effort at home, why is he, Okorie and his supporters
not encouraging Jimi to go home and clear his name? I mean, Abacha is dead
and buried; we are in a democracy and Mr Lawal seems to have very
highly-placed friends in government, so why is he not jumping on the next
plane to Nigeria to clear his name? Besides, we all know that no Statute of
Limitation applies to a case of miscarriage of justice, so why is he not
home, rather than attempting to surreptitiously gain pardon by using NIDO?
And we must wonder why these government officials who ordinarily have the
power to grant him this pardon would feel comfortable to associate with him
outside our shores, while refusing to grant him the pardon he craves. Is
this indicative of something to the effect that they know his case at home
is not that solid? Is it indicative of something to the effect that the
evidence against him at conviction is foolproof? Do these people know what
some of us out here and at home do not know? We can never tell; at least,
not yet. But the surest way forward for Mr Lawal, if he's sure of his
innocence, is to head home to clear his name in a proper court of law and
that is what Dr Okorie and his pack of poodles should be barking into his
ears. The only problem I suspect is that Mr Lawal may well be torn to pieces
on the streets of Lagos before he gets near any court. He knows those
waiting for him. He knows.
At this stage, let me consider something that bothered Dr Okorie so greatly
in that piece. This is his attempt to compare whatever his fantasy conjured
with the Senate's decision to investigate El Rufai's tenure at BPE and his
claim that Mantu is engaged in a vendetta, etc. And this makes me wonder -
why is Okorie making this connection? Who spoke to him on that angle? Why
did he think it necessary to bring in Mantu and El-Rufai? Of course, there's
no connection with the issue here, but people should not be surprised;
because it is the stock in trade of Jimi to speak and behave as though El-Rufai
is his boy. To support this claim, he'd always point to the fact that the
BPE in July 2000 actually agreed to a deal paying him millions in dollars as
part of his share in the disputed Afribank shares. In fact, he (Lawal) got
20%, Lord Ifeagwu Udensi got 43% and Alpha Merchant Bank 37%. Don't ask me
how it was possible that this felon abroad was paid such money when
thousands of depositors he swindled aren't aware or why they should pay him
in the first place; that is our Nigeria where the absurd is everyday
reality! So, they're prepared to load him with money abroad, associate with
him when they're on trips and use him for their dirty dealings, but aren't
prepared to grant him the pardon he so craves!
Mr Okorie's fantasies include the claim that Jimi "single-handedly raised at
least $50,000 for NIDO from his many contacts, including several managing
Directors of banks in Nigeria". Typically, he couldn't name names. Here is a
man whom his former colleagues wouldn't touch with a barge pole being
laundered by Okorie as the best thing for NIDO since slice bread. The truth
is when NIDO goes out to raise money, people who've made some promises
earlier suddenly scale it down or actually refuse to give once they discover
Jimi is involved. Of course, only his Crooked Brigade knows why, the rest
simply live under the blissful assumption that the donors are unreliable!
Jimi is a moral and financial liability for NIDO and Okorie knows it!
Okorie believes that Mr Ephraim Ugwuonye, the Chairman of NIDO came out of
my piece smelling of roses, I feel the same way too; but, the question is,
who else didn't smell of roses apart from Mr Lawal amongst those I've chosen
to mention in the piece? May be Dr Okorie expects me to work to the prepared
answer, just like he's done in his piece; but he didn't reckon that not
everyone can be good at playing poodle! But, if what I'm hearing is true, a
lot more crooks are about to be 'outed' in NIDO, even some that were
previously smelling of roses, like Ola Kassim, may have to answer some
questions.
The latest development following the exposé on the crooked elements within
NIDO is that these elements have moved to top gear with the hope of further
covering up the truth. They were due to meet yesterday (Saturday, March 27,
2004) at about 10:00 PM Eastern Time (US) to finalize this plan. The plan is
to ask Ephraim Ugwuonye and Jimi Lawal to resign and install Dr Ola Kassim
as the new Chairman of NIDO Americas. It would seem that having realized
that Jimi has to go they've decided to pull Mr Ugwuonye down as well; more
crucially, because he seems to be insisting on openness and investigation of
all the allegations. And, of course, the remaining crooks within the
Executive Board will not want him around breathing down their neck as well!
The surprising thing in this new move is the involvement of Dr Ola Kassim. I
have in my original piece described him as naïve but honest; but from the
latest information I'm getting, it would seem we have to revise that view
sharply. That he's naïve is still very much evident in what he's doing now,
but is he really honest as we thought? This is the same Ola Kassim, who with
Jimmy Lawal are virtually the only known members of NIDO Americas in Canada;
both of whom are stoutly refusing to recruit new members out of their own
selfish considerations. Now, can anyone truly imagine that - as vast as
Canada is that this is the situation?
Investigations have revealed that Dr Kassim has been bombarding the Board
with mails, demanding that they bring in the embassy/Federal Government into
this affair immediately. While this may be considered the height of naivety,
he'd gone ahead to issue letters to Board members for a meeting by 10:00 PM
US Eastern Time yesterday (Saturday, March 27, 2004). Of course, he has no
authority to call meetings with a view to implementing his plans of actually
taking over, but such is the extent of his disregard for NIDO bylaws that he
really is too naïve to know or does not care. In this regard, he's in league
with Jimi Lawal, Robert Ngwu and Uzoma Obi. In fact, he's actually on record
to have queried whether there's any law barring a felon (Jimi Lawal) from
holding position on the Board! In all, the general idea is to ensure that
not only Jimi goes down, but that they should drag down Ugwuonye, whom
they've zeroed in as the enemy in order to protect the other crooks who
would remain behind in the Executive Board.
It is to be noted that it was Ola Kassim that pushed for the NIDO Statement,
written by Lawal, and which started all these revelations. Investigations
reveal clearly that even Embassy officials are shocked by the Statement,
wondering what NIDO's got to do with making a Statement supporting the
Dollar Salary, etc. They noted that even the President himself has not made
any Statement yet and it would seem certain characters within NIDO are just
too eager to please, without even hearing from the man. Jimi of course
admitted he spoke to three Ministers before issuing the Statement, but with
his penchant for lies, fabrication and exaggeration, who knows if this is
true?
In any case, this is a dangerous trend which Nigerians in Diaspora generally
and the NIDO membership worldwide must reject. If Jimi Lawal feels like
resigning, which indeed he should do if he loves himself and truly has
respect for NIDO, let him do so; he and his band of crooks must not be
allowed to drag the Chairman along, because if NIDO still has any
credibility left, the Chairman, from what our investigations have revealed
so far represents substantial part of such credibility (and this is without
prejudice to what the full investigation will uncover). He's declared he's
ready for an investigation; he's supported the fact that Dr Okorie's
allegation against him be investigated; these crooks have pressured him
(according to his rejoinder to Okorie) from Day One to ignore my claims and
carry on as before; he's tried to insist that nothing should be covered up -
indeed he called this in his rejoinder "the Sunshine Test"; these people
aren't ready to be investigated. In fact, information available to us
reveals that the present precipitate action led by Kassim may not be
unconnected with the fact that a vocal section of the general membership is
calling for an investigation to be chaired by Howard Jeter, the former US
Ambassador to Nigeria and a honourary NIDO member, who is said to be
well-respected by the membership. Of course, Jimi Lawal knows that he has no
chance in an investigation headed by Jeter, because, as usual, he's showed
the man his true colours in the past! That is how notorious this Jimi chap
is! Can we now imagine how badly he goes around the place soiling our
country's image in the presence of respectable people?
Whatever the situation, if Lawal and his poodles hang around long enough,
they will get their just dessert. It's a promise; not a threat.
March 2004 |
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