The news is from saharareporters
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is
reported to have turned its attentions to the multi-billion Asaba International
Airport built by Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, last week quizzing some Delta
State government officials.
EFCC sources who confided in our reporter revealed that,
“The state Tender Board chairman for the award of the contract and the Deputy
Governor, Prof. Amos Utuama, Mr. Austin Ayemidejor, members of the Board and
Airport Director, and other members of the Board excluding Prof Utuama because
of immunity had been requested to report at the commission’s headquarters,
Abuja. But, they sent a lawyer to plead with the commission to extend the time.
On the new date which was on Tuesday, December, 11, 2012, Ayemidejor and other
government officials reported and were all quizzed here in the commission where
they were later granted bail and told to report on December, 21st with all the
necessary documents concerning the award of the airport.”
Investigations by our reporter revealed that the beaming of
the commission’s eyes on the most controversial Asaba International Airport
might be connected to a petition said to have been written to the commission by
a legal practitioner of Delta State origin who is based in Abuja.
Declining to reveal the name of the petitioner, the
impeccable EFCC source the letter was entitled ““Suspicious Award of Contracts
By Officials of The Delta State Government on The Asaba International Airport
and Organization of South-South Summit by The Delta State Government.”
The petition, he said, raised alarm about the rather
suspicious manner that certain officials of the Delta State Government awarded
the contract as well as subsequent developments concerning the airport among
other numerous questionable projects and numerous futile personal attempts by
the petitioner to obtain information from the state Government pertaining to
the said Airport.
“That the Officials of the Delta State Government have
refused to give the information requested by the petitioner and had read on the
newspapers sometime in May, 2012, the award of the contract of an additional
sum of N7.4 Billion Naira for the evacuation of surrounding hills near the
Airport and for the extension of the original runway which has been completed
on the excuse that the Government of Delta State needed to extend the said
runaway in order to accommodate the Presidential Airport as they were expecting
the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as a guest at a SOUTH-SOUTH
SUMMIT hosted by the Delta State Government besides the original contract sum
that the Delta State Government have refused to make public.”
Confiding further, our source disclosed that “The petitioner
who is a regular user of the Asaba International Airport and a regular visitor
to Asaba knows for a fact that no such hills existed anywhere near the Asaba
International Airport. That it was more worrisome and suspicious that the
contract for this evacuation of the said hills and extension lasted for only
ten days, a time too short for a job of that magnitude if such was really done.
That the actual cost of the contract has continually remained a secret except
to a few officials of the Delta State Government and the contractor, one ULO
CONSTRUCTION COMPANY LIMITED handling the construction of the said Airport and
suspects that certain officials of the Delta State Government used and are
still using the construction of the said Airport to defraud the Government and
good people of Delta State of huge sums of money running into several hundreds of
billions of Naira using the construction of the said Airport as a guise.”
It was further learnt that the petitioner who is unhappy
over the fraudulent and corrupt manner the airport is being handled by the
state government, noted that the officials of the state government in the know
of the contracts include but not limited to MRS ESIEVO OREZI, the Commissioner
for Special Duties on Infrastructures in charge of the Ministry of the state
government that oversees selected projects termed ‘Special Projects’, including
the Asaba International Airport, as well as the Commissioner for Finance, the
Director, Finance and Administration and the Permanent Secretary of the
Ministry of Finance as well as the Management of ULO CONSTRUCTION COMPANY
LIMITED and other companies that are involved in the project.
Following independent investigations, our reporter was able
to establish a link with the counsel to the petitioner who simply gave his name
as Mr. Bello O.W. (Esq). He confirmed
that upon the instructions of a client, a petition was written to the chairman
of the EFCC over what he called fraudulent and corrupt award of contracts of
the airport.
According to the counsel, “Yes, there are numerous salient
issues raised in that petition and we can authoritatively tell you that the
commission has already swung into action. Government officials have been
quizzed and award of contract documents have also been requested for, so we are
progressing. Our Client suspects too that organization of the SOUTH-SOUTH
SUMMIT by the Delta State Government was also used as another guise by the
Officials of the Delta State
Government including but not limited to those
named in [the petition] to defraud the Government and good people of Delta
State as several Billions of Naira is claimed to have been spent by the
Government of Delta State while the Government of Delta State has refused to
release any information on the subject matter. So we have appealed to the
commission to use its good office to investigate these curious activities of the
Delta State Government to save the good people of Delta State. We also assure
the commission that our Client shall be physically present whenever required by
your Office.”
When contacted, it took the Airport project Director and
former commissioner for Education, Mr. Austin Ayemidejor over one week to
respond, but he did confirm the story, adding, "The state was actually
invited based on some issues raised in the petition. The state has responded
for now to all of those things and they are working on that."
When asked about the state reporting back to the commission
next Friday, the 21st of December, with relevant documents concerning the
project, the Director, who appeared to be in panic, stated that he was not
aware of such a thing, but that he would confirm attempt to obtain that
information.