- Ifeanyi Ubah
After Mallam Nuhu Ribadu’s courage and determination as the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to rid Nigeria of fraudsters who have destroyed the country’s credibility in the international community, no one had thought that the country would again be purged of men of Chief Fred Ajudua, Mr. Emmanuel Nwude and Mr. Ikechukwu Anajemba’s ilk. These were men who sat on stolen money as wealth; paraded themselves as successful entrepreneurs and acquired chieftaincy titles to create an appearance of nobility to cover their criminal paths.
The ongoing trial of fuel subsidy thieves has shown that the proceeds of crime will never bring forth good seeds; neither will the tracks of criminals be forever covered. More importantly, the courage of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s administration to prosecute some of the indicted individuals in spite of the enormous powers their ill-gotten funds has bestowed on them is a commendable feat and clear indication of the sincerity of the Nigerian government in the anti-graft campaign.
Chief Ifeanyi Uba’s trial and subsequent detention on the order of Magistrate Martins Owumi of the Lagos State Magistrate Court sitting at Tinubu attests to the Federal Government’s resolve to save Nigeria from the wicked grip of economic saboteurs and fraudsters who have kept the country on its kneels for a while.
Ifeanyi Uba, who has endlessly struggled to ‘wash’ his ill-gotten wealth through purchase of traditional titles and excessive celebration to project an image of a wealthy man was suspected to have allegedly committed offences of economic sabotage, obtaining money by false pretences, stealing, money laundering and forgery.
Capital Oil and Gas Company, Ifeanyi Uba’s company allegedly defrauded the Federal Government of Nigeria of the sum of N23bn by pretending to have imported and sold 538, 74 million liters of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) during the 2011 fiscal year through 26 transactions. This fraud of a great magnitude was discovered by the Presidential Committee on Verification and Reconciliation of Fuel Subsidy Payment Auditors and consequently reported to the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) for investigation; a decision which has gotten Ifeanyi Uba a convenient home in Police custody at the Ikoyi prison in the past couple of days.
It would not come as a surprise to many that Uba is involved in an act of economic sabotage that has resulted in huge loss of public revenue because there have been several questions about his pedigree as a ‘Businessman’ and available answers have suggested that he is a Scammer wanted in Congo DRC for fleecing the late President, Laurent-Désiré Kabila to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. This might appear unverifiable, but his modus operandi as a ‘Businessman’ since he suddenly surfaced on the Nigerian business landscape has made positive consideration of this submission reasonable.
Ifeanyi Uba acts with impunity; always thinking that he had bought the state apparatus with his ill-gotten funds. He thinks he is above the Law of the land. In not too distant past, he would hit the roads with escort-cars; blaring siren to shove citizens who legally and decently earn their living off the roads! Uba wants to be revered even though his lifestyle is questionable. He desires a sudden promotion into the elite class without any impressive track-record or discernible source of income.
Until September 3, 2011, no one knew Ifeanyi Uba even though he had secretly created a hole in our national purse to enrich himself with the resources of the entire nation. This day was his 40th birthday, when over 100 pages of adverts worth millions of Naira heralded the celebration.
Attesting to this fact, a report in “Society Happenings” column in This Day Newspaper during the elaborate birthday stated that, “Ubah’s celebration had tongues wagging at the amount of publicity it generated”. The report added that ‘it was one of the rare moments when a Nigerian, (and) not an event or a product, occupied the front pages of a few of Nigeria’s foremost newspapers in paid advertorials in celebration of his birthday”
The celebration was adjudged to have “broken all tenets of modesty and brought superfluity to walk on all four”. Interestingly, this happened when Ifeanyi Ubah’s indebtedness to Nigerian Banks has grown to about N70bn, and his name has featured prominently on the list of major loan defaulters who almost crumbled the Nigerian financial services sector. He continuously reneges on his debt obligation to Banks and has perfected his act of fleecing people of their goods and products whenever they have the misfortune of having business dealings with him. Brittania-U Nigeria Ltd and NNPC would not forget in a hurry how Ifeanyi Uba has refused to pay for the PMS supplied him after selling the product. This matter is still a subject of litigation because Uba could only issue a N4billion dud cheque; a clear indication that Capital Oil and Gas has embraced bankruptcy! Surprisingly, his trail of destruction and practice of neither respecting tribe nor age, as a fellow Igbo, Mr. Cosmas Maduka has lost a whooping some of $130million to his antics. Ifeanyi Uba reportedly went to the Coscharis Motors boss, dazzling him with a fake business deal in the oil industry. Cosmas Maduka fell for the deal, approached a bank for $130million loan and gave it to Uba. Cosmas is biting his fingers now as Uba has blow all the money. We learnt that Cosmas has also taken his case to the police Special Fraud Unit.
Given to vagaries of life, Ifeanyi Uba acquired for himself a Private Jet (Embracer Legacy 650) valued at about N4.8b when his debts to the Banks are still outstanding. To many, this did not make any economic sense, but for Uba’s intent of eliciting societal acceptance and validation, projecting pseudo-wealthy could be positively rationalised. However, he missed the point because the Nigerian value system has changed drastically. Nigeria and Nigerians no longer celebrate individuals of questionable characters. The Federal Government is bent on restoring the reputation of the country and entrenching sanity in our national consciousness. The fuel subsidy probe is just one of the numerous actions in the pipeline to check fraudulent and criminal activities perpetrated by charlatans like Ifeanyi Uba.
Uba is a victim of over-bloated ego rooted in ignorance but his case can be excused because he never had the privilege of a formal education. Ordinarily, he should have accurately read and interpreted the signs that Nigeria is no longer conducive for fraudulent practices and manipulations that characterised the age of his predecessors in Advanced Free Fraud (419), Ajudua, Anajemba and Nwude. For the conmen of yesteryears, things were a little easier and their operations were carried out with a considerable degree of intelligence; an aspect attributable to the level of their education. But this era has zero tolerance for any form of behavioural or attitudinal un-cleanliness that could cast a slur on the image of our country and retard its economic growth and support from the international community.
The Federal Government actually moved faster than some of these crooks parading themselves as wealthy and successful Nigerians; or else they would have concealed their acts through involvement in politics and other ventures that could have suggested them as philanthropists to ordinary citizens of this country.
Ifeanyi Uba is mooting the idea of vying for the office of Governor in Anambra State. He is purported to have set aside the sum of N20billion to prosecute his campaign. He has also floated a foundation and embarked on some philanthropic initiatives to appear good and appealing to the people of the state. Now, the people know who he is; and the fact that his flamboyance and philanthropy are funded by fraud, borrowings from Banks and forgery. God will save Nigeria from criminals like Ifeanyi Uba and allow the nation attain its economic potentials.
Even though Ifeanyi Uba has openly boasted that he has the Judiciary in his pocket as his prosecution for subsidy scam commenced and requested that he should be taken to a particular court in Lagos, Nigerians are optimistic that the Judiciary will not fail this test of credibility.
An aircraft engine packed up shortly before take-off at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos.
