N25bn Bond: Senator Ubah Exposes Gov Obiano

The senator representing Anambra South in the National Assembly, Ifeanyi Uba, Friday, reacted to Thursday’s statement by Gov Willie Obiano that his administration did not collect N25bn bond meant for federal roads repaired in the state. THE WHISTLER reported that Gov Obiano, through his information and public enlightenment commissioner, Mr C. Don Adinuba, yesterday, refuted Senator Ubah’s claims that the state government collected the money in question.

Ubah, who briefed the press on the matter, said Commissioner Adinuba was economical with the truth by stating that Gov Obiano did not have any dealing with the Debt Management Office (DMO). According to Senator Ubah, Gov Obiano ‘dashed/paid banks over N8bn in order to cash out the promissory notes before their maturity dates, thereby ensuring that Anambra lost over N8bn from the transaction’.

The senator further threatened to sue the state government if ‘the governor fails to open up on the whereabouts of the funds and give Ndi Anambra South their own portion of the funds for use in repairing our collapsed road infrastructure’.

He said, “It is imperative to note at this juncture that the N25bn in question was for works done by ex-governors Chris Ngige and Peter Obi on behalf of the federal government during their tenures as governors. The N25bn was billed to be paid in two installments:

“The first installment was for N10bn which was billed to mature on the 28th of December 2020. The second installment was for N15bn, and billed to mature on April 1, 2022 when Obiano must have handed over power in 2022. In order for Gov Obiano to cash out on the N25bn that hasn’t matured yet, he had to terminate the deal by giving up 15% of the total sum per annum, ie, Obiano paid about N3bn in bank charge for N10bn on the first promissory note which has a tenor of two years and paid another N4.5bn on the N15bn on the second promissory note which has a tenor of three years.”

Ubah further posed the following questions to Gov Obiano: “Why didn’t Obiano capture this in the budget he presented for the year? Why did Obiano withdraw future state funds which he didn’t work for? What exactly did Obiano do with the monies? Why is Obiano, through Adinuba, lying about this shameful activity? What was so important that Obiano had to give up a whooping N8bn of money under such terrible economy? Why would Obiano, a banker, throw away N8bn, and where is the balance now deployed to?”

Recall nonetheless that Adinuba, while refuting Ubah’s claims, said, “We are not aware of anywhere in the world where a bond can be issued secretly. Before a bond can be issued for a state government in Nigeria, the state House of Assembly, the Debt Management Office, the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and Economic Planning, the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Securities and Exchange Commission must be involved.”

He added that, “It is tough to speculate how Ubah came about the phantom N25bn bond which Anambra State purportedly raised surreptitiously from the DMO/Federal Ministry of Finance. The only thing that any individual can possibly think about is the promissory notes which the state government received in two tranches from the Debt Management Office/Federal Ministry of Finance for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of failed federal roads in the state. The promissory notes were never secret. The reimbursement was recommended by the Senate after a public hearing on the debts owed the state for the roads rehabilitation and reconstruction. Given the fact that the Federal Ministry of Finance did not have the cash to settle the debts, it opted for

promissory notes. The amounts and proceeds of the promissory notes are

captured clearly in the Report of the Accountant General with Financial

Statements for the year ended 31st December, 2019. Even the purposes to which the funds are deployed are stated clearly in the annual report.”