By Chima Omeje

Anxiety is mounting in political circles in Enugu State over an investigative news report exposing in graphic details an elaborate fraud and abuse of office perpetrated by the controversial governorship candidate of the Labour Party in the state, Mr Chijioke Edeoga, while serving as Commissioner for the ministries of Local Government and Environment, respectively.

In a detailed report by an online investigative newspaper, Mainstream Investigative Journalism, Barr. Edeoga was said to have surreptitiously manipulated a state-owned magazine, Enugu LGAs' News Magazine, to extort and stash away billions of naira belonging to local government areas while serving under the administration of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State.

According to the trending news, Edeoga had coerced chairmen of various local government areas to part with huge sum of money every month allegedly for the production of the LGAs’ News Magazine under the pretext that he was acting based on the governor’s instructions.

The four-page damming report, however, disclosed that Edeoga was using the name of the governor and his maternal relationship with him to “intimidate and blackmail” the council chairmen to cough out the huge amounts of money, noting that the governor could have been completely oblivious of the criminal act.

According to the report, the Eha-Amufu born politician had been presenting the magazine as a government-owned paper to showcase the good works of the government only to convert the ownership to the property of Rivers and Time Communication Ltd, a family company registered in 1997 with himself and his young brother, Dr. Eugene Edeoga as directors with one million naira share capital.

“It is alleged that Mr Edeoga, a veteran journalist who was the Chairman of the House Committee on Information when he represented the Enugu East/Isi Uzo Federal Constituency in the Federal House of Representatives between 1999 and 2003, had for years used the magazine as a conduit pipe to siphon and stash away humongous state resources ahead of his governorship ambition. However, the present administration under Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi appeared unaware of the elaborate financial sleaze which Edeoga and his hirelings perpetrated by chicanery.

“A few months after Edeoga resigned his position as Commissioner for Environment to vie for the PDP governorship ticket, only to defect to the Labour Party following his defeat, the miasma of corruption in the ministry then under his watch is unravelling. It is alleged that Edeoga grossly abused his office and corruptly enriched himself and his cronies by floating a magazine titled Enugu LGAs’ News Magazine, a monthly publication on governance initiatives in the 17 local government areas of the state,” the report reads in part.

The State Governor, Hon. Ugwuanyi has been accused by the report as shielding his cousin, Edeoga, from investigation and prosecution because of their blood relationship, insisting that many council chairmen had expressed frustration over the state’s inability to address the slysh funds that flowed into Edeoga’s personal accounts over the period under reference using the magazine as a conduit pipe.

Meanwhile, there have been calls from different sections of the state on the government and other anti-graft agencies to stand up to their responsibilities and commence immediate investigation into the alleged financial malfeasance by the Labour Party guber flag bearer.

Professor Rose Ugwuede from Ukehe who spoke to our correspondent queried why government has been giving protection to “a looter of this magnitude.” According to her, the EFCC should do the needful by thrusting the long arms of the law towards Edeoga’s direction and if found culpable, be prosecuted.

Expressing dismay over the alarming sleaze in the two ministries under Edeoga’s watch, a lawyer, Chief Joan Aka, accused the Ugwuanyi’s administration and the EFCC of sweeping the corruption spree under the carpet because of blood tie with the governor.

He called on President Muhammadu Buhari to use his good office to compel the EFCC to do their primary duty by inviting Edeoga to make clarification on the looting allegation.

This reporter examined and verified the documentary proofs supporting the investigate report, including the official website, Twitter and Facebook pages of the magazine still affirming its status as a “State Magazine”, indicating that Edeoga may have neglected to effect changes reflecting its current ownership by his family company, Rivers and Time Communication Limited. Also verified was the certified true copy (CTC) of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) search result on the company embroiled in the scandal. 

In a related development, many social media users in the state have vowed to storm the streets if the government fails to do its job by unraveling how much is involved in the scandal, and bringing those culpable to book to serve as deterrence to others.