Friday 31 August 2012

Former Rep asks Obi to resign over brewery ownership

Former
member of House of
Representatives, Mr.
Chudi Offodile, has
called on Governor
Peter Obi of Anambra
State, to resign from
office over alleged
conflict of interests on
his involvement in the
establishment of
Intafact Beverages
Limited, SABmiller,
Onitsha commissioned
by President Goodluck
Jonathan yesterday.
This came barely three
days after the
resignation of the
Minister of Power, Prof.
Bath Nnaji over issues
bordering on a conflict
of interests in the on-
going privatisation of
the Power Holding of
Company of Nigeria,
PCHN.
Offodile also urged the
president not to
commission the
company, saying that
to do so will amount
to an endorsement of
what he termed “an
illegality”, as the
company is allegedly
jointly owned by the
state government,
Next International Ltd
owned by Mr. Obi and
his family and another
company-SABmiller
Nigeria Holdings.
“It would amount to
an endorsement of a
sordid affair and may
embolden other
foreigners who design
and put into effect,
different and newer
corruption techniques
with government
officials. In the history
of corruption in
Nigeria, the Onitsha
brewery scandal will
rank as the most
brazen”, he alleged
while speaking with
journalists in Abuja.
Offodile claimed that
the investigations he
conducted at the
Corporate affairs
Commission, CAC,
revealed that the Obi
family owns Next
International Ltd and
that although the
governor claimed he
had resigned as a
director of the
company, his brother,
Mr. Ndihe Obi, is the
current Managing
Director of the
company.
He challenged the
governor to make
public SABmiller’s total
capitalisation and how
much Next paid for its
equity in the new
brewery.
The former lawmaker
also alleged that the
governor revoked the
land belonging to
International Steel
Company, claiming
“overriding public
interest” only to
reallocate it to the
brewery on account of
his personal interest in
the firm.
Offodile acting a
script — Obi’s aide
However, the Senior
Special Assistant to
Governor Obi on Media
and Publicity, Mr.
Valentine Obienyem,
faulted Offodile’s
argument, wondering
why somebody would
call on a governor that
had not done anything
contrary to his oath of
office to resign.
He said: “If you have
been reading the
newspapers, you
would notice that in
the past two months,
Offodile who is not
known to have made
any intellectual
contributions in the
newspapers, suddenly
started to write
regularly on Obi. This
shows that somebody
is calling the tune for
him somewhere.”
On the issue of Next
International investing
in SABmiller,
Obienyem insisted that
Obi resigned his
directorship and
membership of the
Boards of all the
companies in which he
had interests.
The spokesman added
that Mr. Offodile did
not tell the public all
that he saw at the CAC
because according to
him, five other
companies, including
those owned by a
Deltan and a Lagosian
have shares in the
SABmiller.

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