Ex-Governor of Kogi State, AUDU ABUBAKAR, and the Continuation of Impunity

Written by Sowore Omoyele

Friday, 02 September 2005

It was IBB who once yelled unconsciously in Nigeria’s Sunday Times: “I really don’t understand why the Nigerian economy is still standing, Nigeria has defied all economic logic.”  He was wondering aloud based upon what he knew about the large-scale robbery that he was spearheading within the Nigerian treasury at that time in cahoots with his wife, relatives and cronies. The same goes today. Our so-called leaders must be wondering why the people of Nigeria have not revolted in spite of the brazen looting of Nigeria that has been going on, especially as they place the burden of the deficits upon the shoulders of hapless Nigerians in the name of privatizations, tax reforms, removal of “subsidies” and “appropriate pricing” of essential products in the local market. In this game of brinkmanship against the Nigeria people, the players may change positions from time to time, but the game plan remains the same. Sometimes so crude you wonder! Former Governor Audu Abubakar (formerly of the ANPP) used to be in charge of Kogi State state’s treasury. It is no longer news that he cleaned out the place. Such that his successor had exclaimed in a Sunday SUN interview of 29 August 2004 that he only met N500,000 in the state treasury. He says in that interview: “It is like they forgot that N500,000, otherwise, I am sure they would have taken it as well.” Abubakar Audu bought a huge mansion in Potomac, Maryland in 2000. He forked out $1.7 million to buy the choice property in one of America’s richest zip codes, home to many Nigerians with questionable sources of wealth. At first he denied that he was the owner of the house, but later he owned up because of a May 2002 petition written then by the Nigeria Leadership Foundation (NLF) addressed to a sleuth of federal agencies in Nigeria, which had attached with it incontrovertible evidence. In May 2002, he cleverly transferred the property at $0.00 to a front company named Belside Properties, which was a limited liability company incorporated in 2001 and managed by one Thomas Kaufman. However, by July of 2003, the house had been forfeited to the State of Maryland due to Audu Abubakar’s failure to file property returns for 2002. By 2004, Belside Properties too, had amended its name to another company named Goldwindow, LLC, managed by one A. Aliyu, (who some sources say might have been Audu Abubakar’s attorney general in Kogi State while he was then governor). Goldwindow then filed for reinstatement of the house upon change of the name. So, ex-governor Audu Abubukar is now back in his mansion in Potomac, MD. He successfully manipulated everyone, while the likes of Governors Chris Ngige (Anambra State) and Joshua Dariye (Plateau State) suffer daily legal challenges over their immunity status. Audu Abubakar is walking around free, enjoying his loot, again in POTOMAC, Maryland, just two years after he had lost the immunity that the federal government then claimed might have prevented his prosecution as a sitting governor.  Ironically today, Kogi State is N63 billion in debt! The National University Commission recently closed the State University because they could not come up to par with the national standards. The children, men, women and elderly are hungry and poor, while ex-Governor Audu Abubakar has decamped to the PDP, the president’s party and is said to be very close to President Obasanjo.  They both seem to enjoy Abubakar’s loot at the great expense of the Nigerian people.  What is the true cost of such brazen looting to Nigeria?

 

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