At the wake of the inglorious N458m bribery allegation leveled against the Deputy Governor of Imo State, Sir Jude Agbaso, by a probe committee of the Imo State House of Assembly over abandonment of road projects in the state, I joined in the media ruckus that have characterized the unfolding drama. In my earlier write-up titled; Agbaso and JPross Gate: Many Questions Than Answers, I tried to engage in unbiased overview of the Hon Simeon Iwunze-led committee report where salient issues arising from the report of the State Assembly were treated. I contributed my stake without bias as I am not under the influence of any paymaster to do a hatchet job.
But I will not go further in the second part of the commentary for obvious reasons. Apart from divergent views spiced with subjective innuendos, it has common to my notice that “job men” and “errand masters” have taken over the show by drumining support for their favoured allies. They have not only taken over the electronic media air waves, but also taken over newspaper pages to justify the fee extended to them for the yeoman’s job. The quest for truth and objectivity concerning JPros Gate has been bastardized by ethnic jingoists and protagonists of mal administration in Imo State. This drama has been showcased in the popular Hot FM radio, 99.5 programme People’s Assembly, where interested groups buy airtime to justify the amount paid them for the “dirty job”.
Apart from the group led by Kissinger Ikeokwu, a lawyer and social commenter, who displayed objectivity in their approach to the topic, others exhibited sheer partisan proclivity. In that regard, I will in my usual style “comment my reserve” by relaying comments and contributions from interested person courtesy of online service. After going through the reactions, I felt it was necessary to brand my topic today St Rochas, Angel Agbaso and the People’s Parliament.
Another factor that will prompt me to seal my views is the judicial angle. Since a panel established by the Chief Judge has been put in place and summons extended to the embattled Deputy Governor for further investigate. It would amount to prejudice on my part to make further commentary on the issue, hence my resolve is still “reserve my comment”, on the issue, so the reactions follows;
The insider: The only thing PDP will do is to ask Jude Agbaso to go to court.
collins iroham: Mr.Iwuala we are talking about fraud allegation against Agbaso you are talking about how the contract was awarded is that why Mr Agbaso should collect the said money as bribe?you are writing nonsense.
Nwoke: That you do not like Agbaso should not becloud your sense of reasoning. I don’t know Agbaso and I am not from Imo state but this allegation is unfounded. How can you as a contractor give out 458Million in a contract sum of 1.2Billion sum? Does it make sense to any reasonable person? Something is wrong and it is that thing that is wrong that this writer (Iwuala) is pointing out. Until this is done Agbaso remains innocent of the trump up charges. Probably the Governor doesn’t want him again.
Akins: The problem is you cannot imagine the sum can be demanded from him? You must be living on a different planet.
Akins: Some people are living in a different planet here. On the promise of more contract he was told to pay 458m. The account numbers are there the phone numbers are there. Nobody will pay such amount without verifying the account is genuine. Who are the directors of the business names these sums were paid into.It’s the way contracts are awarded in Nigeria that generate this level of crime.Who owns the account that this money was paid into, this is traceable unless the bankers too are involved in this. This is Igbo treating Igbo’s like shit here. Keep singing their names while you are languishing in poverty. I wonder where they are taking this money to.
intelligent: Our people give their support sheepishly without reasoning and without facts.There is the fact that Rochas brought the contractor, approved his contract and paid the whole contract sum even without execution.Till now no rigid evidence against Agbaso.I wonder how people reason.No wonder some reason like fools.
Ebuka Amaechi: The members of Imo State House of Assy,is advised to avoid all fifth columnists and carry out honest and unbiased investigatio n to assertain the truth or ortherwise of the bribe allegation leveled Chief Agbaoso the deputy Governor of the State,if found guilty,then house should follow all Constitutional proced -ure to effect his imgeachment to serve as deterennt to other corrupt ladden Public holders,whose activiti es have reduced the masses to abject pove -rty and have nots’ in the mist of plenty.
kabros: dis show me dat truly okorocha is a GOD send to rescu IMO STATE is their any state in Nija dat de Gov aloue de DG to sign more dan 1millon niara talk of awording contract & house Assimble has committe dat inspect project in de state. we need sure a tine in Abia stateooooooooooooo.
Uchebest: @Akins…you are a bratic jingoistic element..must you call IGBOS name to make a point?stop that unfounding inordinate hatred pls.
Akins: You in particular have said worse about Yoruba’s. If you are not happy with that, there is something called a noose, put it around your neck and swing. Stupid thief. Armed robber.
Wale: Still waiting for an Ibo person to condemn the whole tribe for what this man allegedly did.N458 mil. from one company?Get a rope.
Benbela: They don’t condemn evil doers among them. Thats why the whole place is infested with evils.
Oliver U.: This drama is amounting to complete show of shame. DG, if you actually picked the bribe you should honoroubly resign and if you were set up, so be it. The contractor too has a lot of issues to answer. The 100% release of fund, the circumventing of due process and all the executive fiat used that eventually resulted into all this mess should not be overlooked. I feel there is more to this than meets the eyes.
Aluta: The text message instructing the contractor to pay in the money was presented. The account numbers are available, so why all these much ado about clear evidence? Whoever is found guilty should face the full wrath of the law of the land. It is a shame that the young DG is involved.
Benbela: @Nwoke and Iwuala. You two are Igbo but you are so blind to what goes on in Ndi-Igbo. It is very possible to demand for a 458Mil bribery out of 1.2Bil contract. Have you ever heard of over-inflated contract? For example, the total cost a contract is 100 Naira, but rogue official(s) awarded the same contract to a contractor for 1000 Naira and ask for 600 Naira bribe. In this scenario, the contractor gets his 100 Naira plus extra 300 Naira while the the rogue Agbaso pockets 600 Naira without sweating. Nna, did you get it now? When people think they are too smart, in reality they are very dumb. Na monkeys go kill themselves!
Ade: Roaches I
Rhema: The contract in the 1st place was over-inflated. That road is about 3.7km. The gov approved the job and the contract sum was paid in full. The company was introduced by the governor. It is very difficult to believe that a Deputy Governor would demand a bribe for a company that have links with the Gov. Something went wrong btw the gov and the deputy. Yet there are proofs of the total sum in private companies account. There should be investigation if these companies are not consultants to the contractor. The line should be ascertained whether it was registered with the Deputy Gov’s name. Ascertain whether those accounts has link with the Deputy. Then nobody would be accussed of witch-hunting.
Nwa Biafra: pple, rochas is just a green snake in a green grass, he wants to control everything in his administration, roads,schools,city gates etc… ever since we started d city gate project, no kobo has been paid to us up till date. instead of him allowing his commissioners to do their work, he wants to control everything, simply because they reminded him of his agreement of one tenor with the agbasos, he is using cheap blackmail to control tarnish agbaso image…
Danok: if D.G jude agbaso is found guilty of d charges levelled against him let d house impeach him or resign 2 safe his political career.
CJ: Punishment for bribery is not impeachment. The police should be involved. If the company gave him bribe, then the accomplices in the company should be arrested. If this is really a fight against corruption, I am all for it. But it doesn’t smell like one.
Nnamdi I.O: Giving a dog bad name. The truth will come out.
AGU MBAISE: among all of you guys who is saying the true is only God who knows in all you people are in one table as per for me all of you are same
Akins: Agu, the contractor knows the truth. He is not dead, he must have spoken to them before this accusation.
kabros: jude ! jude ! jude ! how many times did i call u,ur a thief pls return dat money so dat de contrator can go back to sit.
Uzo: make una allow jude to be plz………….how can d company give such bribe.fuck lebanesse companies. set up to silent him but the truth must be out.
mike: Uzo you must be an idiot, I how do you think the Lebanese company can just accuse the sitting deputy governor wrongly without doing any thing wrong and what the deputy governor can do was to talk rubbish bringing his senior brother and the governor to the issue, if he did not collect any money from the company why did he not go to court to defend himself instead of trying to divert attention to his brother and 2015, some said his elder brother made Rochas the governor forgotten that this same man could not make himself governor after trying / attempting for 3 good times.. Shame to you
Bobzee: Mike dont mind dat idiot de r bird with desame feather
Duke: Wen shal 9ja politics get better? Hw can a dog eat d bone dat is hanging at its neck? Jude u ar thnkng of d next electn instead of dischargng d dividends of democracy 2 d masses. Please say d truth or u resign instead of givin flimsy excuse.
Prince: DG Jude Agbaso,if u’re guilt u better resign than 2 be disgrace out of office.
Nwoke: This is another logic upside down. Simple reasoning shows that J pros is telling the lie. What is the worth of the contract in the first place? How can you as a contractor give out more than 50% of the contract sum upfront as gratification? When you quoted for the job, what was your expected profit margin? Was it more than 458Million Naira? If not, how did you intend to make profit on the job? What amount of tax have you paid to the state coffer since doing business in Imo State. Did you withdraw that sum from a bank and gave it cash? If it is by money transfer, can you furnish us details? The truth is that from day one, Rochas never wanted Agbaso but had to pacify senior Agbaso for sometime and that is what is happening.
Biafra: @nwoke,when last did you visit imo state? This company was suppose to construct nekede futo road,etc the company is handling many road project and the money was forcefully collected from them,remember DG agbaso is also commissioner for works,rochas gave it to him with trust not knowing that his the same thieve,he use to be in America,consequent upon his deportation or repatriation,May God save owelle anayo okorocha from sabos of the rescue mission and the enemy within.
Nwoke: I have lived in Imo State since 1984 as undergraduate, as a youth corp member uptill now. I am also a top government public servant. What I want is answers to the questions I asked and not how long I have lived in Imo State. I have probably lived longer in Imo State than you.
Nwoke: Sorry o. Did I read you say forcefully. Does it that any commissioner can forcefully collect any amount of money from any contractor without the contractor first assessing his profit margin? Does it make sense to you?. In the Nigerian system, you should know that Deputies are sitting lame Ducks. Simple, Owelle don’t want him again else the issue would not have arisen in the first instance.
Chimex: Nwoke you’d be better described as Nwanyi. How would you think J pros will acuss a Deputy Governor without substanciating it? Why was the contract abandoned if there is money to execute it? Infact Jude thinks its biz as usual
Owerri: He collected 458 million naira, no more 450 million naira, house of commotion. You all will definitely reap that you have sowed, all of you will soon run away from that parliament and state of emergency is looming. You can not stand the constituency you re fighting, just watch out.
Akins: The contractor said he demanded and collected money from him, he said it’s not so. Is the contractor dead?He must know who took such a large sum of money from him. He can’t have been impersonated. Bring them together eyeball to eyeball. Soon @Owerri above will say his Uncle Agbaso did not receive any money. Like Uncle like nephew. Onye oshi family.
donald:I FOR ONCE NERVER TRUST ROCHAS;HOW COME TO STRUCTURE THAT WAS PUT TO IMMOTALIZE GREAT IKEMBA WENT DOWN OVER NIGHT ;AND OUR GOVERNOR TILL DATE NO COMMMENT TO DAT
Akins:The evidence is the contractor, he must know who collected the money from him and if it’s a bank transfer, whose account. It can’t have been in cash,but then anything is possible in Nigeria
Igonzia: Let the contractor show evidence of the payment he made to the DG. He could not have carried that amount of cash. Even if he paid in Dollars, he should show eveidence of the withdrawal of such amount at the said time from anywhere in the world.
Alhaji Dan-azumi Gana: It might be true that Sir Jude Agbaso took bribe of #458 million from the managing director of J – Pros international Nigerian Limited, but the question is, Would a black man ever accept his wrong doing ?
Kachi: I warned the people of imo state not to vote rochas okorocha as their gov. But they did not listened and go ahead & elect him, the crisis in apga today was engineer & carried out by rochas & victor umeh, they want to disterblize apga. We are watching.
kola amodu: Owerri bastard, u’re a mugun, why do u have to support somebody blindly to de point people will ask u, whether u have brain , or do u step on de little brain u have. Ur brother Agbaso is a thief, de like of him should be exponged from reasonable society. Infact owerri bastard n agbaso are both gisgracing de jews of this country. We will never allow de kind of this useless agbaso to take us for a ride anymore. Allah bless Imo house of Assembly n governor Okorochas. Okorochas , all ur enemies will fall by de road side. Long live Okorochas n long live all those who want Okorochas to succed.
Owerri: This disabled man we have as governor, by 2015, we must treat his fuck-up. Everything about him as at today has became disabled in all spheres of governance useless arrogant human, we shall teach you a lesson in your life. You have decided to run the state down, despite all odds including the party that brought you into power.
peter omelazu Let us wait and see evidence that the house of assembly will use to prove their allegation.I am sure words of mouth are not enough in law but with substantial facts also.
Morizo: Jude is guilty, he also collected huge Amt from timik only dat jpros is a white man dats why he reported Jude. Timik is afraid to talk. If Jude is dismissed as deputy gov. He should also be dismissed from knighthood. Nonsense
Christopher Iyirhiaro: Nwoke and oweri, are two birds of the same feathers. They reason alike together and talk nonsense as if Okorocha stopped their fake drug business in Imo State. If that be the case, thanks to Okorocha for taking these murderers out of business. Okorocha was magnanimous enough to put the Deputy Governor in charge of works ministry to ensure that good roads are constructed in Imo. He should be commended for that and not condemned The cost of building a road, unless you are looking at some junky roads, is estimated at millions per kilometer, and so the total cost of a stretch of a road depends on how many kilometers we are talking about. That is as far as the value of a contract is concerned. As for 458 million being impossible to give as bribe, Nwoke and oweri, both speak from their levels of poverty. Here is a case where a contractor collected money to build a road or roads and abandoned the jobs because he had shared the money met for the project (not profit from the project) with the DG., according to the contractor. Here you are, with these dummies saying 458million is not realistic as bribe. They could not see the possibility that the DG was already collecting money to enable him or his eldest brother contest the 2015 Governorship elections. If a Director of Pension Fund could steal 450 Billion and escape to foreign country, what makes it impossible just 458million to change hand as bribe? Nothing is impossible. Let the investigation reveal the real truth and stop being naïve.
Nwoke 458Million is possible as bribe but not in a 1Billion Naira contract. What is the contract sum. What reasonable contractor can give more than 10% upfront. You don’t seem to know anything about contract business. Do you?
Owerri Monday Osunbo,s brother is analyzing with his rumour mint minded heart, an inherent attitude from above. Mr rumour mint is holding brief to a common Labanese man that came to Nigeria as an investor that transformed into local contractor in Nigeria, thereby amounting second slavery to a mere middle eastern rogue. A turbulent Arabic infected leagues that are seeking a peaceful home in Nigeria to devour, using fundamentalist like Christopher Iyirhiaro, Akin and kola Amodu as their offshore gangs to perfect their evil acts.
Akins:@Owerri, Ogboju Ole, original ogbologbo family.
Alexco: What is the big deal? The house members and its legal team should demand documentations from the bank. It is just simple. The transactions will clearly state who is lying. Nigerians are fond of making simple things look impossible.
gabby:Kola Amodu ur complete stupid fellow incuding all ur family members. Those of u who are not using ur common sense are stupid too. Have u all asked or tried to estabish the the value of the contract before passing judgement based on lies from the assembly men. The Imo assembly is where u have highest concentration of criminal in the State. They are there bcos we needed change in the state then ended-up in deep shit today.This is all about APGA, APC, PDP thing and the associated games.
H: If the manager said he gave 450 million,then how much is the contract? the man is a thief and he must have been paid by idiot Rochas to do this,cant you guys be reasonable,how much is the contract and how can any insane human being give such amount as bribe,the man has not said the truth.
freeman Jude Abgaso u will never change the same thing u did in New York now Imo State Jude even ur own people why with all the trust
Onyekwelle mike: Imo state belongs to all of us.Werre people should know this and stop fanning embers of tribalism or zone.It was Rochas’s goodwill that gave him electoral victory not funcking Werre confused tribe.Allow us to enjoy the benefits of democracy under our able Gov who have the entire Igbos at heart.
efula umunna What are u enjoying. Your governor is not matured to head a Nursery school. He behaves more like a tout than a governor. He will end us in contravercy. How much is the cost contract when a bribe of 458 million were given to a Deputy governor. Rochas must have gone home with billions of dollars. Rochas got it but he cooked it. Rochas is confused person. A proud missing governor.
Owerri: This disabled man has given you a broken heart already, because u can not read between the line. He has created himself more enemy than friends, whatch out 2015.
AGOM: I still believe that the truth must come out one day.
Seriously: I believe Rochas gave Jude commissioner for works for him to create a name for himself. Preparing him to take over from him by giving him the opportunity to prove himself as a good worker and servant to Imolites. Naturally, the greed in him took over. The MD of J-Bros cannot be loud in his accusation if he did not have concrete evidence. The state HA will not institute impeachment proceeding with this strong voice if the evidence they have seen is feeble. I continue to say Okorocha has been doing good things for Imo State. If the former governors did half of what Rochas has done in the same period of time, Imo by now will be compared with most of these European cities. We can criticize his style of governance but he is comforting Imolites with his works.
John: Plz this house of assembly should just impeach this man so that we can hear word. When DG and okorocha started we don’t know. All polititian in nigeria are the same i.e share the money. So if you cannot share it properly one should go so that we can hear word. Bribe exist in 9iga only when their is disagrrement during sharing. Even the so call house of assembly are not free from this scandaluse act. So those of you insulting one another in this social media plz hold ur piece. Just remember that these guys are politician. My advise to DG is that another time He want to be a running mate he should avoid those that are power drunk because they don’t knw what is call THE RULE OF LAW.
Obiageli:Wait 4 d the truth
Mitchele E: No accusation can stand with out substantive evidence, what are the evidence presented to the committee that convinced them to indict Sir Agbaso. If there are convincing evidence, let the people see it, but if there are no evidence the committee indictment is baseless and should be discountenanced.
Don: one after d other all of you will kill ur self in that imo state ok am waiting to see
OLIVER U. May God help Imo ane Naija
Davis omon: Dirty politics you play there.If not for your brother you wouldn’t have been there.If he collected money call out the person who gave the bribe or is he dead?There has to be a witness to the case or just that the Gov. want to remove him for his 2015 agend
Ugo: They all knw themselves weda rochas or martins and jude agbaso or j pros or the house na them sabi, I knw say this administration was immature.
LUKE: COME TO THINK OF IT, HOW COME THE ARABS ALLOW THAT PENSION THIEF TO TAKE REFUGE IN THEIR COUNTRY WHILST STEALING ATTRACTS AMPUTATION/ DEATH PENALTY IN THEIR LAND? WHAT AN IRONY! ARAB DUMP OF OUR STOLLEN WEALTH!
Omotayo Oyeyipo: What is the value of the contract awarded to Mr Dina’s J-Pros International that would make him pay a bribe of N458 million? Something is definitely wrong somewhere but why can’t the DG go to court to defend his integrity if he claims to have any?
Owerri:The DG, can do that when it is clear that the house proved to have compromised themselves to ridicule his person. One should not rule out legal action against the house and the so called arrogant governor to that effect.
Marxweller: THEIR WANT TO KILL APGA AND EVRYTHING THAT IT REPRESNTS TO PAV A NEW WAY 4THEMSELVES
