… _Says “we made mistakes”, Enugu must look beyond party_
Former governor of Enugu State, Mr. Sullivan Chime, has dismissed the insinuations that Pinnacle Oil and Gas founded by the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu, Dr. Peter Mbah, was built with public funds, saying, “it’s not possible”.
This is even as the chieftain of the All Progressives Congress said it was time for Enugu to look beyond party and go for the governorship candidate with the capacity to rebuild the state and take it to where it should be.
Chime, who threw more light on why he endorsed the candidature of Peter Mbah over and above his party’s candidate, bared his mind on Freedom Square, a popular current affairs radio programme monitored in Enugu.
Asked if there was any iota of truth to the rumour that Pinnacle Oil and Gas could have built with public funds since Mbah, Chime, who also served as Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice between 2003 and 2007, said, “It is not possible. It is not possible. Peter Mbah just happened to be the Commissioner for two years. He joined the Chimaroke administration, which I was part. I served all through the administration. I joined Chimaroke Nnamani before he was inaugurated. Peter Mbah joined us in the second term. All these top players were all part of the Ebeano Family. It was the new PDP and anybody that played politics in Enugu within those years was Ebeano.
“Peter Mbah took over from Frank Nweke as the Chief of Staff and later became the Commissioner for Finance. I talked with him and how he got involved with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s investigation because I was the Attorney General and he wasn’t invited by the EFCC. He personally volunteered to be investigated.
“So, it’s ridiculous to think that the Commissioner for Finance can take money. No. The Governor approves expenditures personally. What the commissioner does is just to implement. The Governor must endorse, must approve it physically and sign. Then the Accountant General and the Commissioner for Finance working together will now implement it. Anybody accusing him of that should know it’s not possible.
“The funny thing is, go back to those years, how much was Enugu making then? The IGR of Enugu them way below 50 million every month. That was what we made; N50 million every month. Where did the money come from?
“And when we came in, the state government owing workers three months salary. The state government was struggling with money, so where did the money come from? It’s ridiculous”.
Chime went further to say that Mbah was in business long before his stint in government, saying that anyone who is prepared to leave a business like Pinnacle that is the number one in the downstream oil and gas subsector and records over N1.4 trillion turnover annually is making a sacrifice and could not have been looking for Enugu’s money. He wondered how many years it would take the state to record a combined receipt of N1 trillion.
On why he endorsed Mbah ahead of other candidates, including his party’s candidate, Chime said, “The Office of governor is a very high position and should be taken seriously by everyone. This year, the candidates for the position of governor have emerged. So, we are are looking at the candidates and I urge the entire electorate to look at the candidates, and not the party.
“Mbah is a very young man, probably the youngest among the candidates, who went into business long before his stint in government. He has served in government and understands how government works. He went back to build from scratch what is today known as Pinnacle Oil and Gas. I understand that company does well over N1 trillion in turnover annually. That is probably the total financial receipts of Enugu State for 10 years at least. So, I see no reason somebody from such a big a establishment would come down to Enugu to want to be governor if not service.
“In fact he came to me long before the hostilities of the primary elections started to say he wants to run for governor, and I screamed. I asked why he would he leave his big business to come swim in the stormy waters. We spoke and after our conversation, it was very clear that it was passion that was driving him”.
“We have made mistakes. We have also learnt from those mistakes. We are looking at the candidates, who they really are. We are not like established democracies like the USA. In Nigeria, you can be elected as governor of party A today. In a month time, you jump to party B. It happened in Ebonyi. It happened in Abia and others. Jumping ship is very easy in Nigeria.
“So, it is immaterial looking at the party. We must look at someone, who if he goes in there, we expect him to deliver; we expect him to change the situation and at least take us back to where we were when I left and move us forward.
“I have looked at the candidates and by my personal assessment, Mbah powers over and above all the rest candidates. So, governorship must cut across party lines if we must get it right.
“If we want continue to do or vote party, we will make a very serious mistake again that we will pay for in the next eight years.”
