The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Prince Vincent Ogbulafor appears to be a firm believer in this scriptural passage, “Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devourâ€. Hence Ogbulafor has said that “it was apparent that a devil had come to visit the party but said that he would be defeatedâ€.
Ogbulafor has also called on God to intervene in the crisis currently rocking the party.
He is responding to reports that the Chief Judge of the Abuja High Court, Justice Lawal Gumi, has assigned the N170m graft charge against National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party and two others.
In the charge, Ogbulafor was said to have fraudulently received the said N170m while he was the Minister of Special Duties. Why do Nigerians often blame the devil for evils they should rightly blame themselves?
Ogbulafor only has himself to blame. As Chairman of PDP, he is not the leader of the party; Under Ogbulafor, the PDP chair became an errand boy to the presidency!
I remember well that during the crisis that engulfed the Anambra State Chapter of the PDP primary, I asked an Aso Rock insider why President Yar’adua had sidestepped power structure in the PDP to empower hoodlums who now causes confusion.
I was told that Yar’Adua plainly empowered Ogbulafor to take charge and deliver in the Anambra Primary, but he failed; “he was so weak and inept.
When I interjected that Yar’Adua might have made himself unavailable to Ogbulafor, thus depriving him of the necessary support, he then added the clincher:
“The President doesn't want to be running the PDP from the villa, nobody can do to Anyim Pius Anyim what some characters are doing to Ogbulafor, the man is a big disappointment to say the least and I am restraining myself here...this President is not like Baba who micromanages everything…the President is very much accessible to Ogbulafor, he is here at the villa at least twice a week, it's just that when he is here, he pursues other matters, that's why he has lost the respect of manyâ€
According to this gentleman therefore, Ogbulafor, “is at the villa at least twice a week†but the problem is that instead of discussing the problems of the party and how to solve them, Ogbulafor only come to pursue government contracts and “that is why he has lost all respectâ€!
He cannot deliver because he is more interested in government contracts than in ensuring proper democracy in the PDP.
It is equally disingenuous – as some are inclined to do - to blame Ogulafor’s woes on the acting president. Some accuse Jonathan Goodluck on a vendetta mission simply because Ogbulafor allegedly opposed his ascendancy to office.
In November 2009, I published among other issues a petition to the ICPC dated July 4, 2009, an NGO sent to the ICPC accusing Ogbulafor of buying a house worth N400 million within three months of becoming the ruling party’s chairman.
The PDP Chairman was also accused of misappropriating N104 million belonging to the Federal Government when he was Minister of Special Duties (Economic Affairs).
According to the petition, “The sum of N104 million belonging to the Federal Government was distributed under the supervision and or connivance of Prince Ogbulafor. The federal government did not receive any consideration on the above sum as they were distributed and paid out for the execution of no-existent contract.
"Prince Ogbulafor and several others shared the loot and doctored the papers to cover their paths. Prince Ogbulafor, in a rare show of honesty in dishonesty, admitted receiving N2 million from the said lump sum. He, however, claimed it was ex-gratia payments to aid him pursue an undisclosed political venture.â€
The offences were allegedly committed by Ogbulafor and others charged with him in March 2001.
If the President, Umaru Yar’adua failed to act on the petition when it was made, why would anyone henceforth blame the Acting President in his effort to fulfill the pledge he made on assuming duties to re-invigorate the war against corruption?
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