March 17, 2010
As the vultures circle the skies over Maurice Iwu’s leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), an American institution, has cancelled its invitation to him to give a lecture. Iwu was to have addressed the subject, “The Future of Electoral Reform in Nigeria: Questions for the Nigerian Electoral Commission,” on March 23 in Washington, DC.
As the vultures circle the skies over Maurice Iwu’s leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), an American institution, has cancelled its invitation to him to give a lecture. Iwu was to have addressed the subject, “The Future of Electoral Reform in Nigeria: Questions for the Nigerian Electoral Commission,” on March 23 in Washington, DC.
A notice obtained by Saharareporters tonight did not offer any reason for the cancellation of the event. In recent times, however, the US government has insisted that any future collaboration with Nigeria over election reform must exclude the former “professor” of pharmacognosy, who is credited with superintending, in April 2007, the worst election in Africa’s history.
Only last month, Johnnie Carson, the US Assistant Secretary of African Affairs, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee sub-committee on Africa Affairs, at a hearing on Nigeria, that the US has requested the Nigerian government to remove Iwu from his position in order to create an atmosphere for credible elections in the country.
On the home front, **Acting President, Goodluck Jonathan has been telling anyone who would listen that the forthcoming elections will be credible. Following his dissolution of the federal cabinet today, analysts have told Saharareporters Iwu ranks alongside Farida Waziri at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as being among those to be fired, and probed.
Since his sack became a matter of time, Iwu has embarked on a series of propaganda initiatives regarding preparation for the 2011 elections, including some self-serving talk that he has started distributing materials for those elections. He went as far as announcing a bogus timetable for the 2011 election even as the proposed changes to the Nigerian electoral laws were yet to be sent to the Nigerian senate by Mr. Jonathan.
Our sources also say he is spreading bribes all over the media to propagate his lies about his work in preparing for the elections. Recently, his senior media aide, Andy Ezeani, was arrested and is now facing trial for embezzlement of funds Iwu was allegedly passing on to the Nigeria Union of Journalists to organize some bogus events on “electoral reform”.
An INEC source also claimed that most not-for-profit leaders are in Iwu’s pockets and have become part of his enlarged scam aimed at deceiving Nigerians into believing that Iwu’s INEC is now ready to conduct free and fair elections.
Iwu has a troubled history. In early 2007, Saharareporters investigated his academic background and found that his first degree, with which he sought and gained admission into University of Bradford in London, was fake, as he forged it from a university in Younde, Cameroun. Also in 1992, Iwu made away with $50,000 belonging to a US bank–CITIBANK-after claiming that he thought the monies, which were mistakenly credited to his account after he had deposited a $5,000 check, were from a grant.
According to our findings, Iwu also scammed the US government of grant monies running into millions of dollars through a US-based not-for-profit after he claimed at a conference that he could produce the cure for the dreaded Ebola disease.
Download full details of Maurice Iwu's scam here>>>
A notice obtained by Saharareporters tonight did not offer any reason for the cancellation of the event. In recent times, however, the US government has insisted that any future collaboration with Nigeria over election reform must exclude the former “professor” of pharmacognosy, who is credited with superintending, in April 2007, the worst election in Africa’s history.
Only last month, Johnnie Carson, the US Assistant Secretary of African Affairs, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee sub-committee on Africa Affairs, at a hearing on Nigeria, that the US has requested the Nigerian government to remove Iwu from his position in order to create an atmosphere for credible elections in the country.
On the home front, **Acting President, Goodluck Jonathan has been telling anyone who would listen that the forthcoming elections will be credible. Following his dissolution of the federal cabinet today, analysts have told Saharareporters Iwu ranks alongside Farida Waziri at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as being among those to be fired, and probed.
Since his sack became a matter of time, Iwu has embarked on a series of propaganda initiatives regarding preparation for the 2011 elections, including some self-serving talk that he has started distributing materials for those elections. He went as far as announcing a bogus timetable for the 2011 election even as the proposed changes to the Nigerian electoral laws were yet to be sent to the Nigerian senate by Mr. Jonathan.
Our sources also say he is spreading bribes all over the media to propagate his lies about his work in preparing for the elections. Recently, his senior media aide, Andy Ezeani, was arrested and is now facing trial for embezzlement of funds Iwu was allegedly passing on to the Nigeria Union of Journalists to organize some bogus events on “electoral reform”.
An INEC source also claimed that most not-for-profit leaders are in Iwu’s pockets and have become part of his enlarged scam aimed at deceiving Nigerians into believing that Iwu’s INEC is now ready to conduct free and fair elections.
Iwu has a troubled history. In early 2007, Saharareporters investigated his academic background and found that his first degree, with which he sought and gained admission into University of Bradford in London, was fake, as he forged it from a university in Younde, Cameroun. Also in 1992, Iwu made away with $50,000 belonging to a US bank–CITIBANK-after claiming that he thought the monies, which were mistakenly credited to his account after he had deposited a $5,000 check, were from a grant.
According to our findings, Iwu also scammed the US government of grant monies running into millions of dollars through a US-based not-for-profit after he claimed at a conference that he could produce the cure for the dreaded Ebola disease.
Download full details of Maurice Iwu's scam here>>>
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