Trailer loads of rice and cows are arriving at the National Headquarters of the People’s Democratic Party in Abuja as politicians and others currying favour try to out-do each other to win the affection of members of the Secretariat.
Trailer loads of rice and cows are arriving at the National Headquarters of the People’s Democratic Party in Abuja as politicians and others currying favour try to out-do each other to win the affection of members of the Secretariat.
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So far, more than 3,000 bags of rice have been shared by the leadership of the party. As of Tuesday, there were 19 cows within the compound of the party in Abuja.
Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State was one of the first to make a splash, sending in a trailer with registration number XC3543 AU bearing 600 bags of rice.
Vice President Atiku Abubakar was also early, with an undetermined number of bags of rice sent to the party leadership.
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Thoughtfully, he then sent another 400 bags of rice and two fat cows specifically to the staff. Evidently knowing the greed that runs his own party, Atiku urged the leadership, led by Alhaji Kawu Baraje, not to tamper with the gifts he meant for the workers.
Wasting no time, the staff sharply slaughtered the animals and shared them.
One of the more curious deliveries on record has come from the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), a non-political federal body, which sent two-trailer loads of rice to the party. It is not clear under what sub-head the body financed the gifts, or whether they may have been part of a seizure made by its officials somewhere. It was learnt, however, that one of the trailer-loads was diverted by the leadership of the party, which demanded that it be sold and the proceeds shared among them, thereby proving Atiku’s theory to be correct.
SaharaReporters has established that the NCS did not send anything to any other political party in the country, of which there are 56.
The Comptroller-General of the NCS is Alhaji Abdullahi Inde Dikko, who was appointed in 2009 by the former President, Umaru Yar’Adua. Mr. Inde Dikko was married to the sister of Yar’Adua’s wife, Turai.
On October 22, 2009, Chief Magistrate O. O. Oyewunmi of the Abuja Chief Magistrates Court ordered the police to investigate and report as soon as possible, a criminal complaint filed at the court against Comptroller-General Abdullahi Inde Dikko by one Olajide Oyewole Ibrahim and activist lawyer Festus Keyamo that the new Customs boss was thriving professionally on forged educational credentials.
Mr. Inde Dikko never bothered to deny the allegations. The police never filed the report demanded by the Abuja court. The court never asked for the report it demanded.
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