* Group’s name not registered with CAC
* No such account found in Fidelity Bank records
While about sixty support groups claimed to have contributed the sum of N30m to Governor Soludo’s re-election and presented a cheque to him, investigations have revealed a very conspicuous foul pay, DAUDA ISMAIL writes.
Sixty support groups, under the auspices of All Soludo Support Groups, ASSG, revealed that they had contributed N30 million to ensure the re-election of Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra.
Speaking on behalf of the support groups, Chinedu Nwoye, expressed the group’s readiness to collaborate with the governor.
Mr Nwoye said that the groups raised N30 million to rally support for Governor Soludo’s second term bid.
According to him, the support of the group is organic and for the greater good of the state.
“Men, women and youths donated what they have for us to raise the sum of N30 million. We are presenting the cheque to you to support and encourage you to go for second term.
“Mr Governor, we have already seen the promise land and you cannot leave us at this level, we plead you take us there,” he said.
However, investigations by this medium revealed that the name, All Soludo Support Groups, ASSG, is not registered at the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC. Speaking to our reporter, a staff of the commission said, “I think you only wasted your time and I’m surprised that you came to conduct a search for a name like this.”
When asked why he spoke that way, he continued: “You see, the CAC registers names of companies of various levels such as business names, companies limited by shares, business conglomerates etc, as well as Non Governmental Organisations, NGOs. So such a name cannot be registered by the CAC in the first place.”
In addition, the ASSG had said that the donations were domiciled in a Fidelity Bank account. But responding, an accountant, Mr Ajaka Samuel said: “Except you are opening a personal account of any category including the current account, you can never open any corporate account without evidence of registration with the CAC; that is the rule by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. So if anyone tells you he or she opened a corporate account with a name not registered with the CAC without evidence of registration, then you know that such a person is not telling the truth.”
In a similar vein, Chinazo Ugochukwu, who simply introduced herself as a concerned Anambra indegene, said: “It is laughable that a phoney and unregistered group can claim to have a bank account that holds about N30 million. How on earth did they open a corporate account when they do not, and cannot have a CAC registration?
“So if there is no such account with Fidelity or any other bank for that matter, how can they tell us that they made any contribution at all?
“I believe that if this had happened in most other clime, leaders of such a group would have been invited for questioning to disclose the whereabouts of such a huge sum of money.”
Another respondent, John Njokwu said: “It is not possible for any market woman, man or youth to have contributed a dime to a non-existent bank account. If that is so, Mr Chinedu Nwoye and his cronies should come and tell us how they got that Fidelity Bank cheque they presented to Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo whom he said ha has known since he was the governor of the CBN. And surprisingly, even the governor didn’t notice that the CAC couldn’t have registered such a name either as a company or as an NGO, in which case they could never have been able to open a corporate account with any bank.
“It’s obvious everything that happened that day was staged and Mr Nwoye and his cronies forgot that Nigerians would easily recognise such a lie. It’s just appalling!”
