On
Friday, the United States department of justice announced that Allen Onyema, the chief executive officer of Air Peace, one of the leading airlines in Nigeria,
had been indicted for money laundering.
The US authorities, which have reportedly
issued warrant for Onyema’s arrest said he used several fraudulent letters of
credit to American banks and initiated wire transfers to the tune of $44.9
million between 2010 and 2018.
The funds were reportedly transferred from
the Nigerian bank accounts of organizations founded by Onyema. They include
Foundation for Ethnic Harmony, International Center for Non-Violence and Peace
Development, All-Time Peace Media Communications Limited, and Every Child
Limited.
The Nigerian businessman has since denied
the allegation, saying he is ready to clear his name.
But as far back as 2014, Diepreye
Dikibo, spokesman of the ex-Militant Leaders Forum in the Niger Delta, alleged
that Onyema and Kingsley Kuku, a former adviser to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan
on Niger Delta Affairs, used funds meant for the amnesty programme to float Air
Peace.
Kuku was the coordinator of the project
while Onyema was a consultant.
In a statement, Dikibo alleged that Onyema’s Foundation
for Ethnic Harmony was one of the biggest beneficiaries of contracts from
presidential amnesty programme.
Below is the full statement from the
spokesman of the ex-militant leaders:
Initially, there were rumors
that Air Peace, a new Airline whose aircraft have recently been cited at Lagos
Airports belong to the First Lady Patience Faka Jonathan. That is all not
true. We believe at this moment that those who churned out the story that the
Airlines belonged to the First Lady did so deliberately to hide the truth and
to mislead the people.
The
truth did not take too long to come out. Business concerns owned by Allen
Onyema, a Lagos based businessman, colleague and close confidant of the Special
adviser to the President on Niger Delta & Chairman, Presidential Amnesty
Programme Kingsley Kuku has not been confirmed as responsible for the Airlines
and more to that, Allen Onyema has now publicly confirmed that he is the
Chairman of the Air Peace Airlines.
Allen
Onyeama’s business outfit handled the demobilization and orientation of former
Niger Delta militants which cost billions of Naira to run. Allen Onyema has
also been responsible for high valued training contracts (running into
billions) in the areas of welding training as well as aviation training for the
Presidential Amnesty Programme in countries such as South Africa, The United
States and Dubai.
Kingsley Kuku, Allen Onyema
with House of Reps Committee Members on the Niger Delta visiting Proclad
Academy, Dubai (Where Allen Onyema’s business outfit ICNPD) is training Niger
Delta youths in Welding for millions of dollars.
Kingsley
Kuku, Allen Onyema with House of Reps Committee Members on the Niger Delta
visiting Proclad Academy, Dubai (Where Allen Onyema’s business outfit ICNPD) is
training Niger Delta youths in Welding for millions of dollars. The appointment
of Kingsley Kuku as SA, Niger Delta & Chairman of the Amnesty Programme in
January 2011, was a huge blessing for Allen Onyema as it gives him automatic
access to a monster chunk of the more sixty billion naira allocated to the
amnesty programme yearly.
Two
of Allen Onyeama’s NGOs which also double as business outfits are known to be
the biggest beneficiary of large value Presidential Amnesty Contracts and we
can confirm that none of these outfits has any ties to the First Lady Patience
Jonathan.
They include the Foundation for
Ethnic Harmony in Nigeria (FEHN) and the International Center for Non-violence
& Peace Development (ICNPD).
All
the contracts awarded to Allen Onyema and his business run into millions of
dollars and are all grossly inflated and over valued in a manner designed to
short change the Amnesty Programme and steal the billions of naira yearly
allocated to the manage the amnesty program me in the Niger Delta.
Sources close to Kingsley Kuku
and Allen Onyeama say that Kingsley Kuku’s fears that the President might not
return in 2015 and the need to settle his future spurred Kuku and Onyeama to
start the Airlines on time rather than wait for the Presidential election in
2015.
Over
time, Ex-militant leaders in the Niger Delta had spoken up about the rot in the
Presidential Amnesty Programme but were not listened to.
Rather,
a band of lesser known and less credible leaders are being patronized by the
Amnesty Programme and paid to issue press releases that threaten mayhem to
Nigerians if President Jonathan is not elected in 2015 as though it was their
votes that brought him to power in 2011.
As
a group of committed leaders of the Niger Delta, we have over time, resolved to
work with all Nigerians for the success of President Jonathan in carrying out
his responsibilities as a son of the Niger Delta, President of Nigeria and a
father to all Nigerians. The journey to success in 2015 will be done in
collaboration with all well-meaning Nigerians because we believe, like many
other Nigerians, that President Jonathan means well.
In
the times past, we spoke about the false records of militants that the Amnesty
Office parades but we were ignored.
We
exposed the faulty award of scholarships to so-called Niger Deltans and we were
again ignored even when we made it clear that Kingsley Kuku had been awarding
scholarships to girlfriends, children of girlfriends and many others who had no
business with the Niger Delta and that scholarship award.
Novena
University is one of the Universities used by the Presidential amnesty
Programme to train program recipients YET the children of the owner of Novena
University are also included in the Amnesty Programme.
A
scion of a former political rival to President Jonathan, Timi Alaibe, Kingsley
Kuku was not the first choice for the position of Special Adviser to the
President on Niger Delta & Chairman, Presidential Amnesty Programme. The
first choice candidate had been Dr. Felix Tuodolor, an Ijaw intellectual and highly
cerebral first President of the Ijaw Youth Council. Felix Tuodolor was upstaged
because there was a belief in certain Ijaw and Niger Delta quarters that he
will not ‘SHARE’ money for the boys.
Kingsley Kuku is, who likes
to brag that he has the Chief of Army Staff in his pocket and that he settles
the President’s wife very regularly. Quite sordid.
In
January 2013, It was Allen Onyema who paid tens of thousands of dollars to the
Obama campaign support group to enable Onyema and Kingsley Kuku to enjoy a
photo-shot with President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and their wives.
Clearly,
It would therefore not be difficult to start an airline with such heavy financial
support.
Question
is, will Kuku and his Air Peace Airlines recruit all the Pilots they say that
Amnesty has trained? Or will they allow the poor fellows to go out there
themselves and make bread for their families?
Our
collected call to the President is that Kingsley Kuku be immediately removed as
SA to the President on Niger Delta & Chairman, Presidential Amnesty
Programme. A reject a thief lording over the collective destiny of the Niger
Delta and we call on the President to do the needful as a matter of urgency.
Kingsley
Kuku’s loyalty is clearly not to the President but to his pockets and to his
former lords.
A
word has always been good enough for the wise.
IF
our call is not heeded, we will announce a withdrawal of our support for
President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in the 2015 elections. We have suffered
enough.
Copyright 2019 TheCable.
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