A lawyer and Senatorial aspirant of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Enugu West district, Ogochukwu Onyema has petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), alleging extortion of N20 million through misrepresentation, undue influence and coercive pressure by members of the party’s Senatorial Screening Committee.

In the petition dated June 3, which he directed to the Chairman of the Commission, Onyema urged the commission to investigate the circumstances surrounding the collection of the said money and take appropriate steps to recover it and hold accountable any person found to have engaged in “conduct amounting to obtaining money by false pretence, fraudulent inducement, extortion, abuse of office and conspiracy”.

In the petition signed by his Solicitor, Ayomide Ahmed, which he made available to The Guardian, Onyema told the EFCC Chairman that following the release of party guidelines for Congresses and nomination processes, he had obtained the NDC’s Expression of Interest Form at the cost of N3 million which he completed.

According to him, prior to the screening, one of the leaders of the party in the state had forwarded the party’s account No. 1046691859 domiciled with FCMB and requested him to support the party through a voluntary development levy.

He said that “without any compulsion”, he had put the sum of N500,000 into the said account, adding however that during the screening exercise, the committee members had asked whether he had paid the party’s Development levy.

“Upon informing the committee that I paid N500,000, I was informed by the panel that Senatorial aspirants were expected to show capacity by contributing N20 million; House of Representative Aspirants N10 million, and Governorship Aspirants N50 million, as a pathway to candidacy.

“Although the payment was described as voluntary, the comments and conduct of the Screening Committee conveyed that payment of N20 million was necessary to demonstrate seriousness, capacity and eligibility for consideration as a senatorial candidate; especially as one of the Committee members who gave out forms to fill afterwards told me that it is the pathway to Senatorial ticket”, he stated.

Although, he claimed he protested the development, however, “believing the representation made by the Committee and relying on the authority of the Chairman and members, therefore, I proceeded to pay the additional sum of N20 million into the same party account and subsequently submitted evidence of the payment to the Screening Committee”.

Onyema, disclosed that several aspirants who neither paid nor comparable sums nor complied with similar financial demands were nevertheless being considered for nomination and sponsorship by the party. He added that the leadership resorted to holding meetings with their favoured candidates thereafter; a development that made him believe there was deliberate double standard to extort him.

“Furthermore, despite the completion of the screening exercise and primary election activities, no nomination form was issued to me, no screening report was published, and no official explanation was provided regarding the status of my candidature”, Onyema stated, adding that he would not have paid the additional N20 million had the representations not been made, especially after paying willingly paying N500,000 party support levy and N3million Expression of Interest fees.

He said that upon his resignation from the party on June 1, he had transmitted a letter to the party leadership, demanding a refund of the N20 million “unlawfully extorted” from him, without any response.

He has therefore asked the EFCC to investigate his claims, the roles by members of the party’s Screening Committee and go further to recover his money and bring to book those responsible for the alleged extortion in the party. (Guardian)