HOW VICTOR GIADOM SPEARHEADED FRAUD AT THE APC SECRETARIAT THAT CLEARED TONYE COLE AS GUBER ASPIRANT OF RIVERS APC: THE INSIDE STORY
More scandalous facts emerged yesterday on the controversy trailing Arch Tonye Dele Cole over NYSC certificate and the dubious role played by a member of the National Working Committee of the APC to push through his clearance as Rivers APC guber aspirant at the National secretariat of the party.
Arch. Tonye Dele Cole, a billionaire business associate of the Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, was audaciously conscripted as Rivers APC gubernatorial candidate after a predetermined sham indirect primary election in which the Minister personally supervised the ordination and emergence of his friend. Controversy has continued to trail the exercise as party faithful have vehemently said that Tonye Dele Cole has never been a member of the party.
The Next Edition Online can authoritatively reveal that Arch. Tonye Dele Cole originally submitted a nomination form to the APC in which he filled in his qualification as holder of a degree in architecture obtained from a Brazilian university. However, there was panic when his friend Rotimi Amaechi got to know that Mr. Cole didn’t have and didn’t submit any NYSC certificate with his qualification at the APC secretariat.
Fearing that Tonye Dele Cole may face disqualification, Amaechi angrily reacted by quickly drafting Dr. Dawari George into the governorship race against his will. The deft move was to forestall a free passage for Magnus Abe. Tonye Dele Cole was crossed and rattled by the reaction of his friend and started thinking of a way out of the quagmire. That was where one Chief Victor Giadom, said to be the Deputy National Secretary of the APC stepped in.
Chief Victor Giadom assured Rotimi Amaechi that he could turn the hand of the imminent disqualification of Mr. Cole using his contacts within the APC National Working Committee if some cash was made available and if Rotimi would agree to nominate him as running mate to Tonye Dele Cole. Rotimi Amaechi made over a million Dollars available and agreed to the second request without argument.
Guzzling with Dollars, Chief Victor Giadom got to work and through unprecedented bribery at the APC National secretariat, was able to surreptitiously withdraw the first set of Nomination Forms Tonye Dele Cole had submitted in which he filled in his degree as part of his qualification. Under irresistible inducement, a new set of intent and nomination forms where issued to Tonye Dele Cole (the one this medium published).
In the new nomination forms, Tonye Dele Cole deliberately omitted filling in his degree in architecture, instead preferring to enclose only his SSCE qualification in order not to be entangled in the NYSC certificate saga. The whole fraud was successful and no eyes were raised.
Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi has already fulfilled the second condition demanded by Chief Victor Giadom by naming him the running mate to Arch Tonye Dele Cole.
It would be recalled that two prominent members of the Buhari cabinet had been mired in hot waters owing to evading NYSC. Mrs Kemi Adeosun was forced to resign as Minister of Finance after it was revealed that she possess a fake NYSC certificate. Another cabinet member, Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, was screened out of the Oyo governorship race for not having an NYSC certificate.
Nigerians are already wondering why the APC adopted a different approach in the case of Tonye Dele Cole who possesses a degree in Architecture without NYSC certificate. Questions are being asked why he was cleared and the others not cleared for the same offense.
The last, certainly, has not be heard on this scandal.
