Delta State:Emmanuel Uduaghan drains the state dry like his GodFather Ibori
James Ibori is generally acclaimed as the man who bankrolled Pres. Umar Musa Yar’Adua’s presidential election. Soon after the elections and before Pres. Yar’Adua took full charge of the ship of state, Ibori was arrested, detained and arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), then headed by Nuhu Ribadu. Although Ibori had vowed to remove Ribadu from office, as exclusively reported by Elendureports.com, EFCC arraigned Ibori for corruption before he could pull the strings that led to the downfall of his nemesis, Ribadu.
According to some knowledgeable politicians in Delta State, Ibori needed to install his “own person” as the governor of Delta State to ensure that he was protected from that “angle”. He chose his cousin whom he had appointed commissioner for health and later Secretary to Delta State Government. Emmanuel Uduaghan, a medical doctor was James Ibori’s handpicked successor and the man spared nothing to ensure that he got his cousin elected governor.
Ibori also had issues with the Metropolitan Police of London because of assets he acquired in the United Kingdom during his tenure as governor of Delta State. Elendureports.com, in 2005, exclusively reported Ibori’s assets in the United Kingdom and other places.
The trial of James Ibori in London led to seizure, by the authorities, the property of his then SSG and now Delta State governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, a source alleges. The source alleged that 139 King Fisher Way, London, NW10 8TQ is a property owned by Gov. Uduaghan. The said property was designated by a London Court as “part of proceeds of crime.”
Gov. Uduaghan, who was reputed to be worth about N3b when he became the governor of Delta State, did not have a history of wealth. According to sources in Delta State, Uduaghan worked in Delta Steel Company as a medical doctor and later established his own clinic in Warri. The clinic was not “a great financial success” as to put him in the league of very rich people in Delta before he was appointed the commissioner for health, Delta State. Elendureports.com spoke with a Delta businessman who claims Uduaghan approached him for business months after he was appointed health commissioner.
Elendureports.com has also discovered some properties in the Washington, DC area tied to Uduaghan. The properties are located at Millennium Square. PH 3-A North and 5-C North, 1155 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20037 are properties allegedly owned by Uduaghan. However, the Uduaghan who owns these properties is Victor, a pediatrician based in Newark, New Jersey.
Victor Uduaghan, an assistant professor at New Jersey Medical School graduated with an MBBS degree from the University of Benin in 1994. He did his residency between 1999-2002 at Mount Sinai School of Medicine at Jersey City Medical Center, Jersey City, New Jersey.
On the 10th day of May, 2001, 2200 M Street LLC sold apartment 5-C North, 1155 23rd street, N.W. Washington, DC 20037 to Flatwillow L.L.C for the sum of $1,180,000.00. The apartment consists of 2 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, and occupies a space of 1,859 sq ft. However, the apartment was registered as sold on June 19, 2001. The current value of the property is about $1,173,690.00.
About six weeks later, 2200 M Street LLC sold another apartment to Flatwillow L.L.C. The cost of apartment PH 3-A, 1155 23rd street, N.W. Washington, DC 20037 was $3,250,000.00. This apartment consists of 4 bedrooms, 4.5 baths and occupies a space of over 3000 sq ft. The deed shows it was sold on June 27, 2001, however, our investigations show there was a sale of this same apartment on July 17, 2001.
According to court documents, Millennium Square is supposed to be affiliated to the Ritz Carlton hotel chain and had promised “the highest quality, most luxurious building in Washington DC.”
Our sources allege that the two apartments mentioned above belong to Victor Uduaghan, the younger brother of the Delta State governor. From all available records, Victor Uduaghan was doing his residency at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New Jersey in 2001 when the properties were purchased.
The only plausible explanation, according to sources, is that Emmanuel Uduaghan, who in 2001 was a member of the Ibori administration used his younger to buy these multimillion dollar properties in Washington, DC.
Our search revealed that Victor Uduaghan owns a property on 1155 23rd street, NW Washington DC. Documents in our possession listed him as having a DC area phone number. When this reporter called the number it was disconnected. Victor Uduaghan’s name is not on the list of residents at the Millennium Square.
Some of the prominent residents at the Millennium Square are: Majority Leader of the United States Senate, Sen. Harry Reid, Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey and the publisher of Thisday Newspapers, Nduka Obaigbena. Obaigbena bought his apartment in 2006 for $1,950,000 from another Nigerian. A former Nigerian governor owns some apartments in the building. We are withholding his name for now.
Elendureports.com contacted Gov. Emmanuel Uduaghan in the course of writing this story. This reporter sent him a text informing him about this story and asking for his comments. About 30 minutes after we sent the text message we were contacted by 2 top officials of the Delta State government. It was suggested to us that a face to face interview with the governor could be arranged. We insisted on a telephone conversation with the governor. One official promised to get back to us. As at the time of writing this story, about a month later, there has been no contact from anybody.
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