PETER MBAH’S BRUSH WITH EFCC: DEBUNKING THE LIES OF OPPOSITION POLITICIANS. ‘We have competence and character.If you don’t have integrity, the banks will not give you money’ – Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, October 13, 2022.

Peter Ndubuisi Mbah colonised the attention of the world last week – both at home and abroad, all attention was on him. Nigerians all over the world tuned in to watch the latest Darling of business and investment. He has achieved what was hitherto considered impossible. At Lekki Free Trade Zone, magnificent Oil Tanks stood in supreme glory – another emblem of the legendary business prowess of the Igbo people.

Because of one man endowed with powerful imaginative ability, and blessed with courage, the world, especially the players in Oil and Gas breathed a sigh of relief. It is now possible to off-load a three hundred million capacity Oil Tanker in 24 hours, a task that used to consume 30 solid days. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah!

While opposition politicians were still priming their bows to starting shooting aimless arrows, it came out that Nigeria’s first off-shore petroleum terminal was worth one billion US dollars and was financed through bank loan. Those whose stock-in-trade it is to ascribe Peter Mbah’s exploits to corruption and embezzlement were flummoxed. The manure for their lies seems to have emptied out.

But how did Mbah make his money? To begin with, Peter Ndubuisi Mbah apparently is not of an impoverished background.  I don’t know how many families in Nigeria can afford to send their children to Ghana to study. Mbah obtained his first degree in Law at the University of East London. And he couldn’t have travelled on scholarship because securing funding to do first degree in the UK is rare. 

Mbah’s spell in Government was as Chief of Staff and as Commissioner for Finance. While he was with Dr Chimaroke Nnamani, Mbah was rated among the first ten Commissioners of Finance Nationwide. Till today, many of those who were major players in that Government still testify that Mbah had a fantastic working relationship with people around him.

So, why did he decide to turn his back on all the glitter of power despite the fact that he had the benediction of key players in Lion Building and could easily have progressed in politics? Why did Mbah bid farewell to politics to begin personal hustling instead of scheming and scrambling for political power? Nothing but sheer courage and self-belief! Perhaps, if Mbah had sunk and perished in the shark-infested Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Industry he would have been consigned to history as a starry-eyed, over-ambitious youth.

Sadly, politicians who are not capable of running a successful pure water factory are the ones distracting us with stories of Mbah’s brush with EFCC just to beam attention away from his legendary capabilities as an investor and wealth creator. Truth be told, anybody who has the slightest idea of how Government operates would never be surprised that Mbah was invited by EFCC alongside his Principal. To all intents and purposes, he was at one point the Commissioner for Finance. 

But did the invitation of Mbah alongside his Principal by the EFCC make him corrupt? By no means no! Let’s be clear, if the Chairman of a Board or Parastatal or any MDAs for that matter, is hurled into EFCC custody today, the Director of Finance (DFA) is not likely to be spared? It does not matter whether the Finance person has a dime in his or her pocket or not – he or she must answer questions.

Those who want to deflect attention from Mbah’s heroic capacity as an investor and wealth creator are simply doing so out of mischief. They know the truth. Mbah’s brush with EFCC was as a servant in a Government in which he was taking orders, and had no Executive Powers.

What’s more, Ndubuisi Mbah was rigorously investigated by the EFCC, yet till today not even a piece of furniture was seized from him as proceeds of corrupt enrichment. If Mbah had embezzled Government money, why did PINNACLE begin so frail with a slender financial base and in a nondescript studio apartment with a three-man staff? Why did PINNACLE begin with almost nothing but brain, confidence and courage? Why did it take fourteen solid years of hard struggle, of penny-to-penny savings and re-investment, of astute financial management and economic intelligence to bring it to the present height?

Today, Ndubuisi Mbah is an employer of labour controlling 25% of the entire shares in the Oil and Gas Industry? How many of our politicians will ever have the courage to leave the comfort zone of politics to try their luck elsewhere? Talk is cheap! It’s action that distinguishes the man. Those who have never created wealth have no place in modern politics. States are now run like business empires.

We have all seen how Peter Mbah sources funds for his business. He has integrity and character, and has earned the trust of financial institutions. So, he has laid to rest the lies of opposition politicians.   While Peter Mbah was on the global stage radiating energy, ability and intelligence, the opposition politicians were holed up at home searching for materials to manure their lies. We are now wiser. 

Peter Mbah has brought glory and pride to the Igbo Nation, and reinforced the age-old belief that the Igbo are the leading light of business and investment in Nigeria. We are happy that he is coming from among us. 

In a matter of months, Ndubuisi Mbah, to the glory of God, will be saddled with the responsibility of leading our dear Coal City State. Thankfully, it has pleased God that we shall all be witnesses to the new Enugu. Tomorrow is Here is not political mantra; it is an Action-plan.

God bless Enugu State!

May God protect, guide and prosper Mbah/Ossai 2023 project.

Dr. Hyginus Eze