• Intrigues as wife of ex- Delta governor, James Ibori’s CSO, fights to keep property
• Pundits frown at acquisition process, call it outright robbery
• Why new NITEL boss, Tunde Ayeni, may take the property from her
The roaring whisper of nemesis eventually screeches into a chilling song – when it does, the closet fraud and indeterminate racketeer, lose their fabled charm and invincibility. Like loathsome pathogen, they become prey to unforgiving Karma. This perhaps explains the sad plight of Nelly Udele, the wife of ex-Delta state governor, James Ibori’s former aide, Ejase-Tobrise Udele – the latter was former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to Ibori.
Recently, the adhoc committee on sale of government property sold Nelly a property located at Plot 697, House 134, Aminu Kano Crescent, Abuja in suspicious circumstances; she was asked to pay N7.5 million for a property worth N500 million. The committee handed over the property to her on February 2, 2016 after she made the payment.
Nelly and her husband allegedly used the former governor’s contacts to acquire the property which belongs to NITEL, a moribund public telecoms corporation. Nelly enjoyed the pleasure of ownership of the property until NITEL was sold. Then, her happiness was cut short as the new owners of NITEL, Tunde Ayeni, Chairman of NATCOM and Skye Bank Nigeria PLC is ready to take over the public utility’s properties.
The utility’s new owner is telling her to pay the real worth of the property valued at N500 million if she is indeed serious about owning it. Consequently, Nelly is aggrieved. She is screaming blue murder and have resorted to desperate measures to prevent the property’s new owner from reclaiming it from her. Recently, she approached local online media in her campaign to bully incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari and national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to prevail on NITEL’s new owner, Ayeni , to back off the property. According to her, documents in her possession reveal that the said property was not part of the core NITEL properties that Ayeni is claiming ownership of.
Nelly claimed that the property was advertised and was bided for by her. She said she won the bid and subsequently made payments into the account of the Federal Government after which the property was handed over to her. Thus she claims to be the rightful owner of the property which she took possession of on February 4, 2016. This, she argued, was in compliance with the approved rules and guidelines by the Federal Policy Executive Council Monetization Policy official gazette No 82 Vol. 92 of 15th August, 2005.
However, pundits are of the opinion that Nelly ought to know that, she acquired the property at a ridiculous price. If the real worth of the property is N500 million, paying a paltry N7.5 million for it amounts to a travesty of due process and an outright robbery of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
