There is a popular saying that, "Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad". This can be said to be the case of Mr. Obinna Oriaku, a former commissioner for Finance in Abia State, who has been 'dancing naked in the market square' lately.

Of a truth, the comments credited to Mr. Oriaku making the rounds, where he made some unfounded and illogical allegations against the State and its treasury which he presided over for years, is disappointing and sad for a supposed “honourable”, to say the least.

Oriaku told the world how he was supposedly collecting N1.6 million to attend the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) disbursement monthly for 4 years; how Abia State House of Assembly was purportedly being run with the sum of N140 million as against what he termed ‘the standard elsewhere’; how each member of the House bagged and pocketed monthly the whooping sum of N9 to 10 million and other sundry such claims.

All these cash disbursements were sanctioned by Obinna Oriaku as Commissioner of Finance from 2015 to 2019 from what we know. This leaves us with the question which is: If Obinna Oriaku is or was financially prudent and disciplined a cause he now champions, why did he wait till he saw and sat out his tenure as Commissioner before coming up with his unfounded claims?

Ever since he was removed as the Commissioner for Finance, Obinna Oriaku has been behaving like a bull let loose in a Chinese shop. It is understandable because he thought he was going to stay in the office forever. Forgetting that every position, including life itself, is transient, Oriaku has allowed his sulking to snowball into anger and frustration such that he has used every opportunity to attack the very system that brought him out of obscurity and poverty. Just like the nwanza (bird) which challenged its chi to a duel after over feeding itself, Obinna Oriaku thinks he has made money and therefore can brazenly challenge Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu and the system.

His recent ranting on a programme called “UNCENSORED” has exposed him as a greedy, melo-dramatic and egoistic opportunist who is not ashamed of his past. If he had any sense of shame, he would have been more circumspect in the self-indicting allegations he threw against the State government. It is a pity that a man who served as a Commissioner for Finance could not brandish any iota of achievement apart from stopping some people from receiving their salaries in cash!

In his warped tantrums, he had equally alleged that each member of the Abia Assembly receives N3 million for the passage of annual budgets while their take home pay is purportedly N10m as against N1m paid to their Ebonyi counterparts. He also alleged that the House receives an overhead of N140 million (annually or monthly) as against Enugu’s N36 million.

Assuming, but not conceding, that he is right, why did he not raise the alarm while he was the Commissioner? What is his motive of inciting people against an Assembly that is hailed by the people of Abia State as the most vibrant and dynamic in recent times? Again, what does the law say about their constitutional entitlement? If indeed, he participated in bribing the Assembly, it presumes that he has proof and that he is also guilty of a crime.

When Obinna submitted that he, alongside the Accountant General and the Auditor General were collecting between 1.4 and 1.6 million monthly to attend FAAC meetings, what did he want us to do with the ‘information’? Did he for once refuse the money? Has he paid back the more than N60 million he collected for the 48 months? What kind of hypocrisy is that? If he considers that payment to be unlawful, why did he not complain officially?

In any case, is it not shameful that as Commissioner for Finance, he wasted millions of naira paying consultants to pay civil servants salaries. Can he be honest and tell Abians how much he paid LOIDANT CONSULTANT for their services and how the money was shared between him and the company. Is it also not curious that as a Commissioner, his job was only to disburse funds while he made no effort to present Exco Memo on how to increase the IGR of the State? Yet he alleged that IGR was diverted to private pockets.

Be that as it may, can Obinna Oriaku tell us why parastatals and pensioners were owed for two years whereas the Commissioner before him ensured that they were paid? Who is to be blamed if gratuities had not been paid for several years? What efforts did he make to change the narrative? What policy initiative did he bring to the table to assist the government of the day to serve the people better?

Is it not funny that somebody who claimed to have served as Commissioner does not know that recurrent expenditure is often higher than capital expenditure in budgets even at the Federal level? That goes to confirm the fears that Obinna Oriaku was a misfit in that office. Again where is the Exco Memo he sent to the governor concerning the issues?

Well, apart from the frustration of losing his job and the attendant hunger, Obinna Oriaku might just be jealous that his successor in Office is doing better than him in less than one year after his appointment. Parastatals are now getting their subventions monthly. Pensioners are now being paid promptly. And the state is saving millions of naira because no consultant is being used to pay salaries. And more than that, the Commissioner for Finance, Dr Aham Uko is not only disbursing funds, he is also formulating policies on ways of increasing the state’s IGR and enhancing the financial status of the state generally.

It is unfortunate that Obinna Oriaku did not tell us the one man whom he accused of running the whole affairs of the state and dictate what happens. That man can only be the Governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu. He was elected by the people of Abia State. Any official serves at his pleasure. He reserves the right to relive anybody of his appointment just as he did to Obinna Oriaku. That power is not shared. That Oriaku was powerful as a commissioner did not mean he could share power with the governor. He abused the privilege extended to him by a benevolent man. And when his excesses became unbearable, he was shown the gate. That is the reality Obinna Oriaku. Live with it.

We are convinced without any reasonable doubt that Oriaku’s sudden outbursts and attack on his former allies and the State reveals his personal conviction that they will not endorse him in his gubernatorial ambition after discovering how he looted the state dry as Commissioner in charge of the state finances, revenues, and commonwealth.

Abians are wiser and cannot be fooled by a man who came in as Commissioner of Finance empty-handed and left the office a billionaire. We sympathise with Oriaku who is disillusioned, disgruntled and depressed because he was relieved of his duties when his incompetence and inadequacies became so glaring and unbearable.

Football star Russell Wilson and his wife

Ciara, the Grammy-winning performer, are the latest wealthy philanthropists to back a charter school — though the celebrity couple say they’re not focused on the politically charged school choice issue and undeterred by challenges that have plagued Washington state’s charter sector. Through their Why Not You Foundation, Wilson and Ciara are contributing about $1.75 million to rebrand an existing charter program known as Cascade Midway Academy, just south of Seattle.

It’s where the couple have their home base because Wilson plays quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks football team. The Cascade high school program was set to debut this year before the pandemic forced founders Garth Reeves and Scott Canfield to delay opening. In need of cash, they reached out to Wilson’s foundation recently and landed the partnership. Canfield said the superstar couple’s generosity will be honored with the school’s name change to Why Not You Academy but that Wilson and Ciara won’t be involved in the school’s day-to-day operations.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Wilson and Ciara said they jumped at the opportunity to help launch the school. It focuses on academics, personalized student plans and internships and mentorships for underserved Black and brown students. The couple said they hope this will be the first of many Why Not You Academy sites across the country. “I’m really confident...about the team that we have here and how we’re building things out,” Ciara said. “We’re passionate about everything. We’re all in on this.”

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The Why Not You Academy is expected to open in fall 2021, just as the deadline to authorize new charter schools is set to expire in the state. Washington currently has 12 charter schools open with 3,639 students, according to records from the state education department. Four others are authorized but not operating — either shut down because of COVID or are still building their programs for future enrollment. Washington’s charter law allows for up to 40 publicly funded, privately run charter schools to set up by 2021.

Besides the difficulties the pandemic created for schools, the charter school environment in Washington state has been destabilized for years by a barrage of legal, financial and enrollment uncertainties. While the total number of schools and students have steadily increased each year, nearly a third of charter programs with students have shut down since the state’s first charter school opened in 2014.

“We can’t speak for other schools but great progress does come with setbacks,” Canfield said. “Our focus is on what we can do and what we can control.” Washington was among the last U.S. states to adopt a charter school law allowing privately run schools to operate on contracts, or charters, and receive taxpayer money. The state’s hard-fought and long-troubled path here to permitting charter schools included three failed ballot measures before a fourth try was narrowly approved in 2012. Then there were two major lawsuits challenging the law before the Supreme Court ruled in support of charter schools, settling the matter in 2018.

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Charter schools are not subject to the same rules or standards governing traditional public schools, so those who embrace them promote them as hubs of innovation and alternatives for students struggling in typical school systems, particularly children in poor, urban areas. Studies on the schools’ academic success are mixed. Critics, particularly teacher unions, say charter schools lack accountability and transparency expected of public institutions and drain much-need taxpayer money away from the neighborhood public schools that educate the vast majority of all U.S. students. While Democrats and Republicans have supported charter schools in the past, the issue of school choice has become immensely polarizing politically.

Democrats are now largely unified against President Donald Trump’s administration and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’ priorities on charters and private school vouchers. DeVos has been villainized as a crusader bent on privatizing the U.S. education system. The wealthy Republican heiress has long slammed the public school status quo as the ultimate roadblock to equity for the nation’s most vulnerable students. Wilson, joining a long line of celebrities that have launched schools , said the couple’s charter school financing is not a political statement.He instead pointed to their foundation’s education philanthropy work that spans the globe.

Among the youth-focused programs Wilson and Ciara have supported are the Seattle-based Rainier Scholars program that helps low-income students of color prepare for college and the Rwanda Girls Initiative, which runs a science and technology-focused boarding school for girls in Africa. “We’ve been so committed over the past four years to education,” Wilson said. “This isn’t anything political for us.”

Ciara Celebrate

I Appeal To Endsars Protesters Not To Drag Pastors Or Take Protest To Churches

I will like to use this medium to appeal to Christians and churchgoers to keep the

House of God away from the EndSARS campaign. I strongly sympathize with those

who have suffered or lost their life to police brutality. However, dragging a

sacred place called the House of God into protests and social media campaigns is

strongly frowned at.

I've seen some tweets from some celebrity social media influencers begging for

the EndSARS protests to move to churches. They are worried about the silence of

pastors. First and foremost, pastors are entitled to maintain silence. They have

the right to speak and not to speak. Trying to force out a statement from them

concerning SARS is tantamount to bullying as seen in cancel culture which is now

in Nigeria.

Here is a tweet from singer Small Doctor calling for EndSARS placards inside

churches.

He said,

Tomorrow Is SundayThinking faceThere Will Be Church Services, Remember To

Hold Atleast One Of The #Endpolicebrutality #Endsars Banner Or Placard.

RAISE IT UP During Sermon, Our Pastors/Priests Must Talk About It. This Is A

Fight For All Raised fist#Endpolicebrutality #EndsarsNow #EndSars

https://mobile.twitter.com/iam_smalldoctor/status/1314912108413358080

This is a singer that was caught with an illegal gun, who has no morality, now

having the effrontery to tell pastors ordained by God what to preach in Church.

Simply because he successfully led a protest to the government house in Lagos,

he's now calling for EndSARS protests in church and the disruption of sermons

delivered by the Holy Spirit. Where is the fear of God?

Sahara Reporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore also shared the same ideology.

He said,

#EndSARS to our Christian brothers and sisters, if your pastor is not preaching

liberation tomorrow (Sunday), leave the church in protest, don’t pay no damn

tithes and /or offerings! And don’t forget to join an #EndSarsNow protest, it

is a Godly thing to do #RevolutionNow

https://mobile.twitter.com/YeleSowore/status/1315039632422297601