Sudden Riches of Felicia & Senator Adolphous Wabara

Sudden Riches of Felicia & Senator Adolphous Wabara
Wednesday, 19 October 2005

Felicia Wabara, the wife of the former Nigerian Senate President, Senator Aldolphous Wabara, purchased a house in New York a few months ago for one million dollars cash! This was reported two months ago by Sowore Omoyele and Jonathan Elendu both of ElenduReports

It, was widely reported at the time, that the purchase by Mrs. Wabara had no mortgage installments or some sorts of regular bank payments involved in said property in New York, United States. These revelations were first made by Messrs Sowore Omoyele and Jonathan Elendu, both of ElenduReports.com months ago and since then, the public focus has seemingly shifted to President Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku’s squabble, the Dukubo gangsters and other matters. The Wabaras controversy has seeped into oblivion, as it has hardly received a mention in the Nigerian media!

Unearthing the sudden wealth between Mrs. Felicia Wabara and Senator Wabara is important for several reasons they lived here in New York before moving to Nigeria where Mr. Wabara became a senator, in the Nigerian senate and at some point, the chairperson of senate subcommittee on Police Affairs, this is the committee that was supposed to act as an oversight and supervise, Nigeria Police that produced Tafa Balogun the disgraced corruption laden billionaire former Inspector General of Police. Some National Assembly members surely need to chat with the EFCC, in this instance, we may also recall that Senator Wabara was implicated or ensnarled in the Osujigate fifty-five million Naira Ministry of Education bribe for budget scandals.

Additionally, Mrs. Felicia Wabara was a president of a Nigerian cultural association here in New York, United States, where members constantly agonized about the abject conditions of Nigerians in Nigeria and most decent Nigerians would say ad nauseam, how they wish they could change things in Nigeria, just so that, abject poverty, that drove some of us here and continues to drive the desperations of throngs of Nigerians to foreign embassies, would be a thing of the past.

As a former president of this Nigerian cultural organization, Mrs. Wabara, even after relocating to Nigeria, with her newly minted senator husband, she was invited to an annual dinner event by this Nigeria cultural association and she was a featured speaker and this was about four years ago. And while her husband, Senator Wabara, headed the senate subcommittee on Police Affairs in Nigeria, she used, or more like, she abused the opportunity to engage in tirades against the federal government of Nigeria and she spoke in that vein and for longer than she was scheduled and a good number of those present, including myself, complained that she had turned the event into a political pulpit, in which she engaged in countless invectives and in the most acerbic tones!

Some of us had wondered about her behavior, especially as wife of a prominent senator, who in our view, was part of the current Nigerian federal government and as a member of the ruling party, the PDP. Mrs. Wabara raved and ranted in my presence, about corruption during that annual dinner by a Nigerian cultural association here in New York and even those in agreement with some of her expressed displeasure, wondered why she could not see the inappropriateness in her indecorous tirade against a federal government of which her husband is a prominent part.

And the complete hijack of the evening’s cultural program for her ad hoc lecture on corruption in Nigeria, at a forum that was entirely not the right setting for the gripes that she expressed and in also considering how time-consuming her speech was, as well as her choice of words.

Now, a reexamination springs a complete surprise between what Mrs. Wabara claimed she stood for then, which is irreconcilable with her apparent profiting from the Nigeria system that she roundly criticized at the time! It smacks of hypocrisy and doublespeak. And it has all the smudges of do as I say, and not what I do? I had previously forwarded the Wabara’s property purchase revelation to the EFCC and the ICPC and I will do so again, as a reminder, these anti corruption agencies in Nigeria are probably overwhelmed with so many petitions and myriad information.

But we must all be encouraged by the achievements of the EFCC in particular, and we must keep supplying information that will assist the corruption fight, it is a dauntless task! It is surely an arduous duty that requires sustained and focused efforts by all Nigerians.

This is therefore to serve notice to those engaged in corruption in Nigeria, against Nigeria’s national interests, that we will not let them forget their iniquities and their pillaging of Nigeria through their corrupt ways. We will not let them off the hook; we will not let them sleep easy.

Mrs. Felicia Wabara and Senator Wabara must explain to the Nigerian public, the source of their sudden wealth and property acquisition in New York, United States, even before they have a chance to also explain to the EFCC and the Nigerian judicial system!