Romance Scam: Arrest Of LG Chairman Shows Soludo’s Poor Judgment

“This trend underscores the atrocious decay and carelessness under Prof. Soludo as governor.” —Ebuka Onyekwelu

Anambra State has once again been dragged into an avoidable embarrassment with the indictment of Ogbaru Local Government Area Chairman, Mr. Franklin Nwadialo, in the United States, over $3.3 million in internet fraud. The judgment entered in a Washington district court was based on a case brought by the Government of the United States of America against Franklin Nwadialo. The case revealed that Nwadialo was involved in romance scams and schemes that defrauded individuals living in the United States, and also manipulated one of his victims to receive funds from another victim and then transfer them to accounts controlled by him.

That a government headed by Prof. Chukwuma Soludo is now faced with this disturbing and deeply upsetting situation, speaks to the level of seriousness that goes into the governance processes of the present Anambra State Government. In any case, there are two major reasons why Anambra State Government cannot be absolved from this.

The first is that wire fraud, or “yahoo” is easily exposed by minimal interrogation. Young people involved in fraud do not require any serious rigorous process to be exposed.

A basic causal interface or normal interview would convincingly expose any young person who makes a living through fraud. This is for two reasons; money does not grow on trees. Secondly, every legitimate wealth has a source, and any wealth without a legitimate source is questionable. Governor Soludo had promised to ensure that he would hire the very best to manage Anambra resources in the best possible interest of the people of Anambra State.

Yet, he picked and hired a local government chairman who is involved in internet fraud. Something anybody who knew him can freely confide in the governor. The judgment document of Frankline’s indictment showed that for the case in point, to the knowledge of the US Government, he started the wire fraud in December 2019 till December 2023. Shockingly, an active internet fraudster was handpicked by the current government of Anambra State to head a local government as critical as Ogbaru with a severe and chronic case of criminality and restiveness. What then would an internet fraudster model for the teaming directionless youths in that local government?

Even more disturbing is the fact that this case has unwittingly revealed the nature of the relationship between Governor Soludo and security agents in the state. The Department of State Service – DSS, usually has sufficient information on any individual in the public space or at least can easily pull all necessary information about an individual’s risk level to the state or government. In fact, it is not out of place for prospective government appointees to be dropped because they failed security tests. Therefore, it means that the governor did not seek security background checks of his appointees from relevant security agencies such as the Police and the DSS. This development brings Soludo’s relationship with security agencies in Anambra state to question.

The second reason the Anambra State Government under Soludo cannot be exonerated from this indictment is that Franklin Nwadialo, like the other local government chairpersons in Anambra State currently parading as “elected,” were allegedly singlehandedly picked by Governor Soludo and were all returned as local government chairpersons. The September 28, 2024, local government election in Anambra state was a monumental travesty, worse than anything the state has witnessed. In effect, Franklin Nwadialo is an appointee of Prof. Chukwuma Soludo foisted on Ogbaru local government area as its chairman. His position as the local government chairman of Ogbaru is not the choice of Ogbaru voters. So, the people of Ogbaru are completely innocent as they did not vote Nwadialo into office. He was picked by the governor and imposed on them without due diligence.

This indictment of a serving senior government official for internet fraud under the current Anambra State Government is the first of its kind. It significantly underscores the atrocious decay and carelessness thriving under Prof. Soludo as governor. Till this moment, the government has yet to respond to the development. However, that a government would appoint an indicted fraudster into an executive position amidst a plethora of hardworking youths of honest means, is suggestive of a deeper challenge that such a government has not only lost the ability to correctly assess its employees but has restricted itself within its own truths.

Ebuka Onyekwelu, journalist and trained political scientist, is a writer and columnist with the West African Pilot News

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