Egede USA: 40 Million Water Project & Controversial Implementation by Obori Adaka.

March 29, 2020.

Egede’s quest to solve the water problem dates back to the 1950s and 1960s and even 1970s but to no avail.  Not until an Italian Construction Company Bartolotti dug a sizable borehole in the course of their construction of Makurdi - 9th Mile road at New Site Primary School and handed it to Egede did we start to see light at the end of the tunnel .  

Indeed, it was a breath of fresh air for Egede and the adjoining communities who previously were trekking miles to fetch water from Awhum and Affa. This piece will briefly discuss Egede Community Association of America Inc. also known as Egede-USA, it’s goal to provide water to the people of Egede and the controversial mode of implementation adopted unconstitutionally by the so called 12 unstoppables. It ends with recommendations. 

Egede-USA’S Goal is Water for Egede!

As many Egede indigenes find themselves in the United States from the early 1970s and 1980s the singular developmental goal of an average Egede man and woman is to help in any and every way to make water readily available to the people.  This singular goal led to the formation of Egede Community Association of America Inc. 

After some years of inactivity, then President Chief Cosmos Offiah led the difficult work of reconstituting the association making it possible to expand to other cities.  Chief Offiah administration organized a successful convention in Washington DC. The association constituted a committee to review the constitution under the guidance of Atty Bibian Agada. 
After Chief Offiah rendered a comprehensive account of his long tenure and handed over about $14000.00 in addition to whatever was the proceeds of the convention.   

The association conducted free and fair elections.  Hon. Engr. Chris Okeh emerged as the President with Hon. Atty Bibian Agada as Secretary and other officers and members of the Board were elected too. 
The next convention was scheduled for New York City in 2012. Chief Remmy Ohagwu was appointed the Chairman of the planning committee of the New York City convention with Hon. Atty Bibian Agada and Dr. Eze Sunny Udeh as members. 

The convention was a grand success.  Not only that the constitution was adopted, the current of executives and board were mostly reflected and the convention raised a whopping $56,000.00 (fifty six thousand dollars). About 75 percent of the pledges were collected boosting the purse of the association and making the water project within reach.

The next convention moved to Boston in 2014.  The convention planning committee was chaired by Chief Charlie Mbaeke.  The convention was a resounding success, almost raising as much as was raised in New York. Chief Dr. Ikenna Okwesili topped the donation with one million Naira which was equivalent to $7,000.00 (seven thousand dollars).  There was an election and the President and Secretary were reelected while Hon. Ogbonna Nnatubeugo was elected Chairman of the Board. 

The Boston convention provided needed financial confidence to members that the goal of providing water to Egede people is within reach as the amount raised so far is topped about $80, 000.00 (Eighty Thousand dollars).  Hon. Engr. Chris Okeh’s administration did very well in raising funds and in accountability and transparency. They constituted a project implementation committee with Ozo Paul Agubuzo as chairman to explore the best avenue to implement the water project. However it was difficult for the administration to make up its mind on how to implement the water project.  Perhaps, the slow implementation did create some apathy on the membership and participation coupled that the association cancelled a convention which was the source of fundraising. 

The Birth of Controversial Implementation

In most associations it is very difficult for every member to align with one goal.  There are bound to be those whose goal is divergent to that of the majority and such emanated in the convention of 2018 held in the Washington DC/Maryland area.  Apart from the tepid attendance, the election to hand over to a new administration was stalled for a most weird reason known in a civilized community.

While we do not have the details of what transpired the story was that the election was not conducted despite the fact that there was only one qualified candidate for the position of President.  The lone qualified candidate was Hon. Atty. Bibian Agada but it was alleged the election was derailed because some did not want Egede-USA to be led by a woman in 2018. As a result there was no election and the association was placed under the caretaker of the board of directors under the chairmanship of Hon.  Ogbonna Augustine Nnatubeugo.

The caretaker committee instead of focusing on concluding the election and handing over to the executives, Hon. Nnatubeugo, Dr. Ononugbo and board members and few members constituting the unstoppable 12 had a different idea and eyes for the accumulated fund for the water project which totally contravenes the constitution.  

For the record, the Egede Community Association of America Inc. constitution, Article VII, Section 4 made it very clear that the role of the Board is limited to advisory. In Article VI, Section 1-J in emergency, when the executives are not in place, the chairman of the board can authorize expenditure of no more than $500 one calendar year.  This constitution is in full force and has never been amended as we write.

While most members are waiting for the conclusion of the election, Hon.  Nnatubeugo Chairman and Dr. Kevin Ononugbu Vice Chairman effectively and illegally took over the association.  They appointed Chairman for the planning committee of the next convention in Dallas, Hon. Pst Goddy Ibekaku. They stop sending emails for general meetings. They stopped updating members about the accounts.  They started calling a few members on the phone for meetings. 

Of all the leaders of Egede-USA, none had travelled to Nigeria at the expense of the association.  Even the Chairman of Project Implementation who had done lots of work already had never travelled to Nigeria at the expense of Egede-USA.  However it was alleged that Hon. Nnatubeugo, a mere caretaker chairman, flew to Nigeria at the expense of the association after his unsuccessful attempt to obtain the details of the water project from a member of the former executives.  

The final straw was a meeting Hon. Nnatubeugo secretly called sometime in October/November using the crude method of phone calls to invite a chosen few to a meeting instead of the usual email to all members.  At that ignoble meeting Hon. Nnatubeugo and Dr. Onunugbo persuaded the members present and they voted to approve illegal implementation of the water project.  

The worst part is that they ignored the Chairman of the Implementation Committee Chairman Ozo Paul Agubuzo who has done tremendous work with the previous administration regarding the water project.  The height of the impunity was that they voted to hand over $60,000.00 (Sixty Thousand Dollars) to Hon. Nnatubeugo to go to Nigeria and illegally and singlehandedly implement the water project. In effect 12 people who do not know Hon. Nnatubeugo voted and handover $60,000.00 to go and spend in Nigeria.

Hon. Nnatubeugo and Dr. Ononugbo never hosted Egede-USA convention in their respective cities of Houston and Cincinnati.   They did not participate in raising the bulk of the money but their main interest is to violate the constitution and illegally ferry $60,000.00 to Nigeria to spend in the name of the people of Egede who actually raised the money in New York City and Boston. 

While in Nigeria, Hon. Nnatubeugo and his one man committee broke all protocols of consultations.  He did not register such a huge 40 Million water project with the Diaspora Office at the government house.  He did not contact members of Egede-USA who were in Nigeria. He did not properly consult the two traditional rulers who reported him to the Enugu State Police Commissioner’s office.  Unfortunately, his tales to the so called unstoppable 12 was that some people were against the project and wanted to stop it.

Perhaps, somebody should explain to these bunch that no Egede man or woman will oppose any water project in Egede bearing in mind the sufferings of the people.  Moreover, no member of Egede-USA will oppose implementing the water project we raised so much money for as our goal is for tap water to be running in every compound in Egede.  

Consequently, the controversy generated by the unconstitutional and illegal action the Unstoppable 12 led by Hon. Nnatubeugo angered most members who forced him to call a general meeting through the usual email invitation format on February 16th, 2020.  

In typical characteristics of a former scam artist, Hon. Nnatubeugo could not address pointed and scrutinizing questions from members angered by his irrational behavior.  He refused to answer most questions instead he was picking fights and all defensive without providing a coherent explanation of the water project. 

Our recommendations

In view of the controversy surrounding the unconstitutional implementation of the Egede-USA Water Project, Obori Adaka Team, a community advocacy group embarked on an investigation to get to the root. We spoke to Egede-USA members in Houston, Boston, Washington DC, Maryland, Dallas, New York City, Jersey City and other cities.  

The consensus is that of disgust at the violation of the constitution and the insanity in handing over $60,000.00 to Hon. Nnatubeugo, to single handedly implement the water project by those who don’t know him, who don’t know his past, and those who do not frequent Nigeria.  Knowing the potential legal jeopardy of misusing the funds of charitable organizations most of them did not want to take legal action at this time. 

However, a few of them insist that if Hon. Nnatubeugo and his group did not deliver a project commensurate to the amount of money expended; they reserve the right to approach the courts to seek legal remedy. There must be accountable and transparency throughout the course of the project and every question raised must be addressed. 

In our experience, Hon. Nnatubeugo and his 12 Unstoppables clearly violated the constitution as cited above.  The duty of the Board was to conclude election and handover to the new executives to implement. The Board couldn’t have approved any expense over $500 as stipulated.  And above all distorting the manner to inviting members to meetings from email to phone calls to few conjures conspiracy to commit a crime.

In our next piece we will provide you the names of the so called Unstoppable 12 under the leadership of Hon. Nnatubeugo and Dr. Ononugbo. And comments and questions as we try to resolve the problem. It is unheard of that people in civilized world will be mired such crude management of association's funds in 2018 but these are the facts.

Finally, we call on the traditional leadership and the people of Egede to follow the information provided and the amount of money handed out for the water project.  As at today, $60, 000.00 were handed over to Hon. Nnatubeugo (illegally) and he hired a contractor currently working at Agu-Ugwueke. Egede-USA has more money to spend because the goal is to bring tap water to every compound in Egede.  It is a duty of every Egede man, woman and child to ensure that the $60,000.00 is spent judiciously, and the success of this water project extends tap running water in every compound. We will overcome this manmade challenge. Be vigilant.

Dr. Obori Adaka of Obori Adaka Caucus, community advocacy and social commentator, writes from Enugu