Anyim Denies Ever Opposing Nnaji’s Geometric Power

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

A former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Pius Anyim, yesterday defended himself against the allegation that as government scribe under ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, he attempted to sabotage the just-inaugurated Geometric Power Plant in Aba, Abịa State.

A widely circulated opinion piece titled: “The Dark Side of Aba Power Project” had alleged that Anyim, a former presidential aspirant, was bent on scuttling the project when he was SGF.

“Emeka Offor, who was blocking the project had Pius Anyim, secretary to the government of the federation, in his pocket, while Sam Amadi, the chairman and CEO of NERC, was beholden to Anyim.

“Together, they managed to pull the wool over the eyes of former President Goodluck Jonathan, keeping him out of the loop with spurious procedural and legal issues.

“Their delay tactics slowed down the take-off of a project financed by a consortium of American investors, local and international banks, as well as the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank’s private-sector arm,” the writer had alleged.

But describing the writer of the piece as a ‘hireling’, Anyim said he had spoken with Prof. Barth Nnaji, who vehemently disclaimed the writer and undertook to release a formal statement in that regard.

He stated that at that time the projected started, he was not in government, stressing that it was necessary to ‘educate this hireling’ on how government works.

“If he is knowledgeable, he would have known the following: That the privatisation programme was under the office of the vice president, and privatisation of the power sector was led by the ministry of power and until the last segment of the programme, Prof. Nnaji was the minister of power.

“That the office of the SGF had no role in the privatisation programme and, in particular, would not have had any need to interfere with the privatisation of the Distribution Companies (Discos) under the control of Prof. Nnaji.

“The hireling would have known that I had enough on my hands as SGF and by nature do not interfere with the work of anybody not to talk of a parastatal that was not under my supervision,” he noted.

Quoting Dr. Sam Amadi, who was the head of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) at the time, Anyim said: “You cannot conclude a sale of a territory, and after the buyer has fulfilled terms and conditions, you alter the sale.

“While he was the minister of power and supervised the privatisation, Prof. Bart Nnaji had opportunity to demand the performance of the contract he had with federal government to be given the right of first rejection to purchase the Aba ring-fenced area before privatisation.

“He did not do so, since he had reasonable expectations that he would purchase the entire Enugu disco. But unfortunately, he lost to Emeka Offor.”

Continuing, he said it was important to note that throughout this period, Amadi said he never had any meeting with either Offor or himself or any of Offor’s proxy in any form on the matter in dispute.

“Having put the records straight, I am to restate my conviction that the writer was certainly hired to mudsling and not finding what to splash on me, he wrote: ‘Offor, who was blocking the project, had Pius Anyim, Secretary of Government of the federation, in his pocket, while Sam Amadi, the Chairman and CEO of NERC, was beholden to Anyim’.

“This unfortunate writer may need to be reminded that I had several parastatals under my supervision as SGF.  He should also know that NERC was not one of them and Dr. Sam Amadi had no reason to be ‘beholden’ to me or take instructions from me,” he stated.