Utazi: How Vested Interest Almost Frustrated the NFIU

Senator Chukwuka Utazi represents Enugu North Senatorial district in the National Assembly. The lawmaker was the Chairman, Senate Committee on Corruption in the 8th National Assembly.

The People’s Democratic Party lawmaker was instrumental to the drafting of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Agency (NFIU) bill which made that unit, independent of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

In this interview with journalists including Nseobong Okon-Ekong, Senator Utazi reminisced on the uncertain days of the suspension of Nigeria by the the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units for its bureaucratic footdragging in granting autonomy to the country FIUs.

The Egmont Group, a global financial intelligence gathering body made up of 156 Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) representing 156 countries is a platform for members to share expertise and financial intelligence to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

As Chairman of the Presidential Ad-hoc Committee to reposition the NFIU, he recalled how Nigeria was saved from international embarrassment through the passage of the NFIU and the suspension lifted. Excerpts:

When would you say you cut your teeth in politics?

I was Class Representative through out the university days. I also played politics. Those days I started at Awka College of Education. It was in affiliation with University of Nigeria Nsukka, they were doing degree programme at Awka. I was doing Government Education then.From Class Representative I ran for a Student Union election. I was the Vice President of the Student Union. Initially, I was running for Commissioner for Transport but when the women suddenly realized their voting strength and then fielded a female candidate, I had to change from running for Commissioner for Transport and then went for the Vice President. That election was tough, but I won it.

I took all the risk then because all the people that I asked to, my friends and relation to fund my election they were not forthcoming but I saw an opportunity, you know, so I tried to ask everybody they said go and mind your studies. You know, I tried to go to friends working in the banks, all of them said, “Utazi mind your studies what are you doing with politics,” but I felt that I just had to express myself.

I took the biggest risk of my life then to use my school fees to run an election. I felt that I will somehow get money to pay back and pay my school fees with. I had to print

my posters and all that. I took that risk, you know, and won the election. Of course, you don’t even need to go home and tell them that you are doing politics from the kind of home I came from you don’t go and talk about that. Nobody wants to hear anything about it. But that’s my life. I spent that money at the end of the day through

friends and colleagues in school, I was able to get the money back and I paid the school fees. I had to write exam, I had to go to the Bursary Department and pleaded with them that I ran election and I spent money, so they must find a way to cover me to write exams and they did. They covered me to write exam and after the exams I managed to pay back my school fees. When they carried it on the radio that the College of Education conducted election and one Utazi Chukwuka won and is Vice President Student’s Union, I didn’t know that it was going to that length.

I was going on weekend to Onitsha I had to face a tribunal in the family. You ran for election? How did you do that? They just allowed me and it was late in the night after eating and all that. And when we were to go the bed they said there was an outstanding issue and when they tell you there is an outstanding issue, you know there is trouble. So you are now a politician to the extent of running election in the College, becoming a Vice President, where did you get the money to do that? How on earth? I had to beg for my head and I explained that I was just interested and I felt that it was an opportunity.

I won that election for almost one year plus before we moved to Nsukka finally when that affiliation was stopped so all the students on affiliation moved to Nsukka. At Nsukka, I ran for House of Representatives. I continued with my politics. I went for House of Reps and won it and went to the Student Parliamment. I wanted to become Speaker but it was an issue. The issue was that you had to join a cult. I couldn’t fathom it so I just surrendered. Every effort made, you are a big boy but I said big boy yes, but not to the cult. I knew what my family will never want to hear that I was involved in it. It was a red line I couldn’t cross it. I became a power broker in the Parliamment determining whatever happened without holding an office. That’s how politics and I have been all these while.

Then election came when Babangida banned all the politicians and asked for the new breed, I saw an opportunity. First of all the Local Government Chairman from my town wanted me to be his Political Adviser. Along the way he changed his mind. He didn’t want me again and I moved on. So when the opportunity for House of Assembly came, I said I wanted to try under the Social Democratic Party so I registered and they discouraged me so much. My Local Government Chairman said how can he come from the same town and another person from the same town will want to become member of House of Assembly? I said we have two Constituencies. He said no, that they will attack him, they will say he was sponsoring me. I said tell them, you were not sponsoring me. He said no it was going to be a problem.

The Local Government Chairman of the party wanted to give that position to his people. I said no trouble the only thing I want to do is, allow me to go to the primaries. if I win fine, if I don’t win, is it not my money that I was spending? He said no. And that brought me to the direct primaries because if not direct primaries I couldn’t have won’t that election because the Chairman of my Local Government said you are not going, how can you go? Or the Chairman of the party said you are not going, how can you go? But because it was direct primaries, you appeal to the people.

Who did the SDP Chairman bring? One old man who was a tailor in Enugu with Standard Six. I said, I know the job and I can do it better when I get to the House of Assembly, allow me. They couldn’t stop me so I went to the Party and bought my forms and returned and told them that the game has started.

I went to the bank to collect money, the Bank Manager called me for over two hours nobody could process my cheque. The Manager asked me why are you collecting money? You’ve never written this type of cheque before what are you doing? I said that I’m running for election. He said are you crazy? A young man like you who is making money everybody will watch you open accounts here and I have seen how you progressed within so short a time and you now want to plunge this money into politics? So why don’t you continue with your business. I said please, Manager thank you for your opinion but I want my money. I want to run an election, if you don’t I will close the account, and go to another branch. He saw the desperation and said let me give you the money even premium that day because of the campaign.

I went on campaining, that time you know, I would go to the University of Nigeria Nsukka. I was writing about my ambition what I wanted to do after writing I’ll go there they will cut it into stensils and then I moved around the whole Constituency pasting it with gums in all the places, Churches after Church I will start distributing from one place to the other, sharing it everywhere. With time, people started reading what I was writing and started seeing sense I was making and started believing.

During the primaries I worked very hard. All the bobby traps they put on way with God’s help I was able to maneuver. l decided to do my campaign in the night because if they saw anybody, I was talking with, they were sanctioned. So I went underground until that day for primaries. So I won overwhelmingly. They went to Enugu to meet the Governorship candidate then to drop me after I won my primaries and he told them no. We are still friends up till today because of what he did for me. He said they should be looking for me as a friend that anybody who could do his campaign and defeated the chairman of the party and the local government to win his primary that person should be trusted. I won that election 19th December, 1991.

I went into the election and won it overwhelmingly. You know that time you lose, you lose your deposit or win and win overwhelmingly. I won and retained my deposit. Meaning that after the elections, I went back and collected N5000 which you deposited to go for the election. So I collected my N5,000, you know because I won. My rival lost his deposit.

After that elections of 19th December 1991, the next two days I collected addresses of all those people who won the election with me, their names, their locations and all that. The next day, I had to hire a vehicle and started visiting them at their homes I didn’t spend Christmas in my home because I knew January will be inauguration so I bought drinks and visited them in their homes and identified with them and asking them if they return they should consider me to be the Speaker of the House of Assembly.

Before the end of December the Nwodos invited all the Nsukka zone to their house and gave us a lunch. They told us how they wanted to do elections that they will give Abakiliki area Speaker, this one this and that and I told them that they should concern themselves with the Governorship they won and leave the House members to elect leaders of their choice and that I was a candidate to the Speakership. I came with SDP people and told them we were not taking that. After that January they called us again before Nwodo was inaugurated I also told them that I wanted to be Speaker and I was qualified. We were 19/19 National Republican Convention and Social Democratic Party and had advantage because I schooled in Enugu I had one of my collegaues who was NRC who was my school mate then he promised that he was going to vote for me so I will be having 20. My SDP was intact so if I had another that will be 20 to 18. Last day, they called all of us to Government House with elders of Enugu State and leaders of NRC and talked after several hours and said they want consensus and they asked me to become the Deputy Speaker. One of my classmates who later became a Senator here, Senator Tony Agbo, Ebonyi people favoured him to become the Speaker and myself as Deputy Speaker. So we continued our politics until the military came and stopped us in 1993. So that is the story of my politics.

Another aspect of your life, you have a nickname in your place, they call you Pastor-Senator that you are always praying, attending events. Though you are a Catholic but your behave more like a Pentecostal Pastor. How did you come about that?

I come from a deep religious family. In fact, initially, people thought that I would end up as a priest. I told you I was a Catholic Sacristan. You know what it means to be a Catholic Sacristan. You have to lead the faith in the Church. In the school on Thursday you do extra mural if the priest was not there I was the one going to preach. In fact, when I became the Deputy Speaker, one of my teachers came to Enugu and came to my office and my Secretary told me that one Mr. V. N Opara was looking for me. I said my Vice Principal in the College. I jumped up and opened the door and opening the door he said what are you doing here? How dare you? Have you entered politics? I begged the man. He just wanted to come to Enugu to convince himself that what he saw on Nigeria Television Authority network news was actually the truth. How do you manage from one extreme to another extreme? I told him I’m in politics but I haven’t forgotten my direction. Nothing will change my bearing. I said we need Godly people here so that we can do things right.

Because of that background, my politics is always things of God and like you said about Pentecostal, in College I was a Catholic Sacristan. But, before I became a Sacristan, I was in the Scripture Union. It changed me because Catholics are not good with the Bible. I embraced the Pentecostal approach of evangelism and it changed my life for good up till today because I know the Bible. I’m not on the surface. The Catholics were not comfortable that I was going to Scripture Union so they caught me with the appointment to stop me but it was late because it helped me to be a better Sacristan because my Principal will always come to the Assembly and listen to me preach or on other days that the Reverend Father didn’t come to the Assembly. I thank God that I took that decision in the College to join Scripture Union.

Since you came to National Assembly, 2015 to date what would you say has been your achievements, in terms of projects that are beneficial to your constituents and the legislative process?

When I was doing my campaign, I will go a little bit. You know, before me was late Senator Fidelis Okoro, after him it was Senator Ayogu Eze. Fidel won election, we expected a lot of things from Nsukka we didn’t get that. Part of which is what I’m still pursuing here is the creation of Adada State. I was a Secretary of that State Movement. During that period, we begged Fidel to help us in the pursuit of that noble enterprise, he was not forthcoming. He did his term and left, Eze came up, he was better than Fidel. He did his best but our people were expecting certain things from their representatives towards that Adada State creation and being close to them. Ayogu did his best and left. At a certain stage I had to throw my hat into the ring and I went to represent so that we will not be begging people to come and see things the way we saw them here. The State creation, we will no longer be begging somebody. You have somebody that is there in the pursuit. I told them also that I was going to be very visible not only on the floor but in the Constituency, bringing projects to their areas to touch them and I made promises to them that things that need to be taken home will never be lost on the way. And I came here all the projects I bring, of course I’m not blowing my trumpet but if you go today check the people who were there before me their impact and what they have put in the area. Nobody comes near. In terms of boreholes, renovation of hospitals, building schools, a lot of things to touch their lives, empowerments running into millions. The last that I did that got my fingers burnt in 2019 was almost N170 million worth of items. Nobody believed that somebody can do that but because of my orientation and the way I see life I had to do what I did.
In 2016, a very big thing that we brought so many generator sets, motorcycles, sewing machines. I did all that and I told the people who work around me that these are Naaman’s gift and nobody tampers with it. I did the first one, the second one, the one that burnt my finger was the third and biggest one.

I caught attention of people, they blackmailed when you set out to do good things and people who don’t want it they went out there and they painted me black to keep me quiet and all that and then the people, social media, my children, the bulk of it was my children they cried in their schools. I told them that is the part of apostleship so there is no easy way to Gogoltha. I told them to take it easy. It can never be easy because people who never did what I do will never be happy and they will come fighting back. People approached me saying, they will help me write I said no. My people know me I can’t change now at this age. People asked me to use the tricycles I bought for them to do campaign I said no way my political visibility in Nsukka is too big for me to use materials to do campaign. I told them anytime my campaign will be based on items, I have failed. I have built a good name will and I am not going to do that. I told them that I was not distributing them – tricycles for election it must be shared after the election.

What I also did that annoyed my colleagues, the politicians, I went to the priests in Nsukka Diocese and asked them to go and nominate the poorest of the poor in their areas, they nominated them and they distributed them. I said I did the first one, the second one. Give to the person you are better off you ended up taking it for you and your family members. I saw it, I wasn’t happy about it so I turned back. Having done two for you, the Church should do this one for me and I was very happy that the Church did it. They brought Church by Church and said these keys is your motorcycle, tricycle, they broke down and cried and all of us cried several times with them. I fulfilled what I told my Vice Principal, I’m into politics but I’m not going to veer off. I’m not a saint but we’re all working towards perfection. We must continue the little efforts we are making to create difference for our people. If you are here and you get things for them, give it to them, don’t short change them. So all these things are the things that make me the brand I’m today in Enugu.
You can say whatever you want to say about me, once I get on radio, the Dream FM for two hours, you will be on the run because I will tell them the whole truth, nothing but the truth about any situation . So that’s what we have been doing and I told them after we stayed here and I have gone, it will be difficult to get somebody who will do better than me in Constituency outreach, going out looking for employment for people, going to office being insulted by staff and aides of Ministers. I take all those insults with happiness because it is what I said I will do. I’m happy doing that under this admistration as an opposition party. God knows that if we were here when PDP was in charge I would have done more. I built new Police Station with quarters for them and several others, built new roads and we are still doing. Today, the road from sx Nsukka to Adani to Onitsha had been impassable but the little efforts I’m making we have made the road motorable. I’m using my Constituency money to do federal roads. From Nsukka to Adani, others. We have done N400 million jobs done there at Agbani, Obimo axis. People never believed that this year, people will pass that road because of what erosion has done there in the last two years but the God that I worship has helped me, we were able to get Federal Road Maintenance Agency, (FERMA) to get N400 million contract and they are there working. Because of the potholes there criminals take advantage of it but today we are on it.

You are the one that spearheaded the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, but you hardly talk about those things?

You are the one talking it. People complain that I’m under reported. I don’t believe that I should be out there trying to tell my story. It’s of late that many of my relations and friends said no, I now have Media Aides before I never bothered about that. I do my things and I go my way. I don’t want to play to gallery. I don’t believe in that. I know that we do a good job. Like you said, when I came here in the 8th Assembly and we studied the EFCC and it was handicapped, we did oversight there they showed me offices scattered in Abuja and I said that was not good for anti-graft agency to be there. If it were overseas, people with good ICT know-how can stay in Rock View over there and invade their data and destroy it. They told me and I wrote straight to Mr. President had appointment to talk with late Mamman Abba Kyari and all that. He said I should let’s discuss so that he will brief him (President) and I told him, look, PDP started that EFCC Headquarters. It was an ambitious effort by Obasanjo Admistration to do something that the United Nations Convention against Corruption can come and say that Nigeria was actually taking the lead. I said look, if PDP could do it, why shouldn’t Buhari whose mantra was anti corruption so why not complete it? He said how do we do this and I said just cooperate with me and you will see that done. I came back, met the Budget Office, met the Appropriations Committee and I said we have to up the EFCC budget. During that budget that year they were calling padding, we came back and talked to the Senate President and he gave us go ahead and we talked to Senator Danjuma Goje, the Chairman of Appropriations he agreed and we were able to get the resources we needed from N1.5 to 2 billion to almost N5 to 6 billion for the first year we did all that. That Office is the best in the country. There is no Office in Abuja here, not even the Presidency that is as sophisticated, modern as that Office.

To fight for NFIU, when I came, I was attending International Corruption Taskforce meeting in Paris almost every two months or there about and the kind of cold shoulder I received on behalf of the country touched me. Each time you come and announced your presence, you come for a meeting, they just barely looked at you and everybody will mind their business. So I looked at all that. One day I was insulted politely and it didn’t go down well with me. One young man said you have a fine suit and know where you bought it, hand made suit and they appreciated that. I was sad. During the tea break, I will ask questions. Why was I given cold shoulder they all laughed they said after this meeting, you come you are not going to come back again! He said that’s how Nigeria do each time they do election, new person will come and announce that we are here now and you will never see the person until next four years again. Like true to the fact, I came back here, the next meeting was not to be because Magu was funding, the money for our travel was domicile in the EFCC. I came and I gave them assurances that this President is different, under him you get a lot of things done they all laughed and appreciated my suit. Next time I said Magu the time to travel has reached but Magu declined. That was the end of our ticket. I don’t know whether the promises I made about the country annoyed him. I don’t know. So, he refused. The good thing about it is that each time I traveled, I will write a report about my meeting, the commitment I made on behalf of the country. I will write that report and send to the Office of the President, Vice President, Attorney General of the Federation. So when matters came to halt in 2017 when Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units suspended Nigeria, Magu got wind of it and was hiding it. I took it on the floor of the Senate, I brought a motion and told Nigeria that this is the whole thing and they gave a threat that if we didn’t do anything by the end of December, 2017, Nigeria will be expelled entirely. It was then that the Presidency started looking for the files of all those memos I sent to them. So they quickly found those things and invited me to a meeting. Before then, we were almost going on break for that period, they called a meeting in the Office of the Vice President, the Attorney General was there, all the line Ministers were there. They said these your papers we didn’t take it seriously but they said they were going to look at them. I left and traveled for my summer break in the United Kingdom. While I was there, just two days in UK, then my office sent me a WhatsApp message of a letter from the President appointing me as Chairman of the Presidential Ad-hoc Committee to reposition the NFIU for the country. I looked at it, it is a very sensitive job. I said me, a PDP man for APC thing? I quickly cut short my stay and returned to Nigeria that weekend. On Monday, I was in the Presidency. They said they have been watching me. All the job you did and all that. I’m the person to do that job and they gave me one month to do that. So, through out that vacation I was inside there and then I was bombarded every day. We are going to have minority and majority report – attack. Magu didn’t like the job we have been doing so all the things, before we will finish our meeting everything we said in the meeting will be in the press but I was undaunted .

I stood my ground and using the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units standard because the law you are going to have here is a law of universal application. All you need to do bring it and domesticate it. All the other countries did the same thing. After all attacks we did our report, we worked very hard and got EFCC to agree. They signed our report. When we went to submit our report, Vice President was the Acting President. He said they said you were coming with a minority report, I said under me as the Chairman you can’t have the majority and the minority. I said turn to signature page and see, he was surprised that including EFCC signed because we put everything on the table all the cards faced up gave him also video tapes, the executive summary and the full report handed over to the Presidency and moved.

I also came with my bill, the fastest bill in the history of National Assembly, one week. We were able to do that. With that passage here, we faxed it to Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units not to make good their promise of extending this thing to expulsion. We were able to fight to pass that bill against all odds. There was no threat I didn’t receive doing that bill. They gave me instances of people who tried and what was their faith but I believe God. Was I doing it to injure anybody? The answer was no. Was I doing it to make sure that the country moves forward? The answer was yes. So I stood all my grounds. I was alone going to NTA, Channels, nobody agreed to follow me to canvass the issue with me. To pass the bill was an issue. To sign it was an issue. To get a Chairman for it was an issue. But I thank God for the Civil Society Organisations and Journalists that worked hand in hand with me to make sure that all those things were advertised and today the country is better. Buhari became champion of corruption as a consequence of that bill that he signed into law. The European Union also came with their sanctions after the suspension of Nigeria by the time we presented our report, already, we had a NFIU then, they rescinded.

All the motions we brought at the twilight of the 8th Assembly. I brought my motion on the issue of poverty which was prelude to #EndSars. I told Nigerians that, I was trying to do agenda- setting motion for the government that Buhari has come second time we have to change approach to governance. The motion, I christened the ‘Problem of Poverty and Looming Violent Revolution’ that will follow if things are not done well; that the unemployment situation in the society should be properly handled. I brought that motion at the end of 2019 general election. It was my last motion.

It was my motion on power sector reform that made the Senate to put a round table on Power at the Nigerian Air Force Centre and as a follow-up, Senator Gabriel Suswam brought up a motion. We did all those things to show that we are here. It’s not just talking about my Constituency, I talked about the bigger Constituency that is Nigeria.