Shortly after the Federal High Court sitting in Calabar, Cross River State, presided over by Justice Rosemary Dugbo Oghoghorie, sentenced Michael Eke, CEO of Micheano Multi-purpose Cooperative Society, to one year imprisonment for fraud – conspiracy, obtaining property by false pretence, and money laundering to the tune of N2 billion, a cross section of the Akwa Ibom/Cross River community is frowning at the sentence.
Largely responsible for the huge cash investments that have fraudulently gone up in smoke, a section of this community clearly appear baffled that the convict, Eke, got only a year’s conviction with an option of fine.
Cross River-born serial social commentator and Mass Communication teacher, Inyali Peter, believed to have lost N2 million naira to Eke and his cohorts, raised the first dust, shortly after the court verdict was made public. Taking to his verified Facebook page, he posted, “Person tif N2b, you jail am for one year. Our judicial system is a huge joke! My N2m Dey among the N2b” (Someone steals N2 billion naira, you jail him for one year. My N2 million is inside the N2 billion)
Inyali’s post, brought forth a flurry of comments. See some comments under:
Steven Dominic: “My 2.8m dey with this idiot, and face of this very business is leaving flamboyantly in Lagos with our hard earned money.“
Aku Ernest: “My 3 million go for this very business. I’m very surprised with the outcome of the whole process’
Ralph Levison: “Bro Inyali Peter my 10k dey, and I need am badly, I promised myself, anywhere I see MC Mbakara, I go run am street, him go know say power jam power, since 2018, my ROI supposed don reach 10m”
Ralph Levison’s post, pointed to a slimly quiet side of the anger that is trailing this sentence. MC Mbakara is Aya Kanu Aya, referred to in the judgement as “being the Vice President of Micheno Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society”. A widely known comedian, largely followed on social media, he relocated from Calabar to Lagos, shortly after the Micheno bubble burst. Contacted to react to the judgement and the fact that he was mentioned prominently and described by legal documents and security agencies as “being at large” in the course of investigations, even though he remains very visible, MC Mbakara responded with a nondescript meme, that spoke volumes.
As it stands, Eke forfeits several properties, including 12 flats, two plots of land, and 18 self-contained flats, all located in Calabar. He was also ordered to forfeit N10 million recovered during the investigation. There however is no proper plan in place to see how several persons, deceived into making deposits, will get back even a fraction of what they invested in Micheno.
