Ebonyi Government Awards Contracts to Tax-Defaulters and Political Loyalist, Nwangele Emmanuel Nwoba in Brazen Violation of Procurement Laws

Secrets Reporters

Ebonyi State under Governor Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru has become a textbook example of how public procurement systems are manipulated for political compensation and personal enrichment. Findings by SecretsReporters reveal that the state government has entrenched a culture where contracts are awarded not through open competitive bidding as required by law, but through selective patronage of politically connected individuals and companies that evade tax obligations.

One of the companies at the centre of this exposure is EMMYOBA Global Resources Limited, incorporated on September 29, 2017, with registration number RC 1441565. The company, according to Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) records, is currently listed as inactive, a status that often signifies failure to meet statutory obligations such as annual returns and tax filings. With its registered address at 1 Nwankwo Street, Abakaliki, the company has a paid share capital of just one million Naira. It is owned and directed by Nwangele Emmanuel Nwoba, a former Chairman of Abakaliki Local Government Area between 2020 and 2023, and Nwangele Kenneth Ugochukwu, both of whom are residents of Ebonyi State.

The company’s inactive status, combined with its failure to meet tax obligations, constitutes a serious legal breach under Nigerian tax laws. According to Section 40 of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (Establishment) Act 2007, “any person who knowingly fails to pay, collect, or remit tax as required by law commits an offence and shall be liable upon conviction to a fine of fifty thousand naira or imprisonment for six months, or both, and in the case of a company, every director, manager, secretary or officer shall be deemed guilty.”

Under the Ebonyi State Public Procurement Law (2020), companies that have not fulfilled their obligations to pay taxes, pensions, and social security contributions are expressly disqualified from participating in government procurement. Section 21 of the law provides that any contractor or service provider bidding for government contracts must have “fulfilled all its obligations to pay taxes, pensions, and social security contributions” and must not falsify or conceal any information. This means that a tax-defaulting company such as EMMYOBA Global Resources Limited is legally ineligible to bid for or execute public contracts.

Despite this clear prohibition, EMMYOBA Global Resources Limited continues to receive contracts from the Ebonyi State Government. Internal procurement sources disclosed to SecretsReporters that the company enjoys high-level political protection and is often inserted into contract lists as a “settled” or “recommended” contractor by state officials loyal to the governor. According to the sources, several qualified companies that submitted competitive bids were sidelined because they lacked political connections or the endorsement of top government figures.

A report by Sahara Reporters, confirmed by SecretsReporters investigations, further exposes another layer of nepotism and abuse of office in the state’s procurement system. The report revealed that between July 2024 and May 2025, Governor Nwifuru awarded contracts worth over ₦3.1 billion to HC Carter Ventures Limited, a company controlled by his brother-in-law, Mr. Nwode Chidi Henry. According to Sahara Reporters, the company was incorporated with the CAC on April 25, 2023, just a month before the end of the previous administration in Ebonyi State. Despite being barely two years old and having no visible operational history, the firm secured three separate government contracts within a ten-month period.

It detailed that one of the contracts, valued at four hundred million naira, was awarded on July 25, 2024, for the construction of a two-kilometre road in Ikwo Local Government Area. Another, worth one hundred and seventy-two million naira, was given on October 7, 2024, for a 12-classroom building at Community Secondary School, Ojiegbe Nkaliki. The most lucrative was a contract of over two and a half billion naira awarded on May 6, 2025, for a 5,000-metre concrete pavement along the TTC–Iboko Road in Izzi Local Government Area.

According to the report, records from the Ebonyi State Open Contracting Portal revealed that two of the three contracts awarded to HC Carter Ventures were executed through a non-competitive process, with the company listed as the sole bidder, in direct violation of the state’s procurement law that mandates transparency and open competitive bidding.

The report also verified from CAC records that the person with significant control of the company is Nwode Chidi Henry, whose address is located within government quarters in Abakaliki. Further investigation confirmed that Nwode is the younger brother of Mary-Maudline Nwifuru, the Ebonyi State First Lady. On February 23, she had celebrated Nwode’s birthday on her Instagram page, describing him as her “kid brother.” A lawmaker in the state, Hon. Chinyere Nwogbaga, also attended Nwode’s wedding in 2024, publicly identifying him as the First Lady’s younger brother.

Digital footprint analysis found no online presence, website, or social media trace of HC Carter Ventures Limited. At the time of filing their report, the company was already listed as inactive on the CAC portal, it remains inactive as confirmed by SecretsReporters.

When contacted, the Ebonyi State Commissioner for Information, Jude Okpor, he dismissed any wrongdoing, stating that there was nothing improper about the First Lady’s brother securing contracts from the government. He reportedly said, “There is nothing wrong with the younger brother of the First Lady getting contracts; he is a citizen of Nigeria. Ebonyi has been given a clean bill of health by reputable organisations for its procurement methods. We do e-procurement and it is transparent.”

However, the facts tell a different story. The revelation that both HC Carter Ventures Limited and EMMYOBA Global Resources Limited, two companies linked to high-ranking political figures and both marked as inactive and tax-defaulters, continue to receive state contracts despite the legal restrictions, points to a systemic corruption network operating within the Ebonyi Government.