Globally, crime is the fugitive that lurks behind every insane quest for money, power and drugs. In most underdeveloped countries, Nigeria inclusive, crime walks unashamedly naked, bigger than the aforementioned threesome, bending the arms of the law over backwards like a twisted branch of a tree. In developed countries, however, crime – silent and unobtrusive – works hand in glove with money, power and drugs, wreaking havoc like cancer.
Let’s talk about numbers. For certain, three is a very powerful number in the physical and metaphysical realms. The integrality of three is universally seen in the body, spirit and soul composition of man, and in the three elements that make up the world – heaven, earth and water, as well as the division of day into morning, afternoon and night. When something happens three times, it’s neither a mistake nor a coincidence.
In Christian orthodoxy, the oneness of God the Father, the Son, and the holy spirit in a blessed threeness summarises the sojourn of man, his fall, and salvation. The horn-headed Lucifer tempted Christ thrice. Jesus rose from the dead on the third day.
Trinity as a symbol has universal significance. Traditional religion worshippers offer sacrifices to the gods at junctions where three footpaths meet. Every tribe has their own worldview about the perfection of number three. The Yoruba would say, “aro meta kii d’obe nu,” in agreement with the perfection of the trinity.
Even the late British naval intelligence officer, journalist and writer, Ian Fleming, renowned for his James Bond 007 series of spy novels, buttressed the unignorable importance of three as a number, saying, “Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.”
Last week, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency quizzed 46-year-old internet celebrity, Obinna Iyiegbu, aka Obi Cubana, over the payment of THREE different tranches of money by drug pushers convicted in New Delhi, India; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and Lagos, Nigeria, into his various bank accounts.
Cubana inherited no fortune from his parents, just like his trusted 40-year-old second-in-command, Pascal Chibuike Okechukwu, aka Cubana Chief Priest, who was a shoemaker in Aba, Abia State, with his father, a few years ago.
Cubana graduated with a B.A in Political Science from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 1998, served in the National Youth Service Corps in 1999, and barely six years later, he had become a multi-billionaire in Nigerian currency, founding Ibiza Nightclub in Abuja.
From my findings over the weekend, Cubana came under the radar of security agencies when foreign intelligence services, in partnership with their Nigerian counterparts, established that THREE drug convicts separately paid various sums of money into his accounts.
A highly placed security source disclosed to me, “He (Cubana) has been under secret investigations for months based on what our foreign partners shared with us concerning the details of payments into his accounts by convicted drug pushers.
“Coincidentally, the NDLEA was the agency that arrested one of the drug pushers at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, in 2016, securing conviction against the drug pusher in 2017.
“Apart from the NDLEA case against him, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is also looking into money laundering allegations against him. That was the reason why the EFCC also invited him.”
Eehhh! Mba! Mba! Mba! Cubana isn’t guilty of dealing drugs yet. He remains innocent until found guilty by a law court. The money paid into his accounts by the three drug convicts could be money for lifetime accommodations in any of his hotels in Lagos, Abuja, Owerri, Enugu and Port Harcourt.
Cubana is street-wise. He defended himself in an Instagram interview with On-Air Personality, Daddy Freeze, on Saturday. But his defence was the most devious sleight of the tongue.
Cubana said, “I was in detention for four days and three nights. I didn’t feel bad because I knew the agency would do a thorough job and if I am cleared, I’d be let go (sic). There was no witch-hunt, nobody was after me. But to link me to drugs? I’ve never felt so low. To me, it’s repulsive.”
He continued, “I was never accused. I was never linked to anything but they said somebody paid money into my account, and I believe that the agency in question is a very responsible one. I know that at the end of the day, they would make their findings public.”
