WAFARNINYI THEMAN & THE CHALLENGES OF UNRESOLVED DEBTS

By Dandi A. Browne

A local axiom says, a cripple does not block the road with his legs. Literally meaning that a person with a handicap should not be seen to challenge those who are not handicapped. To put it more succinctly, questionable characters should be able to discern even without being told , to understand their antecedents in the society amongst more upright citizens in a manner of speaking.

But alas, over here, a few people who appear seemingly notorious for all kinds of despicable behaviour in the court of public opinion claim ignorance of how they are being viewed by others.

It is against this background, that my admonition to people who care to listen has always been ÷ be reasonable, responsive, responsible and above all attempt to be upright in your dealings with others.
In the last couple of weeks, I had stumbled on allegations of multiple unreserved debts owed a number of people by one Wafarninyi Theman, reportedly a one time lawmaker in the Adamawa State House of Assembly, former Secretary of All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Governorship aspirant in the last Governorship primaries all in Adamawa state.

According to feelers from the state, Mr Theman who is alleged to be in the eye of the storm, instead of showing some level of remorse, and find an amicable solution on how best to resolve the alleged ‘overdue invoices’ he owes, he has instead gone berserk, threatening some of those he owed with unkind words- especially those he termed as becoming a thorn in his flesh, accusing them of launching attacks on him in the media space. But all this his bravado and invectives against these people he owe huge debt, will never add up unless he chooses to do the right thing. It instead compounds his problems with them both individually and collectively.

According to sources close to him, whenever he’s confronted with the need to see reason and settle all the alleged overdue payments, he shamelessly boasts to them saying ” anybody who claims to owe me debt of any nature can go to hell”. He was further alleged to have been saying ” I’m a very busy person, I don’t have the time to harken to their claims of owing any debt”.

He was also alleged to have been boasting that, his records of service in all the places he ever served in the past namely: Minority Leader, Adamawa State House of Assembly from 2011 to 2015, Adamawa APC Secretary, Coordinating Officer of RIFAN (a Central Bank of Nigeria agricultural scheme are open for scrutiny. That he is not afraid of EFCC, ICPC or any other anti corruption agencies.

But left to me, if truly he had made these comments, they are mere grandstanding. For the truth remains, anybody who had ever served in public office over the years can hardly escape being investigated and indicted by the long arms of the anti corruption agencies if they choose to go after any past public officers who had held such responsibilities in the past. I hope its a lie, he had not uttered those statements.

Still on breach of contractual agreements, Mr Theman has the temerity to tell his acquaintances and allies that he will resist settling some of these repeated failed payment obligations. What a convenient way of standing morality and honesty on their head. All these while, Wafarninyi has been economical with the truth, most especially taking into consideration the recent publications in the public space namely: WITH A BRUISED IMAGE, YET WAFARI THEMAN EYES THE DOUGIREI HOUSE? and WAFARI THEMAN, INTEGRITY RATING & THE REST OF US authored by one Maliki Salaudeen speak volumes.

Based on the contents of these allegations unearthed in the two publications, ordinarily Wafarninyi Theman ought to come out clean by way of either to own up to the allegations or deny them, rather than resorting to subterfuge to obfuscate them. Definitely, his silence isn’t golden and cannot be.

As he thinks along this line, there’s yet another allegation dangling on his head. That at a Pharmacy shop established barely over two decades ago, he was alleged to have betrayed the trust of his business partners in this deal. According to sources who happen to be in the picture of what transpired in that joint business venture situated along Federal Housing Estate, opposite NADREM, Kubwa in those years, some handsome monies were gathered amongst friends and people of like minds, where each of them bought certain number of shares in the said business.

According to my source, while Wafarninyi Theman equally bought a share worth #200,000 , the remainder of his friends bought the largest shares in it. And that based on trust, the business was entrusted in his (Wafarninyi’s) hand to manage it on their behalf. After some few years managing it, the business collapsed on his head, either due to lack of managerial or failure to fulfil payment of liabilities under his superintendence. It goes without saying that, those business partners who happen to be from the same community with him saved him from being involved in legal issues to retrieve their lost resources.

Coming in succession is another unresolved debt owed a motor dealer in Yola, the Adamawa capital a couple of years ago. My source alleged that, Mr Theman authorised the said motor dealer to release a number of some vehicles to his political supporters and loyalists to be settled by him(Wafarninyi) thereafter. According to my sources, a total of over six million naira entered into between him and the car dealer in connection with those vehicles may have been one of the bad debts that is still dangling on his head as at the time of filing this story.

This is aside from the withheld payment of five hundred thousand naira owed one journalist he commissioned last June to put up a PR job for him, aimed to serve as his campaign strategies for the forthcoming Governorship elections in his home state of Adamawa.
In an interview with this journalist to unravel the true position of what transpired between him and Wafarninyi Theman on the said job, he said ” Wafarninyi asked me to package a PR work for him,. He asked me my budget for the job, and the duration within which i will need to do the work”? “I told him I will finish the job within two weeks, and for the cost of the job, I will tell him on submission of the completed job to him. On completion on the job, he asked me to meet him in his office at Adamawa Plaza, which I did on a Monday, July 1st 2024, whereby i handed over the competed job to him as promised, and equally told him my charges for the job is #500,000 . He went through the work and expressed his satisfaction for a job well done. He collected my account details with a view to send me my money immediately, the money that has remained outstanding up till now ” This is my findings from the journalist in reference.

It beats one’s imagination, that despite all these breaches of contract, Mr Theman still has the temerity to tell his acquaintances and friends who have been speaking to him to respect himself and clear all these damaging debt issues, still talks ill of some of these people whom he withheld their resources, instead of finding a better way to reconcile with them? What a convenient way of standing morality and honesty on their head. This man has been economical with the truth. But it will be very difficult for him to brush away the nature of these unfulfilled payments owed many people.

The unfairness in and around what he has been reported to be talking about with glee cannot be located under his shameless and tyrannical supposed leadership he had held in the past. Around him today, fear, hatred,and mutual distrust hangs in the air so thick that one can slice through it with a knife.

According to one of his friends who doesn’t want his name in print ” Wafarninyi Theman sees himself as possessing the legendary wisdom of the biblical King Solomon, and as such doesn’t not brook any opposition, or people he owes over the years”. Through wPeird means, he feels as if he has cowed all his debtors such as a church he owes two million naira pledge in Hong Local Government, another church in Abuja that he owes one million naira, in addition to that of his local association also in the FCT over one million, four hundred thousand naira et al into submission and connivance of silence. He is just being watched carrying all these burdens.

But my personal counsel here is, that Mr Theman as a student of history should know by now that, history is like gallows. It definitely hangs people who ignores its lesson.i won’t say more than this for now.

Dandi A. Browne writes from Sabon Gari Gurku, Nasarawa State.