Justice Rafael A. Ongkeko of the Superior
Court of California has ordered former
President of the Anambra State
Association of USA (ASA-USA), Allison
Anadi, and his co-defendants in a
lawsuit to hand over the association’s
documents, including financial
statements. In addition, the judge
ordered Mr. Anadi and other defendants
to stop giving the impression that they
remain officials of the association.
Justice Rafael A. Ongkeko of the Superior
Court of California has ordered former
President of the Anambra State
Association of USA (ASA-USA), Allison
Anadi, and his co-defendants in a
lawsuit to hand over the association’s
documents, including financial
statements. In addition, the judge
ordered Mr. Anadi and other defendants
to stop giving the impression that they
remain officials of the association. ASA-
USA was founded in 2002 and formally
incorporated in 2007 in the State of
California.
Former governor Peter Obi and former
ASA-USA chair, Anadi Allison
SaharaReporters obtained a copy of
Justice Ongkeko’s final judgment in a
lawsuit brought by Pius Okafor and
Christopher Ikeanyi, two aggrieved
members of ASA-USA, accusing Mr.
Anadi, a controversial professor of
criminal justice, and other defendants of
misappropriating the association’s funds
and violating numerous provisions of its
byelaws. Apart from Mr. Anadi, the other
defendants were Jonathan Okafor, a
former secretary, Olisa Oraelosi, a
former treasurer, and Victor Nwanso,
former financial secretary.
In an earlier preliminary verdict
delivered on March 26, 2015, Justice
Ongkeko ruled that the defendants had
defrauded members of ASA-USA of at
least $132,000. The judge then ordered
Mr. Anadi to refund $81,502, Mr.
Oraelosi $47,494, Mr. Okafor $1,800,
and Mr. Nwanso $1,362.
In the final judgment, which was dated
May 15, 2015, Justice Ongkeko granted
all the reliefs sought by the two plaintiffs
who were represented by Timothy L.
Neufeld and Yuriko M. Shikai from the
law firm of Neufeld Marks. George E.
Omoko represented Mr. Anadi and other
defendants.
The judge ruled that the plaintiffs had
established their case that ASA-USA must
abide by its by-laws. He stated that ASA-
USA must take all required steps “to elect
a Board of Directors in accordance with
the By-Laws and California law.”
Justice Ongkeko concluded that Mr.
Anadi and his co-defendants “have
vacated the ‘National’ offices they
purport to hold, that they are no longer
permitted to make any decisions or to
take any action on behalf of ASA-USA,
and that they are no longer entitled to
maintain control of the books, records,
financial accounts and other materials
necessary to manage ASA-USA.”
The judge upheld the plaintiffs’ plea for
enforcement of their rights to inspect
ASA-USA’s financial and other
documents. He consequently ordered the
defendants to hand over all the
association’s books, records, and other
materials to the plaintiffs, Mr. Okafor
and Mr. Ikeanyi.
According to the judgment, the
“defendants Dr. Allison Anadi, Jonathan
Okafor, Olisa Oraelosi, and Victor
Nwanso, are not lawful or authorized
representatives of ASA-USA,” adding,
“they are not directors or officers of
ASA-USA.” The judge warned the
defendants that they “are not permitted
to make decisions or take actions on
behalf of ASA-USA; that ASA-USA is to
immediately notice and hold a meeting
of ASA-USA’s members for the purpose
of conducting a valid election of
directors in accordance with the By-
Laws and California law; and that the
By-Laws are to be followed and
enforced.” Justice Ongkeko permanently
enjoined the defendants “from acting, or
purporting to act, as officers or directors
of ASA-USA; making any decisions or
taking any action on behalf of ASA-USA;
maintaining control of the books,
records, financial accounts and other
materials necessary to manage ASA-USA;
using or authorizing the use of any ASA-
USA monies, property or assets for any
purpose; engaging in any further
violations of the By-Laws and California
law in all regards in connection with
ASA-USA; and interfering with the
lawful operation of ASA-USA in
accordance with its By-Laws by its board
of directors, to be duly elected in
accordance with the By-Laws and
California law.”
After reaffirming that the defendants
must refund the sum of $132,000, the
judge also ruled that Mr. Anadi and his
cohorts are to pay for the plaintiffs’
costs, including their legal fees.
In 2013, SaharaReporters had reported
that then Governor Peter Obi of
Anambra State was pressuring the
plaintiffs and other disaffected members
of ASA-USA to drop the lawsuit against
Mr. Anadi and some members of his
executive. The lawsuit was triggered in
part by Mr. Anadi’s reckless spending of
the association’s funds for his personal
affairs, and by his failure to account for
huge sums of cash he had accepted from
political figures, including oil marketer
Ifeanyi Uba, as donations to the
association.
At one point, in a futile bid to persuade
the plaintiffs to withdraw their lawsuit,
then Governor Obi offered to use the
funds of Anambra State to repay the
sums embezzled by Mr. Anadi, a
professor of criminal justice at Southern
University and A&M in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana, and his co-defendants. A
source close to one of the plaintiffs told
SaharaReporters that they were
dismayed that Mr. Obi “was trying to use
the relatively meager allocation to
Anambra to rescue grown men who had
exhibited gross greed, arrogance and
disdain for the laws of the US. Nothing
could have made the plaintiffs to stop
the case from running its course.”
A legal source in California told
SaharaReporters that, with the release of
a final judgment by Justice Ongkeko,
“the coast is now clear for the Office of
the Attorney General in the State of
California to bring criminal indictments
against Professor Anadi and his partners
in fraud.”
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