Happy Birthday Boss

Dear Dr. George Uboh,

Today is a special day for all of us at Panic Alert Security Systems (PASS) Limited. We, the board, management and staff here at PASS want to take this opportunity to wish you a very Happy 57th Birthday! As our esteemed charismatic leader, you have accomplished so much for our organization, and we are honored to have you as our CEO.

You are a security expert, anti-corruption crusader, whistle-blower, consultant extraordinaire, humanitarian and patriot who has ventured into different spheres of life in the most spontaneous and serendipitous way imaginable.

On December 7, 2006, you brokered a meeting between the diplomatic corps and the then Inspector-General of Police (IGP) during which the diplomats condemned the incessant robbery attacks in different embassies/chanceries and blamed the police officers assigned to them who were either absent during the robberies or could not ward off the robbers, thus could be deemed negligent or in direct collusion with the robbers. Having lived in the U.S. for over 20yrs, you realised that the problem is the security architecture in Nigeria, hence advised the diplomats to embrace technology; that the strategy of having a police man standing in front of the embassy/chancery as security is outdated; that in the diplomats’ respective countries, such strategy is not employed; that in the U.S., panic buttons are installed in homes and offices connected to the nearest police formation and police vehicles for swift response during emergencies when the panic buttons are activated. This became the moment of Eureka for the police, the diplomats and yourself hence the IGP directed you to procure and install the systems for the diplomats while the police will serve as the response teams. This gave birth to Panic Alert Security Systems (PASS) Limited. PASS, a technology-driven security company, was formed in January 2007, revolutionized security in Nigeria, introduced electric fencing, panic buttons, motion detectors, etc. In 2008, you were selected to attend the prestigious “National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS)”, kuru, Plateau State, Nigeria, dubbed the Harvard of Africa. At NIPSS, you led the groups that x-rayed the extant policy on security and defence. Although a communique was sent to President Musa Y’ardua on the groups’ recommendations to strengthen security and defence in Nigeria which was never implemented, however, the course became the precursor for your desire to pen a blueprint you call “Integrated Technologies for Homeland Security (ITHS)” which you modelled after the U.S Homeland Security blueprint, the blueprint President Bush rolled out in 2002 in direct response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001. If implemented in Nigeria, your ITHS blueprint will eradicate the loopholes that aid insecurity and corruption. You earned the accolade security expert on merit.

In 2013, while executing security projects for an anti-graft agency in Nigeria, some staff of that agency approached you and handed you boxes of documents showing that from inception to 2013, that agency recovered 2.051 trillion naira from criminal suspects out of which 6.7 billion naira was remitted to the Nigerian government leaving a balance of 1.993 trillion naira. Most company executives would not bother to expose an organization through which they are getting juicy contracts. In fact, at the time this evidence came to you, PASS had executed a contract for the agency and the agency had written the President to release 1.4 billion naira for PASS to execute a contract to monitor criminal suspects on bail via their respective GSM phones. This ambivalence of exposing an organization through which you are getting juicy contracts was a hard pill for you to swallow. However, because your love for Nigeria supersedes your love for PASS, you severed your relationship with the agency, decided to become an anti-corruption crusader vis-à-vis whistle-blower in a country where whistleblowing was a taboo back in 2013; a country where the agency is dreaded for its gestapo style of investigation, arrest, and prosecution. You filed petitions against the agency without success. In 2015, precisely on August 26, 2015, the Senate committee on public petitions heard your case against the agency and its then-chairman, found your petition meritorious, declared the chairman wanted, issued a warrant of arrest against him and, in October 2015, he was sacked based on the evidence you adduced against him. In 2016, Buhari announced the whistle-blower policy and you, on merit and reputation, became Nigeria’s foremost whistle-blower. You earned the accolade anti-corruption crusader and foremost whistle-blower on merit.

In 2014, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) engaged you and PASS as consultants to review the underlying Paris/London Club refund judgment handed down in December 2013 in which a judge awarded $3.1 billion to the state governments against the federal government of Nigeria; the NGF, per the engagement letter, asked you to advise them accordingly in order not to run afoul of breaking the law. You discovered pure judicial fraud, because the judge awarded 15% of $3.1 billion (about $478m) to a company that is not party to the suit. You took on the judge. He was disrobed in 2018. The government has paid PASS 10% of the $478m recovered. In February 2016, the federal government via the office of the attorney-general of the federation engaged you and PASS as consultants to trace federal government funds trapped in financial institutions. Within 27 days you traced over 500 billion naira in different currencies when the federal government recovered only 117 billion naira in one year as declared in June 2016. You earned the accolade consultant extraordinaire on merit.

Through the George Uboh Foundation, you fight for whistleblowers, free prisoners who cannot afford bail or attorneys’ fees, help widows, pay school fees for indigents, and you sponsor athletes through Uboh Sports Academy (USA), among other humanitarian works. You earn the accolade humanitarian on merit.

Due to your whistleblowing and anti-corruption crusade, you have faced adverse treatments, detention for 16 days in 2016, detention for 101 days in 2019, and detention for 26 days after your home was severely shot at on June 12, 2021, Nigeria’s democracy day. You earn the accolade patriot on merit.

Through George Uboh Magazine, which debuts today April 6, 2023, your birthday, you intend to allow the global audience read about corruption cases you handled which are egregious, provocative, compelling, and riveting.

We at PASS want to express our gratitude and admiration for all that you have done and plan to do in the face of adversity.

We wish you a happy birthday and hope that your day is filled with joy, celebration, and love. May this year bring you even greater success, happiness, and fulfilment.

Thank you for being an amazing chief executive and an incredible person. Happy Birthday Boss!

Dr. George Uboh Quotes

“Any law enforcement agency given the powers to investigate, arrest, prosecute, seize assets, recover assets, and assert perpetual dominion over recovered assets is tantamount to creating a country within a country”.
Dr. George Uboh

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“I have fought corruption within the judiciary, executive and legislative branches of government; I have fought corruption during the PDP and APC governments, and exposed members of both parties; fighting corruption is a cause for which I am prepared to die”.
Dr. George Uboh

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“Although my work entails that I remain non-partisan, however, it is my strong belief that until all Nigerians are given the opportunity to take up residency in any part of Nigeria and represent the people where he/she resides, Nigeria will keep suffering from ethnic and religious prejudices which in my opinion are the root causes of our problems.”
Dr. George Uboh