The Director of Finance of the Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation, Senator Nenadi Usman, has returned N23m to the Federal Government, SUNDAY PUNCH has learnt.
President Jonathan
Usman was last Thursday arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for allegedly receiving N2.5bn which emanated from the Central Bank of Nigeria.
A reliable source at the EFCC told our correspondent on condition of anonymity that she had promised to return more funds.
“Nenadi Usman has been cooperating with us. In fact, she has returned N23m to the Federal Government,” he said.
Usman, who is being quizzed by the EFCC, told investigators that all she did was based on the instructions of Jonathan, adding that she did not know that the funds belonged to taxpayers.
According to the source, Usman told investigators that as the Director of Finance of the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organisation, she was asked to set up a bank account during the build-up to the election, which she did.
She allegedly said all donations were made to Jonathan’s campaign through Joint Trust Dimensions Nigeria Limited and it was through the said account that funds were released to all campaign directors, zonal coordinators and other related parties and groups which campaigned for the PDP.
It was through the same account that the Director of Publicity, Femi Fani-Kayode, was paid N840m. It was also through the same account that the Chairman of the Social Democratic Party, Chief Olu Falae, and Rashidi Ladoja, allegedly received N100m each.
Ex-political adviser to Jonathan, Prof. Rufai Alkali, who was the Coordinator of the Goodluck Support Group, allegedly collected N320m on behalf of the group while several governorship candidates of the PDP equally received money from the account.
However, the EFCC source said, “She told us that she did not know the funds belonged to the Federal Government. However, we asked her why she didn’t verify and also why didn’t she set up an account bearing the name of the PDP. Why did she use her company account if not that she wanted to keep things secret.”
Meanwhile, one of the campaign managers of Jonathan’s re-election campaign said the National Intelligence Agency was aware of the alleged diversion of funds from the CBN.
It was reported that N4bn was transferred from the account of the CBN into a mysterious account known as the Ministry of External Affairs Library before it was moved to an account known as Joint Trust Dimensions Nigeria Limited which is controlled by Usman.
However, the source said the account was set up by the NIA, which is under the Office of the National Security Adviser.
It was learnt that some officials of the NIA had been quizzed by the EFCC to explain why the account was set up.
A reliable source said, “During the build-up to the last elections, when monies were going to be diverted from the account of the CBN, the Ministry of External Affairs Library was set up with the connivance of officials of the NIA. It was done so that the transaction would seem as if the money was being transferred to a Federal Government account and it would not raise any red flags. The Permanent Secretary at the Villa then drew up a memo on the instructions of the President and the CBN deposited the funds into the account of the Ministry of External Affairs.
“From there, the money was paid into Joint Trust Dimensions Nigeria Limited, from where monies were sent to all stakeholders during the electioneering. Preliminary investigations however suggest that the Ministry of External Affairs Library does not even exist.”
From the Ministry of External Affairs Library, N2.5bn was transferred to Joint Trust Dimensions Nigeria Limited while N140m cash was allegedly paid into her Zenith Bank Account with number, 1000158311, domiciled on 7, Kachia Road, Kaduna.
In a related development, security experts have called for investigation into the alleged diversion of N4bn through the NIA.
A former Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, said if it was true that the agency was used for money laundering, this means it had lost credibility.
“If they are using NIA for money laundering, it means it has lost credibility. If it was being used for money laundering, a crime against the nation, this means that NIA has totally lost credibility.”
Another security analyst, Max Gbanite, said it was unlawful for politicians to use an intelligence agency to divert public funds, adding that officers involved in the alleged crime should be interrogated and made to explain what transpired. “Politicians have been embezzling money before now, but if politicians used the NIA to divert money, it is criminal and the officers in the agency need to be interrogated,” Gbanite said.
Benue and Imo states allegedly diverted money meant for the payment of workers’ salaries. This is according to a report by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, which monitored how states spent the N338bn bailout fund given to them by the Federal Government.
ICPC Chairman, Mr. Ekpo Nta
The report was signed by Mustapha Hussain on behalf of the Commissioner, Public Enlightenment. It was released on Friday in Abuja.
It will be recalled that Buhari had last year approved the sum of N338bn for 27 states that were unable to pay salaries. Some of the states had been unable to pay over 10 months’ salary arrears and pensions.
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, who heads the National Economic Council, had explained that the loan is repayable at an interest rate of nine per cent over a 20-year period and it is “solely for the purpose of paying the backlog of salaries.”
However, the report issued by the ICPC on Friday showed that Benue and Imo states were found wanting, while a few other states were found to still be owing salaries, an indication that the funds may have been mismanaged.
The report comes less than a month after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission arrested the Principal Secretary to the Governor, Dr. Pascal Obi and two others — Uzoho Casmir and Iheoma Kenneth — who were described by the EFCC as the director of finance and treasurer respectively.
The fresh report by the ICPC states that, “Imo State applied for and received bailout funds of N26, 806, 430, 000.00 from the Central Bank of Nigeria which were domiciled with two commercial banks namely Fidelity and Zenith banks. In the course of analysis, it was discovered that some transfers were made into certain Imo State Government accounts which are not related to salaries and emoluments are as follows: N2bn paid into a Government Account; N2bn into an Imo State Project account; N2bn transferred into microfinance bank; and a management fee of N21, 017, 810.00 was paid into an unspecified account.”
According to the report, Benue State received over N12bn that was meant for the payment of salaries but mysteriously paid over N70m into the account of the Office of the Deputy Governor.
The report states, “In Benue State, the total debt accrued from staff salaries and emoluments amounted to N12, 503, 439, 787. 48. The state received N12, 503, 439, 787.48 as bailout fund and disbursed N10, 852, 536, 702.96 with a balance of N1, 650, 903, 084.52. Analysis of the documents submitted revealed a double payment of N37, 760, 000.00 in favour of the Office of the Deputy Governor. This double payment is presently being investigated.”
In the case of Osun State, the ICPC stated that the state received N34.9bn as bailout and it disbursed N16.3bn. However, the report adds that the commission is investigating allegations that the state had not paid salaries since July 2015.
“The commission is verifying allegations that Osun State public servants have only been paid salaries up to July 2015,” the report states.
The media aide to Osun State Governor, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, when contacted said he could not speak where he was and asked our correspondent to send him a text.
Replying the text, Okanlawon wrote, “The story that Punch should be interested in is, what has become of all those petitions when their petitioners are asked to come forward to substantiate their petitions?
“Punch should find out and report to the world what is ICPC’s rating of Aregbesola in handling of Osun finances and not only about bailout. If anything, Aregbesola would be awarded medals for prudent and creative managment of meagre resources to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number of the Osun people.
“What Punch should tell the world is the motive of the faceless petitioners who when called to defend their claims, vanished. In what way is that different from the usual blackmail all aimed at distracting his government?
“This is not the first time idle hands would claim in the media that have petitioned against Aregbesola. It is all to score cheap political points.”
However, the Consultant to Osun State Government on Information, Mr. Sunday Akere, had said in an interview with our correspondent that the allegation that the governor diverted the bailout fund was baseless.
He said this in a reaction to the allegation by the Peoples Democratic Party that the governor diverted the fund.
Akere said the state government used the bailout for the purpose it was meant while challenging the opposition party to seek clarification from the workers.
He said, “The PDP in Osun does not merit any response. They issue releases just to let the people out there know that they are still around. They are doing this to draw attention to themselves.
“They always display their ignorance despite that they have moles in the system. They should ask their moles . The bailout covered December 2014 to June 2015 and we have paid these. Pension was not part of the bailout and despite this, we paid pensioners.”
However, the Osun State chapter of the APC in a statement issued by its spokesperson, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, last Wednesday appealed to the Federal Government to give the state and others having difficulties in paying their workers a fresh bailout.
The statement read, “We are therefore appealing to President Muhammadu Buhari and the Federal Government to help the affected states out of this crisis.
“We are approaching an emergency on this crisis, because not only is the crisis spreading like wild fire across states, it is assuming a dimension that would seriously affect the economy of the country.”
“To avoid an emergency that could create difficulties for the economy in the next decade, the Federal Government must address the problem now, even it means having recourse to our reserves.
“What was cynically thought to be an Osun problem is now suddenly a national emergency which the Federal Government can ill afford to ignore.
‘We cannot play the ostrich in a situation as critical as this.
“Those politicians who only few months ago were mocking the state of Osun and cynically offering their salaries to pay workers in Osun have suddenly become quiet now that their own states are owing between six and 10 months’ salaries, especially in Bayelsa.”
Hundreds of millions of pounds of British foreign aid given to Nigeria to help combat Boko Haram terrorists is instead being used to fund a witch-hunt against opposition politicians, it is being claimed.
Buhari
Britain has committed to spending £860 million in foreign aid to Nigeria, which now boasts Africa’s largest economy, to help support the country’s efforts to crush Boko Haram terror group, which has been responsible for a spate of outrages, including the kidnapping of hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls.
But Western officials are now raising concerns that the government of the country’s recently elected leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, is misusing the funds to persecute political opponents.
Since Mr Buhari came to power last July, a number of prominent members of the former ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have been arrested and imprisoned without charge. Among those detained was the party’s official spokesperson.
Most of the arrests have been sanctioned by the government-controlled Economic and Financial Crime Commission, which was set up to tackle corruption and receives funding from the Department for International Development.
But while Mr Buhari’s government continues to use British aid money to target his political opponents, it is proving less effective at tackling the Islamist-run Boko Haram terrorist group.
Much of the aid Britain provides to Nigeria is aimed at helping the country’s security forces to become more effective at tackling Boko Haram, which boasts of its links with Islamic State (Isil) and achieved international notoriety two years ago after kidnapping 276 schoolgirls in northern Nigeria two years ago.
Scores of British military personnel – including members of the Special Forces – are based in Nigeria helping to train the military to tackle Boko Haram. But despite Mr Buhari’s pledge during last year’s general election campaign that he would make tackling Boko Haram one of his top priorities, there is growing concern among Western officials that the Nigerian military is failing to take effective action against the terrorists.
This has resulted in Boko Haram now being regarded as the world’s deadliest terrorist organisation, responsible for more deaths than Isil. There are now reports that the group is trying to train kidnapped children to act as suicide bombers.
“This is a scandal in the making,” explained a senior U.S. official. “There is no doubt the growing strength of Boko Haram is because President Buhari is far more interested in settling scores with his political opponents than concentrating his energy on defeating terrorists,” “The result is that Nigeria is starting to look more and more like a police state while Boko Haram just goes from strength to strength.”
Another Western diplomat added: “If Buhari was serious about fighting corruption he would be focusing all of his efforts on targeting corruption that is impeding Nigeria’s ability to focus its efforts on tackling Boko Haram.”
Accusations that Nigeria is abusing British aid will add to the growing controversy over Downing Street’s commitment to spend 0.7 percent of GDP on the foreign aid budget. Last week the Telegraph reported that DFID was under pressure to cancel £200 million of foreign aid to Tanzania following concerns over a widely condemned election
This resulted in Dr Liam Fox, the former Defence Secretary, accusing the government of “spraying money around” simply to achieve the 0.7 per cent target.
Western officials have expressed concern about Mr Buhari’s increasingly autocratic style of government since he came to power last year. A retired major-general, Mr Buhari, 73, previously headed a brutal military dictatorship following a coup in December 1983, which lasted until he was overthrown by another coup in 1985.
Now political opponents claim he is returning to his old dictatorial ways, abusing British aid meant to improve Nigeria’s ability to tackle Boko Haram to consolidate his hold on power.
Apart from the concerns over British aid, American officials are also angry that $2.1 billion of aid given to the Nigerian military to tackle Boko Haram has not been properly accounted for.
Mr Buhari’s claim that he is winning the war against Boko Haram – recently claimed the group no longer poses a serious threat – has been undermined by recent revelations the Nigerian authorities have tried to cover up the fact that hundreds more schoolchildren have been abducted by Boko Haram.
Human rights activists have now confirmed that around 400 women and children were abducted last year by militants from the Nigerian town of Damasak.
It is now believed that some of these children may have been trained as suicide bombers. U.S. counter-terrorism experts say at least 105 women and girls trained by Boko Haram have taken part in suicide attacks since June 2014.
This article was first published by Con Coughlin, Defence Editor of UK’s Telegraph
A detective with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Michael Wetkas, on Tuesday narrated to the Code of Conduct Tribunal how the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, allegedly diverted Kwara State Government’s funds as the governor of the state.
Bukola Saraki
The witness said Saraki, who was the governor of Kwara State between 2003 and 2011, used the proceeds of the loot to repay personal bank loans which the former governor allegedly expended on the acquisition of landed assets in Lagos and Abuja.
Saraki is being prosecuted on 13 counts of false and anticipatory asset declaration which he made at the beginning and at the end of each of his two terms as governor.
Wetkas was the Federal Government’s first prosecution witness in a trial which only commenced on Tuesday after about six months of delay caused by a series of interlocutory applications and appeals deployed by Saraki.
The witness said, “It was discovered that the properties were acquired through the loans.
“The loans were repaid, through cash lodgements collected from the defendant at the Kwara State Government House and made in GTB, GRA, Ilorin branch.”
Wetkas said it was discovered that some of the individuals, who lodged funds into the accounts, were bank officials.
He added that the bank officials and some aides to the former governor collected the funds lodged into the accounts directly from Saraki at the Kwara State Government House.
He explained that Saraki paid back the loans with Kwara State Government’s fund through his aides, one of whom lodged between N600,000 and N900,000 in the former governor’s account 50 times on a particular day.
He said, “Because of the suspicious inflows into the account, the bank (GTB) officials were invited. The reason for the invitation of the officials was that some of the individuals, who were making the cash lodgements into the account, were bank officials.
“One Oluwatujimu reported to the commission.”
From our interactions with him, we discovered that some of the lodgements were made through his superior at the bank, Bayo Daudu, who was the Relationship Manager of the account.
“In our interaction with Daudu, it was discovered that the cash sums were handed over to him by the defendant (Saraki) for lodgement in the account.
“According to Daudu, he goes to Kwara State Government House to collect the money from the defendant for lodgement into the account at the GRA Ilorin branch of GTB.
“We discovered one name, Abdul Adama, who made transaction 50 times into the account in a single day. The sum was broken down to N600, 000 and N900, 000 and was lodged in the same day.
“Subsequently, after that one, Ubi made a lodgement on the same day about 20 times in the same range of N600,000 and N900,000. Adama reported that the cash sums were handed over to him by the defendant and stated further that the cash sums that were lodged in by Ubi into the same account were from the defendant.
“Adama and Ubi were personal assistants to the defendant while he was governor. Further investigations revealed that other individuals, who made lodgements into the account, were fictitious.
“From the lodgements into the accounts, we observed and discovered that one Ubi (we don’t have his surname) made five lodgements of over N37m in cash.”
According to the witness, Saraki failed to declare many of the landed assets as of 2011 when he completed his second term as governor.
The prosecution, led by Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), crossed the last legal hurdle before it could call its first witness on Tuesday after the tribunal dismissed another request for an adjournment by the defence.
The defence team had sought another adjournment on the basis of a fresh application for stay of proceedings and appeals, both of which they only filed on Monday, against a ruling of the tribunal which had been delivered on March 24.
Wetkas, who was led in evidence by Jacobs, said the EFCC received a number of petitions, accusing Saraki of abuse of office, misappropriation of public funds and money laundering shortly after the Senate President completed his second term as governor.
The witness said this prompted the then Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, to set up an investigative team, which he (Wetkas) headed in 2014.
He said his team, which later harmonised its findings with another broad investigative team, comprising operatives of the Department of State Services and the Code of Conduct Bureau, revealed that Saraki operated a number of companies which had accounts with Zenith and Guaranty Trust banks.
He said investigation revealed that between 2005 and 2013, a GTB account of one of the firms had an inflow of about N4bn, with the major source of the fund coming from the N2.5bn loans which he took from the bank within the period.
He said between 2009 and 2013, the dollar account operated by Saraki’s firm, Tiny Tee Properties Ltd, had an inflow of $6m.
The witness said, “The commission received several petitions from various groups. One of the petitioners was Kwara Freedom Network. They brought several petitions all bordering on abuse of office by the defendant, misappropriation of public funds and money laundering.
“Sometime in 2014, the then executive chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Lamorde received intelligence reports of suspicious transactions involving the defendant. He set up a team of investigators. Our task was to investigate the intelligence reports.
“The investigation report was reviewed by my team. In the course of our investigation, we discovered that there were several companies which were linked to the defendant. Some of them include Carlisle Properties Investment Ltd, Skyview Properties Ltd, Limkars Ltd, and Tiny-Tee Ltd. Some of the companies maintain accounts with Guaranty Trust Bank, Zenith Bank, Access Bank and other banks.
“From the investigation, it was discovered that the defendant maintained three accounts with the GTB. The first account is a naira currency account, the second is a US dollar account and the third is a pound sterling account.
“The naira account was analysed and it was discovered that between 2005 and 2013, the account had an inflow of about N4bn. The major source of inflow into the account was loans taken from GTB within the period. The loans were about N2.5bn, and the other source of inflow into the account was massive lodgements by individuals. Other inflows into the account were from the companies.
“It was discovered that the money was used for the purchase of property. The dollar account was also analysed. The major source of inflow into the dollar account was Tiny Tee Properties Ltd, which was about $2m. Other source was from bureau de change companies. And the rest was cash lodgements by individuals.
“The cash in the dollar account between 2009 and 2013 was $6m. We discovered that up to $3.4m was wired to American Express Services Europe Limited, which was used to fund the defendant’s American Express Service New York card account number 374588216836009.
“The defendant wired over 1.5m pound sterling to Fortis Bank for the purchase of a property in the UK.”
He said Saraki failed to list the assets in his asset declaration form.
Wetkas added, “My team searched the office of Carslie Properties and Investment Limited in Lagos at 30 Saka Tinubu, Victoria Island, Lagos, where the team discovered documents containing the list of documents of properties linked to the first defendant.
“Some of them were purchased from Presidential Implementation Committee on Government Properties.
“Some were bought from the Central Bank of Nigeria. We had to write a number of land registries in Abuja, Lagos Land Registry and we also wrote the CBN.
“These properties were not in the asset declaration forms.
“In analysing the forms, some infractions were observed on some of the forms.
“We discovered that property, known as 15 Mcdonald, Ikoyi, Lagos, which was purchased through a company, Hitel Limited, was not declared in the forms. We also discovered that 17A and 17B of Mcdonald, Ikoyi, Lagos, were bought for aggregate sum of N497.2m in 2006.”
He said the Senate President failed to declare his property at Plot 2A Glover Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, which he bought for N325,000,000 between 2007 and 2008, through his company called Carlisle Properties.
He said the accused also failed to declare the property at 37A Glover Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, which he allegedly bought through Carlisle Properties.
He stated that the defendant failed to declare the property at No. 1 Targus Street, Maitama, Abuja, otherwise known as 2482, Cadastral Zone A06, Abuja, on September 16, 2003.
The accused allegedly failed to declare the property at No. 3 Targus Street, Maitama, Abuja, otherwise known as 2482, Cadastral Zone A06, Abuja, which he acquired from one Alhaji Attahiru Adamu.
He was said to have failed to declare his leasehold interest in No. 42 Remi Fani-Kayode Street, Ikeja, Lagos, which he acquired through his company, Skyview Properties Limited, from First Finance Trust Limited.
His asset declaration forms, which he submitted to the CCB at the beginning and at the end of each of his tenure as governor in 2003 and 2011, were admitted as exhibits.
Also admitted was the asset declaration forms he has submitted to the CCB as a senator since 2011.
The defence, led by Mr. Paul Usoro (SAN), said he would defer his objection to the admissibility of the documents in his final written address.
Saraki was accompanied to the Tuesday’s proceedings by some senators.
At least four assets belonging to the wealthy and famous Saraki family of Nigeria, all tucked away in secret offshore territories, have been uncovered.
Bukola Saraki
But the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, failed to declare them to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) as required by Nigerian laws.
Mr. Saraki is yet to respond to PREMIUM TIMES’ request for comments. His spokesperson, Yusuph Olayinonu, did not return calls or respond to a text message seeking comments.
But in a written response to ICIJ, the Senate President insisted, through his UK lawyers, that he “declared his assets properly in accordance with the relevant legislation,” and that the charges against him “are both unfounded and politically motivated.”
Last September the CCB slammed false asset declaration charges on Mr. Saraki, accusing the Senate President, among other things, of failure to declare his assets in full.
Under the code of conduct law, a public office holder is required to declare his own assets, those of his wife as well as assets in the names of his children below the age of 18.
In his declaration form, Mr. Saraki listed property owned by his wife, Toyin Saraki, to include a plot of land at Lekki valued at N5 million, which he said was a gift he received in January 1989.
Mrs. Saraki was also listed as owner of a property at 15 Bryanston Square, London W1 and 69 Bourne Street, London.
While the first, which rental income was put at £48,000 with a value of £900,000, was acquired in January 1989, the second, which value was put at £2m and had rental value of £150,000, was acquired for business in April 2000.
However, a fresh investigation by PREMIUM TIMES and its media partners, has uncovered a hidden London property in the name of Toyin Saraki but which was left out among the assets declared by the Senate President.
The hidden property is located at #8 Whuttaker Street, Belgravia, London SW1W 8JQ. It has title number NGL802235.
Similarly, the Senate President stated in his assets declaration form that his wife held an account in Eco Bank Broad Street, Lagos, where she had N1.5 million at the time he became governor in 2003.
She also maintained an account in Coutts & Co Strand, London, where she owned £450,000 and $125,000 in addition to $3 million in Northern Trust International Banking Corporation Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner.
Mrs. Saraki was also listed as maintaining substantial shares in European and American Trading Company, Tyberry Corporation and Eficaz Limited just as she held 500,000 shares, valued at £500,000, at P.C.C (U.K) Ltd. He was however silent on the number of shares the former first lady had in Haussmann and Tiny Tee (Nig) Limited.
Elaborate as the declaration in the name of Mrs. Saraki appeared to be, PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report that apart from the undeclared London property, three additional overseas assets in the name of the wife of the Senate President were hidden from the authorities and are missing from the assets declaration form.
Our investigations reveal that Mrs. Saraki owns secret companies in some notorious tax havens.
The hidden assets
The first, Girol Properties Ltd, was registered on August 25, 2004 (a year after Mrs. Saraki’s husband became governor of Nigeria’s north-central state of Kwara) in the British Virgin Island (BVI).
Company documents show that Mrs. Saraki owns 25,000 numbers of shares with a par value of US$ 1,00 each, and was appointed the first and only director of the company.
It however remains unclear what businesses Mrs Saraki transacted with the company. Mrs Saraki however, in a letter to ICIJ, through her lawyers, denies ever owning any shareholding in Girol Properties.
The second company, Sandon Development Limited, was registered in Seychelles Island on January 12, 2011 and has Mrs. Saraki and one Babatunde Morakinyo, (a long-term personal aide and friend of Mr. Saraki) of 11 Okeme Street, Lagos, as shareholders.
While incorporating that company, documents show, Mrs. Saraki bought a curious service from Mossack Fonseca & Co, the Panamanian firm that helped her to register the firm.
Perhaps to avoid being identified as the beneficial owner of Sandon, the Senate President’s wife asked Fonsecca to provide nominee directors for the company. Nominee directors are sometimes used in tax havens to conceal real owners of companies and assets.
She then made an undertaking indemnifying the Panamanian company “in respect of all claims, demands, actions, suits, proceedings, costs and expenses whatsoever as may be incurred or become payable by you in respect of or arising out of any member or employee or associate of your company or associated companies holding any office, directorship or shareholdings in the company or by reason of or in consequence of any act or decision made by any such person or company in connection with the management and/or administration of the said company.”
Shortly after the company was incorporated, Mrs. Saraki used it, in July 2011, to buy the property on Whuttaker Street, Belgravia, London SW1W 8JQ.
The property, acquired from Renocon Property Limited, a company registered in the British Virgin Island, was never disclosed to Nigerian authorities as required by the country’s code of conduct law.
The third hidden company in the name of Mrs. Saraki is Landfield International Developments Ltd., a company registered in the British Virgin Islands on April 8, 2014. It’s registration number is 1819394 while its registered office is 1 Akara Blog., 24 De Castro Street, Wickhams Cay 1, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Island.
According to Mossack Fonseca, the registered agent of the company, Mrs. Saraki, at least until January 27, 2015, was sole shareholder and beneficial owner of the company which had two nominee directors – Glaisd Alie Limited and NewGombe Limited – both appointed on September 2, 2014. Its agent says Landfield is authorized to issue a maximum of 50,000 no par value shares.
“In so far as is evidenced by the documents filed at the Registered Office, the Company is in existence and, in good standing,” Mossack Fonseca recently said of Landfield in response to an enquiry by one Laura Templeman, a Senior Associate for Ogier Group, a law firm based in the British Virgins Island. “According to the documents filed on the Company’s file as at 27th January, 2015, there are no actions, pending or threatened against the Company and no action has been taken to wind up the Company or to appoint a receiver or manager.”
Mrs. Saraki said she sold her shares in the company to a third party in January 2015, but PREMIUM TIMES is yet to sight any document to that effect.
In July 28, 2015, Mrs Toyin Saraki, who was the first lady of Kwara State between 2003 and 2011, was interrogated by Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), in relation to awards of contracts during her husband’s tenure as governor.
The EFCC has not taken further actions since her interrogation, and nothing has been heard of the case since then.
A troubled husband
Mrs Saraki’s husband, Bukola, who is Nigeria’s third most powerful official by virtue of his position as Senate President, is facing a 13-count charge of alleged false declaration of assets.
He is being tried by the Code of Conduct Tribunal, a special court that tries public officers for any contravention of the Code of Conduct for Nigerian public officers as spelt out in the Fifth Schedule of the Nigerian constitution.
The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) were established to enforce “a high standard of morality in the conduct of government business, and to ensure that the actions and behaviour of public officers conform to the highest standards of public morality and accountability.”
The Code of Conduct Bureau had on September 16, 2015 slammed charges on Mr. Saraki, accusing him of offences ranging from anticipatory declaration of assets, to making false declaration of assets in forms he filed before the Bureau while he was governor of Kwara state.
The Senate President was also accused of failing to declare some of his assets, acquiring assets beyond his legitimate earnings, and operating foreign accounts while being a public officer – governor and senator.
The offences, the charge said, violated sections of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended.
Mr. Saraki is also said to have breached Section 2 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act and punishable under paragraph 9 of the said Fifth Schedule of the Constitution.
The Senate President has denied wrongdoings, saying the case was politically motivated and that he was merely being persecuted for emerging the President of the Nigerian Senate against the wishes of his political party, the ruling All Progressives Congress, which preferred a different candidate.
But this fresh revelation regarding hidden assets in tax havens might fuel the allegations against Nigeria’s third most powerful official and strengthen the prosecution’s case against the politician.
The Saraki family and ownership of offshore companies
Apart from Toyin Saraki, another member of the Saraki family popped up repeatedly as PREMIUM TIMES and its partners conducted a year-long investigation into the leaked Mossack Fonseca internal documents, which contained 2.6 TB files, involved 214,488 entities, and revealed hundreds of details about how former gun-runners, contractors and other members of the spy world use offshore companies for personal and private gain.
Laolu Saraki, brother to Senate President Saraki, also has several footprints in offshore financial havens, documents show. A number of shell companies are connected to the younger Saraki.
He is sole shareholder in some of the companies while sharing ownership with some business partners in others.
For example, documents show that Laolu is the owner of Polly Capital Holdings Ltd registered in Niue, a small island nation in the South Pacific Ocean.
Another document showed that after some years, Laolu brought in another person as co-owner. The company is now co-owned with a certain Richard Pembroke, who has 25,000 equity shares, just like Laolu.
Laolu’s other offshore companies are co-owned with his associates. Among the co-owners are Kojo Annan, son of former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan; Obi Asika; Olufela Ibidapo who are all known figures in Nigeria.
Laolu and Kojo Annan hold equal shares of 25,000 in Blue Diamond Holding Management Corp. The duo, along with Mr. Asika, also own Sutton Energy Limited, registered in the British Virgin Island.
Mr. Asika owns 15,000 units of shares, the same amount owned by Laolu Saraki and Kojo Annan. Mr. Asika was a Senior Special Assistant to former President Goodluck Jonathan, and is closely connected to the Sutton Group.
Mr. Asika’s profile on the website of the Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), of which he is Board member, refers to him as Founding Partner & Executive Director, Sutton Group from June 1999 to October 2002.
The connection between Mr. Annan and Mr. Asika seems clear, as Mr. Annan sits on the Board of Mr. Asika’s another company,Dragon Africa. Additional documents show that the trio – Laolu, Kojo and Asika – also co-own Sapphire Holding Ltd., a company located in Samoa, a tiny Island of an estimated 194,320 people in the South Pacific.
Company documents also indicate that Ensol Limited (Environmental Solutions), registered in the Republic of Seychelles, with registration number 028376, partly belongs to Laolu.
The company is co-owned with Ama Annan, a relative of Kofi Annan (former UN Secretary General), who was appointed director on May 19, 2006 but ceased to be director on July 2, 2008.
Another Nigerian, Olufela Ibidapo, was then appointed to replace her on January 4, 2010.
Mr. Ibidapo is the current Head of Corporate Affairs at Heritage Bank, a successor bank to the defunct Societe Generale Bank of Nigeria, largely owned by the Saraki family but whose operational license was revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria in January 2006 following the re-capitalisation policy in the banking sector.
The bank however returned with a new name (Heritage Bank) in 2012 following the order of the Federal High Court, compelling the central bank to restore its operational permit after it declared that it had amassed the required capital base to return to business.
It however remains unclear why the Saraki’s incorporated the offshore companies linked to them or what businesses they transacted with the entities.
While that may not be the case with the Sarakis, some business people in Nigeria and elsewhere are known to have created Shell companies offshore for a host of dodgy business reasons, which include hiding assets, avoiding tax or as fronts for illegal deals. Shell companies are however not entirely illegal, and not all owners use them for dubious purposes.
We have done nothing wrong – the Sarakis
Mr. Saraki and his wife denied any wrongdoing.
Responding to separate written demands for comments, the couple maintained that it is not illegal to hold shares in offshore companies.
In a letter to ICIJ by the London-based law firm of Discreet Law, Mr. Saraki said he declared his assets properly in accordance with the relevant Nigerian legislation.
Mrs. Saraki, in a separate letter to the ICIJ through another London-based law firm, Harbottle & Lewis, also insisted that she “made all required disclosures in relation to her shareholdings.”
In their separate letters, the couple threatened to sue should the ICIJ and its partners proceed to publish information about the undeclared offshore assets, with Mrs Saraki saying any publication concerning her private financial information infringes on her privacy and breaches the Data Protection Act 1998.
Will Fitzigibbon (International Consortium of Investigative Journalists), contributed reporting to this story.
The acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff, during his recent visit to Ekiti State, entertained a couple of questions from journalists, especially as they have to do with the fortune of his party. Deputy Editor, SAM NWAOKO, brings excerpts from the brief interaction.
What are you doing about the critical condition your party is currently in?
What do you mean by ‘critical condition’?
A lot of people believe that the PDP is crippled and is in a serious crisis?
Ali Modu Sheriff
I don’t think that statement is true. Since the time I came into the party, we have participated in about four elections and we have won in each of the elections. We won two senatorial seats in Kogi State. We won in Benue State. We won in Akwa Ibom State and we won fully in Bayelsa State. So, I don’t understand where the notion came from. A party that is crippled does not win elections. Our party is standing and that is the reason we are winning in all the elections we have participated in.
However, we are repositioning the party. That has to be stated. We lost elections. That is normal. When you go through life without any form of challenge or problem, you will be wondering if you would not just die one day. But when you are having problems on the way and getting up, you will be getting stronger, learning and getting better. So, what is happening to the PDP today is that it is getting even better than in 1999. We are in the opposition and we are winning in every election. We have won in five different elections and in some of them, we won all. So, I can’t agree that our party is getting crippled. No. Our party had a problem and the problem was losing the presidential election. But since that election, we have bounced back and won elections again.
What is your view on the Federal Government’s anti-corruption war that has been alleged to be selective and one-sided?
The PDP as a party supports all forms of anti-corruption crusade. However, we believe that it should be all the way through. We support the fight against corruption but it should not be one-sided. Corruption in all ramifications is evil. We don’t support corruption. But that corruption fight must be for every party and no exception…PDP, APC, APGA, all the political parties, because our party is a law-abiding party. Our party was in government for 16 years and the anti-corruption law itself was made by the PDP. In 1999, the law that set up the anti-corruption agencies was passed when I was a leader in the Senate.
Prominent members of your party are leaving and joining the All Progressives Congress (APC) less than one year after your party lost elections. Some others are said to be planning to leave. What message do you have for such politicians?
The answer is very simple: anybody leaving a political party because it lost elections is not a politician. True politicians don’t leave their parties. So, does it mean that when we win, they would again run back to the PDP? See what a person like Ayo Fayose went through in the PDP. He was detained and made to experience all forms of persecution at the hands of the leaders of his own party and yet he stood firm. In the end, the judiciary said he was free and vindicated him as having not committed any crime just as the people of Ekiti State re-elected him as their governor. If he was the kind of person that is jumping up and down political parties or something like that, he wouldn’t have the courage to face the people and all of them shouting ‘Oshoko’ everywhere he went. That is because he has remained steadfast and that is the hallmark of a good politician.
A number of people reacted negatively to your emergence as the national chairman of the PDP. How do you see this?
That is normal in every society or group of people. Not everyone would accept you. What is a democracy? It is a government of the people by the people and for the people. There is no way in a democracy that you won’t have opposition. Even as my brother, Ayo Fayose, is being loved by everybody, including children, there are still those who do not like him. So, it is normal in a democracy. People will have to air their views but the bottom line is that the minority will always have their say and the majority will have their way.
The police in Obudu, northern part of Cross River State, have arrested two men, Stephen Apebende and his unidentified friend, for allegedly photographing police officers via their cell phones while extorting road users.
Police Inspector General, Solomon Arase
This came just as the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, had during his visit to Calabar berated some commissioners of police for being responsible for extortions from road users.
The detained men, who spent their Easter Sunday and Monday holidays at the police cell in Obudu Police Station, were arrested along the Obudu Ranch Resort Road at the police checkpoint just before the residence of the Chief of Staff to Governor Ben Ayade, Mr. Martins Orim.
Southern City News learnt on Friday that the officers were furious that Apebende and his friend had captured them while collecting bribe from road users.
The situation was further compounded after the policemen discovered that they could not gain access to the photo album of the android and i-phone that was used by the duo in capturing their images.
A family source, Ugbe Samson, said, “The two men were released on Monday after the policemen brought in a local GSM phone guru to unlock the seized phones.”
It was learnt that Apebende, who works with a non-governmental organisation with focus on HIV/AIDS, would press for legal redress over the matter.
Samson said although Apebende was advised by close family relatives not to push for any case against the police, the plea, it was gathered might not work.
When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. John Eluu, said he was not aware of the development.
“I have not got that report from the Obudu division. But I would want to advise those affected to come to the Police headquarters in Calabar to formally lay their complaints if anything of that nature ever happened. The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Henry Fadairo, will attend to such case if they have proof.”
Meanwhile, the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, had during a stakeholders meeting with traditional rulers, Muslim and Christian community leaders and traders, said extortion from road users in any state is a reflection of the disposition of commissioner of police.
Arase, who was responding to complaints from a stakeholder on extortions on highways, said, “You can know a corrupt commissioner of police from the conduct of his men on the highway. If I am driving through some states in Nigeria, I easily perceive the personality of the commissioner through his men.”
A Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), says politically-exposed persons facing corruption charges do not deserve bail.
“Since victims of grand corruption including armed robbery and kidnap suspects are not usually admitted to bail, those who are charged with looting the treasury should no longer be granted bail,” Falana said.
While expressing worry that many of the ongoing high profile corruption cases may not be concluded before 2019 when President Muhammadu Buhari would have finished his term, Falana also made a case for the creation of special courts.
The activist lawyer expressed these views in a paper he delivered on Thursday at the roundtable on anti-corruption war convened by the Department of Jurisprudence and International Law, University of Lagos, where he was the keynote speaker.
The roundtable, which was chaired by the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), had a former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, Dr. Femi Aribisala and Dr. Ayo Obe as discussants.
In his paper titled, “Rule of Law and Treatment of Politically-exposed corruption cases,” delivered on his behalf by Mr. Wahab Shittu, Falana said if the Buhari government did not undertake an urgent reform of the criminal justice system, including creating special courts, its anti-corruption war efforts would amount to nothing.
He also took a swipe at the Nigerian Bar Association and the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria, who had called on Buhari to respect the rule of law, saying they were not sincere.
He said, “The Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria has urged the government to fight corruption under the rule of law. On its own part the NBA has censored the Federal Government for violating the human rights of certain suspects. But neither the BOSAN nor the NBA has deemed it fit to caution the members of the legal profession who are determined to frustrate the prosecution of corruption cases.
“As far as both bodies are concerned, human rights are the exclusive reserve of the bourgeois. Hence, the tenets of the rule of law are only invoked when the trial of VIPs is involved, while human rights are violated in Nigeria when the looters of the treasury are arrested and detained for a few days without trial.”
Falana wondered why BOSAN and NBA did not talk of human rights when “70 soldiers were recently tried in camera, convicted and sentenced to death for demanding weapons to fight the well-armed terrorists,” and why the two bodies were not bothered about the plight of “40,000 out of the 52,000 prison inmates who are awaiting trial under dehumanising conditions.”
In his opening remarks, Sagay lamented that highly-placed Nigerians who were once celebrated are now the same set of people being exposed as “looters, bandits and locusts.”
“I fear that Nigerians may become so sated with this daily diet of financial brigandry that they may no longer feel shocked, disturbed, angered and determined to see justice served on the guilty and their stolen property recovered,” Sagay said.
He linked the daily woes of the country in form of poverty, poor roads, poor power supply, poor health care and so on to corruption.
Ezekwesili, Aribisala and Obe advised the Federal Government to put in place measures that could deter corruption.
Also speaking on Thursday at the special congress and public lecture organised by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, chapter, Falana said judges who granted frivolous perpetual injunctions in cases of corruption and lawyers who filed for such injunctions were scuttling the anti-corruption war in the country.
Falana, who was the guest lecturer at the event, also attended by the President of ASUU, Isa Fagge, noted that the neo-colonialist nature of capitalism being practised in the country had produced a set of wealthy Nigerians who “are bigger than the nation’s laws.”
He said, “The criminal justice system has been hijacked by the corrupt and looters of the public treasury and their lawyers. It is only in Nigeria that an accused will ask his trial to be suspended.
“Many of the governors who faced corruption charges, their lawyers had asked for their trial to be suspended, and judges granted this. How would a lawyer also plead with a judge that a criminal should not be arrested?
“Someone who stole millions of naira getting perpetual injunction not to be arrested and prosecuted, lawyers must allow cases to go on.”
Falana, who spoke on the topic: ‘The limits of anti-corruption law’ said there was nothing close to equality before the law in the country, as the wealthy and influential Nigerians get lighter punishment while the commoners get stiffer penalties in the criminal system.
He said, “In Edo State, someone was sentenced to three years imprisonment for stealing bush meat, another one who stole handset in Osun State was also sentenced to seven years imprisonment.
“But corrupt public officials prefer to be remanded in Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s custody or being remanded in Kuje Prisons.
“Let me tell you, EFCC cells have beddings and mosquito nets, and I have been detained in Kuje Prisons twice, it is one of the best prisons in the country. Why didn’t they take them to Kirikiri or Ikoyi or Ijebu Ode Prisons?
“And whoever have been detained in police cells would know that they sleep on bare floor, and a bucket put at a corner to serve as container for their faeces.”
He noted that with the way the cases of corruption were being handled by the EFCC currently, and given the incessant injunctions being granted, the government might not get more than five convictions.
To tame the lawyers involved in this practice, he called for publication of the names of those being tried for corrupt practices and those of their lawyers.
He specifically asked ASUU to also join in the fight against graft.
Fagge, on his own part, said the universities had deviated from their original role of carrying out research and making it available to the society.
He also noted that corruption had continued to thrive because no one had been brought to book.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission has begun a probe into the activities of directors and senior officials of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme.
ICPC Chairman, Mr. Ekpo Nta
It was learnt that the ICPC had frozen the accounts of some of the officials while some vehicles had been seized from them.
SURE-P was set up by the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan in February 2012 after nationwide protests followed the hike in the prices of petroleum products.
The programme was scrapped by President Muhammadu Buhari in November last year.
The SURE-P was mandated to convert saved fuel subsidy money to jobs, roads and other people-oriented programmes but became political during the build-up to the 2015 elections.
A source in the ICPC told our correspondent on Wednesday that the probe started after the commission received information that huge funds were embezzled by the officials.
The source added, “We have frozen the bank accounts of some of the officials while we have started seizing some vehicles from them. Our plan is to seize about 200. Presently, we have seized about 30.”
Our correspondent, who visited the ICPC on Wednesday, counted about 34 vehicles parked on the premises of the commission.
Some of the vehicles included Sport Utility Vehicles, Hilux vans, salon cars and ambulances.
Our correspondent learnt that the probe was in connection with a N3bn fraud allegedly involving the Federal Ministry of Finance and the SURE-P Graduate Internship Scheme.
The money, it was learnt, was meant for the payment of the participants.
It was gathered that the money was meant to pay the allowances of 17,500 participants for eight months, which never got to them.
The SURE-P GIS is a component of the SURE-P domiciled in the Federal Ministry of Finance.
The immediate past Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Mrs. Anastasia Nwobiala, is already in court over the Nigeria Immigration recruitment scam, which led to the death of about 20 graduate applicants.
Also, about N4.9bn was said to have been extorted from 51,000 applicants, recruited as Federal Task Force officers for the protection of the SURE-P/Federal Road Maintenance Agency projects during the build-up to the last elections.
The aggrieved employees, in a petition, said they were forced to purchase the FTF forms, which were supposed to be free at the rate N30,000 each despite their impoverished situation, only to be employed, used and abandoned.
The petition reads in part, “We wish to cry out and seek for your urgent help over the fraudulent extortion from us and dehumanisation of our lives under the SURE-P/FERMA employment programme, named Federal Task Force by the above-listed names and other officers (Directors) on the following pretences and tricks.
“We were recruited and employed for the past three years without any training allowances; no salary and other allowances were paid to us.
“We were mandated to pay for the Presidency SURE-P/FERMA Task Force forms.
“We bought the forms with inscription ‘NOT FOR SALE’ boldly written on it at an average amount of N30,000 each.”
Some of the task force commanders have since fled the country.
A former Chairman of SURE-P, Christopher Kolade, had said last year that he resigned his position in 2013 because its operations were becoming tainted with corruption and politics, thereby losing its credibility.
He said some officials of the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan were practising “something that was lower than the transparency” expected of an interventionist agency like SURE-P.
He had stated, “When I discovered that there were individuals in the system that were practising something that was lower than the transparency that we went in with, I raised the issues; and I discovered that political affiliations and things made this difficult.”
The former SURE-P boss cited an instance when the agency decided to employ 5,000 youths from every state of the federation.
According to him, when it commenced, he informed the Presidency that the arrangement it adopted was not acceptable but he was overruled.
When contacted, the spokesperson for the ICPC, Mrs. Rasheedat Okoduwa, said she could not comment on the matter.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Wednesday alleged that a former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshall Alex Badeh (retd.), diverted N558,200,000 monthly from the account of the Nigerian Air Force when Badeh was the Chief of Air Staff.
Alex Badeh Ibrahim Seid Mahamat
The anti-graft agency said this when it opened its case against the ex-CDS before a Federal High Court in Abuja.
The EFCC is prosecuting Badeh alongside a firm, Iyalikam Nigeria Limited, on 10 counts of money laundering bordering on alleged fraudulent removal of about N3.97bn from the NAF’s account.
The commission alleged that Badeh used the fund to buy and develop landed assets in Abuja for himself and his two sons between January and December 2013.
Badeh served as the Chief of Air Staff and later became the Chief of Defence Staff till he retired from the military last year.
He attended the Wednesday’s proceedings from prison and returned there after the court session as he had yet to meet the N2bn bail condition imposed on him by the court.
Testifying as the first prosecution witness on Wednesday, a former Director of Finance and Account of the NAF, Air Commodore Aliyu Yishau (retd.), narrated how he routinely helped Badeh to divert the sum of N558.2m by converting it to its dollar equivalent.
He said he usually handed the dollar equivalent of the money to Badeh at his official residence on a monthly basis.
Yishau, who was led in evidence by the lead prosecuting counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), said the diversion took place from September 2012 to December, 2013, when Badeh served as the Chief of Air Staff.
The witness, who testified for about six hours on Wednesday, said the NAF usually received monthly allocations in its Capital Vote account with the Central Bank of Nigeria in Lagos; the Overhead Vote account with the Zenith Bank Plc and the Personnel and Emolument Vote account with the UBA.
He said the sum of N558.2m was drawn from the Personnel and Emolument account as fund meant for “general administration of the Chief of Air Staff”’.
Yishau told Justice Okon Abang on Wednesday that he aided Badeh to acquire and develop landed assets in Abuja with the N558.2m, which was being drawn from the Personnel Emolument account of the NAF on a monthly basis.
He said the N558.2m was part of the excess in the N4bn, which the NAF received monthly in the personnel and emolument account after the salaries and allowances of permanent and temporary staff must have been paid.
He said, “Although, I cannot remember the figure each year, we received a little about N4bn monthly for the personnel emolument allocation account. However, our total wage bill as of that time was above N2bn monthly.
“The balance of the personnel emolument was usually about N1.6bn to N1.7bn, depending on the month. Out of this amount, the sum of N558,200,000 was for the general administration of the Chief of Army Staff monthly.
“Concerning the N558,200,000, the instruction was always given to me as the Director of Accounts and I passed same instruction to the Finance Officer at the headquarters of NAF camp, Abuja.
“The money is changed to dollar, when this money is changed, it was brought to me and I would take it to the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshall Alex Badeh, at his official residence in Niger Barracks.”
He said there were no documents showing the monthly deliveries of the dollar equivalent of the N558.2m to Badeh because it was not the practice in the military to request a written agreement.
He said, “As military officers, we don’t request for any agreement. However, in some cases, I told the finance officers to meet me at the Air House in Niger Barracks with the money so that he could see when I handed over the money to the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshall Alex Badeh.
“The instruction for conversion is not in writing. The Chief of Air Staff does give many instructions that are not in writing.
“The only instructions that were in writing were those requests forwarding instructions from branches and units for approval. When the approvals are given, they are forwarded to my office for necessary payment action.”
He said he did not directly benefit from the monthly diversion of the N558.2m but that Badeh helped him to complete the landed assets he was constructing in Abuja and Kaduna.
According to him, all the said landed assets had been marked by the EFCC.
The witness, who said Badeh was the second Chief of Air Staff that he served as the Director of Finance Accounts, added that Badeh’s predecessor, M. D. Umar, was still being investigated by the EFCC.
Yishau explained that Badeh provided the dollar equivalents for the purchase of the various properties, which he assisted him to locate in various parts of Abuja.
The witness said he helped Badeh to purchase the property allegedly at No. 6, Ogun River Street, Off Danube Street, Maitama, Abuja, with dollar equivalent of N1.1bn.
He added, “Sometimes in January 2013, when I was taking the normal amount to him (Chief of Air Staff) in dollars, he directed that we should pay for the house. So he brought out the balance in dollars and made up the equivalent of N1.1bn.
“I gave the money to Barrister Hussein Umar and asked him to pay for the house. After the payment, it took sometime before the necessary documents were prepared. But Hussein Umar asked me the names to put on the documents. I asked the Chief Air Staff under which name he wanted the documents to be prepared.”
If the Nigerian Army authorities get the nod of President Muhammadu Buhari, all suspected serving officers in the ongoing investigation into the $2.1bn arms procurement scandal will undergo military trial, The PUNCH has learnt.
A competent government source confided in our correspondent on Sunday that military authorities had sought the President’s permission for the officers to be prosecuted under the Armed Forces Act.
He said the position of the military was that the Armed Forces Act had made provision for such infractions on the part of military men and how to handle their cases.
He added that it was the belief of the military that if the indicted officers were tried using the military rule, it would be better than when they were prosecuted by the regular court.The source said the argument for military trial for the officers was further strengthened by the fact that the money, which is the subject of the investigation, was meant for the procurement of arms for the Nigerian Armed Forces.
He said, “The military authorities have suggested to the Federal Government that all serving officers, found culpable in the ongoing investigation into the arms procurement scandal, be tried under the Armed Forces Act rather than being tried in regular courts.
“You may recall that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has returned Col. Ojogbane Adegbe, the former Aide-de-Camp to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, to the military authorities after he was interrogated.
“A former Military Assistant in the Office of the National Security Adviser, Col. Nicholas Ashinze, had also been confined to the Officers’ Mess by the military authorities after his initial detention by the anti-graft agency.
“The pending request to try and them and 11 other serving military chiefs using the Armed Forces Act may be responsible for this.”
The source, however, said the military authorities had yet to receive the permission to go ahead as of the time of filing this report on Sunday.
He said in arriving at a decision, the President might rely on the advice of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria; the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN); and the EFCC.
The Presidency had recently handed over a former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh (retd.), and 17 others, including 11 serving senior military officers and 22 companies, to the EFCC for investigation into the alleged $2.1bn arms deals.
Apart from Badeh, others under investigation are ex-Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal M. D. Umar; a former NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.); Col. N. Ashinze; a former Chief of Air Staff, Adesola Amosu; the most senior Air Force officer, AVM A. M. Mamu (the Chief of Administration); and AVM O. T. Oguntoyinbo (former Director of Production, Defence Headquarters).
Others are AVM R. A. Ojuawo (Air Officer, Tactical Air Command, Makurdi); AVM J. B. Adigun (former Chief of Accounts and Budgeting in NAF); and AVM J. A. Kayode-Beckley (Director, Armament Research in Air Force Research and Development Centre); AVM T. Omenyi (MD, NAF Holdings); four top officers at the Defence Headquarters, Air Cdre A. O. Ogunjobi, Air Cdre G. M. D Gwani, Air Cdre S. O. Makinde, and Air Cdre A.Y. Lassa.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is looking into how another N10 billion was withdrawn from Signature Bonus Account (oil block account) barely seven weeks to the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
EFCC
The cash was part of the N76 billion officially approved for withdrawal before the handover date to the new government.
As at March 31, 2015, there was about $726, 909, 118, 26 left in the account. But a withdrawal mandate was issued on April 9, 2015 for either special services or use by the Petroleum Technology Development Fund(PTDF).
A memo by the Director of Funds (FD/LP2015/8/127/DF) said: “The AGF has directed that the following disbursements be effected from the balance of $726, 909, 118, 26 as at 31st March in the Signature Bonus Account: (i) ONSA (N10billion); (ii) DBN (N20billion) and (iii) PTDF ($150million).
“In view of the above, mandate for the payment of N10 billion in favour of ONSA, based on the bank details, is enclosed abc for the AGF’s consideration and approval.
“The USD equivalent of the amount in Naira is to be debited to the Signature Bonus Account with JP Morgan Chase, please.
“Kindly note that the other two expenditure items will be processed in the relevant files in due course.
“The above is submitted for the AGF’s consideration and approval and countersigning of the mandate for N10 billion abc.”
A reliable source in EFCC said: “We have been investigating massive withdrawal of funds for either special services or extraneous items in the last few weeks to the inauguration of this new administration.
“The total requests sent to the Accountant-General of the Federation amounted to N76 billion but we have been trying to establish whether or not the three tranches were withdrawn before May 29, 2015 when the handover was effected.
“This latest N10 billion appears different from a similar amount deducted from CBN account for PDP Nomination Convention. The Mandate date was April 9, 2015and the nomination convention was in 2014.”
Meanwhile, the ongoing investigation of the activities of the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) has revealed that about N16.5 billion was released to the Nigeria Police, Nigerian Air Force, Nigerian Army and ONSA for “logistic requirement for 2015 elections.”
The breakdown is as follows: IGP General Election OPS Fund Account (N10billion); Nigerian Air Force OPS Account (N1billion); Nigerian Army Operations Account (N5billion) and ONSA (N500million).
“All the payment details have been received from the Central Bank of Nigeria for scrutiny.
“This explains why some of the accused persons on trial were rearrested for questioning. We have been uncovering many transactions which require more explanation.”
The Presidency has said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is free to investigate former President Goodluck Jonathan.
EFCC
The President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, who stated this in Abuja on Friday, also explained that there was no secret pact between President Buhari and Jonathan to exclude the ex-President from the list of corrupt people to be probed by this administration.
There have been calls by prominent Nigerians, including the Senate Leader, Senator Ali Ndume, that Buhari should authorise the EFCC to probe and prosecute Jonathan.
Ndume had said, “Nobody is supposed to be above the law. If Jonathan is a culprit, he should face the law. If there is evidence that the former President should face the law, then, he should. After all, he is presumed innocent until proven guilty.”
Adesina told Saturday PUNCH that the Presidency had given the anti-corruption body a free hand to investigate and try anybody involved in corrupt practices. He said that the President was not interested in teleguiding the anti-graft agency.
Saturday PUNCH had asked Adesina if the EFCC would need the permission of the President before probing Jonathan. He was also asked to react to an allegation that Buhari had been reluctant to grant permission to the EFCC to investigate Jonathan.
In his response, Adesina said, “The President does not teleguide the EFCC in any way.”
Also, the Presidency on Friday said that Buhari did not sign any pact with former President Goodluck Jonathan or any past President, exempting them from being probed.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, disclosed this in an exclusive interview with one of our correspondents.
Shehu said that being an open person, Buhari would never go into a secret pact with anybody, especially concerning his administration’s ongoing anti-graft war.
He said that anything could be expected in the ongoing anti-graft war, which he described as “open-ended”.
The presidential spokesman said, “There is no secret pact between President Buhari and any past President.
“If you know or understand him, President Buhari is not the kind of person who will go into secret agreements. He is open about everything he does.
“The war against corruption is open-ended. Nobody knows how it will end.”
Shehu, however, ruled out the possibility that Buhari might have been on a witch hunt in his fight against graft.
He said government’s position is that former government officials can return their loots in order to escape investigation and trial.
He also declared that the current administration’s war against corruption knows neither friend nor foe.
He said, “But the President is not on a witch hunt. If you remember his acceptance speech after being announced as the winner of the 2015 general elections, he said without any equivocation that he would not victimise or subject anyone to witch hunt.
“One thing very clear from the way he has carried on with the war against corruption is that past officials of government have a window to return looted funds to avoid investigation and trials which may be drawn out and sometimes inimical to the exercise.
“People can help themselves and help the country without being noisy about anything.
“The President is aware that he is under watch, locally and internationally, in his handling of the war against corruption.
“Whatever international support he will get will depend on how open and effective his government is in carrying out the anti-graft war.
“To that extent, the war against corruption knows neither friend nor foe.”
Saturday PUNCH learnt that the EFCC had been under pressure to summon the former president over investigations into the $2.1bn arms probe.
It was learnt that the commission had already compiled statements by suspects arrested over the arms probe and some of them required the invitation of the former president to make clarifications.
It was gathered that the Jonathan issue had been discussed at a high level of the Buhari administration and the signal or the body language the commission was getting from the government was that investigations should not be extended to the former President for now.
No instruction not to probe Jonathan—EFCC
But the spokesperson for the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, said he could not confirm if Jonathan would be arrested or not.
Uwujaren said it was not the habit of the commission to announce when it would arrest anybody and that its investigations were usually discreet.
The EFCC spokesman said, “I can’t speak on that (Jonathan’s arrest). We don’t announce ahead of time if people are to be arrested.”
When asked if it was true that the EFCC had been instructed not to investigate Jonathan, Uwujaren said, “I don’t respond to speculations. Who will give us that kind of instruction? Is there someone that gives us instructions on which case to investigate or not?”
In practice, the EFCC needs Buhari’s approval —Sagay
However, the Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), said in theory, the EFCC did not need the approval or permission of the President to arrest anyone since the commission had been empowered by an Act.
But, he said in practice, the anti-graft agency would need to inform the President.
He said it would be necessary because of the sensitivity of such an arrest, adding that Nigeria’s democracy had never witnessed the arrest of a former President before.
Sagay said, “The law is clear. There is no such limitation on the part of the EFCC under the EFCC Act. If anyone has committed any offence relating to economic and financial crimes, such a person can be investigated and if there is evidence, the person can be prosecuted. The law is clear that no presidential permission is needed.
“But we are talking of a former head of state here and I think it will be extremely imprudent of the EFCC to just go and knock on his door and detain him. Definitely, it is my personal view that there is a protocol. My personal view is that the EFCC will need clearance from the President himself if the commission needs to arrest a former President.”
Many of the suspects arrested in relation to the arms probe had at one time or the other, claimed that they received express or indirect approval from former President.
For instance, the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olisa Metuh, who is being prosecuted by the anti-graft agency for allegedly receiving N400m from the Office of the former National Security Adviser, allegedly used the money to fund Jonathan’s campaign.
Metuh, who filed a no-case submission through his lead counsel, Mr. Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), argued that the EFCC should have called Jonathan as a witness but the commission rejected the advice.
Similarly, the former Aide-de-Camp to the ex-President, Col. Ojogbane Adegbe, who was arrested in connection with an alleged N10bn given to chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party, said he only ‘delivered parcels on the instruction of Jonathan.’
He also told EFCC operatives that as a serving military officer, he was bound by his oath of commission into the Nigerian Armed Forces and would not divulge official secrets which he swore to keep but the anti-graft agency never invited Jonathan.
Also, a former Chairman of Daar Communications, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, who is also being prosecuted by the anti-corruption agency for receiving N2.1bn through the ONSA, was said to have collected the money on the instruction of Jonathan.
In an open letter dated December 6, 2015, the Dokpesi family said the N2.1bn was indeed for a proposal by Daar Investment and Holdings Company Ltd to “promote and project the achievements and highlight the challenges of his (Jonathan’s) government whilst demystifying false information gleefully circulated by the propaganda machinery of the then opposition party.”
The proposal, the family said, was submitted to Jonathan in person by Dokpesi and his team in the presence of former Vice-President Namadi Sambo, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), accused of diverting $2.1bn meant for the procurement of arms, also claimed he had received Jonathan’s approval.
Similarly, a former Executive Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Aminu Baba-Kusa, in his statement of witness filed in the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, said N2.2bn was spent on prayers to hasten the defeat of Boko Haram, adding that the money, which was received through the ONSA was approved by the Jonathan-led Federal Government.
A Delta State group, Foundation for Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Crusade (FHRACC) has condemned the position of the President, Muhammadu Buhari on judiciary and prosecution of corrupt government officials.
President Buhari
Buhari, while answering questions on Al-Jazeera correspondent, Martin Dennis in Qatar had responded to questions concerning the prosecution of corruption officials. The President said “it is easy to say we have not recorded a high profile conviction but there must be court processes. HOwever, with the revelations coming out from the arms probe, you can imagine where Dasuki will end up.”
According to the National President, Alaowe Cleric Esq, the commented credited to the President shows he has already condemend the accused before judiciary judgement.
Alaowei said ” The said comment by Mr President is an executive judgment, an exercise of judicial function. He is usurping the powers of the judiciary in contravention with the doctrine of separation of powers. Nigeria is ruled by constitution and not by military fiat.”
“As far as our Constitution is concerned, Dasuki or anybody standing trials in court is as innocent as every Nigerian until pronounce guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction. It is not in President Buhari’s position to pronounce judgment against an accused person.”
“He cannot appoint himself as a judge in the matter he is the complainant. We are beginning to worry if the court will be allowed to carry out its functions without being unduly influenced by the executive arm now that Mr President is busy meddling with the affairs of the judiciary. Nigerians will not sit idly by to allow our judicial system to be overtaken by the executive arm under a constitutional democracy. This is a threat to our hard-worn democracy and we will resist it with all vigour. Democracy has come to stay and it must be allowed to strive.
“It’s a trite principle of our judicial system that an accused is entitled to fair trial in a court of law sanctioned by the 1999 Constitution (as amended). A bill of attainder where someone is convicted without trial is not known in our judicial system and we must not allow it to stand. We do not know whether the refusal of the Federal Government to release Dasuki upon being granted freedom by the courts is a manifestation of the Government plans to exercise executive discretion in judicial affairs. A country cannot survive in a constitutional democracy without the executive, the legislative and the judicial arms to live side by side with one another with absolute freedom from each other.
“We want to inform Mr President that democracy is founded on rule of law and thus he must allow it to pride under our democracy. We are calling on people of goodwill and lovers of democracy to be alive to defend our democracy with all legal necessities.”
Many Nigerians particularly the main opposition members, the Peoples Democratic Party had complained that Buhari is out of hate and politics, prosecuting only members of the opposition.
Others expressed anger over Buhari continuous involvement in the prosecution of alleged corrupt politicians.
Tarila Okah, the daughter of Mr. Charles Okah, currently undergoing trial for the 2010 bomb explosions in Abuja, in this online interview with FIDELIS SORIWEI talks about her father, his relationship with the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, among other issues
HENRY OKAH
You just wrote a court in Abuja to expedite the ongoing trial of your father. Why did you decide to write the judge?
As they say, desperate times call for desperate measures. My family needs my father. This ordeal has gone on for far too long. He’s missing many family milestones; he’s missing experiencing his children growing up. The pain for all is unbearable. For others like the judge and the public at large, there is no emotional attachment to the case; hence it’s easier to care less as the case lingers on. But for my family, it is too much to bear especially when one knows that he is innocent.
Why didn’t you write through your father’s lawyer? He told the court that he was not aware of the move you made.
I feel bad that I circumvented due process. In hindsight I should have informed the lawyer of my intentions. But it did not even cross my mind at the time. I just wanted to get to the judge desperately. The clock is ticking and I felt that was my last resort. As soon as I thought of the idea, I wrote the letter and headed straight to the post office without really consulting anyone. I was shocked by the cost of mailing that piece of paper light as a feather. It is the most expensive thing I have ever mailed, but also the most important. I thought what did I have to lose? In no way am I asking the judge to pervert justice. Never! All I want is for the trial to wrap up soon. I think it’s only fair. I will be utterly distraught if my father, who is alive, can’t walk me down the aisle on my wedding day.
What are the issues you have with the ongoing trial and do you think your father will not get justice in the Nigerian judicial system?
The delay. I’m usually told about each proceeding. And sometimes I’m amazed (not in a good way) about the whole thing. Some of the so-called witnesses the prosecution has brought are laughable at best, and upsetting at worst. At this point, it appears the prosecution feels it has come too far to give up. And so to save face, it is coming up with all sort of unrelated approaches. It is pretty pathetic. I wish the trial was being aired on TV for the country to watch so they could see for themselves that the charges against him are clearly trumped up. However, I choose not to be a pessimist. I choose to have faith in the judicial system.
What do you do in Canada?
I left Nigeria after I finished secondary school 12 years ago. I just completed my Masters degree, and I now work for a technology company.
What kind of person is your father?
My father is very hardworking, smart and calm. He has a good sense of humour. He never raised his hands on us whenever we fell short. His disciplinary approach was always to talk to us and advise us and sometimes ground us. He never believed in beating his children or inflicting physical harm to get his point across. In the same light, he will never believe in orchestrating a grievous attack on the nation, and in effect taking lives, in order to get a point across. That is not who he is.
What was your response and indeed the response of your siblings when he was arrested in connection with the 2010 Abuja bombings that resulted in the killing of several people?
It did not make sense. I could not connect the dots (but as I have now found out, there are indeed no dots to connect). I had questions, I needed answers. I have been following the case intently to see what evidence they have. So far, nothing credible! My younger siblings, were shielded from it. All they knew was that daddy had gone away and he would be back soon. They have lost their sense of what ‘soon’ really means.
Do you think your father is innocent?
Absolutely. Without a doubt. Any unbiased observer who has gone to most of the court proceedings will easily see why. It is only during a fair trial in an impartial court that the so-called evidence will be revealed. It is then we will determine if the evidence being brought has any relationship or relevance to the charges of treason and terrorism levelled against my father or if what they have been holding onto for the past five years have been nothing more than fabricated lies.
Why would people implicate him if you think he is not involved in the incident?
Let’s not play naive. This is Nigeria we are talking about. Anything can happen. Anything goes. When people in positions of authority and power want something, they will pull whatever strings they need to and implicate whoever they want. Things went sour between my uncle and the government for reasons unknown to me. Knowing how close my dad is to his brother, he was the perfect bargaining chip. My dad refused to accept the terms of negotiations from the past government in exchange for his freedom. Now he’s paying the price for not biting into the rotten system.
What was your father’s relationship with the former administration? Can he be said to have had a relationship with former President Goodluck Jonathan? If he did, at what point did they fall apart?
I didn’t even know they had a relationship, if any. Like I said, I left Nigeria 12 years ago.
Did he have a relationship with militant groups in the Niger Delta and politicians?
I’m not sure what kind of relationship he would have with militant groups. My dad is a legitimate businessman who is always looking out for opportunities to expand his business. I know he had had relationships with politicians and governments in the past with regards to contracts for his business. Most recently (before his arrest), he was looking forward to securing a contract for building floating docks in the Niger Delta region and bringing some semblance of development to the area.
What are your misgivings about the judicial system?
Sadly, the Nigerian judicial system is not always very reliable. If I’m being completely honest, sometimes I get very concerned and worried. The prosecution never brought its case before the court bona fide in the first place, instead it is relying on assumptions, hear-say, wild conjecture, and a shoddy investigation. I just hope that at the end of all these, an innocent citizen would be seen vindicated, discharged and acquitted. Then, justice would have prevailed. Above all, my faith is stronger than my worry thus, all I have to do is pray and let go.
What is your message to the government and Nigerians?
His arrest was not warranted. Since they chose to prosecute him, I would have hoped they would get right to the point and lay out all their evidence in a clear and concise manner, rather than manipulating random people into testifying and formulating a watery case. In an ideal world, they will own up to messing up and apologise for the wrongful arrest. But we know that this will never happen. They impounded his goods of legitimate import at the time of his arrest and have still refused to release them even after their search of the containers amounted to nothing. I encourage Nigerians to slow to condemn, but quick to intellectually observe, ask questions, and gather facts. Unfortunately, In Nigeria, the mere act of filing charges – even trumped up charges – carries along with it a strong presumption of guilt. Many Nigerians lack a strong comprehension of the concept of innocent until proven guilty. The average Nigerian is generally quick to castigate and throw stones. The government presents someone as a scapegoat and instead of asking questions and seeking to gather the facts; they rely on hearsay and make very strong opinions based on things that the government leads them to believe, forgetting that this is Nigeria, where corruption on different scales runs high. At the end of the day, my prayer is that this ordeal is over very soon. Thank you for reaching out to me. May God bless our beloved country.
A competent government source confided in our correspondent on Sunday that military authorities had sought the President’s permission for the officers to be prosecuted under the Armed Forces Act.
