EFCC to probe Amnesty programme

•Orders Kuku to appear for questioning July 28

•I’m ready for probe, Kuku replies from America

By Soni Daniel, Regional Editor, North

THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFFC) has started probing the activities of the Presidential Amnesty Programme and has invited immediate past Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Kingsley Kuku, for questioning on July 28.

President Buhari

On his part, Kuku,  has said that he is ready to assist the anti-graft agency in its bid to probe the accounts of the agency under his leadership.

Kuku, who spoke from the United States of America where he is undergoing a medical procedure, said that the allegations of conspiracy, stealing, abuse of office and diversion of public funds being made against him, did not arise as the records of his administration were clear and available for scrutiny.

“I’m currently in the U.S for an urgent surgery on my knee and will certainly return to honour the EFCC invitation once I recuperate in September. The record of my stewardship under the Presidential Amnesty Programme is an open document and it is available for scrutiny since I have nothing to hide about what we did,” Kuku said on the phone.

The former presidential aide was responding to an invitation by the EFCC, directing him to report to the commission’s headquarters in Abuja for questioning on July 28, 2015 by one of its operatives named, Chris Owobu, over allegation of diverting public funds running into hundreds of millions of Naira.

The EFCC letter with ref: CR 3000/EFCC/ABJ/EG/T7/vol.25/263 and dated July 22, was signed by the Head of Economic Governance, Olufunke Adetayo Ogunbode and was sent and received by the Presidential Amnesty Office in Maitama, same day.

In it, the EFCC said: “The commission is conducting an inquiry into a case of conspiracy, stealing, diversion of public funds and abuse of public office involving you.

“In view of the above, you are kindly expected to be interviewed by the undersigned through Chris Owobu on Tuesday July 28, 2015 at No 5 Formella Street, off Adetokumbo Ademola Crescent Wuse 2, Abuja at 10 am.

“Kindly accept the assurances of the Executive Chairman’s best wishes and highest regards, please,” the invitation letter said.

But Kuku, who is outside the country on medical grounds, wrote back to the EFCC that he was indisposed to appear before the commission on July 28, since he was scheduled for an operation on July 30, at the Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Centre, United States.

Kuku’s letter to the EFCC dated July 24, 2015 was signed by his lawyer, Chief Karina Tunyan, SAN.

The lawyer wrote: “Our client is currently in the United States of America to keep appointment with his doctors at the Andrew Sports Medicine and ‘Orthopaedic Centre for surgery on one of his knees.

“He is expected back in Nigeria at the end of September, 2015 after the surgery and recuperation. He will definitely report in your office as a law-abiding citizen by 10.am on 30th of September, 2015,” the lawyer explained.

The documents from the Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Centre were also attached by the lawyer for the attention of the EFCC.

The Head of Media and Publicity of EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, confirmed the invitation extended to Kuku by the commission.

 

EFCC to probe Amnesty programme

Nobody advised Jonathan to concede defeat – Aide

President Goodluck Jonathan did not receive advice from anyone before he conceded defeat in the March 28 presidential election, his Special Adviser on Niger Delta, Mr. Kingsley Kuku, said on Tuesday.

Kuku spoke at the inauguration of a 500-seater Lecture Theatre donated by the Alumni Association of Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, and named in honour of Jonathan.

The President of the Alumni, Dr. Mathew Ayeni, said the President was a lover of peace, saying his election was a manifestation of this assertion.

Urging other African leaders to emulate him, Ayeni said, “Jonathan is undoubtedly a hero, not only in Nigeria’s history and by Nigerian standard but by international standard. This is the reason he is being credited as a world leader by international communities.”

According to Kuku, who is an alumnus of EKSU, Jonathan’s phone call to the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, saved Nigeria from a civil war.

He said, “That phone call saved Nigeria. Even the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, knew Nigeria was about to be made or marred.

“As results were still being collated, Mr. President was still busy with the problems of Nigeria, signing papers and working for the country.

“He saved this country; so many people predicted that we would have been at war by now. Even the so called advanced democracies had predicted 2015 as a year of doom for Nigeria.

“President Jonathan has scored another first. He did this without any pains, without any regret. We asked him why he did that without waiting for the final results to be announced. He said to us, ‘when things would happen, it must definitely happen. At such time, you will need no advice from people. Your adviser must be God Almighty. Nobody was with him when he made that phone call.”

Kuku described Jonathan as the luckiest president, saying he rose from deputy governor to become President within 10 years.

He recalled how former President Olusegun Obasanjo persuaded Jonathan to become Vice President when he was thinking of seeking re-election as Bayelsa governor.

“If that same man by votes was told by Nigerians that we needed a change; now change has come. We only need to pray for Muhammadu Buhari to bring that change for the benefits of all Nigerians. This prayer we must do to support all our leaders.

“This man has never fought for anything but God has made them happened. I’m happy to be part of history of President Goodluck Jonathan,” he added.

The wife of Ekiti State Governor, Mrs. Feyisetan Fayose, commended the association for the remarkable feat.

She urged the Ekiti State University authorities to strive for higher quality education to place Nigeria in the comity of nations with advanced education.

The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Patrick Aina, thanked the association for giving back to the university. Specifically, she thanked Kuku for recently donating an ultra-modern Student Centre and a bus to the Students’ Union.

Nobody advised Jonathan to concede defeat – Aide

Stop insulting Jonathan, others who ended N/D militancy – Kuku warns MEND

The Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, Mr. Kingsley Kuku, has warned the controversial Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) to desist from distorting the history of the Niger Delta struggle for its selfish interest.

In particular, Kuku, who claimed to have played a prominent role in ending the Niger Delta crisis, also warned the shadowy group not to drag the name of President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Patience, into the mud because of its pecuniary interest. Kuku told journalists in Abuja that he could not understand what MEND wanted to gain by trying desperately to change the history of the Niger Delta struggle and denigrate the persons of Jonathan and his wife, who also risked their lives to bring about peace in the region.

MEND at the weekend criticised Kuku over his comments in a televised interview on Boko Haram’s insurgency in the North-East and the role of some individuals in the Niger Delta agitation prior to the Federal Government’s offer of amnesty to former militants as a way of ending the restiveness in the region.

Kuku, who is also chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), spoke to journalists in Abuja, flanked by a Niger Delta leader, Elder Timi Ogoriba.

He wondered when MEND became Boko Haram’s mouthpiece as to know the real reason the terrorist’s group spurned the government’s offer for dialogue.

“I have no apologies to offer MEND for my comments on Boko Haram and the commendable and patriotic role of the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, since the Chibok schoolgirls’ abduction saga commenced. If it angers MEND, then I wonder whose interest they are fighting for,” he said.

He particularly upbraided the shadowy militant group for trying to write a negative and skewed history of the Niger Delta agitation in order to discredit some individuals, particularly President Goodluck Jonathan, Chief Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo) and Mujahid Dokubo-Asari.

Kuku said: “Some of us who played significant roles in ending the agitation in the Niger Delta cannot be silent when some persons try to foist a skewed history of the crisis on us.

“The persons that claim to be behind MEND are in no position to write the history of the Niger Delta agitation. I challenge whoever is claiming to be MEND now to controvert the fact that President Goodluck Jonathan, at the time he was Vice President, played a significant role in ending the insurgency in the Niger Delta.

“Where were those behind MEND now when our late beloved President Umaru Yar’Adua, who because of his concern for the peace of the region, sought to end the conflict and destruction of oil facilities, the kidnapping of expatriates on the Niger Delta waterways and the proliferation of arms, then dispatched his Vice, Dr. Jonathan, to Tompolo’s Camp 5 in Gbaramatu Kingdom in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State?”

Kuku said in furtherance of this, Dr. Jonathan on June 28, 2007 held a meeting with Tompolo at Okerenkoko, after which he (Tompolo) was invited to Abuja. But rather than Tompolo going alone, he called a meeting of Ijaw leaders and stakeholders, who converged on Gbaramatu. A 10-man team was then put together to dialogue with the Federal Government on the way forward.

 

Stop insulting Jonathan, others who ended N/D militancy – Kuku warns MEND