EFCC raids former VP Sambo’s office in Abuja

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has raided an office complex in Abuja belonging to former Vice President Namadi Sambo.

VP Namadi Sambo

The PUNCH learnt on Monday that the EFCC operatives raided the office complex, which is not far from the National Defence College along Herbert Macaulay Way, Abuja, between 12noon and 6pm on Saturday.

Aside from being on the list of those to be probed for arms purchase, it was gathered that the former vice president was also being investigated for his role as the Chairman of the National Council on Privatisation in the former President Goodluck Jonathan administration.

Findings showed that the EFCC operatives carted away many documents from the office but did not arrest anybody.

It was learnt that the EFCC on Monday began an analysis of documents seized from the office of the former vice president.

A top operative of the anti-graft agency, who confided in The PUNCH, said the operatives were on a mission to seize evidence that would likely be used against Sambo.

It was learnt that the documents carted away from Sambo’s office in files included banking transactions and inventory of properties within and outside Nigeria as well as copies of his asset declaration forms.

The source said the operatives had traced several properties believed to belong to Sambo to the United Kingdom and the United States apart from several others in the country.

One of our correspondents learnt that the investigation would get to a stage where the former vice president would be requested to make clarifications on the properties traced to him.

The source said, “Our operatives carried out a special operation at one of the offices of the former Vice President, Mr. Namadi Sambo, on Saturday.

“Most of the documents they took away have to do with banking operations and properties within and outside the country.

“Most of the properties they have traced so far are in the United Kingdom and the United States. Apart from those outside, there are also several houses within the country.

“The source explained that the former vice president could only be summoned for interrogation at the conclusion of the ongoing analysis of the documents they got from the office.

“One cannot say when or whether the man would be questioned or not. Naturally, that can only happen after those analysing the documents are through with their job. His roles in the arms deals and as the chairman of the National Council on Privatisation in the former President Goodluck Jonathan administration are being investigated.”

A source close to the former vice president, who spoke to one of our correspondents on Monday on the raid on Sambo’s office, said the EFCC operatives did not ‘‘find what they were looking for.’’

According to him, the operatives believed that they would get bags of dollars, which they did not find.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the EFCC’s agents carted away copies of asset declaration forms, which the former vice president had submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau.

Denying the involvement of the former vice-president in the arms purchase scam or any shady deals, he said, “We are confident that nothing negative will be found about the former vice president. They are on a wild goose chase.”

Efforts to get the spokesman for the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, had not succeeded as of the time of filing this report as calls to his mobile did not connect.

As the Chairman of the NCP, Sambo supervised the work of the Bureau of Public Enterprises.

The council approves enterprises that are to be sold or given out in concession. It approves the work schedule of BPE for the year and the list of companies that are shortlisted for bidding.

There was a report two weeks ago that Destra Investment, a company owned by the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olisa Metuh, allegedly paid N25m to a former Special Assistant to Sambo, Abba Dabo, on December 16, 2014.

EFCC raids former VP Sambo’s office in Abuja

Governors live like emperors while demanding sacrifice from citizens - Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Monday accused some state governors in the country of living like emperors while demanding sacrifice from the citizens for Nigeria to survive the prevailing hard times.

Jonathan, Obasanjo, Babangida, Buhari

Obasanjo spoke at the inaugural conference of the Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy at the University of Ibadan, where he was the chairman on the occasion.

The two-day conference has as theme, ‘‘Getting government to work for development and democracy in Nigeria: Agenda for change’’.

The Chairman, Board of Governors of the ISGPP, who is a former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, and a professor of international history and politics, John Evans, also delivered addresses among other speakers.

Obasanjo said when he became President in 1999, he recognised corruption as a major impediment to the development of the Nigerian state.

This, he added, informed his decision to set up the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission to fight the bane.

He, however, said after he left, corruption returned to Nigeria with a vengeance, draining billions of dollars from the nation’s economy that could hardly afford to lose even a million dollars.

He said while Nigerian leaders demanded sacrifice from the citizens, they lived in opulence.

Obasanjo added, “Leaders, who call for sacrifice from the citizenry, cannot be living in obscene opulence. We must address these foundational issues to make the economy work, to strengthen our institutions, build public confidence in government and deal with our peace and security challenges.

“We must address the issue of employment for our teeming population particularly for our youths. Leadership must mentor the young and provide them with hope about their future as part of a process of inter-generational conversation.

“Nigeria is a country where some governors have become sole administrators, acting like emperors. These governors have rendered public institutions irrelevant and useless.

“Is there development work going on in the 774 constitutionally-recognised local government councils, which have been merely appropriated as private estates of some governors?

“Some governors have hijacked the resources of the local governments and this has crippled the development of the local government councils in the country. The National Assembly must also open its budgets to public scrutiny.”

Obasanjo accused the local government chairmen of embezzling the remaining council funds after the governors would have diverted a sizable portion of the funds.

He stated, “Of course, when governors take their money, the chairmen of the councils take the balance of the money, put it on the table and share it out among council members. In some local governments, have the governors not hijacked most of the resources in them and expended them to serve their whims and caprices instead of using the resources to galvanize growth and development?

“Have we embraced the principles and values of the presidential system of government such as to enable us to realise our vision of a great country?

“When are we going to be able to practise federalism in a way that promotes healthy competition among the states for the benefit of the citizens? When are we going to subordinate partisanship to collective goals and deploy the full potential of our diversity in advancing public causes that serve the aspirations of the teeming masses of our people crying under the cringe of poverty, disease, unemployment and neglect? When shall we all unite around the Nigeria dreaming our quest to be the giant, which God has graciously endowed us to be?

“Why is it that every model that has worked elsewhere never seems to work sustainably in Nigeria? I can go on and on.”

The former President said the drastic fall in the price of oil in the international market had exposed the weakness of governance in Nigeria, while also noting that Nigeria was racing towards becoming a nation of debt with its attendant burden on the citizens.

Obasanjo stated, “The Minister of Finance recently announced that the 2016 budget deficit might be increased from the current N2.2tn in the draft document before the National Assembly, to N3tn due to the decline in the price of crude oil.

“If the current fiscal challenge is not creatively addressed, Nigeria may be on its way to another episode of debt overhang which may not be good for the country.

“It will be recalled that a few years ago, we rescued Nigeria from its creditors with the deal in which the Paris Club of sovereign creditors wrote off $18bn of debt, Africa’s largest debt cancellation. Nigeria then used windfall earnings from oil export to pay off another $12bn in debts and arrears.”

On the establishment of ISGPP in Ibadan, Obasanjo said there was clearly a need for schools of its kind that would use research and teaching to implement policies and making the government work well in Africa.

“I hope it will generate ideas that will lead us from thinking to doing. It must not only generate ideas, it must foster a willingness to use those ideas within government and non-government sectors,” he added.

Governors live like emperors while demanding sacrifice from citizens - Obasanjo

Prosecute Fayose, others for rigging - Ekiti APC tells AGF

The All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State has again urged the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), to prosecute all indicted people in the June 21, 2014 Ekiti governorship election rigging scandal.

Fayose vows to lead opposition against APC

The renewed call followed media reports on confessional statements by the expelled Ekiti State Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dr. Tope Aluko.

The party said it had on two occasions petitioned the Office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice on the same matter, stressing that the latest revelations had made it imperative for the nation’s chief law officer to act.

The Ekiti APC Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, noted in a statement on Monday that the election fraud story had refused to go away despite all “shenanigans” by Governor Ayodele Fayose, who he said was the biggest beneficiary of the fraud.

According to him, the soldiers should not be made to suffer alone for the alleged crime committed with Fayose and others in the PDP who are still walking free.

Aluko had claimed that President Goodluck Jonathan gave Fayose N4.7bn cash to prosecute the election.

He also revealed how the PDP rigged the governorship election for Fayose.

But the APC spokesman said even though there was nothing new in the revelations, it had become pertinent to prosecute the suspects as the revelations were again emanating from an insider who participated fully in what is now known as Ekitigate.

Olatubosun said, “By Aluko’s revelations, we are justified in our claim that our candidate, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, never lost that election but was criminally toppled by a coup d’etat orchestrated by Fayose in cahoots with President Jonathan’s administration that illegally deployed money and the military to ensure victory for Fayose.

“It is interesting that more names are coming up in the biggest election scam ever witnessed in Nigeria with the alleged participation of Ifeanyi Ubah of the infamous Transformation Agenda for Nigeria, a shady campaign group of former President Jonathan. No wonder Ubah was compensated with an honorary fellow award by Fayose at the Ekiti State College of Education for a job well done.”

The APC said President Muhammadu Buhari should use the Ekiti election fraud case to convince Nigerians that official impunity and fraud would not have a place in Nigeria under his watch.

“We have seen the army tackle the military aspect of the Army Probe Panel report. We expect the police and the AGF to also toe the same path in coming out with the civilian component of the probe report and act accordingly.”

Noting that Fayose had always mouthed his readiness to wave his immunity to face prosecution over alleged crimes, he said this was the time to wave that immunity clause to face prosecution on the electoral fraud.

Olatunbosun urged Nigerians to prevail on the minister of justice to compel Fayose to explain to the world what he meant by saying that he collected INEC soft copies and got them printed as captured in Capt. Sagir Koli’s tape detailing all activities connected with the Ekiti rigging.

“Besides Fayose talking on the tape about how INEC gave him soft copies that he printed to win the election, the minister of justice must also compel the governor, who spoke on election result collation in the tape, to tell Nigerians which election result he was collating in Efon-Alaaye on June 19, 2014, two clear days before the June 21, 2014 governorship election,” Olatunbosun added.

Meanwhile, a former Lagos State Commissioner for Police, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, and the South-East Zonal Spokesman for the APC, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, have called for the arrest and prosecution of all those involved in the rigging of the Ekiti election.

The two men, who spoke in separate telephone interviews on Monday, described the revelations about the rigging of the election in question as a good development.

Tsav noted that the revelation was good for the country’s democracy in the sense that it now shows that no crime can go undetected forever. This, he noted, would send a clear signal to all those who have plans to replicate such infamy to have a rethink.

According to him, the revelation will also assist Nigerians to be more vigilant in subsequent elections with a view to ensuring that they not only vote but that their votes count.

He said, “Without a doubt, these (revelations) show that the no-nonsense disposition of President Buhari to issues of impunity and corruption is beginning to yield fruits because people now come up with revelations that will help improve the electoral system.”

Prosecute Fayose, others for rigging - Ekiti APC tells AGF

Rivers State: Our members not decamping to PDP - APC

…Ignore Obuah and Needam’s propaganda

By Nwaorgu Faustinus

The Rivers State chapter of All Progressives Congress, APC, said its attention has been drawn to a spate of crass propaganda being churned out from the charlatanic stable of the PDP Chairman in Rivers state, Bro Felix Obuah and his media assistant, Jerry Needam falsely claiming that APC members are set to decamp to the PDP in Rivers State.

APC Rivers State

The APC in a statement said it was not surprised at the level of puerile lies being thrown into public space by a bunch of fellows who are yet to understand that the propaganda train has since left the primitive station where they sadly find themselves languishing.

“The most important reason why no APC member will ever join the PDP in Rivers State remains that the leadership of the PDP have blood on their hands. To dine and drink with such characters, no matter the compelling reasons, will amount to sharing in the toga of guilt that is still hanging on their necks. PDP leaders know this” the party stressed.

The statement reads: “Another reason no genuine member of APC will join the PDP is that APC members do not worship money or ready to dine with the devil irrespective of how long the spoon may be. It is important to remind the PDP that APC remains the party in power at the federal level and that is instructive.

“Again, it is pertinent to sound a reminder to the PDP that it is adherence to principles and values that led to the mass movement of our members into the APC in the first place and we still uphold and cherish those principles and values. We will never trade them away for a pot of porridge.

“The PDP should start cracking their brains on how to carry along the insatiable and greedy bunch in their fold. We are convinced that with Abuja beyond the reach of Rivers PDP, it is only a matter of time before the bubble bursts. A fight over the spoil of office by the PDP in Rivers State is a waiting time bomb. It is not whether or how the cookie will crumble, it is when it will crumble. Therefore, APC members are quite aware that the State resources will be unable to cater for the obscenely insatiable appetite of the characters in the PDP fold and therefore will never consider joining the PDP for any reason. That will amount to moving from hope to hopelessness.

“The APC has also observed that Bro Felix Obuah, through his media assistant Jerry Needam, released a statement accusing the 2015 Governorship Candidate of the APC in Rivers State, Dr. Dakuku Peterside of making inciting statement at an APC stakeholders’ meeting last Saturday. This accusation flies in the face as Dr. Dakuku Peterside does not engage in use of incendiary language and this is evident in his statement reacting to the Supreme Court judgment of last Wednesday. Felix Obuah and Jerry Needam were probably sleepwalking at the time they made their unfounded allegations. If they have properly woken up then they may seek for the statement made by Dr. Dakuku Peterside at the said meeting.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the APC wishes to state that Dr. Dakuku Peterside shows comportment, grasp and decency in his choice of words at all times. Felix Obuah should know that those who spew inciting words dwell in his party.

“The APC is aware that the PDP Chairman and his media assistant enjoy engaging in tale-by-moonlight propaganda that belongs to the 18th Century. We wish them good luck in their journey back to the Stone Age.”

Rivers State: Our members not decamping to PDP - APC

PDP Laments Buhari’s Attack On Judiciary

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) urges the judiciary, as the last hope of the common man, to continue to assert its independence and not allow itself to be deterred from upholding justice and the rule of law, no matter the pressure.

PDP

The judicial community and in fact, all discerning Nigerians were shocked by the release by the Presidency on Sunday wherein President Muhammadu Buhari was quoted to have described the judiciary as the ‘major headache’ of his administration.

This statement is a direct affront on the statutorily guaranteed independence of the judiciary and more worrisome is the fact that a President of a country had to tie back already settled judgments of the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, in cases involving him, as a benchmark of his assessment of the institution of the judiciary at the moment.

While we express worry at the attacks on the judicial arm of government, we are aware that they are intended to blackmail and stampede the judiciary to deliver judgments against the PDP in various pending cases involving our party and some of our leaders in the courts.

While we urge the judiciary to ensure that it adequately guards its flanks from all external influences, we also caution the executive to focus on governance, while respecting the constitutionally guaranteed principle of separation of powers by allowing the judiciary and the legislature indeed, all statutory arms of government to freely operate within the bounds provided by our laws.

Finally, the PDP wishes to call on critical stakeholders to appreciate the fact that the Judiciary, in its nature as an arbiter, cannot join issues with the other arms, and such needs to be defended from the brazen blackmail by the APC-led Government.

PDP Laments Buhari’s Attack On Judiciary

PDP chides Peterside over inflammatory statements

The Chairman, Rivers State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Bro Felix Obuah has expressed concern over consistent inflammatory statements emanating from the defeated candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Mr Dakuku Peterside, capable of igniting serious crisis in the State, ahead of the re-run elections.

Hon. Dakuku Peterside

Bro Obuah says apart from being inciting, the statements further underscore the desperation of Mr. Dakuku Peterside, and therefore condemnable in view of the possible consequences on the prevailing hard earned peace in the State.

The PDP Chairman, in a press statement in Port Harcourt, explained how Mr. Dakuku Peterside during a meeting of the APC Stakeholders and candidates for the National and State Assemblies re-run Elections on Saturday, January 30, 2016, at the ESI premises, No. 120 Woji Road, GRA Phase 2, Port Harcourt, boasted that all security agencies and the Independent National Electoral Commission are working with the APC to write results and ensure that only APC candidates emerge victorious at the polls, adding that since the Supreme Court had given its judgment in favour of Governor Nyesom Wike and the PDP, the APC is now ready for war during the re-run elections.

Although, dependable information at our disposal confirmed that some participants at the meeting which started 2.30pm and ended 4.15pm were visibly unhappy over the unfortunate provocative comments by Mr. Dakuku Peterside but was however corroborated by Magnus Abe, Andrew Uchendu and Otelemaba Amachree amongst others, a development we view as most uncalled for, undemocratic and a call to anarchy.

He assures Mr. Peterside that the government of Rivers State under Barr Wike would not sit and watch anyone threaten the current peace being enjoyed in the State, calling on the leadership of the APC to have a rethink and to take advantage of the olive branch extended to them by the Governor and the PDP to join in building the State rather than plotting to destroy it.

According to the PDP Chairman, the wild jubilation in Opobo, the home town of Mr Dakuku Peterside over the Supreme Court judgment clearly underscores that the PDP would overrun the APC in his home town in the forthcoming re-run elections.

Bro Obuah further assures that the PDP and Rivers people would defend the victory of Barr Nyesom Wike at the Supreme Court by ensuring that all PDP candidates in the re-run elections emerge victorious and all votes jealously protected.

PDP chides Peterside over inflammatory statements

Alleged N1trn rail contracts scam: Reps invite Amaechi, NRC MD, others

ABUJA—MEMBERS of the adhoc committee of the House of Representatives on failed rail contracts have summoned the Minister of Transport, Mr Rotimi Amaechi; Managing Director of Nigeria Railway Corporation, NRC, Seyi Sijuwade; former Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Dr Mohammed Bello Haliru; and former Minister of Transport, Idris Umar, to explain their roles in the alleged N1 trillion rail contracts scam.

Rotimi Amaechi

The adhoc committee is headed by Ehoizuwa Johnson Agbonayinma, PDP, Ikpoba/Oha Federal Constituency. They are expected to appear before the committee tomorrow  during the investigative hearing.

Chairman of the adhoc committee, Agbonayinma, confirmed that all the stakeholders had been duly informed and were expected to show up unfailingly tomorrow.

Asked why the Minister of Transport was invited, despite the fact that he is barely three months old in office, Agbonayinma said:  “The Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, was also invited to tell us all he knows, though he just assumed office but you know government is a continuum.

“This 8th House is 100 per cent in support of President Muhammadu Buhari’s crusade against any form of corruption.

“We are not out to witch-hunt anybody but anyone found wanting in the course of this investigative hearing will be adequately exposed although as you are aware, not until it is proven by a competent court that such persons are guilty you can’t say they are guilty.”

It would be recalled that during the last investigative hearing on December 10, former chairman of the NRC board, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, had denied that during his tenure, no contract was awarded by the board he chaired.

Tukur, a former chairman of PDP, had told the adhoc committee that the Procurement Act excluded the NRC Board from participating in the award of railway contracts.

“The Board which I chaired, was never involved in any contract award and was never told or invited to participate in issues of contract award of financial disbursement,” he said.

He said throughout his stay as the Board Chairman of the NRC, no issue of contract award of any amount or tune was discussed or awarded by the Board.

Another Chairman of the board, Alhaji Kawu Baraje, also a former chairman of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, told the adhoc committee that he was not privileged to appoint any consultant or award contracts for the railway projects.

According to Baraje, all the paraphernalia and indices that would assist him carry out his work were all gone.

“We only played the role of inspection because the procurement act excluded the board from participating in any contract,’’ he added.

He expressed worry that the country’s railway transportation system had suffered neglect, in spite of playing critical role in the development of the economy.

Baraje said more attention should be given to the 25-year railway modernisation plan to boost transportation in the country.

Also speaking at the hearing  Senator Ladan Shuni, another former Board Chairman of the NRC, wondered the essence of inaugurating a board that lacked the capacity to oversee the award of contracts.

The investigative hearing is expected to unravel how over N1 trillion was expended on rail rehabilitation, purchase of coaches, spare parts and materials for NRC.

Vanguard recalls   that   the House of Representatives, had on October 14 based on a motion promoted by Rep Solomon Ahwhinawi, PDP, Delta had set up   the adhoc committee to probe contracts awarded for the rehabilitation of rail tracks, standard gauge, bridges, coaches, wagons and locomotives between 2010 and 2014 amounting to N1 trillion.

Alleged N1trn rail contracts scam: Reps invite Amaechi, NRC MD, others