President Muhammadu Buhar |
At least eight out of the politicians
working for the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari in the
February 2019 election have pending corruption cases worth N232bn,
checks by Saturday PUNCH have revealed.
Investigation by our correspondents
showed that the amount involved in the various graft cases, which are
currently pending before security agencies, especially the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission, range from N223m to N100bn for each of the
politicians.
Some of the eight politicians, who used
to be members of the Peoples Democratic Party and other opposition
parties, had allegedly defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress
to stop the dangling axe of the EFCC and other security agencies from
falling on them.
Specifically, the politicians who are
currently either under probe or prosecution for allegedly diverting
government funds have separately vowed to ensure Buhari remains in power
untill 2023.
The eight politicians include the
senator representing Nasarawa West at the National Assembly, Abdullahi
Adamu; the senator representing Sokoto North and former Governor of
Sokoto State, Aliyu Wamakko; ex-Senate Minority Leader and former
Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio, who recently defected
from the PDP to the APC; and a former Governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor
Kalu.
Others are the immediate past Secretary
to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal; the former Governor
of Rivers State and Director-General of the Buhari Campaign
Organisation in 2015, Rotimi Amaechi; the Governor of Zamfara State,
Abdulaziz Yari; and former National Chairman of the PDP, Ali Modu
Sheriff.
Abdullahi Adamu (N15bn)
For instance, Adamu, a serving senator
and former Governor of Nasarawa State, is one of the President’s allies
in the Senate. He is also a member of the National Advisory Committee of
the Buhari 2019 Presidential Support Committee.
The lawmaker is being prosecuted
alongside 18 others for allegedly stealing N15bn from the treasury
through contracts awarded when he was governor for eight years.
His son, Nurianu, was also arraigned by
the EFCC in January 2018 for alleged N90m fraud. However, the former
governor has been one of the fiercest critics of Senate President Bukola
Saraki.
According to Saraki, the former governor has been insulting him in order to get a soft landing.
Saraki had said in July, “I have
deliberately ignored the antics of Senator Abdullahi Adamu, especially
his constant media attacks on me and the Senate since the EFCC dusted
his file on alleged case of corruption and also went ahead to arraign
his son in court.”
Aliyu Wamakko (N15bn)
Senator Aliyu Wamakko is in charge of
Buhari’s campaign in Sokoto State. A few weeks ago, he held a massive
rally on behalf of Buhari in order to prove to the President that
Governor Aminu Tambuwal’s defection would be of no effect.
Wamakko, who served as governor from
2007 to 2015, is under investigation over allegations of theft of public
funds and money laundering totalling N15bn, an allegation he has
vehemently denied.
Spokesperson for the EFCC, Wilson
Uwujaren, had confirmed in April that the commission was investigating
allegations contained in a petition against Wammako and that he would
soon be invited to defend the allegations.
Godswill Akpabio (N100bn)
The former governor of Akwa Ibom State
has been under probe by the EFCC for over three years based on
allegations that he diverted over N100bn from the coffers of the state
between 2007 and 2015.
Akpabio was welcomed into the APC by the President himself.
The former governor, who represents Akwa
Ibom North-West Senatorial District, recently vowed that the APC would
take over Akwa Ibom the way Adolph Hitler invaded Poland.
Akpabio, who on Friday travelled to
China with the President is arguably the closest defector to Buhari and
has vowed to do everything possible to ensure Buhari is re-elected.
Although he has been grilled by the EFCC, he has not been charged.
Orji Uzor Kalu (N3.2bn)
Kalu, who governed Abia State from 1999
to 2007, was one of the most influential politicians in the South-East
during his time in government. After leaving the PDP, he formed the
Progressive Peoples Alliance from where he contested and lost a
senatorial election in 2015.
The following year, he defected to the APC and has paid several visits to the President since then.
Recently, he visited the President in
his hometown of Daura, Katsina State, where he was bestowed with the
title, ‘Dan Baiwan Hausa’ by the Emir of Daura, Alhaji Umar Farouq.
According to the emir, Kalu was bestowed
with the title in appreciation of his “unwavering support for our son,
President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR, Bayajida II .”
However, the former governor has been having a running legal battle with the EFCC since leaving office.
The EFCC alleged that Kalu and the
others committed fraud between August 2001 and October 2005. It accused
Kalu of utilising his company (Slok Nigeria Limited) to retain in the
account of First Inland Bank, now First City Monument Bank, the sum of
N200m.
The commission said that the sum formed
part of funds illegally derived from the coffers of the Abia State
government. The EFCC also said that the accused retained, in different
bank accounts, about N2.5bn belonging to the state government, adding
that he diverted about N3.2bn from the coffers of the same government.
Regardless of his travails, the former
governor has insisted that he will do all within his power to ensure
that Buhari is re-elected.
Babachir Lawal (N223m)
The immediate past Secretary to the
Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, was accused by the Senate
ad hoc Committee on Mounting Humanitarian Crisis in the North-East, led
by Senator Shehu Sani, of awarding a N223m consultancy contract for the
removal of invasive plant species in Komadugu, Yobe Water Channels to
his company, Rholavision Engineering in contravention of Section 43(iii)
and (iv) of the Public Procurement Act 2007.
A committee headed by Vice-President
Yemi Osinbajo subsequently investigated Lawal and recommended his
dismissal in October 2017, a year after he was indicted by the Senate.
Although he is under probe by the EFCC,
Babachir is among the key figures running Buhari’s re-election campaign
in Adamawa State. He also revealed during a recent interview on Channels Television that he still had direct access to the President.
The former SGF has been having a
leadership tussle with Governor Jibrilla Bindow over who should lead
Buhari’s campaign in the state.
Rotimi Amaechi (N97bn)
Amaechi, who was the Director-General of
the Buhari Campaign Organisation in 2015, has been charged with the
task of ensuring that Buhari is elected a second time.
The Minister of Transport, who is the
face of the Buhari campaign, was indicted by the Justice George
Omeregi-led Rivers State Judicial Commission of Inquiry set up to
investigate the sale of state assets.
He and others were accused of allegedly misappropriating N97bn through the sale of the state valued assets.
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, had alleged that $150m (N30bn at the time) was spent on Buhari’s campaign in 2015.
Amaechi challenged his indictment but
lost at the Appeal Court. Although anti-graft agencies have refused to
state if he is under investigation or not, he has yet to clear his name
and is still under investigation by the state government.
The Rivers State Commissioner for
Information and Communications, Emma Okah, insisted that Amaechi was not
cleared by the panel that indicted him on the sale of some assets
belonging to the state.
Also, a top official at the Government
House in Port Harcourt, pointed out that at the last count on the
matter, the former governor had gone to the Supreme Court.
An appeal filed by Amaechi against the
Justice George Omereji-led panel was in May 2017 dismissed by the Appeal
Court in Port Harcourt.
The Appeal Court had said that the refusal of Amaechi to appear before the panel amounted to self-denial.
But Okah said that the matter was currently at the Supreme Court.
“He (Amaechi) went to court against the
panel and the matter is still in the Supreme Court. The state government
has not cleared him on the matter concerning the sale of valued assets
belonging to the state,” he said.
Amaechi could not be reached for comments, as he did not answer calls to his mobile phone.
A text message sent to him on the matter did not get any reply.
However, a senior official of the
Federal Ministry of Transportation told our correspondent that the
minister was out of the country.
The official, who also works directly
with the minister, stated he (the official) was not aware of the said
allegations against Amaechi.
“I have not seen it (the report) and
can’t speak on it. However, the minister is in China right now,” the
official, who pleaded to be anonymous, said.
Abdul’aziz Yari (N680m)
Yari has been engaged in a fierce battle
with the EFCC for over a year following allegations that he diverted
nearly N700m which formed part of the Paris Club refund due to his
state.
In July last year, a Federal High Court
in Abuja ordered an interim forfeiture of the sums of N500m and
$500,000 (N180m) said to have been looted from the Paris Club refunds
made by the Federal Government in favour of the 36 states of the
federation.
The sums of money said to have been
recovered from two firms, First Generation Mortgage Bank Limited, and
Gosh Projects Limited, were allegedly linked to the governor.
The EFCC also alleged, in an affidavit
filed in support of its ex parte application seeking the interim
forfeiture of the sums of money, that the N500m was diverted to offset
Yari’s personal loan obtained from the First Generation Mortgage Bank
Limited.
In July, the Presidential Support Committee of Buhari 2019 appointed Sheriff as the director-general.
The National Secretary of the group,
Kassim Kassim, said in a statement that the conglomerate of about 300
Buhari supporters’ groups unanimously endorsed Sheriff to lead the
Presidential Support Committee, Buhari 2019 and not the Buhari’s
Campaign Organisation for the 2019 election.
He said groups that made up the
Presidential Support Committee were all registered with the office of
the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Political Matters.
Sheriff and others are under
investigation for allegedly receiving N450m out of the N23bn ($115m)
bribe allegedly disbursed by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources,
Diezani Alison-Madueke, during the build-up to the 2015 elections.
He has been grilled several times by the
EFCC but was never charged. His private jet was also impounded by the
commission but later released to him.
Sagay, EFCC react
Speaking with our correspondent, the
Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse
Sagay (SAN), said joining the President’s camp would not save any
politician from probe or prosecution.
He said those whose cases had already been taken to court would continue to face prosecution.
Sagay, however, said there was room for plea bargain, an option he said stubborn people would never use.
He said, “I know Akpabio is still under
probe and if he is found culpable, he would be invited and prosecuted.
For me, the only import of him joining the President’s campaign is that
he can be persuaded to make a plea bargain quickly, which everyone is
entitled to, but the stubborn ones will not take that option.
“As for allegations against Amaechi, he
was indicted by a fake and useless judicial panel set up by Wike, who is
himself under investigation for corruption. He set up a kangaroo panel,
which Amaechi refused to answer to.”
When asked about the Appeal Court ruling
which ordered Amaechi to answer to the panel, Sagay added, “he doesn’t
have to answer to rubbish. Judges who allow themselves to engage in
injustice deserve to be disregarded. Amaechi is innocent. All the
charges were trumped up.”
Also speaking with our correspondent,
the EFCC Spokesperson, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, said joining the President’s
camp would not translate to immunity from prosecution.
Uwujaren said, “The EFCC neither closes
cases nor clears people. Also, being in the President’s party does not
give anyone immunity from prosecution.”
Buhari, who later won the presidential
election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress had
consistently accused the then ruling party, the PDP of engaging in
mind-boggling corrupt practices.
“If Nigeria does not kill corruption,
corruption will kill Nigeria,” Buhari had said repeatedly during the
build-up to the 2015 general elections.
However, no sooner had he been declared
winner than some politicians from the same corrupt party began defecting
to the President’s own party.
While some of the allegedly corrupt
persons were kept at arm’s length, others became very close to the
President, constantly appearing in pictures with the professed
anti-corruption champion and sending mixed signals to Nigerians.
SERAP, CACOL react
The Executive Director of Socio-Economic
Rights and Accountability Project, Adetokunbo Mumuni, however, said it
would be wrong to condemn the President for being supported by people
alleged to be corrupt if there was no proof that he had prevented
anti-corruption agencies from prosecuting such people.
He said, “Unless you want to tell me
that the anti-corruption agencies will not do anything unless they are
prompted or unless somebody says they should do it, I don’t want to
believe rumours. Allegations must be backed by concrete evidence for it
to be substantiated. I don’t want to think that somebody with convincing
evidence against him will be prevented from facing the music simply
because he supports the President. For example, Kalu still has his case
in court.”
Similarly, the Executive Chairman,
Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, Mr. Debo Adeniran, said
it would be wrong to presume people guilty because they have corruption
allegations against them and that the President could not have stopped
anyone from supporting him, in any case.
He said, “You can’t prevent sinners from
going to a religious place, what you don’t have to allow is for them to
take over the pulpit to preach the doctrine of the crimes that they
have been committing. From our recent experience, defecting to the
ruling party has not, in practical terms, stopped the trial of some of
politicians. For instance, Kalu’s case is still in court.
“And as of now, Akpabio has yet to be
convicted and until someone is convicted, you cannot say they have
committed a crime. Even Kalu, whose case is in court, cannot be said to
be guilty of the offence until he is convicted. So, it is a moral
question and the moral suasion has its limit.”
But a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief
Onueze Okocha, said President Buhari was sending a dangerous and
negative signal to Nigerians by allowing people with pending corruption
cases to work for his re-election.
He said, “The whole thing sends a
dangerous and unhappy signal to all of us that the so-called
anti-corruption war is not whole. We can all see that only those in the
opposition are mainly those investigated of corruption while those in
the ruling party are regarded as sacred cows.
“It’s what we’ve always known; there is
no effectiveness in the anti-corruption war. Look at Akpabio, for
instance, shortly after he was elected to the Senate, the EFCC raided
his house and found lots of cash. Now that he has defected to the APC,
what happens to him?
“Babachir Lawal, though has been sacked,
is still free to walk around. Look at the issue of fake National Youth
Service Corps certificate held by Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, all these tell us
there are sacred cows in the anti-corruption war.”
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