The Forthcoming Annual EFCC Report By Sonala Olumhense

Sonala Olumhense

It is my favorite season of the year again: the drama season.  In September each year, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) submits its annual report to the National Assembly.
That leads to October, which I call National Hypocrisy Month, because that is when Nigeria’s leadership advertises itself when it awards the chieftaincy titles called National Honours.  A troubling list of the 149 people who will receive them this year has already been published.
Actually, I do not know that the EFCC will actually submit a report this year.  Its former chairman, Farida Waziri, never did.  She played games with the idea, but she never did.
But the EFCC (Establishment) Act of 2004 says: "The Commission shall, not later than 30th September in each year, submit to the National Assembly, a report of its activities during the immediately preceding year and shall include in such report the audited accounts of the Commission."
This means that the National Assembly ought to be offended if it does not receive such a report.  It ought to be outraged whenever especially such a high-profile body as the EFCC, which is charged with chasing law-breakers, breaks the law.  For several years, the Assembly has shown no such concern.
In 2006, the EFCC submitted its first report.  That was the day its original chairman, Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, named the most corrupt governor.
He also named the most unoriginal thief, one whom he noted with disgust, had emptied a safe with his bare gubernatorial hands.
That year, he named one woman among the army of corrupt governors and notable Nigerians.
Mr. Ribadu even wanted to name Nigeria’s most corrupt person, but the Senate President prevented him from doing so.
Only one governor received the honour and respect of the Commission: Cross River’s Donald Duke.
And all of that was simply the oral preface to the report. Mr. Ribadu departed.
That may have been the point at which the political elite decided his fate.  By the next reporting season, Ribadu was out as boss of the Commission.
In came Mrs. Waziri, a woman with a fascinating record. A former policewoman, she had prior to her appointment actually had a relationship with the EFCC, helping our former governors with EFCC troubles.  Several uncontested reports alleged that she had been sponsored to the EFCC job by some of those powerful political chieftains.
Mrs. Waziri was full of all the correct sound bites, but when it came to striking at the heart of corruption, she knew when to flash her expensive jewelry and leave the room. She flushed out of the EFCC Nigeria’s best-trained corruption hunters and dispersed them all over the country. Her case was so rotten that after a while, the Americans refused to talk to her at all.
It was obvious she would circumvent the duty of having to publish an annual report, and she did.  Repeatedly.
Her tenure was scandalous, and the Americans, who were holding Mr. Goodluck Jonathan to his promises to “combat” corruption, were so loud about the need for him to do something that she made an easy target.
Mrs. Waziri was flushed out, finally, last November.  Predictably, and despite a list of allegations against her as long as Abuja is ethically desolate, she was never probed let alone prosecuted.  Like James Ibori after one last wave at Justice Marcel Awokulehin, little wonder she claimed victory as she handed her office over to her predecessor, reeling out irrelevant statistics.
But Mrs. Waziri is the past.  The future, beginning this month, is Ibrahim Lamorde, the EFCC’s new boss.
Mr. Lamorde has been at the commission since the very beginning, and he has held all the top offices.  This month, if and when he publishes the annual report, we will finally find out whether he is a man or a mouse.
To be sure, Mr. Lamorde’s task is not easy, and he must make the difficult choices, which is what leadership is all about.
His report, if he really does submit one, will need to be much more than an annual report; he cannot provide certain narratives dating from his inauguration or even from last September because that would be an intolerable and artificial vacuum.
Since he knows that there has been no annual report for several years, he must determine whether to collude with his predecessor and maintain that false history, or account for it so that the true story of the EFCC, as an institution, will be complete.  This is how strong institutions function, and flourish.
Receiving the baton from Mrs. Waziri last November, Mr. Lamorde said, "I will be making more demand of every staff of EFCC, far more demand of professionalism, integrity and ethical conduct than had ever been made of each and every one of us, and I will not accept any excuse whatsoever for failure.”
I am so glad he said that, because he is the first member of staff of the commission, and from his first annual report, Nigerians will now get to learn exactly how he spells professionalism, integrity and ethical conduct in terms of himself.
Only last June, it was reported that the Independent and Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) had begun an investigation of Mrs. Waziri’s tenure over what an official called very “disturbing evidence of corruption.”
They include such illegalities during her tenure as issuing official clearance letters to former governors who were indicted or being investigated for corruption by Mr. Ribadu, such as Mr. Ibori and Victor Attah, a former governor of Akwa-Ibom State who is also wanted in the United Kingdom.
Other cases include the controversial authorization given Victor Uwajeh, an Abuja based businessman, to act a consultant for the EFCC to help investigate cases of politically exposed persons (PEP), a profile Mr. Uwajeh allegedly parlayed into business for himself, for which he is now being prosecuted.
Since Mr. Lamorde’s assumption of the leadership of the EFCC, the commission has given every appearance of being busy.  There have been a lot of pictures and a lot of words in a lot of different forums.  There has been a lot of activism concerning small corruption cases.
If and when Mr. Lamorde produces a comprehensive report, we will finally be able to determine the true character of this mysterious institution. 
This report will be the most important so far in the history of the EFCC.  What Mr. Lamorde chooses to include will be as important as what he chooses to leave out.  The work he is doing will be assessed alongside the job he has defined.
Now, we get to find out if the EFCC is fighting corruption fundamentally, or helping it.

Three States Fight Over ‘Anambra Oil’

By Lawrence Njoku and Samson Ezea (Enugu) and Chuks Collins (Awka) 

SINCE the commissioning of the oil exploration facilities belonging to Orient Petroleum Resources (OPR) at Aguleri-Otu Aguleri in Anambra East Council Area of Anambra State by President Goodluck Jonathan where he declared Anambra State as the 10th oil-producing state, there have claims and agitations from the neigbouring states of Kogi and Enugu that the oil deposits being explored by the company were domiciled in their territories and not Anambra State.
The controversy surrounding the ownership of the oil wells was brought to fore by the Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) Mr. Elias Mbam at an Economic Workshop on Diversification in Asaba Delta State on Monday.
Mbam said though crude oil production had begun in Anambra State, becoming a beneficiary of monthly allocation based on 13 per cent oil derivation, was not automatic.
He said: “The derivation fund is clearly defined in the constitution. The law does not say you must start benefiting when we discover oil in your place.
“You benefit when that mineral resources contributes to the Federation Account and what you benefit is the value of the contribution to Federation Account.”
“We have agencies of government charged with the responsibility of ensuring that boundary issues are settled. We have National Boundary Commission (NBC) and Surveyor General of the Federation, who are charged with responsibilities of delineating boundaries.
There is no need to dissipate energy now, because once they start contributing to the Federation Account, the Commission will request the boundary commission and Surveyor General to go and establish where the oil wells belong.”
Even with this pronouncement, the affected states are still laying claim to the wells.
The Kogi State Deputy Governor, Mr. Yomi Awoniyi, who represented his boss at the commissioning of the oil facilities: “As you know, Orient is operating on OPL 915 and this oil field straddles many states, including Kogi and one of the oil wells that have been explored and capped by ELF that have now been re-developed by Orient is actually in Ibaji Local Government of Kogi State.”
On the Presidential declaration that Anambra State is an oil-producing state, Awoniyi said: “I don’t see how one can explain the statement. The oil well is in Anambra River basin, which is a very large expanse of land with an overlay of several states on that basin and even that basin has been divided into several OPL. Orient has 915 and 916. Now, one of the wells is in Kogi State, while other wells are in Anambra and Enugu States. You can drill as many holes as you want in this basin and for every hole you drill, it is a well.”
In the same vein, the Chairman of Uzo-uwani Council Area of Enugu, where the oil wells are allegedly situated, Cornel Onwubuya, told The Guardian that from historical and documentary evidence, the oil wells are situated in Iggah, a suburb of the council area.
“The distance of the oil wells to Iggah is eight kilometers and seven kilometers from Echenwo community in Ibaji Council Area of Kogi State. The nearest Anambra State migrant settlement, Otu, to the Oil well is 50 kilometers.
Since the creation of Enugu, and Kogi states in 1991, the deposit of oil and gas in Nigeria’s inland basin has been subject of dispute between the three states. The matter has been before the National Boundary Commission (NBC) and Surveyor General of the Federation.”
He faulted President Jonathan’s declaration of Anambra State as oil-producing state even when NBC has not made a statement on where the oil wells are located.
But faulting the claims, Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to Anambra State Governor, Mr. Mike Udah described the claims as an afterthought.
He said that the premises of Orient Petroleum Resources and the oil wells belonging to the company are in Aguleri-Otu in Anambra East Council of the State.
“There is no truth in the claim by some neighbouring states that Orient Petroleum is in their land. This clearly is an afterthought and an unnecessary distraction. If their claims are true, why weren’t their governors around on August 30 when President Jonathan commissioned Orient Petroleum Resources?
“Only Governor Peter Obi was there to receive the President. Anambra State is not opposed to the idea of the Boundary Commission determining her boundaries with any of her neighbours,” Udah said.
The Managing Director of Orient Petroleum Resources, Emeka Nwawka, told The Guardian that the two oil blocs OPL-915 and 916, covering an area of 2158km2, extend a little into Edo, Delta and Enugu states, while the bulk is in Anambra state.
The Guardian investigation reveals that unless the NBC makes a clear statement on the location of the oil wells, fear, anxiety and suspicion already building up in the affected states my snowball into full-scale crisis.
The Guardian

Islam and the West (1) - Dr. Hakeem Baba Ahmed

“Though the lion and the antelope live in the same forest, the antelope still has time to grow up” Ghanaian Proverb

A major casualty of the fury in Muslim nations over a movie made in the United State which insulted the Holy Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) was the U.S Ambassador and three other US citizens. They died during a siege in Benghazi, a city which has been the frontline and symbol of the Libyan people’s uprising against their late leader, Muammar Ghaddafi. That uprising involved the very active, and some may say, even decisive involvement of the US and its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The events in the last few days in Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and many other Muslim countries has refocused attention on the difficult relations between the West and Islam. I have decided to start this two-part series on Islam and the West with a comment I made for our Radio and Television station which was broadcast on 25^th September, 2011, almost one year ago. It was titled, “Post-Ghaddafi Libya: A Difficult Road to Many Destinations”:

The National Transitional Council which provided the political leadership for the insurgency which ousted and killed Muammar Gaddafi last week led the celebration for Liberation Day on Sunday, 23^rd of October. The world watched hundreds of thousands of Libyans formalize a victory in Benghazi, the city which provided the bulwark of the resistance against Gaddafi virtually for his entire reign, but particularly since the insurgency built up and took on much of the traditional cultural and political fault lines of the Libyan nation. It is difficult not to share some of the relief of the Libya people that the 9-month old insurgency has come to an end. Nonetheless, even as they celebrate, it is not difficult to see that the road ahead for them will be fraught with many challenges, some of them with the potential to rob them of the benefits of removing Gaddafi. This is a time for deep reflection, and friends of the Libyan and African people should have the courage to give them honest and practical advise as they commence the difficult task of national reconstruction and reconciliation.

    The image of the dead and beaten up body of Gaddafi being dragged by a crowd made up of supposedly civilised Libyan Muslims will remain indelible in the mind of a global audience. It will dent the joy and accomplishment of the celebrations even in Benghazi. It will particularly leave a negative image in the minds of other Muslims who believe that a dead body, anyone’s dead body, deserves to be treated with some dignity. When Americans threw the dead body of Osama Bin Laden into the ocean for fish to feed on, they at least claimed that they gave him his rites as a Muslim, and did not humiliate and violate his dead body and gloat over their actions on television.  When the US captured Saddam Hussein, they tried and hanged him, instead of killing and desecrating his dead body. Now, even NATO nations who provided the fire power and the intelligence which led to the ouster, capture and eventual killing of Gaddafi are joining the chorus of demands for enquiry into how or why he was killed after his capture. Nothing will come out of this hypocrisy.

     The savagery which was shown on global television by some Libyans has exposed the soft underbelly of the revolution. Gaddafi’s 42years in power, much of it spent in brutal suppression of opposition must have robbed many Libyans of their basic humanity. The nine months of bitter and brutal campaign to oust him had further affected every Libyan very badly. Both sides adopted the most inhuman methods in the conflict, and in the end, the struggle to remove Gaddafi had stripped Libyans of their civilisation and humanity to their bare bones. Those who fought these bitter battles against each other, including those who dragged a dead body through the sand, are going to continue to live within Libyan communities. They will also keep their arms and ammunitions. And some of their memories and bitterness. And they will count graves, and injuries and bullet holes. And others will ask how all these will be justified by the outcomes of the revolution.

     There will be many who will be counted among the defeated. They will continue to live in Libya, but may have to pay a price for siding with, or defending Gaddafi. They too will have their reasons and justification for their choices. And they will have their arms and ammunitions; and their grievances and bitterness. They too will ask how the revolution will be better than Gaddafi’s rule. There are yet many who will wake up to a new Libya which has been thrown wide open to NATO countries. They will ask how the new Libya will or should relate with Europe and the US. They will ask deep and searching questions over the cost of reconstruction; which nations among the NATO coalition will get the biggest contracts for rebuilding what NATO bombers destroyed; and what type of constitution and political system Europe and the US will now insist is adopted by Libyans. Those among them who may retain some pride in being an independent people that, although at great price, stood up to the US and Europe under Gaddafi in the past, may resent the possibility that their faith and culture will suffer to the degree of NATO influence in their lives. They too will have their arms and ammunitions; and their memories and their sympathisers.

     There are tribal leaders, religious leaders and leaders of factions who will each jostle for a place in the sun in the new Libya. Many will test the powers and the resolve of the NTC, and its NATO backers. They will quarrel and bicker on the type of constitution to adopt; on how victors and vanquished should be treated; how Arab and Islamic they want the new Libya to be; and how to deal with the many legacies and liabilities of Gaddafi’s 42 year rule. They will have to fight over, and learn how to elect new leaders; how hundreds of thousands of young people can be disarmed and demobilized; and how trust can be rebuilt among and across communities. And they will have their arms and ammunition; and their memories and bitterness over the course of the last 9 months.

The Libyan people have come through one of the worst crisis any people can go through. The killing of Gaddafi and the bestial treatment of his body may have given a small number of Libyan people some satisfaction. But now the real work of reconciliation and rehabilitation has to begin. There is no easy way forward. Every challenge they will meet has the potential of opening up new theatres of conflict. They need a strong and broad-based leadership which should disarm citizens and begin the process of reconciling the people. They need NATO to lower its profile, and retreat sufficiently to allow some semblance of Libyan influence in deciding a Libyan future. They need to re-integrate with Africa and the Arab world in a manner that acquires support for them to reduce the influence of NATO, as they embark on the difficult road to a new life. They need to look at the abuses and excesses on both sides of the conflict, and commence the process of addressing the requirements of guaranteeing basic human rights, particularly for the thousands of black people who have been imprisoned on sundry and questionable suspicions. The journey of the Libyan people will be difficult because there will be arguments over routes and destinations. It will be tragic if a post-Gaddafi Libya continues to suffer because its people and leaders fail to appreciate the fact that the reverse side of Gaddafi is the emergence of a democratic system that gives every citizen a fair chance to make concrete choices over how he lives, and who governs him. It will not be easy to build that system; but failure to build it will mean an unending conflict and real potentials for prolonged civil war. This is the one destination Libyans should avoid at all cost

Aburo Iro: American Politics, President Jonathan’s Aides, And Lies.

Pius Adesanmi

A lie, any straightforward, flat out lie, has younger brothers known as “aburo iro”. Nowhere is this phenomenon better illustrated than in the actualities of American political life and practices. In the late capitalist democracy that is the United States of America, there are two things you don’t do in government: (1) you cannot be overly parsimonious with information about how you run the affairs of the country and the lives of your  citizens; (2) you cannot form a habit of trafficking in straightforward, outright lies. Lying to the American people over even trifle always has grievous consequences if you are caught.

Yet, there are always tricky and embarrassing situations in the daily business of governance. Government and her officials often find themselves in slippery situations where telling the plain, unvarnished truth is no easy option. This explains why American politics is the world’s most prolific manufacturer of the younger brothers of lying. In American political culture, when a lie is dangerous, you seek solace with its younger siblings. The lexicon and the registers of American politics boast the world’s largest collection of euphemisms for lying. Because he cannot be seen to be lying outright to the American people, because he fears consequences, an American government official has options such as “spinning”, “misspeaking”, “misstating”, “misrecollecting”, “telling an untruth” or, as I learned recently in a magazine article, “having an unstable relationship with facts”: anything but lying outright. And, of course, when a misstatement, misspeak, or misrecollection has been exposed, the American official scrambles to “walk back” the fib.

Now, why is “aburo iro” – the younger brother of an outright lie – so crucial to the relationship between the American government and the American citizen? Why don’t American government officials make life easy for themselves by lying outright in every situation and every circumstance? The answer is simple. There is not just the fear of consequences. There is an underlying civic culture which makes you respect the citizen so much that you don’t look straight into the camera and lie to them. When you flat out lie to the citizen, you are doing more than insulting his intelligence. You are, in fact, undermining his civic agency. In a funny, ironic way, the younger brother of lying is affirmation of the government’s respect for me as a citizen. They are so scared of me, of consequences, of the power I wield at the ballot box, that they dare not tell me outright lies, even when they are in a terrible bind. In this circumstance, the public official who, like Paul Ryan, makes a habit of telling outright, straightforward lies, becomes an oddity, an exception to a political culture which privileges the younger siblings of lying. In American political culture, you have to be a mythomaniac like Paul Ryan to prefer a straightforward lie to its less harmful and more deniable younger brothers.

And that is the trouble with Nigeria. Mythomania in governance and public life is not an exception to the rule. It is the rule. Make no mstake about this: American officials are not morally superior to their Nigerian counterparts. Given the chance, they would probably lie as frequently as the Nigerians. The difference lies squarely in the domain of consequences. The political costs are enormous when an American official is caught lying but in Nigeria, the lying and corrupt official is often on his way to the national honours list. Because of the total lack of political consequences, Nigerian public officials do not even bother to approach the younger brothers of lying in trepidation. They and their convoys hurry to the full embrace of outright lies in full public glare. In some cases, their lawless convoy may even crush a journalist as they hurry to embrace lies. Worse, in Nigeria, there is no such thing as respecting the people enough to walk back your lies when caught. Rather, when caught, double down on the lies. Witness the recent example of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s “invitation” to Charlotte by President Obama. Caught in a web of lies and deceit, Governor Kayode Fayemi, Asiwaju’s Man Friday during the US trip, doubles down on the lies. This Governor isn’t going to respect the Nigerian people enough by walking back anything. Such is the stupidity, the arrogance of Nigerian officials.

The Presidency, as usual, takes the cake. More than any other President before him, Goodluck Jonathan and his wife have assembled some of Nigeria’s most incompetent liars in their harem of aides. And these aides don’t even respect us enough to tell us the younger brother of lies. Although Okey Ndibe has addressed this brilliantly, Ayo Osinlu’s management of information concerning Mrs. Patience Jonathan’s health crisis is still a good place to start any analysis of the rudeness of Presidency aides to the Nigerian people. Indeed, it is rude to tell those kinds of silly lies to 160 million people. No attempt to spin, misstate, misspeak, or misrecollect the facts. That would be granting too much consideration to the Nigerian people. Ayo Osinlu simply lied emphatically that his boss had gone to Germany for “a moment’s rest” because she had not rested since her husband’s election. Trust Reuben Abati to double down on his colleague’s stupidity. He joined the fray and said there was absolutely nothing to the news that Patience Jonathan was ill. Of course, the collective children of anger must be responsible for the rumour. And since their lies about Patience Jonathan were exposed, have Ayo Osinlu and Reuben Abati even pretended to have the decency to walk things back a bit? For where?

But Abati was not done with telling the Nigerian people outright lies. He went on to publish an essay about the gains of President Jonathan’s largely useless foreign jamborees. Rudolf Okonkwo has brilliantly put together the itinerary that Abati set out to justify. Writes Rudolf: “Here is an incomplete snap shot of his travels after he was sworn into office on May 29. On June 6, he was in South Africa. On June 21, he was in Brazil. On June 26, he was in Brussels. On July 30, he was in Trinidad and Tobago. On July 31, he was in Jamaica. On August 9, he was in Ghana. On August 22, he was in Senegal. On September 3, he was in Ethiopia. On September 9, he was in Malawi. On September 10, he travelled to Botswana. And by next Thursday, he will be in the United States.”

Rudolf Okonkwo’s list is  incomplete and he admits that much. And we really cannot fault Abati for doing what he sold his soul to the devil to do: defend these inanities. I am sure he will write in future to show us the Foreign Direct Investment that poured in from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Senegal, Malawi, Ethiopia, and, perhaps, Chad and Mali. However, we must draw the line for him when he begins to weave outright, despicable lies into his defense. Abati starts his essay with a little detail about the size of President Jonathan’s delegations to his foreign destinations: “The gains of President Jonathan’s diplomacy are often overshadowed by misrepresentations of the size of his delegation, ignorance about the value of his foreign travels, and the positives of his constant engagement with the international community. I have had cause on more than one occasion to expose the lie about published figures about the size of his delegations.”

If you overlook the characteristically arrogant assumption that he is writing for an audience that is ignorant of the value of his boss’s overseas jamborees, Abati tells a flat out lie about the circumstances in which he tried to confuse issues (he says he was exposing lies) with regard to the size of the President’s delegation. The case in point was their trip to Addis Ababa where the President had bungled an attempt to become the Chairman of the African Union. As Reuben Abati was lying through his nose about this bungled attempt, the media in Francophone Africa was awash with news of President Jonathan’s moves and the eventual success of President Yayi Boni of Benin. Abati then turned to Sahara Reporters, claiming that Omoyele Sowore’s figures of the Presidential delegation were wrong. Sowore challenged him to prove his allegation that the size of the delegation was misrepresented. Abati promised to send him the full list of the president’s entourage, claiming to have forgotten the said list in his Addis Ababa hotel room! Subsequent efforts by Sowore and Sahara Reporters to make Abati deliver on his promise to release the list proved abortive. I also learnt later that our friends at Premium Times had equally tried to get him to prove his claim that the figures were exaggerated. Abati tucked his tail between his legs and ran, only to come out now and lie so blatantly in an essay. He was probably banking on the famous short memory of Nigerians. And this is a situation where he could even claim to have misrecollected the facts as they transpired between him and Sowore. That won’t do. Nigerian officials prefer an outright lie to its younger brother.

In the same piece, we encounter another blatant lie. I say it’s a blatant lie – as opposed to not being in possession of all the facts – when somebody who writes so confidently about our Foreign Affairs minister goes on to state that our embassies abroad are better organized. Now, where did Abati get this one from? Apart from the regular woes Nigerians abroad are familiar with when it comes to services at our embassies, how on earth can embassies that are not paid be better organized? Delay in salary payments to our embassy officials was a regular feature of the Obasanjo/Yar’Adua years. In some cases, our missions would owe rent and landlords would be after them in foreign lands. Sadly, this has continued under President Jonathan and his foreign minister. In the past two months, salaries have not been paid – unless they were paid after I finished writing this piece. Now, how can hungry, unpaid embassy officials properly serve Nigerians abroad? How can they better organize our embassies when they are worried about their bills?

I spoke behind the scenes to numerous embassy officials, especially outside of Canada, trying to get to the bottom of this salary wahala. A good number of them pointed in the direction of Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and his Central Bank bureaucracy, claiming that their salaries are somehow held up in the CBN labyrinth. Not having sufficient knowledge about where their salary originates from in Nigeria and how it travels through our bureaucracy until it reaches their respective bank accounts abroad, I sought to verify this charge from Sanusi Lamido Sanusi but he is yet to confirm or deny it. However, what is important is the fact that the Jonathan government has not paid salaries in the last two months to our embassies yet the spokesperson of the same government invades our airwaves with lies about better organized embassies.

Now, we know that a government culture of lying nurtured by successive administrations since October 1, 1960, and tolerated by successive generations of Nigerian citizens since October 1, 1960, is not going to change overnight. So engrained is this culture in our political life that the government official who tells lies does so with a sense of entitlement. Just who are you, citizen, to query my lies? Do you know who I am? Not to believe our foolish officials is to run the risk of being accused of showing disrespect to constituted authority. Not used to being challenged, Nigerian officials are demonstrably unhinged in those rare cases when their lies are exposed. This explains their pathological fear of social media and their sustained, carefully calibrated assault on it. So great is their fear that the ethically-damaged sixty-year-old contract racketeer in the Presidency is even threatening to muzzle netizens with his lawyer, Festus Keyamo. Only in Nigeria can somebody leave his own state of origin, loot two states via contracts, and then turn around to threaten his victims with lawsuits for even talking about it. But it is your civic duty to challenge every lie they tell and expose them wherever you can, especially on the terrain they fear the most – social media. You, citizen, are paying their salary. If you are going to pay people to lie to you, you have the right to insist that they at least lie intelligently.
Saharareporters

Ibori’s $15m bribe sum: EFCC arrests businessman, begins fresh probe

By Yusuf Alli, Managing

James Ibori

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday arrested a businessman, Mr. Chibuike Achigbu, in connection with a $15 million bribe allegedly offered a former chairman of the commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, by ex-Governor James Ibori.

Following the conviction of Ibori by a UK Court, the Delta State Government had gone to a Federal High Court to apply for the return of the bribe sum which is being kept with the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN).

But Achigbu initially filed an application on August 29 before a Federal High Court claiming that  the money belongs to him.

He said he gave the money to a former presidential aide, Dr. Andy Uba, to finance the  Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the 2007 elections.

Barely 72 hours after filing an application for the return of $15 million bribe sum to him, he made a U-turn by withdrawing the matter.

The withdrawal made the EFCC to launch a full-scale investigation into how the bribe sum came about and the sponsors of the botched suit.

According to a reliable source in the commission, the embattled businessman was arrested in Lagos on Thursday and flown to Abuja for interrogation.

The source said: “The suspect, who was interrogated for many hours, has made a useful statement to our investigators, which could lead to how the $15 millon bribe was offered.

“It is obvious that some forces were using Achigbu as a shield  over the bribe sum. We hope to effect more arrests on the curious suit.

“If you look at the affidavit sworn to by the businessman, it contained many revelations which require in-depth  probe.”

As at press time, it was gathered that although  the businessman had been granted bail, he was yet to meet the terms.

The Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, confirmed the arrest and grilling of Achigbu.

“We have started investigation on issues that we feel he should clarify,” he said.

Following the withdrawal of the case, the Congress for Progressive Change had insisted on a fresh probe of the $15 million donation.

In a statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the party. Eng. Rotimi Fashakin, the CPC asked the EFCC to probe alleged donation of the $15 million to the PDP.

“The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) is appalled by the controversy generated by the alleged $15 million bribe money (currently in the custody of the Central Bank of Nigeria) offered to the former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu in 2007 by the former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori.

“With the formal conviction and subsequent incarceration of Chief James Ibori (for money laundering offences) by a British Court, the need for  proper disposal of the money became a front-burner issue.

“Understandably, the Delta State Government showed up as the rightful owner since the money was purloined from it by Chief James Ibori, in his capacity as the then substantive governor.

“Whilst the matter was pending in court, a Nigerian business man, Mr. Chibuike Achigbu, stepped forward as the authentic owner. In a deposition, filed by a team of ten lawyers (including three Senior Advocates of Nigeria), Achigbu averred, inter-alia, that he raised the money for the purpose of donating to the electioneering campaigns of the PDP in the 2007 general elections.

“Furthermore, the money was allegedly given to Dr. Andy Uba, the then Senior Special Assistant on domestic Affairs in a PDP Presidency and now a PDP Senator, for the purpose of authenticating (with the EFCC) its suitability for donation.

 “Uba was alleged to have passed the money to  Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, the then Director of Operations of EFCC and now the substantive Executive Chairman.

“As a party, we view the portent of this latest twist to the bribe money saga as foreboding for the fight against institutionalised corruption in the Nigerian polity.

“Section 7(1)b of the EFCC Act 2004 states: ‘The Commission has power to cause investigation to be conducted into the properties of any person if it appears to the Commission that the person’s lifestyle and extent of the properties are not justified by the source of income.’ 

“ This twist to the saga  has thrown up some questions:

•    Does the EFCC Act empower the Commission to authenticate the suitability of a donation to a political party?

•    Does the EFCC not have sufficient powers to investigate Mr. Chibuike Achigbu with a view to ascertaining the source of his income vis-à-vis justification for making such huge donation?

•  Should the EFCC not investigate Senator Andy Uba as the locus in the latest controversy of the alleged bribe money?

•  With the EFCC Chairman Ibrahim Lamorde’s name mentioned in the deposition, should he not tell the Nigerian people all he knows about this case?

•  Has this deposition by an acolyte of a serving PDP Senator not exposed the ruling party as mostly responsible for the festering corruption in the Nigerian state?

“The unexplained illegal jerking up of the expenditure for the 2011 fuel subsidy from N240 billion to N2.67 trillion is part of the continuing story of PDP’s unsuitability for the electoral trust of the Nigerian people.

“As a Party, we owe it a sacred duty to the Nigerian people to expose the infra-dig in the polity for the purpose of ensuring its sustainable growth.”

The nation

I was invited to Democratic Party’s convention, says Tinubu

By Kelvin OSA OKUNBOR

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (left) fielding questions yesterday from reporters at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, on arrival from the United States of America. With him is the former Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, M

Former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola  Tinubu  returned to Lagos yesterday from the United States of America (USA) and said he was properly invited to the just concluded convention  of the Democratic Party where President Barack Obama was nominated for the November election.

He deplored the  “unwarranted” criticism of his attendance at the convention, espec ially by the PDP. The ruling party, he insisted, lacks the moral right to query the mode of his invitation to the convention, having failed to address the issues of electricity and inability to put food on the table of the average Nigerian.

The Action Congress of Nigeria ( ACN) leader said he seized the opportunity of the convention to discuss with great minds  ideas that are central to the development and sustenance of democratic institutions.

Tinubu said: ”It is unfortunate that we have not been able to distinguish between public contact and a proper democratic convention. There is a great exhibition of Nigerian ignorance and those scavenging power in its corridors.

“They do not even appreciate  the fact that we fought for democracy.

During the struggle for this democracy, there was a lot of precedence and people outside this country are still watching us.

“ I  was at the convention. I was invited properly.Who are the people asking me to prove anything?

“Is it about the high rate of unemployment in this country? Is it about the inability of the ruling party to provide food on the table for hungry Nigerians? Is it about the state of electricity in the country that they cannot privatise properly  without blackmailing the former minister of power, who the government forced to resign because they have an agenda of turning everything into a family affair?

“The ruling party should busy itself with the infrastructure  that is lacking in this country. There is need for our leaders to share knowledge with others to know what we need and how to move the nation forward.”

The ACN leader hailed the  robustness of the American democracy, which he said is based on ideas and the resolve of its leaders to create a platform for promoting values and vision.

On the lessons Nigeria could draw from US leaders, Asiwaju Tinubu said: “Our  airport, is it a friendly one that is inviting business and tourism we should take Nigeria and its governance more seriously?

“I represented my party, ACN,  the progressives  at the convention with Hon. Dele Alake, Speaker Adeyemi  Ikuforiji. Whatever they insinuate does not bother me. I am glad I represented my party.”

On the chances of the ACN in next month’s  governorship election in Ondo State, TInubu said: “We are working hard for the October  gubernatorial election  in Ondo state. Our candidate is working hard and the party is working very hard.

All our structures are in place and as long as the election is well monitored and controlled, we are very sure of victory.”

Commenting on the killing  of the US ambassador in LIbya, TInubu  said: “We need to pay more attention and not lip service to  the question of security. The world is getting smaller because of technology and the wild rumours that have no credibility can cause  problems of security. 

“It has become a serious problem all over the country and we have to pay special attention to security effectively and not just react but be very proactive.

“Look at the case of Oshiomhole‘s  PA that was murdered. The case is disjointed, uncoordinated between the police and the SSS,  parading different suspects; they are not communicating, not sharing information for the good of  Nigerians.“

He described the planned introduction of N5000 bank note by the Central Bank (CBN) as a clear  invitation to devalue the naira.

He said: “N5000  is a  clear indication of depreciation, a clear devaluation. They failed economically in  this  country. The ruling party should pack their load and go. Nigerians should be wiser.”

The Nation

Ex-Minister, Ihenacho, arrested over stolen petroleum products

By Godwin Oritse
FORMER Minister of Interior and owner of integrated Oil and Gas Limited Captain Emmanuel Iheanacho was yesterday arrested over his involvement in  the hijack of a vessel\M.T. Grace’ laden with suspected stolen petroleum products.
Disclosing this to  newsmen in Lagos, Director General of the Nigerian Maritime  Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA)  Mr. Patrick Akpobolokemi said that the search for the sponsors of these pirates has led to the tracing of the stolen products to integrated oil and gas tank farm.

FORMER Minister of Interior Captain Emmanuel Ihenacho

Akpobolokemi who represented by NIMASA’s  Executive Director in charge of maritime labour services and Cabotage Barr. Obi Nwabueze said that the premises of integrated has been sealed off pending investigation.
He  said NIMASA has come to the realisation that behind the facade there are the kingpins and the big men who facilitate piracy adding the agency in collaboration with other security operatives will unravel the people behind the sale, purchase and storage of the stolen products.
“You recalled we had cause to parade some pirates here and we did say that we were going to continue to look for those who were behind these pirates because we came to the realisation that behind the facade there are the kingpins and the big men who facilitate piracy.
“So in line with our promise to the Nigerian public, we intensified our search for the big men behind the scene  and we are happy to tell you today  that we have  been able to trace them to  a company, a major company  integrated oil and gas.
“The products that were stolen from the activities of piracy  were conveyed  and stored at integrated oil and gas. As we speak we have sealed off the company and we have arrested the top management of the company.”
Vanguard