Why we’ve not arrested Jonathan — EFCC boss

The  Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC explained, yesterday, why it has not arrested former President Goodluck Jonathan following startling revelations on how the former National Security Adviser, NSA, Col Sambo Dasuki  (retd) allegedly disbursed over $2.1 billion meant for arms purchase to various individuals.

Ibrahim Magu

Alarmed by the revelations, the National leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has, however, asked Dr Jonathan to speak out.

This came as the anti-graft commission disclosed that one of the beneficiaries, the former Military Administrator of Kaduna State, Mr. Jafaru Isah had returned N100m out of the N170m he collected and was given administrative bail to source for the balance of N70m.

Another beneficiary, the  former Secretary to the Government of the Federation and leader of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, Chief Olu Falae however insisted that  he would not refund the N100 million he collected from Chief Tony Anenih, which was said to have come from Dasuki.

Facts have also emerged how former Chairman of Board of Trustees, BoT of the PDP, Chief Tony Anenih and Chief Olu Falae entered into a working relationship prior to the 2015 presidential election.

Explaining why the former president has not been arrested while speaking with online news publishers yesterday, in Lagos, the EFCC boss, Mr Ibrahim Magu said that no document has been traced to Jonathan giving any approval for the disbursement of the money for any purpose other than arms purchase.

He said that all those questioned so far in connection with the money were people who disbursed or collected it for reasons other than the purchase of arms and ammunition.

“All approvals by former president Jonathan did not mention that it was for political purposes.

All the memos approved by him were for the purchase of arms,” he said.

Speaking about Olisa Metuh, the EFCC boss revealed that the national publicity secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party said he would rather go on hunger strike than refund the N400 million he allegedly collected from Dasuki.

Magu also said that Patrick Akpobolokemi, a former boss of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, was recently re-arrested after new evidences of alleged embezzlement of N34.5 billion and another N600 million were linked to him.

The EFCC chairman stressed that the war against graft was not selective and assured Nigerians that his agency was not teleguided in the ongoing anti-corruption fight.

According to PDP, since former President Jonathan was still alive, he should come out and explain to Nigerians whether he authorized his former National Security Adviser to distribute money meant to fight Boko Haram into his campaign.

Addressing Journalists yesterday in Abuja, PDP Deputy National Publicity Secretary Abdullahi Jalo said, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is alive, he should clarify whether he asked the National Security Adviser to distribute money meant to fight Boko Haram into his campaign.

According to Jalo, “Jonathan is alive, he should clarify whether he asked the National Security Adviser to distribute money meant to fight Boko Haram into his campaign. What is important for one to know is that former President Goodluck Jonathan is alive. Has he ever said go and take the money for arms meant for Boko Haram to campaign for me? Is there anytime that Jonathan asked for anything from either Dasuki to go and distribute this money meant for fighting Boko Haram for his campaign?

“As you all know, no single kobo will be spent by the federal government or former President Goodluck Jonathan without the Act of the National Assembly. Some people however decided to divert this money to something else.

“Darkness has now come to light, we have now discovered that it is not only PDP members who collected the money but those in APGA collected, Falae collected, Tanko Yakasai collected. They all  collected the money under the guise that they are campaigning for Goodluck Jonathan.

“It is known to us that money meant for campaign are given to the national chairmen of various political parties. We had a dinner in the banquet hall where some billions were collected meant for campaign for Jonathan. That money was meant for campaign. Dangote, Otedola and others donated. So why would somebody tell us that you are taking money meant to fight Boko Haram, which is from an Act of the National Assembly. Any money appropriated is coming from consolidated account of the federal government and its usage must be meant for that”.

The PDP which also disowned the embattled National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh who has remained detained by the officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,  EFCC, said that as a party, it will not fight for his bail and others who have been alleged to be involved in the arms deal scam because they did that on personal levels and not on the platform of the party.

According to Jalo, “the issue of bail does not have anything to do with PDP. Let them tell us how much they have brought to PDP, to the national chairman and the money used for campaign, we want to know from them.

“PDP has nothing to do with individuals that used their companies to get money. PDP has no company, it is a political platform. There  is PDP account and they did not even inform the PDP that they had received this money, they just went and slept with their families eating eggs and rice.”

Jalo who noted that public should not misconstrue the unfolding issues with that of the PDP, said that individuals that were presently involved, accessed public funds through their various private companies and not the PDP even though they were members of the party. He added that the Arms fund were an appropriation of the National Assembly to which the former President and Sambo Dasuki were aware of and were aware of  the limit of using the funds other than what it was meant for.

The PDP deputy National Publicity Secretary said, “There are a lot of outcries against our members that have been taken to court because they received money from what we called Dasukigate or arms deal.

“The former acting National Chairman, Dr. Bello Haliru, who was taken to court is now on bail, he has a company Pam Proper and Property limited, he was given N600 million under a registered company of Corporate Affairs Commission, you can find out what the contract was meant for. Has he done what he was asked to do with the N600 million?

“Olisa Metuh’s company is Destral investment limited, he was given a job of N400 million. What has that got to do with PDP, you can bear me witness, when Olisa was accusing Lai Mohammed that he collected a contract from one of the states in the West, even Lai Mohammed took him to court, so now the hunter is now the hunted. Lai’s case has not been proved, Olisa is under investigation.

“Let us put the record straight. We want anyone of these people that have been accused whether in PDP, APGA or APC to come out and tell us that the money they collected, was given to PDP or their party. When he was given this money was he given the money to go and campaign for Jonathan, if yes let him show us the paper, let him present an evidence, but whoever was given this money should know that this money was not meant for that, it was meant for arms purchase.

“Thank God the party has kept quiet deliberately, maybe, because some have benefited. If we cannot clean the party now, the future is going to be bleak.

“If the Legal Adviser of PDP, rushes to go and bail out Olisa Metuh now he is doing the wrong thing, because he has to separate the party and Olisa as an individual.

Go, bring balance of N170m cash traced to you, EFCC tells Jafaru Isah

Meanwhile, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission confirmed on Monday that it had retrieved N100 million out of the N170 million traced to the account of the former Military Administrator of Kaduna State, Mr. Jafaru Isah.

The Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, confirmed the retrieval of the cash from Isah, adding that it was the partial refund that informed his administrative bail to enable him to go and source for the balance.

Magu, who made the disclosure in response to criticism that he quickly released the APC chieftain and close associate of President Buhari while holding onto Olisa Metuh of the opposition PDP, said that the refund was not a guaranty that the suspect would not be prosecuted for receiving public funds illegally.

Jafaru Isah

There has been a furore over the ‘sudden’ release of Isah from EFCC custody while other suspects duly granted bail by the courts, are still being held by the anti-graft agency.

The opposition PDP believes its key figures, who received huge cash from the office of the National Security Adviser and are being detained by the EFCC, are being persecuted notwithstanding their admission that they indeed, received the said cash for election purposes.

But in the case of Jafaru Isah, the amount of N170 million traced to him is said to have been paid by the embattled ex-NSA, Sambo Dasuki, to enable him to acquire a property in Kano State for him.

The deal, it was gathered did not go through, as a member of the Jonathan cabinet paid a higher amount of money for the same building which Isah was billed to buy for Dasuki.

Isah, who was arrested by the EFCC last week, is said to be a close friend of Dasuki and a political associate of President Buhari, although Buhari did not know about the N170 million deal with Dasuki.

The Presidency immediately distanced itself from Isah upon his arrest, making it clear that it would not interfere in his prosecution by the EFCC.

An aide of the President told Vanguard in confidence that although Jafaru Isah was a close political ally of President Buhari, the first citizen would nonetheless remain neutral in the matter in line with his avowed position to deal decisively with corruption.

While describing Isah as a political ally, who had been with Buhari from the days of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party to the Congress for Progressive Change, the aide made it clear that the long relationship did not in any way suggest that Buhari was associated with the collection of N170 million from the Office of the National Adviser by the embattled politician.

The aide said: “It is true that Isah has been with Buhari from the days of the ANPP and CPC and was equally a member of the Transition Committee and actually headed the Defence Committee but that does not mean that Buhari knows anything about the N100 million said to have been collected by the man from the ONSA.”

Jafaru, who was a military administrator of Kaduna State from December 1993 to August 1996 during the military regime of General Sani Abacha and one-time governorship candidate of the defunct CPC in Kano State, is also described as a close friend of the embattled ex-NSA, Dasuki, who is facing multiple charges over money laundering and breach of public trust in three courts.

Arms deal :I won’t return N100 million, says Chief Falae

National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party, Chief Olu Falae, yesterday, said he would not refund the N100 million he collected from Chief Tony Anenih, which has been alleged to have come from the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki.

Chief Falae, explained that the amount was given to him for onward delivery to his party, to assist sell ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s  second term bid, saying it was not paid through the office of the former NSA.

To this end, he has asked the government to hold Anenih, former Board of Trustees of the PDP, the source of the money rather than either himself or his party.

Speaking at a press conference, in Abuja, through the party’s National  Publicity Secretary, Dr. Abdul Ahmed Isaiq, Falae insisted that his party would not return any money to the government coffers, since the money it got was neither from Col. Dasuki nor Office of the National Security Adviser.

He explained that the money was as a result of electoral alliance his party entered with the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party, to deliver the then President Goodluck Jonathan in his re-election quest.

He said those who were returning money to the government were those who got money directly from the Office of the former NSA, saying he cannot be part, since he did not get the money from Dasuki or the office he was occupying.

*Chief Olu Falae

“In terms of refund of money, I want to say here that those people who are refunding money are those who got their money directly from the arms deal fund.

“Our fund did not come from the arms deal, our fund came from an electoral alliance with the PDP and we knew that the PDP had a fund raising committee that gathered billions of naira and PDP had been in government for 16 years.

“ So, with that, we knew that the PDP had the capacity to fund the alliance that was formed with them by the SDP, he explained.

“You don’t postulate what you don’t have on the ground, you can’t build on a non foundation.

“We, as a political party knew that the PDP was a capable hand in the electoral alliance which we entered with them. And we equally  knew that the PDP had a fund raising, where it generated over N20 billion down.

“So, whether the money came from Col. Sambo Dasuki or his office, is what we don’t know and it is left for them to ask Chief Tony Anenih to explain, “he added.

He emphasized:” “We knew that the PDP had been ruling Nigeria for 16 years. So, this was the basis of our electoral alliance with them.

“We can’t refund any money to anybody because the money we got as a party came because of the alliance we had with the PDP and we have the agreement note from this alliance.

“If it is possible that the money Chief Anenih gave us was from the arms deal,  it is left for them to ask Chief Anenih to clarify. As far as we knew, we did not have any dealing with Dasuki.

“ Our office did not ever have anything to do with the office or person of the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki. “

Dr Abdul explained that prior to the 2015 presidential election, the SDP was approached by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP through  its BOT chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, for electoral alliance  for the re-election bid of  the former President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan.

He said Chief  Olu Falae,  being the national chairman of SDP, summoned the National Executive Committee, NEC of SDP to a well-attended meeting to consider  the PDP’s proposal  of electoral alliance for the re-election bid of the former President, Goodluck Jonathan, since SDP did not field a presidential candidate of its own, saying the money that the SDP was given, which he noted, was being alleged to have come from the arms deal fund, was as a result of the alliance.

He, however, said, his party was in full support of the ongoing fight against corruption, saying anyone found wanting should be prosecuted according to the laws of the land.

“If you look at the cardinal principles of the Social Democratic Party, one of the basic  ones is that of zero tolerance to corruption. So, anywhere there is fight against corruption, SDP is in support, once it is done according to the ambit of the law.

“ In terms of the misappropriation of arms deal fund, as a party, I  want to say that anybody who violates the law should face the consequences, “he added.

2015 presidential poll: How Anenih, Falae sealed PDP/SDP working cooperation

Fresh facts are beginning to emerge on how former Chairman of Board of Trustees, BoT of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Tony Anenih and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation and leader of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, Chief Olu Falae entered into a working relationship prior to the 2015 presidential election.

A letter which was accessed by Vanguard yesterday buttressed the political marriage entered into by PDP with Chief Anenih on one hand and the National Chairman of the SDP, Chief Olu Falae on the other hand against the backdrop that the SDP had no presidential candidate for the 2015 Presidential election as there was the need for PDP’s candidate, former President Goodluck Jonathan to be supported.

The letter by Chief Tony Anenih, the then Chairman of PDP BoT was dated January 26, 2015 and it confirmed the claim by Chief Olu Falae that there was inter-party cooperation between the PDP and the SDP to support Jonathan’s presidential ambition.

The PDP through Chief Anenih had agreed to the six issues raised by the SDP before it could support the re-election bid of President Goodluck Jonathan in last year’s presidential election.

Falae, who admitted that he received on behalf of the SDP the sum of N100 million from the PDP through Anenih, following the agreement to work together, told an online newspaper-Premium Times-that the money was distributed to all the state branches of the SDP.

Chief Falae had also stated elsewhere that his party, which did not have a candidate for the presidential election, decided to work for the actualization of Jonathan’s re-election after the PDP agreed to the six issues it placed on the negotiation table.

Anenih’s letter had clearly responded to the six issues, thus paving the way for the PDP-SDP working cooperation.

The letter, entitled: “Inter-Party Co-operation” and signed by Anenih in his capacity as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the PDP reads: “I write to sincerely thank you for your letter dated January 23,2015, on the above subject matter.

“After due consultations with relevant stakeholders of our party, I am pleased to convey to you our decisions on the issues and to further inform you that the President and the leadership of our party have expressed delight and strong optimism to fully cooperate and work with the SDP in the circumstance.

“On the implementation of the report of the 2014 National Conference” that “Please be assured that the report of the National Conference will be implemented to the letter.  We believe that having regards to the fact that the National Conference was a baby of the President, he is in a better position to implement it.  And this is what he is doing.”

On “zero tolerance to corruption”, Anenih had responded thus : “There is no doubt that our party, the PDP and your party, the SDP, are on the same page on this issue.  Apart from the fact that this administration has done more arrests, investigations, prosecutions and convictions of corrupt cases, the President has continuously laid emphasis on the need to develop an appropriate technology to comprehensively combat corruption and its vices.

“The approach, for example, has produced immense results in eliminating corruption that was associated with the distribution of fertilizers in Nigeria in the past.”

On “intensification of efforts to defeat insurgency”, he said: “it is the primary duty of Government to protect the lives and property of its citizens and secure the territorial integrity of the nation.  This Government has consistently made efforts to deal with the challenges of Boko Haram who have established their operational base somewhere between some States in the North-East of the country and the boundary with some of our neighbouring African countries.

“Terrorism has become a global phenomenon and fighting it requires the co-operation of not just the entire citizens but the support of the international community.  The President is working on this.  In his recent visit to Borno and in a rally in Maiduguri few days ago, he assured the people that every inch of Nigerian soil currently under the control of insurgents will be recovered in no distant time.”

Source: VANGUARD

Sylva rejects Bayelsa governorship poll result

•APC candidate heads for tribunal

Bayelsa State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate Chief Timipre Sylva alleged yesterday that the state office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conspired with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to “rig” him out of the election.

Sylva, who vowed to challenge what he described as the procured victory of the PDP in court, said the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr. Baritor Kpagir, deliberately set up a process to return the PDP candidate and Governor Seriake Dickson.

He said following allegations against the REC in the December 5 election, Kpagir lacked the legally required neutrality to go ahead and conduct the January 9 election.

The APC candidate, who spoke in Yenagoa, the state capital, added that the REC became an interested party when he jumped into the arena to accuse an unknown candidate of trying to induce him with bribe.

Sylva said although the INEC national secretariat sent some RECs to the state for the election, the delegates arrived after Kpagir allegedly perfected his plot to return the PDP candidate.

He said most of the collation officers and other ad-hoc employees of INEC, who conducted the election, were relations of PDP members.

The governorship candidate said: “Well, as far as the REC was concerned, I did not just write petition, I did not just write for change of the REC, even the REC at some point descended to the arena and had to join issues with us, accusing a faceless candidate of offering him bribe.

“A REC like that, who is quarrelling with the candidate in an election, is allowed to conduct the same election? I have never seen this. It has never happened anywhere in Nigeria before. But unfortunately, I didn’t get a reprieve as you know.

“In that case, you don’t expect me to opt out of the election because they have refused to change the REC. I was forced as a candidate because if I said I wasn’t going to subject myself to the election, what were the options? I don’t have any options.

“INEC was the body to conduct the election, and I cried out to INEC over and over again to change the REC, but INEC refused to change him.

“What will I do? Of course, I went into the election unfortunately hoping at that time  that the REC fortunately will have a change of heart. But you can see from the events that they were just ensuring that the APC lost that election.”

Sylva said the REC deliberately ensured that some areas in the local government areas he won in December 5 election were cancelled and arranged a rerun election that took place in December 6.

He alleged that the state INEC was set up as part of the rigging machine of the PDP, adding that the same commission returned the former President Goodluck Jonathan in the last presidential election.

“If you look at the event from the beginning on December 5, we won in a local government and they cancelled a section of that local government, reordered election the next day, almost without  informing us.

“Meanwhile, there were other areas as well that were outstanding in the election. But those areas that they were interested in, they held a rerun on Sunday in those areas and then said that there was going to be a rerun for the other areas on January 9.

“Why didn’t they shift the rerun in those areas? You can see from the beginning that INEC was  playing a game. This INEC in Bayelsa State  was set up as part of the rigging machine of the PDP and I have said it over and over,” he said.

Sylva said as part of plans to frustrate the APC in the Southern Ijaw election, the state INEC ensured that materials meant for far communities were distributed late.

He added that the commission, in collusion with the PDP, sent materials in nearby PDP strongholds a day before the election and sent materials in far areas of APC strongholds on the day of the election.

“How can they ever justify a situation where materials of the farthest community were sent last and materials to the nearest communities were sent first because they knew that the farthest communities were our strongholds.

“So clearly, there was a collusion between the local INEC and the PDP. Some people will say okay that they sent more RECs from Cross River and then you ask the question, when did those RECs arrive? The time those RECs arrived, the damage had been done.”

Sylva said when he pointed out the alleged anomaly in the appointment of the collation officers that conducted the poll, the REC said he wanted experienced people.

He said: “The SPOs had been appointed. The SPOs were mostly their people. When I made the case that the SPOs were mostly their people, the REC told me that the instruction was for him to use experienced SPOs. Experienced in the act of rigging an election?

“That means these SPOs should be SPOs that had conducted an election before and these elections were the presidential election, the House of Assembly election and  you know the outcome of those elections. So, the same sort of SPOs that rigged the other election for them were used.

“We are contesting an election and I said from the beginning that I did not have confidence in the REC and the Administrative Secretary and I did not expect a free and fair election in the way they were going to preside over the election.

“I said so over, over and over and I reduced it to writing and we sent these petitions. Usually before an election of this nature, the INEC officials are switched. Sometimes, they send them to another state and bring another electoral commissioner from another state.

“This time, they decided to keep this team that was in place and set up by the PDP as a rigging machine. This was the same team that returned almost 100 per cent votes in Bayelsa to the former President. And we feel that these people could not have  given us a free and fair treatment and we said it over and over again, but unfortunately, our cries fell on deaf ears.”

Sylva said INEC and the PDP also adopted a strategy of cancelling elections in the areas the APC won and upholding the results that favoured the PDP.

He said based on the 53,000 cancelled votes, the election should have been declared inconclusive since the figure was higher than the difference between him and Dickson.

“And as far as we are concerned, we are going to discuss with our lawyers,”he said.

PDP:  he’ ll lose at tribunal

THE Restoration Campaign Organisation of Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson has said the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Timipre Sylva, will lose at the tribunal, if he decides to contest the outcome of the election.

In a statement yesterday, Director of Publicity of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign organisation, Jonathan Obuebite, reckoned that the election was won and lost going by what he regarded as “overwhelming support and voting trend in favour of PDP” by the electorate in the state.

Stressing that Dickson won with valid votes cast, Obuebite said the popularity of the PDP and track record of the governor were reasons Bayelsans re-elected him.

He noted that the result showed that Bayelsa State was a stronghold of the PDP, adding that APC would always find it difficult to win election in the state.

The spokesman admonished Sylva and the APC to team up with Dickson to develop the state instead of going to court over what he described as an “effort in futility”.

Obuebite stated that despite what his supporters might say, the APC candidate did not “seemingly feel really bad” about the outcome of the election.

He claimed that Sylva went out with friends after the results were declared.

This, he said, did not suggest he was “terribly affected”, adding that his action suggested instead that he was not expecting to win.

Source: The Nation

EFCC to Falae, Odili, Ladoja: refund cash or face trial

Commission retrieves Dasuki’s memos to Jonathan

Ex-MILAD refunds 60 per cent

All politicians who shared in the allegedly diverted $2.1billion arms cash must return what they got or face trial, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has said.

A former Military Administrator of Kaduna State, Gen. Lawal Jafaru Isa, has refunded 60 per cent of the money he allegedly collected from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), The Nation learnt yesterday.

Also yesterday, it was gathered that  Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Publicity Secretary Chief Olisa Metuh had admitted the transfer of N400million into a company in which he has substantial interest.

According to sources, EFCC decided on refund of cash after retrieving some of the memoranda which the embattled former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd.), wrote to President Goodluck Jonathan to request for funds.

A top EFCC source said none of the memos seen so far indicated that the funds would be used for political purposes, party funding and the 2015 general election.

Based on the vetting of the memos and disbursement of money to PDP chieftains and other highly-placed Nigerians, the EFCC has drawn the battle line of either “you make a refund or face trial”.

Some of the beneficiaries of the cash include former governors Peter Odili (N100m);  Rashidi Ladoja(N100m), Attahiru Bafarawa(N100m), Mahmud Aliyu Shinkafi (N100m), and Jim Nwobodo(N500m).

Others are: Chief Tony Anenih(N260m); ex-PDP National Chairman Ahmadu Ali(N100m); Chief Bode George (N100m/ $30,000), Yerima Abdullahi (N100m); Chief Olu Falae (N100m); Tanko Yakassai (N63m); Gen. Bello Sarkin Yaki(N200m); Raymond Dokpesi, Iyorchia Ayu’s company(N345m); BAM Properties(N300m); Dalhatu Investment Limited(N1.5b); ex-PDP National Chairman Mohammed Bello Haliru, Abba Mohammed, Sagir Attahiru, serving and former members of the House of Representatives(over N600 million); former Chairman of the House of Representatives on Security and Intelligence, Bello Matawalle(N300m); ACACIA Holdings(N600m); Bashir Yuguda (N1,950,000) and many companies.

Based on the vetting, the EFCC is insisting that all those implicated so far must refund the “illegal disbursement” of cash to them or face trial.

A top EFCC source said: “We have conducted a thorough investigation and we have retrieved some of the memos sent to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan by the former National Security Adviser; none of them indicated that the cash should be for political purposes.

“There was never a memo for cash advance for political matters like campaign or election.

“We have also traced some of these funds directly to the accounts of these bigwigs or their proxy companies.

“Having gone far, we are asking them to return these funds or else, we will go after them any moment from now. I think they should respect themselves and make urgent refund.

“In the alternative, we will arrest them and arraign them in court to defend such strange allocations.

“We will retrieve every kobo given out from ONSA. It is insufficient to say somebody gave me this money. Once we trace undeserved public funds into your account or phony and proxy  companies, we will ask for refund.”

Regarding the interrogation of Gen. Isa, the source added: “He admitted collecting money from ONSA and he has refunded 60 per cent of the sum credited to him. I think it should be about N100 million.

“Isa is the only person who has so far refunded money among the political figures who collected funds from ONSA. We have granted him bail to allow him time to source for the balance.”

On the detention of the National Publicity Secretary of PDP, the source said: “So far, Metuh has admitted the transfer of N400 million by ONSA  into a company in which he has substantial interest.

“It is left to him to justify why he deserved such benefit from arms cash. We are still questioning him on other remittances into the company’s account. We are also demanding how he will refund the cash.

“Contrary to the noise outside, we did our homework very well. Anybody we bring to the EFCC this time around, we used to make sure that we have established a case against him.

“So, we don’t invite or arrest on frivolous basis. We do thorough investigation this time around.”

Source: The Nation

Depots, filling stations selling above pump price to be sealed for three months – NNPC

Dr. Ibe Kachikwu

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation says any depot or filling station found selling petrol above the official N86.50 pump price will be sealed for three months.

The Minister for State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, announced this while addressing newsmen on Monday in Abuja.

Kachikwu said licences of those found to have consistently breached the rules and regulations would be withdrawn to ensure discipline in the system.

He said: “With all the effort put in place, it is observed that a lot of filling stations continue to sell at prices above what is stipulated.
“This is very intolerable.

“It is ripping off innocent Nigerians and they are doing it at a time when there is very zero tolerance for this sort of behaviour.

“So, I am using this opportunity to give last warning to all those who own filling stations and depots to go back to the price approved by Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency.”

The minister also urged the DPR to raise enforcement to ensure complete compliance to the policy.

Kachikwu said: “If any filling station is found selling product above the price, we are going to seal it.

“But first, we are going to dispense the product for free and then we will seal the station and not open it for the period of three months.

“If any depot does same, the same thing will happen.

“We cannot afford to allow indiscipline in the system when people know what to do.”
Kachikwu urged Nigerians to contact DPR through text messages to the designated numbers to help ensure full compliance.

This, he said, would help stop sharp practices, adding that strict monitoring would continue to enable Nigerians enjoy the benefits of the new pump price policy.

According to him, the allegation that most depots are not buying at a cost that would enable them to sell to marketers to dispense at official pump price is false.

He said the DPR and NNPC would collaborate with the relevant security agencies to continue the monitoring, adding that effort would be made to ensure full monitoring of situation in the rural areas.

Also, Mordecai Ladan, the Director of DPR, said the 300 staff of the Department would be involved in the monitoring process.

Ladan added that DPR was working on electronic tracking of all supply across the country, adding that on Tuesday, all its staff would go out again to ensure full compliance to the policy.

Ladan said NNPC affiliate stations would also be monitored to ensure selling at the appropriate price.

NAN.




Source: Eagle Online

Fashola unfolds 13-point agenda to revive power sector

Babatunde Fashola, Nigeria Minister of Power, Works & Housing

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, on Monday unfolded a 13-point agenda to drive efforts towards enhancing power supply in the country. Fashola said in Abuja during his maiden meeting with power generation, distribution and transmission companies, and other stakeholders that the agenda was drawn up to ensure effective monitoring of the sector.

The minister said the agenda involves continuous public engagement on tariff collection, debts, power generation, maintenance, ancillary services, dispatch orders and discipline. Others areas include gas requirement and constraints, transmission constraints, 33KV load offtake, imbalances-locations of excess, overload safety, service quality, new captive and embedded generation, franchising and other issues relevant to the growth of the sector.

According to Fashola, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved that all stakeholders in the sector should hold monthly meetings on issues concerning the industry. He said that the meeting would be rotated among the various GENCOs, DISCOs, TCN and other stakeholders across the country. Fashola said that all decisions reached in such meetings would be binding on all the stakeholders.

In this respect, the minister stated that the various companies and stakeholders would each be represented by a management member with authority to take decision on behalf of their companies. He explained that in order to minimise the cost of hosting the meetings, the companies were advised to jointly pull up resources required to hold the meetings.

The minister further said the meetings would also involve lawyers, engineers, planners and other stakeholders, adding that
the ministry would issue a communiqué at the end of each meeting on steps taken to address challenges in the sector.

Source: VANGUARD

Army Captain Who Exposed Election Rigging In Ekiti Reabsorbed Into Army

Sagir Koli, the Nigerian army captain who put his career and life on the line when he exposed the 2014 rigging of the gubernatorial election in Ekiti State, has been reabsorbed into the Nigerian army, SaharaReporters has authoritatively learned.   

Capt. Koli, secretly recorded politicians rigging Ekiti State electionSahara Reporters Media

Army sources speaking with SaharaReporters also said Captain Koli, who is being praised by both peers and superiors, will receive a letter of commendation for his outstanding conduct and non-partisanship in the course of duty.

The captain, it will be recalled, fled the country after he exposed the rigging of the Ekiti State election, successfully making an electronic recording of a meeting where top politicians of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Nigerian army strategized on how to place in office Ayo Fayose, who eventually “won” the contest.

Brigadier General Aliyu Momoh, in collusion with then Minister of Defense Musiliu Obanikoro, former Osun State Senator Iyiola Omisore, former Minister for Police Affairs Jelili Adesiyan, Anambra politician Chris Uba, gubernatorial candidate Fayose, and others were caught on Captain Koli’s secret audio recording plotting to intimidate members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in order to successfully rig the gubernatorial race.

In the audio recording, which was subsequently published by SaharaReporters, Mr. Obanikoro was heard bribing General Momoh to use the military to deny APC voters access to polling stations and arrest leading opposition politicians in Ekiti State. The politicians were also recorded plotting with General Momoh about how to use their tactics in Ekiti to rig another election in Osun State.

News of Captain Koli’s reabsorption into the army follows the release of the Nigerian Army Board of Inquiry’s report where several high-ranking military officers were recommended for disciplinary proceedings.

It is unclear what other measures may be taken by the government, including possible prosecution of non-army personnel who were involved in the rigging.  It should also be recalled that the army, in the course of searching for Captain Koli, tortured his teenage younger brother, a secondary school student.

Source: Sahara Reporters

Switzerland Government To Transfer A Further $300 Million In Abacha Loot To Nigeria

On Monday, Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama announced that the government of Switzerland would transfer a further $300 million in recovered loot from the family of former dictator Sani Abacha.

Sani Abacha

The funds are part of an estimated $5 billion which was stolen and then funneled into various foreign accounts by the military dictator.  

It will be recalled that in December 2015 SaharaReporters published several stories concerning former Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s authorization of a diversion of $300 million, taken from the loot recovered from Mr. Abacha, to the Office of the former National Security Advisor (NSA) Colonel Sambo Dasuki a few weeks before the 2015 Presidential elections.

Subsequent reports published by SaharaReporters indicated that the funds were used for a last minute media campaign for former President Goodluck Jonathan.  Since December, the scandal has taken on the name of “Dasukigate” and has led to the indictment of several high profile figures including the spokesman for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh, and media mogul Raymond Dokpesi.

Source: Sahara Reporters

NBC Director-General, Emeka Mba, Arrested

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arrested Emeka Mba, the Director General of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission over an alleged N15 billion fraud.

Mr. Mba was arrested on Monday morning in Abuja and taken to the EFCC’s headquarters where he is currently being interrogated.

Those familiar with the investigation say the EFCC had been investigating the NBC in the past one month.

Last week, some detectives stormed the headquarters of the NBC, ransacking computers and files in the Finance and Account unit.

During the operation, some key Accounts staff where taken away.

Sources said the arrested officials made confessional statements to the EFCC implicating Mr. Mba and some top officials of the NBC.

When contacted, the EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, said he was on an official assignment in Lagos and had not been briefed.

But a top official of the anti-graft agency said: “Yes, he (Mr. Mba) is with us. We are investigating massive diversion of public funds and we’re making progress. Mba definitely has questions to answer.”

Source: Premium Times

PRESS STATEMENT ON FOREIGN EXCHANGE DEPOSITS IN COMMERCIAL BANKS AND SALES TO BDCS BY GOVERNOR GODWIN I. EMEFIELE

1. Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The Management of the Bank has called this Press Conference to give you updates on recent developments in our Foreign Exchange Market as well as the decisions we have taken to ensure that we continue to strive to attain our mandates as set out in the CBN Act of 2007. In order to do so, let me first give you a brief overview of both the global and domestic contexts. 

2. As we all know by now, Nigeria has been dealing with the effects of three serious and simultaneous global shocks, which began around the third quarter of 2014. These include: 

• The over 70 percent drop in the price of crude oil, which contributes the largest share of our Foreign Exchange Reserves; 
• Geopolitical tensions along critical trading routes in the world including between Russia and Western Powers, Saudi Arabia and Iran, etc; and 
• Normalization of Monetary Policy by the United States’ Federal Reserve Bank. 

3. In the aftermath of these shocks, growth in the global economy in the first two quarters of 2015 was less than envisaged thereby leading to a weak outlook for the rest of the year. Indeed, estimates of global growth for 2015 have been revised from almost 4 percent to 3.1 percent. The challenges of these global developments are having lopsided effects in many emerging and developing countries. Within this context, and especially when juxtaposed with comparable countries, the Nigerian economy remains moderately robust. Nonetheless, these strong global headwinds are impacting the domestic 3 economy considerably. In 2015, GDP growth decelerated from 3.9 percent in the first quarter to 2.4 percent in the second quarter. However, it has increased slightly to 2.8 percent in the third quarter. 

4. Although headline inflation remained single digit, it stayed slightly above the Bank’s tolerance range of 6—9 percent, having risen marginally from 9.3 percent in October to 9.4 percent in November 2015. A breakdown of the inflation dynamics indicates that the underlying pressure derives largely from the lingering base effects of unfavourable energy prices and exchange rate passthrough, which may have been exacerbated by delayed harvests. 

5. Following the drop in crude prices from a peak of US114 barrel in July 2014 to as low as US$33/barrel in January 2016, the country’s reserves has suffered great pressure from speculative attacks, round tripping and front loading activities by actors in the FX market. This fall in oil prices also implies that the CBN’s monthly foreign 4 earnings has fallen from as high as US$3.2 billion to current levels of as low as US$1 billion. Yet, the demand for foreign exchange by mostly domestic importers has risen significantly. For example, the last we had oil prices at about US$50 per barrel for an extended period of time was in 2005. At that time, our average import bill was N148.3 billion per month. In stark contrast, our average import bill for the first nine months of 2015 is N917.6 billion per month, even though oil prices are now less than US$35 per barrel. The net effect of these combined forces unfortunately is the depletion of our foreign exchange reserves. As of June 2014, the stock of Foreign Exchange Reserves stood at about US$37.3 billion but has declined to around US$28.0 billion as of today. 

6. To avoid further depletion in the reserves, the CBN took a number of countervailing actions including the prioritization of the most critical needs for foreign exchange. In this regard, and in order of priority, we decided to provide the available but highly limited foreign exchange to meet the following needs: 

• Matured Letters of Credit from Commercial Banks 
• Importation of Petroleum Products 
• Importation of critical Raw Materials, Plants, and Equipment, and 
• Payments for School Fees, BTA, PTA, and related expenses 

7. In total disregard of the difficulties that the Bank is facing in meeting its mandate of “maintaining the country’s foreign exchange reserves to safeguard the value of the Naira”, we have continued to observe that stakeholders in some of the subsectors have not been helpful in this direction. In particular, we have noted with grave concern that Bureau de Change (BDC) operators have abandoned the original objective of their establishment, which was to serve retail end users who need US$5,000 or less. Instead, they have become wholesale dealers in foreign exchange to the tune of millions of dollars per transaction. Thereafter, they use fake documentations like passport 6 numbers, BVNs, boarding passes, and flight tickets to render weekly returns to the CBN. 

8. Despite the fact that Nigeria is the only country in the world where the Central Bank sells dollars directly to BDCs, operators in this segment have not reciprocated the Bank’s gesture to help maintain stability in the market. Whereas the Bank has continued to sell US Dollars at about N197 per dollar to these operators, they have in turned become greedy in their sales to ordinary Nigerians, with selling rates of as high as N250 per dollar. Given this rent-seeking behaviour, it is not surprising that since the CBN began to sell foreign exchange to BDCs, the number of operators have risen from a mere 74 in 2005 to 2,786 BDCs today. In addition, the CBN receives close to 150 new applications for BDC licenses every month. 

9. Rather than help to achieve the laudable objectives for which they were licensed, the Bank has noted the following unintended outcomes: 

• Avalanche of rent-seeking operators only interested in widening margins and profits from the foreign exchange market, regardless of prevailing official and interbank rates; 
• Potential financing of unauthorized transactions with foreign exchange procured from the CBN; 
• Gradual dollarization of the Nigerian economy with attendant adverse consequences on the conduct of monetary policy and subtle subversion of cashless policy initiative; and 
• Prevailing ownership of several BDCs by the same promoters in order to illegally buy foreign currencies multiple times from the CBN. 

10. More disturbing, though, is the financial burden being placed on the Bank and our limited foreign exchange. The CBN sells US$60,000 to each BDC per week. This amount translates to US$167 million per week, and about US$8.6 billion per year. In order to curtail this reserve 8 depletion, we have reduced the amount of weekly sales to US$10,000 per BDC, which translates into US$28.4 million depletion of the foreign reserve per week and US$1.476 billion per annum. This is a huge hemorrhage on our scarce foreign exchange reserves, and cannot continue especially because we are also concerned that BDCs have become a conduit for illicit trade and financial flows. 

11. In view of the above, the Management of the Central Bank of Nigeria has reached the following decision, which take immediate effect: 

• The Bank would henceforth discontinue its sales of foreign exchange to BDCs. Operators in this segment of the market would now need to source their foreign exchange from autonomous source. They must however note that the CBN would deploy more resources to monitoring these sources to ensure that no operator is in violation of our anti-money laundering laws; 
• The Bank would now permit commercial banks in the country begin accepting cash deposits of foreign exchange from their customers. 

12. In closing, let me note very importantly that these measures are not intended to be punitive on anyone or any group. Rather it is meant to ensure that the CBN is better able to carry out its mandate in an effective and efficient manner, which guarantees preservation of our scarce commonwealth, and that our hard-earned financial system stability remain intact to the benefit of all Nigerians. 

Thank you