Why I was quizzed by EFCC — Ex-Governor Akpabio

A former Governor of Akwa Ibom state, Godswill Akpabio, has given insight into why he was interrogated for several hours on Friday by operatives of Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

EFCC declares Saraki’s firm MD, Izuagbe, wanted

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Thursday declared wanted the man managing Senate President Bukola Saraki’s property company, Mr. Kennedy Izuagbe, for alleged N3.6bn money laundering.

EFCC arrests Okumagba over alleged N28.9bn fraud

The Managing Director of BGL Plc, Mr. Albert Okumagba, has been arrested by officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC for allegedly being involved in a N28.9bn fraud.

Police IG, Solomon Arase, moves to unseat Lamorde as EFCC chair

The Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, has written to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission indicating his plan to recall all police officers who have so far served in the commission for five years, authoritative sources at the police headquarters in Abuja have told journalist.

APC, PDP senators team up against Saraki, say EFCC probe breaches Senate rules

A group of senators of the All Progressives Congress, under the aegis of Unity Forum, have risen against the decision of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions to investigate the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Lamorde, over alleged diversion of N1 trillion recovered by the commission.

The APC senators echoed the position of the Peoples Democratic Party caucus in the Senate, which dissociated its members from the probe on Monday, calling on the committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions to shelve the investigation.

But in a statement jointly signed by Senators Ahmed Lawan, George Akume, Abu Ibrahim and Barnabas Gemade, the APC senators said on Wednesday that for a petition to be discussed in the Senate or House of Representatives, it must be channelled through a member of the House of Representatives or a senator.

“In standard parliamentary practice, a petition is routed through either a senator or member of the House of Representatives. Upon receipt of such petition, the representative will inform the presiding officer of the chamber and, thereafter, present the petition in the plenary.

“Thereafter the presiding officer will refer the matter to the appropriate committee upon which it will be returned to the Senate in plenary,” said the senators.

Quoting Rule 41 (1-3) of the Senate Standing Order, the senators explained how petitions are handled in parliament, saying “a senator presenting a petition shall confine himself to a brief statement of the parties from whom it came, the number of signatures attached to it and the material allegations contained in it and to reading the prayers of such petitions.

“All petitions shall be, without question being put, ordered to lie upon the table. Such petitions shall be referred to the Public Petitions Committee.”

The APC senators further stated that none of the foregoing rules was followed in handling the petition against the EFCC, and that they only read in the newspapers that the Senator Samuel Anywanu-led Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions would commence a probe of the EFCC chairman.

At the commencement of the probe on Wednesday, a representative of the EFCC, a witness told PREMIUM TIMES, said the commission had no confidence in the Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions Committee of the Senate, saying the committee lacked objectivity and that it was unlikely that it would get a fair hearing.

The commission said a delegation sent to observe the proceedings was walked out by the members of the committee on the pretext that the commission had earlier written that it would not be present at the hearing.

PREMIUM TIMES learnt that the petitioner, George Ugbo, was midway into his presentation when EFCC’s Director of Legal and Prosecution, Chile Okoroma, arrived, raising objection that it was not in the tradition of the senate to conduct hearing with only one party present.

Responding on behalf of the committee, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Information, Dino Melaye, reportedly said the committee was at liberty to adopt any procedure it considers suitable, claiming that the EFCC was not expected at the hearing, having written to be excused.

The Senate committee however proceeded to read the letter from the EFCC, where the commission asked for another date to be present at the hearing but omitted the portion where the commission disclosed that the petitioner is an accused under prosecution by the commission on fraud charges.

Mr. Okoroma insisted that it amounted to lack of fair hearing for the proceedings to continue in the absence of the EFCC, while also observing that the documents presented to the committee by the petitioner were not made available to the commission.

In the light of the foregoing, the EFCC representative noted that the narration by Mr. Uboh only contained reference to the EFCC and not Mr. Lamorde even though the hearing was advertised as a probe of Mr. Lamorde.

PREMIUM TIMES however learnt that Mr. Uboh, who allegedly converted properties belonging to the Police Equipment Fund, is standing trial before Justice J, Aladetoyinbo of the FCT High Court on three counts of fraud (FRN v George Uboh CR/12/09).

The senate investigation, following a petition, has fuelled speculations that the lawmakers might be seeking ways of getting back at the anti-graft agency.

Coming in the wake of the commission’s probe of Toyin Saraki, the wife of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, over allegations of fraud committed when her husband was governor of Kwara State, the anti-graft agency has questioned the motive and procedure of the planned Senate probe.

But in a statement Tuesday, the Senate president, Bukola Saraki, denied ulterior motive behind the senate’s decision to invite the chairman of EFCC, saying the anti-graft commission is not the only government agency facing a Senate probe.

Hunter becomes the Hunted: Lamorde to appear before Senate today

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, said on Tuesday that the upper chamber would go ahead with the planned probe of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Lamorde, scheduled for today (Wednesday).

EFCC foils plot to steal seized $2.1m NHIS cash

Two persons have made separate attempts to claim the $2.1m (about N418million) cash seized by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport from the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

The NDLEA had on July 3 intercepted the cash which was being conveyed by a bureau de change operator, Mr. Ibiteye John Bamidele.

Bank rogues get 91 years in jail for a N114.6m fraud

Suleiman Ibrahim Musa, Bilyaminu Usman and Lawal Suleiman were today sentenced to 55, 7 and 29 years imprisonment respectively without an option of fine, on a 16-count charge bordering on conspiracy, forgery, theft and criminal breach of trust. 

SHOCKING: Ex-FRSC boss buys off govt’s 7-day old N13m SUV as scrap, paying N150, 000

A former Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, Haladu Hananiya, is in trouble for allegedly paying N150,000 for a brand new Toyota Land Cruiser SUV worth N13 million.

Mr. Hananiya is alleged to have used his position as former Chairman, Governing Council of the Adamawa State University, ADSU, to convert the vehicle to his personal property.

EFCC invites judge who accused Aregbesola of fraud

THERE were indications in Osogbo on Sunday that Justice Folahanmi Oloyede, who recently accused Governor Rauf Aregbesola of graft, had been invited to the Abuja headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

A source close to the judge told journalists in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, on Sunday that the judge was contacted by an official of the EFCC, who asked her to come to the Abuja office of the commission to assist them in the investigation into the allegations.

Oloyede, a serving judge in the Osun State judiciary had recently petitioned the state House of Assembly, asking that impeachment proceedings be commenced against Aregbesola, who she also accused of being corrupt.

The source said the judge had expressed her readiness to assist the anti-graft agency if they come to Osogbo to investigate the petition but that she could not afford to travel to Abuja at the moment.

The judge had in her petition written on June 19 to the Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly, Mr. Najeem Salam, accused Aregbesola of financial recklessness.

She had also sent a copy of the petition to the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, among others.

The governor had told the House of Assembly during the inauguration of the lawmakers in June that his administration had received N20bn from federal allocations and internally generated revenue since inception till the end of 2014.

But the judge said the state got N538bn and alleged that the governor falsified the figure in order to hide the balance of the receipts.

Her petition read in part, “Mr. Governor is deemed to have received on behalf of the state and local governments, revenues well in excess of N538bn within the period under reference, therefore, the figures being currently touted by Mr. Governor are cooked, manipulated, fallacious and fraudulent. They are undeniable evidence of corruption!

“But in spite of all those huge earnings, and for no justifiable reasons, at least not justifiable before rationally thinking minds, coupled with the accumulation of foreign and local debts, Mr. Governor could still not provide the much touted infrastructures and to make matters worse, he couldn’t even discharge the simplest and least complicated of functions in governance, which is to maintain the civil service, pay pensions, run public schools and hospitals, and the maintenance of existing ‘Trunk B’ Roads.”

The state House of assembly had set up a panel to investigate the judge’s petition but she had disagreed with the panel.

The judge, who did not show up in person before the panel, had sent her counsel, Mr. Lanre Ogunlesi (SAN) to represent her and she complained that the panel ought to make a copy of Aregbesola’s reply to her petition available to her for further action.

But the panel headed by Mr. Adegboye Akintunde, who is also the deputy speaker of the House, disagreed with the judge’s request, saying the panel was not obligated to make the response of the defendant available to the petitioner.

The two week given the panel to investigate the petition had expired last Friday.

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