Special adviser to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, on Media and Publicity, Yusuf Olaniyonun has made it clear that his boss will not contest the 2019 Presidential elections.
In a recent interview, Olaniyonu said that report making the round that Senator Saraki will contest the 2019 Presidential election against President Muhammadu Buhari is not true.
“The report is false. If it is true that he is contesting, you would have seen the report in major dailies since last week Saturday when the news broke out on social media. But as you can see, there is nothing like that.”
This clarification came against the backdrop of a report by Ovation publisher and former presidential aspirant, Dele Momodu in his Boss Newspaper, that Saraki will be contesting the 2019 Presidential election.
The report read: “The Boss can exclusively reveal that Senate President, Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki has joined the 2019 Presidential race. There is no doubt that he would be a formidable force that should not be ignored because only few politicians in Nigeria today have the pedigree, the experience, the clout and the connection of Senator Saraki.
“Impeccable sources reveal that as he plots his move for the Presidency, he is said to be considering building alliances with all Nigerians of like minds. He is also considering using the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu as his running mate.” [myad]
Former Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu has vowed to challenge the Federal Government for including him on the list of those it alleged to have looted the nation’s treasury, insisting that he did not loot the state treasury during his eight-year tenure.
Babangida Aliyu, in a statement he signed in Minna, capital of Niger State today, Monday, said “I wonder why the federal government should include my name in the 24 treasury looters list released again by the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.”
The former governor said that nobody had confronted him with any document that he received N1.6 billion from the former National Security Adviser (NSA), retired Colonel Sambo Dasuki and asked the government to prove it.
He alleged that the All Progressives Congress (APC) was doing everything possible to blackmail him because he refused to join the party.
“The APC government has embarked on calculated blackmail against my person because I refused to join the party.
“We all have our minds and what we believe in politics is a thing of the mind.
“In the orchestrated plot to tarnish my image, I am presently before the Federal High Court and a Niger High Court for the same alleged offence.
“This is to show that the government is hell bent on bringing me down but they will not succeed.”
Babangida Aliyu said that as a governor, he served the people of Niger to the best of his ability, adding: “as a Governor, I left a landmark for posterity, no amount of blackmail or character assassination can wipe me out from the minds of the people.” [myad]
South African anti-apartheid campaigner, Winnie Mandela has died aged 81, according to her personal assistant. Winnie Madikizela Mandela was the former wife of South Africa’s first black president, Nelson Mandela. Winnie was, until Mandela walked free from prison after 27 years, still wife and together, they were a symbol of the anti-apartheid struggle for nearly three decades. However, in later years her reputation became tainted legally and politically. Family spokesman Victor Dlamini said in a statement: “She died after a long illness, for which she had been in and out of hospital since the start of the year. “She succumbed peacefully in the early hours of Monday afternoon surrounded by her family and loved ones.” Mrs Mandela was born in 1936 in the Eastern Cape – then known as Transkei. She was a trained social worker when she met her future husband in the 1950s. They were married for a total of 38 years, although for almost three decades of that time they were separated due to Mr Mandela’s imprisonment. Despite their separation two years after his release, and their divorce in 1996, she kept his surname and maintained ties with him.
The Chaplain of the Aso Presidential Villa Chapel, Pastor Seyi Malomo, has predicted that Nigeria will rise again.
Delivering a sermon at Easter on a topic: “The Temporary Hour of Darkness,” Pastor Malomo said: “Nigeria is going to rise again,” adding that the resurrection of Christ signified that darkness can only reign but for a while.
”According to the message today, darkness only reign for a while; no natter the evil, the problem we are facing, just as Jesus only laid in the grave for three days, all these will be over. As long as Jesus rose from the dead, we are going to rise again, even all of you listening to me,” he said.
He called on all Nigerians to emulate the life of Jesus Christ who sacrificed his life for the salvation of mankind.
”In terms of sacrifice, we have to emulate the life of Jesus Christ. He sacrificed for mankind. And we are liberated and celebrating because he paid the sacrifice.
”We are all call to do our role in giving that sacrifice that will bring the liberation, the greatness of our nation.” [myad]
A former deputy senate president, Ibrahim Mantu, has confessed that he has been in the business of rigging elections, especially, for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for about 20 years.
He said, while answering questions on Channels Television: “Yes, yes, I did. But I am now confessing the truth. What do I mean? I didn’t have to go and change election but you provide money. You give money to INEC boys to help; that is, they see any chance they should try and favour you. You provide money for the security. All our elections in the past, I’ve been in the game for about 20 years.”
Mantu, who is also a former member of the PDP’s Board of Trustees, said: “I tell you each time it is not necessarily when I am contesting an election but when my party sponsors a candidate I would like that candidate to win the election. What we used to do before, we make provision for INEC, we make provision for security, we make provision for even agents of other parties so that they would not raise any objection to what we are able to get. Whether I rig myself or not, but when I provide those resources to the officials, I am rigging election.
“I believe so because if people are born again like me and refuse to do it, we, the players; unless we give before somebody will take. Don’t give so you will not get a taker,” he said.
The interview has sparked outrage with people calling on the authorities to arrest and prosecute him for electoral fraud.
But Mantu explained during the same interview that he decided to confess to election rigging because he was tired of the negative perception Nigerians have abroad, adding: “you didn’t even ask me why am I thinking this way,?
“I am tired of being seen as a criminal on the street of the world because you are a Nigerian. You assume that everybody is an innocent human being until being proven otherwise but whilst you are outside this country with a green passport and they see that you are a Nigerian, even if you are a pastor or an imam they will assume that you are criminally minded or you have criminal tendencies just because of where you come from. That must change.”
He said he confessed because he was tired of the abundance of poverty in the country. He said he hopes that his confession will result in good governance by the election of credible people, who would prudently manage the resources of the country and ensure equitable wealth for everyone, into public office.
“I am tired of living in poverty in the midst of plenty. Even how much you have, you see people coming to you every day, my wife has given birth my relation is in the hospital. Every day. But if everybody has enough to take care of his or herself, they won’t come bordering you saying give me this, give me that.
“We have the resources that people can live decent lives without being beggars to those who have. Just because we haven’t gotten our own governance system right. So, we need good governance, good governance can only be provided by good people, good people who are truly repentant, who are actually there to serve the people, who are concerned about the well-being of the people being the primary concern. If we have such leaders, then I can tell you they would judiciously and prudently use our resources for the common good of everybody.” [myad]
I got a credible information last week from some grapevines in Abuja that the much-talked about outstanding sum of $322 million (not $321 million as has been widely reported) stashed away in some secret accounts by former military dictator, the late General Sani Abacha, in Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Switzerland, routinely referred to as “Abacha loot”, has been repatriated and it is sitting pretty in a dedicated account in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
This calls for pomp and ceremony, especially by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), which had committed to ensure that the loot was repatriated, regardless of the shenanigans and blackmail from within and outside some official quarters in Nigeria.
A powerful Nigerian delegation, led by Malami and comprising a team of Nigerian Law Firm of Oladipo Okpeseyi and Co., had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Swiss Federal Council and the World Bank on December 7, 2017 for the repatriation of the loot, composed of $250 million traced to Liechtenstein and $72 million traced to Luxembourg, which was confiscated by the Court of Switzerland. The repatriation of the fund actually began two weeks from the day the MoU was signed in accord with its (MoU’s) provision.
The success of the effort must be celebrated on three planks. The first is the critical condition given by the Swiss authorities and the World Bank that the money must be channeled to some development projects that would benefit Nigeria and her people; otherwise, it would not be repatriated. The condition had a background. The money repatriated before now was allegedly misappropriated. For instance, $1.25 billion was repatriated under the Olusegun Obasanjo administration without anything concrete to show for its expenditure. More than $5 billion was reportedly stashed away in foreign bank accounts by Abacha.
It is celebratory that the Muhammadu Buhari administration, whether rightly or wrongly, enjoys the trust of these foreign entities. They, however, believe his administration should be assisted to judiciously use the outstanding $322 million from the Swiss, Liechtenstein and Luxembourgish axis in the execution of the sanctioned projects in the trilateral agreement, specifically for some security and safety net projects in the health and education sectors.
The World Bank was for good reasons responsible for the initial delay in the fund’s repatriation because it did not sanction the first set of projects proposed by the Nigerian government. The Bank strategically sanctioned the new projects that fell within the purview of its original programmes of intervention. In essence, it would not spend a dime but would only partner Nigeria to help monitor and supervise the execution of the projects. The whole essence is to ensure that the repatriated fund was not re-looted or misappropriated. This is commendable and one is eager to see an exemplar, in this instance, of how to utilise and maximize public funds for public good.
The second plank is the demonstrated capacity by the federal government through the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to enhance the integrity of the process by not resorting to acts that could question the honesty of the administration and taint its vaunted anti-corruption capital in the perception of the foreign entities. Malami must be commended for acquitting himself creditably in this area. He was able to reject an offer by the foreign lawyer who was on the issue from the outset, Mr. Enrico Monfini. He asked for a fresh 20 percent on the value of the total money as his professional fees after he had reportedly been paid for the same services by the previous administration.
Perhaps, given the seeming lack of experience by Malami, Monfrini had thought he could arm-twist and hold him to ransom, but Malami, courageously, and with his eyes on prudence, made a counter offer of five percent, which Monfrini rejected, thus prompting Malami to engage from a list of three indigenous firms, which expressed interest in completing the process, an experienced team of Nigerian lawyers, to wit: Mr Oladipo Okpeseyi (SAN) and Mr. Temitope Isaac Adebayo, who have vast contacts in the area of international litigation, arbitration, mediation, conciliation and negotiation. Remarkably, they were offered four percent which they accepted, in the national interest, to complete the critical last leg of the process.
Interestingly, that was a process that some forces in some government quarters have continued to claim had been completed by Monfrini and that Malami was possibly manipulating the process in order to fleece the federal government. They were obviously out to fault Malami’s engagement of the Nigerian senior lawyers. I shudder at their claims and suggestions, contoured by the obvious illogicality of their warped logic. If the repatriation process had been completed by Monfrini as they claimed, why did Monfrini reapply to complete the process on payment of a fresh 20 percent on the value of the total money as his professional fees?
Was Monfrini, perhaps, acting in concert with some influential Nigerians in the immediate past administration to re-loot part of the funds? The agency of government in Nigeria and other individuals in the vanguard of trying to blackmail Malami may have, after all, embarked on a wild goose chase of trying to search for a skeleton in his cupboard. Their searchlight may eventually expose individuals who started the process as those to indict.
The third plank on which the successful repatriation of the Abacha loot must be celebrated is the utilisation of the local content capacity of the nation’s legal capital in the face of intimidatory antics posed by the acclaimed savvy of the foreign lawyer. Using Nigerian lawyers to complete the process on payment of rock-bottom professional fees is salutary in many ways. It reinforces the patriotic zeal and nationalistic spirit of the Nigerian Bar. Besides, the nation is, by and large, building a body of legal experts in the apparently recondite area of tracing, confiscation and repatriation of looted public funds for future engagements.
The duo of Okpeseyi and Adebayo must be commended for their effort at providing professional services without acting the shylock. Four percent is considered fair enough against Monfrini’s offer of 20 percent that was counter-offered by Malami’s five percent. If this, in the views of those who have tried to tar Malami with a brush of malfeasance in the repatriation deal, is how to provide “jobs for the boys”, I sincerely believe we need more of such “jobs for the boys” that ensure cost-effective negotiations in the management of our public finance. For rendering professional services, they deserve their wages, which payment should be expeditiously facilitated by the relevant government ministries.
Overall, we need transparency, which is key and, which the World Bank’s monitoring would ensure in the deployment of the repatriated loot in the execution of target-specific projects. But if those who are intent on blackmailing Malami and the process of repatriation of the funds have evidence of sordid and immoral deals, they should spill the beans now with evidence, not unsubstantiated claims; otherwise, they should stop their time-wasting exertions and the dishonourable tactics of muckraking when and where no muck possibly exists.
Mr. Ojeifo, an Abuja-based journalist, contributed this piece via ojwonderngr@yahoo.com [myad]
Abba Dabo took me to Kano in 1984. He was my Editor at the New Nigerian Newspapers in Kaduna before his appointment as Chief Press Secretary to President Shehu Shagari in 1983. By 1984, he was appointed Managing Director of Triumph Newspapers Kano.
“I took Yawe protesting, kicking and crying to Kano”, he is fond of saying anything we meet these days.
He is right. At the time, I did not like Kano. Kaduna – with its green bottles and their liquid contents, beautiful and willing girls – was my ideal town. I was a young dashing reporter with the unholy ambition to paint the town red. Kano was too serious a city for me. The men I saw there were either serious religious mullahs or even more serious merchants.
But Kano tamed down my restless soul. Before moving to Kano, I had lived a short but turbulent life as a reporter. For the first time as an itinerant reporter, I was able to keep a job for three years. It was in Kano I made it to the pinnacle of journalism as an Editor.
I also made many, many friends in Kano – too many to mention. The most remarkable man I befriended in Kano was a colleague by the unusual name of Abdullahi No Sweat.
Abdullahi was also a product of Abba Dabo at the Triumph newspapers. A self-confessed rascal, he was rusticated from secondary school in the 50’s for “extreme insubordination” after he slapped a white British school master. He went to school in Yola with the who is who in Adamawa State. Bamanga Tukur was his headboy, Murtala Nyako, Professor Jibril Aminu, the Lamido of Adamawa, J JFwah, the King of Bata, Atiku Abubakar as Vice President nick named him “No Sweet” after a series of questions from the hard-hitting reporter, was also his junior in school.
He left Nigeria in 1960, the year of our independence by stowing away in a ship to London. And for 23 years, he kept wandering all over the world without caring about Nigeria. Abba Dabo as Editor travelled with President Shehu Shagari on a State visit met him in Pakistan in 1983 where he was the lead actor in a Pakistani movie. President Shagari’s ADC, Col Isa Usman Garkidawas Abdullahi’s classmate in Yola and had fished him out in Pakistan to come and meet his President.
It was strange for the President to hear that a Nigerian could speak the Pakistani language very fluently and even act a film in it. It was even more strange for him to hear that this Nigerian had not been to his home country since independence and had no immediate plans to visit home. When the President asked him how soon he wanted to visit Nigeria, he simply replied, “someday”.
President Shagari was told the extraordinary story of Abdullahi’s travels all over the world in 23 years and his ability to speak different languages on all continents of the world. He wanted to use such vast knowledge for the benefit of Nigeria. He did not take the “someday” answer from Abdullahi but wanted him back immediately.
Back to Nigeria, Abba Dabo who wrote a popular column in the Sunday New Nigerian introduced him to his readers as “Nigeria’s Ambassador Extraordinary.” Before long, Abdullahi was bundled back to Nigeria in 1983 by presidential decree. Sadly, by the end of 1983, Muhammadu Buhari moved his troops to sack Shagari as President of Nigeria.Abdullahi who came back to Nigeria by Presidential decree became stranded. There was anew Pharaoh in town who did not know Joseph.
Abba Dabo, the greatest Editor I have ever worked under took him to Truimph newspapers. At first, he was in the sales department. But the self-confessed rascal wrote a petition against his Sales Manager alleging that he had embezzled N300 (three hundred Naira). An internal investigation was carried out which proved that the allegation was true.
The atmosphere became so tense in the department that he was transferred to the editorial department and made the Chief Proof Reader. As the Group News Editor, he was under my watch.
The newsroom in any newspaper is considered a mad room. A newsroom with Abdullahi No Sweat is the maddest I have ever known. It was a house of commotion withAbdullahi as the lead actor. He regaled us with stories of the five wives he married in America, whom he divorced all; his life in Iceland as a fisherman, his Indian hemp smoking encounters in Jamaica with Bob Marley, the Reggae King; his business trips from Holland to Kathmandu in Nepal where he run a bus charter service known as “No Sweat over land Tours” with his fellow hashish smoking hippie men; his experiences in a German homosexuals night club as a striptease dancer; his life as a Mujahadin fighter in Afghanistan with Osama bin Laden when the Soviet Union invaded the country in 1979 and he and other comrades were trained by Americans to fight the Soviets; the stories were endless and salacious.
But not everybody in the newsroom was interested in his stories which offended their religious sensitivities. Fist fights often broke out. He had practiced many professions in his wandering life and he told us of all. But one profession which he did not tell us was that he was also a pugilist along the way. Anytime a fight broke out, he knocked down all his opponents. One day, Nii, a Ghanaian sub editor tried to separate a fight between Abdullahi and his opponents and got a black swollen eye in the bargain.
As the leader of the newsroom, I had to find a solution to the endless commotion which Abdullahi No Sweat brought to my turf. I decided to befriend him. That was how our friendship started.
Over the years, we have become more of brothers than friends. When I left Triumph in Kano to take up a job with the Gongola State Government in 1987, he left with me. We found a beautiful well cultured Fulani girl for him and since 1988 they have remained married and raised wonderful intelligent children.
When I lost my grandfather in 1987, the man who brought me up – the Rev JEI Sai, the first Tiv man to be ordained a Priest – Abdullahi was there for his burial; he also attended my father’s burial and that of my senior brother Sam. In 2016 when I lost my mother, Abdullahi’s health was bad and I told him not to bother to come. He screamed at me and came – arriving my remote village two days after my mother was buried.
My mother till death considered him one of her children. When he married Aina, his Fulani wife, we took them to our village for their honeymoon. He woke up the following morning to tell me he was going to Wukari. I asked him to do what. He replied that since there was no Mosque in my village, he was going to look for one to pray. Knowing his history with the five other women, we never allowed him to make the trip to Wukari.
Often, he would travel to my remote village at my back and load his vehicle with as much foodstuff as the bus could carry. On hearing of my mother’s death, he phoned to say “Emma you have not lost a mother. You have lost a great mother.”
The greatest regret of my life with him is that he nominated me to write the book on his global wanderings. Somehow, my unsettled life has made it impossible. That wonderful story has been written and will soon be made public this year.
Here is wishing my friend and brother Abdullahi No Sweat who turned 80 in March this year a happy birthday. [myad]
Minister of Information and Culture, ALhaji Lai Mohammed has released a fresh list of 23 members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who allegedly looted the nation’s treasury.
In a statement today, Lai Mohammed said that the list of alleged looters which Government released earlier was based on verifiable facts, including the amount involved, the date the amount in question was collected and from where it was taken.
The minister said that those complaining that the list was too short apparently did not understand that it was strategically released as a teaser.
“At the press conference where the list was released, I did say it was a tip of the iceberg. Apparently, this does not mean anything to people whose style is to comment on issues they barely understand, or just to shoot down anything coming from the government.”
He said that the Federal Government has a large number of alleged looters on its list even as he asked, whose leaders challenged the Federal Government over an issue that the party knows is its weakness: ”what was the PDP expecting when it challenged the FG to name the looters of the public treasury under the party’s watch? Did the PDP actually believe that the massive looting under its watch was a joke? Did they think it is April Fool?”
The Minister said that the PDP’s reaction to the looters’ list has shown that its recent apology is an election-induced act, contrived to deceive unsuspecting Nigerians to vote for the party in the 2019 general election, even when it has not come clean on its looting spree during its time in office.
”The hysterical and panicky reaction from the PDP has shown that the party is not at all sincere about its choreographed apology. Were it not the case, the party would have followed in the footsteps of one of its leaders, Senator Ibrahim Mantu, who simply owned up to his role in the party’s rigging in the past elections and said he had turned a new leaf.
”It is said that a true confession is done in humility with an attitude of repentance. It is clear that the PDP does not know this, hence its resort to hubris instead of humility and genuine penitence,” he said.
Alhaji Mohammed said the Federal Government will neither be intimidated nor blackmailed into silence, adding that it will also not rest until all those who looted the public treasury have been brought to justice.
SECOND BATCH OF ALLEGED LOOTERS AND THE AMOUNT ALLEGEDLY EMBEZZLED
Former NSA Sambo Dasuki: Based on EFCC investigations and findings alone (this is beside the ongoing $2.1billion military equipment scandal), a total of N126 billion, over $1.5 billion and 5.5 million British Pounds was embezzled through his office. A good number of these monies were simply shared to persons and companies without any formal contract awards.
Former Petroleum Resources Minister Dieziani Alison-Madukwe: In just one of the cases the EFCC is investigating involving her, about N23 billion is alleged to have been embezzled. She is also involved in the Strategic Alliance Contracts of the NNPC, where the firms of Jide Omokore and Kola Aluko got oil blocks but never paid government taxes and royalty. About $3 billion was involved. The Federal Government is charging Omokore and Aluko and will use all legal instruments local and international to ensure justice.
Rtd. Lt.-Gen. Kenneth Minimah: N13.9 billion. N4.8 billion recovered by EFCC in cash and property
Lt.-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika: N4.5 billion. N29m recovered by the EFCC so far.
Alex Bade, former Chief of Defence Staff: N8 billion, and EFCC recovered almost N4 billion in cash and property already.
Indo Dikko: former CG Customs: N40 billion, and N1.1 billion in cash recovered in cash and choice properties.
Air Marshal Adesola Amosun: N21.4 billion. N2.8 billion recovered in cash. 28 properties and 3 vehicles also recovered.
Senator Bala Mohammed, former FCT Minister: N5 billion. Interim forfeiture order on some property secured.
Senator Stella Oduah: N9.8 billion. Interim forfeiture order on some property secured.
Former Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu: N1.6 billion – from NSA.
Senator Jonah Jang, former Plateau State Governor: N12.5 billion.
Bashir Yuguda, former Minister of State for Finance: N1.5 billion. $829,800 recovered.
Senator Peter Nwaboshi: N1.5 billion
Aliyu Usman: Former NSA Dasuki’s aide: N512 million
Ahmad Idris: Former NSA Dasuki’s PA: N1.5 billion
Rasheed Ladoja: Former Oyo Governor: N500 million
Tom Ikimi: N300 million
Femi Fani-Kayode: N866 million
Hassan Tukur, former PPS to President Goodluck: $1.7 million
Nenadi Usman: N1.5 billion
Benedicta Iroha: N1.7 billion
Aliyu Usman Jawaz: Close ally of former NSA Dasuki: N882 million
The Presidency has reminded the Nigeria’s former minister of Defence, retired Lt General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma and his likes that no country can survive if its citizens are set against the country’s well trained and equipped military officers.
A statement by the senior special assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on media and publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, making a veiled reaction to Danjuma’s recent call on Nigerians to take up arms against the army, said that the Presidency is worried that such call could encourage criminals to feel justified in their activities.
The statement said that Danjuma’s call could lead to a situation where criminals would defy legal governing and democratic institutions as well as authority of legitimately elected democratic government.
Describing the ‘rise against the military’ call by the former army chief, as “unrestrained pronouncements,” Garba Shehu said: “we advise former leaders to take advantage of the various fora where people with a history of national security can offer advice to the government without resorting to the exploitation of emotional sentiments.
“The civil war motto: “TO KEEP NIGERIA ONE IS A TASK THAT MUST BE DONE” rings very timely at this time in our nation’s history. We must be careful to avoid the mess that destroyed other African countries like Somalia.”
He appealed to prominent Nigerians, who have national influence, to use their influence wisely and not continue to engage in public declarations that are likely to inflame emotional passions and threaten National Security.
He commended the Nigerian military’s efforts to maintain peace and stability, “despite being pulled in various directions by elements determined to destabilize the country and” government for their selfish reasons.” [myad]
Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Uche Secondus has filed a N1.5 billion libel suit against the minister of information, Lai Mohammed, Politics over a list of treasury looters which the minister released yesterday, Friday, to the media.
Lai Mohammed released a list of looters under the Ex-president, Goodluck Jonathan’s tenure mentioning, Secondus as one of them, alleging that he stole N200 million. Secondus quickly gave the minister 48 hours to withdraw his libelous statement against him the same day, or face litigation.
According to a statement from his media office, signed by his Spokesperson Ike Abonyi, said that Prince Secondus, through his lawyer, Emeka Etiaba SAN in a letter ref no. EESE&C/1/31/03/18 dated March 31st, 2018 addressed to the Minister titled Re: Publication of false and defamatory statement against Prince Uche Secondus, the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party: Demand for retraction, Apology and Payment of damages is asking for N1.5b damages plus a public apology.
The lawyer said that the said publication has damaged the image of Prince Secondus as he has been ” humiliated, castigated and vilified by many as a result of the falsehood published by the Minister”
The letter told Alhaji Lai Mohammad to note that if he fails to meet their demand after 48 hours, ” We shall within 72 hours from today, proceed to a court of competent jurisdiction to ventilate our clients right under the law and shall further seek the protection of the court against you.” [myad]
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The $322 Million Repatriated Abacha Loot: Matters Miscellany, By Sufuyan Ojeifo
I got a credible information last week from some grapevines in Abuja that the much-talked about outstanding sum of $322 million (not $321 million as has been widely reported) stashed away in some secret accounts by former military dictator, the late General Sani Abacha, in Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Switzerland, routinely referred to as “Abacha loot”, has been repatriated and it is sitting pretty in a dedicated account in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
This calls for pomp and ceremony, especially by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), which had committed to ensure that the loot was repatriated, regardless of the shenanigans and blackmail from within and outside some official quarters in Nigeria.
A powerful Nigerian delegation, led by Malami and comprising a team of Nigerian Law Firm of Oladipo Okpeseyi and Co., had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Swiss Federal Council and the World Bank on December 7, 2017 for the repatriation of the loot, composed of $250 million traced to Liechtenstein and $72 million traced to Luxembourg, which was confiscated by the Court of Switzerland. The repatriation of the fund actually began two weeks from the day the MoU was signed in accord with its (MoU’s) provision.
The success of the effort must be celebrated on three planks. The first is the critical condition given by the Swiss authorities and the World Bank that the money must be channeled to some development projects that would benefit Nigeria and her people; otherwise, it would not be repatriated. The condition had a background. The money repatriated before now was allegedly misappropriated. For instance, $1.25 billion was repatriated under the Olusegun Obasanjo administration without anything concrete to show for its expenditure. More than $5 billion was reportedly stashed away in foreign bank accounts by Abacha.
It is celebratory that the Muhammadu Buhari administration, whether rightly or wrongly, enjoys the trust of these foreign entities. They, however, believe his administration should be assisted to judiciously use the outstanding $322 million from the Swiss, Liechtenstein and Luxembourgish axis in the execution of the sanctioned projects in the trilateral agreement, specifically for some security and safety net projects in the health and education sectors.
The World Bank was for good reasons responsible for the initial delay in the fund’s repatriation because it did not sanction the first set of projects proposed by the Nigerian government. The Bank strategically sanctioned the new projects that fell within the purview of its original programmes of intervention. In essence, it would not spend a dime but would only partner Nigeria to help monitor and supervise the execution of the projects. The whole essence is to ensure that the repatriated fund was not re-looted or misappropriated. This is commendable and one is eager to see an exemplar, in this instance, of how to utilise and maximize public funds for public good.
The second plank is the demonstrated capacity by the federal government through the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to enhance the integrity of the process by not resorting to acts that could question the honesty of the administration and taint its vaunted anti-corruption capital in the perception of the foreign entities. Malami must be commended for acquitting himself creditably in this area. He was able to reject an offer by the foreign lawyer who was on the issue from the outset, Mr. Enrico Monfini. He asked for a fresh 20 percent on the value of the total money as his professional fees after he had reportedly been paid for the same services by the previous administration.
Perhaps, given the seeming lack of experience by Malami, Monfrini had thought he could arm-twist and hold him to ransom, but Malami, courageously, and with his eyes on prudence, made a counter offer of five percent, which Monfrini rejected, thus prompting Malami to engage from a list of three indigenous firms, which expressed interest in completing the process, an experienced team of Nigerian lawyers, to wit: Mr Oladipo Okpeseyi (SAN) and Mr. Temitope Isaac Adebayo, who have vast contacts in the area of international litigation, arbitration, mediation, conciliation and negotiation. Remarkably, they were offered four percent which they accepted, in the national interest, to complete the critical last leg of the process.
Interestingly, that was a process that some forces in some government quarters have continued to claim had been completed by Monfrini and that Malami was possibly manipulating the process in order to fleece the federal government. They were obviously out to fault Malami’s engagement of the Nigerian senior lawyers. I shudder at their claims and suggestions, contoured by the obvious illogicality of their warped logic. If the repatriation process had been completed by Monfrini as they claimed, why did Monfrini reapply to complete the process on payment of a fresh 20 percent on the value of the total money as his professional fees?
Was Monfrini, perhaps, acting in concert with some influential Nigerians in the immediate past administration to re-loot part of the funds? The agency of government in Nigeria and other individuals in the vanguard of trying to blackmail Malami may have, after all, embarked on a wild goose chase of trying to search for a skeleton in his cupboard. Their searchlight may eventually expose individuals who started the process as those to indict.
The third plank on which the successful repatriation of the Abacha loot must be celebrated is the utilisation of the local content capacity of the nation’s legal capital in the face of intimidatory antics posed by the acclaimed savvy of the foreign lawyer. Using Nigerian lawyers to complete the process on payment of rock-bottom professional fees is salutary in many ways. It reinforces the patriotic zeal and nationalistic spirit of the Nigerian Bar. Besides, the nation is, by and large, building a body of legal experts in the apparently recondite area of tracing, confiscation and repatriation of looted public funds for future engagements.
The duo of Okpeseyi and Adebayo must be commended for their effort at providing professional services without acting the shylock. Four percent is considered fair enough against Monfrini’s offer of 20 percent that was counter-offered by Malami’s five percent. If this, in the views of those who have tried to tar Malami with a brush of malfeasance in the repatriation deal, is how to provide “jobs for the boys”, I sincerely believe we need more of such “jobs for the boys” that ensure cost-effective negotiations in the management of our public finance. For rendering professional services, they deserve their wages, which payment should be expeditiously facilitated by the relevant government ministries.
Overall, we need transparency, which is key and, which the World Bank’s monitoring would ensure in the deployment of the repatriated loot in the execution of target-specific projects. But if those who are intent on blackmailing Malami and the process of repatriation of the funds have evidence of sordid and immoral deals, they should spill the beans now with evidence, not unsubstantiated claims; otherwise, they should stop their time-wasting exertions and the dishonourable tactics of muckraking when and where no muck possibly exists.