Can the president’s men pass the integrity test?

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Sen. Bola Ahmed Tinubu

Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the former Governor of Lagos, who has been a consistent opposition figure  to the then ruling party (PDP) single-handedly funded opposition party from Alliance for Democracy (AD), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and eventual merged to form APC.

It is no longer news that Tinubu committed his huge resources, time and energy to campaign and ensure the eventual emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Tinubu is today tagged  the most prominent landlord in Lagos  and has done as he pleased, and the rest of the state just have  to deal with it. For instance: Number 4, Oyinkan Abayomi (formerly Queens) Drive, Ikoyi: A 5-bedroom detached house on one acre of land which was originally the Lagos State Governor’s guest house since 1979, but which now belongs to Tinubu. The Certificate of Occupancy of the property valued at N450 million was signed and released to him by Fashola in 2007 shortly after he assumed office.

Tinubu’s residence at 26 Bourdillon Road, Ikoyi was initially falsely presented as Oando Plc Guest House. Later, he purportedly bought it from Oando, and used public funds to rebuild and renovate it. The Lagos State Government bought the property and paid an undisclosed sum to him and thereafter gave the property back to him under the  Pension Bill he signed into law shortly before he left office in 2007. The property is worth over N600 million.

The annex of the Lagos State Guest House in Asokoro, Abuja,  was bought by the State Government in 2006 for N450 million, purportedly to protect the main house from security breach. Shortly after Tinubu left office, the property was transferred to him under the pension plan he signed into law before leaving office.

The 250-hectare of land valued at about N35billion and strategically located at the Ajah Junction on Lekki Road was initially meant for a General Hospital for the people of Eti-Osa Local Government but was stolen by Tinubu and handed over to Trojan Estate Ltd – a company owned by Deji and Wale Tinubu – to develop as Royal Garden Housing Estate.

The 1,000 hectares of land valued at about N75billion located at Lakowe near Abijo at Ibeju-Lekki Local Government and given to Lekki Concession Company (LCC)  is said to be partly- owned by Tinubu and Fashola and being developed as golf course and housing estate by Assets and Resource Management Ltd (ARM) as ADIVA project.

The prime land of 157 hectares with 2.5km of Atlantic beachfront valued at about N10billion is also linked to Tinubu.

This is apart from reported tales of hotel chains and tax collection firms holding successive administrations in the state by the jugular.

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar

Alhaji Abubakar Atiku is a frontline politician from Adamawa.  He had his political tutelage under the late Musa Yar’Adua. But his national ascendancy began at the return of democracy as a running mate to the former President Olusegun Obasanjo between 1999 and 2007. Atiku played a prominent role in the formation of the Peoples Democratic Party and eventual emergence  as ruling party in 1999. Between 2003 and 2007, the relationship between President Olusegun Obasanjo and his Vice President turned bitter due to seeming political rivalry.

His alleged links to acts of corruption was to be the tool for Obasanjo to launch a vindictive campaign against his political future in the build up to the 2007 general elections.

For the first time in a court document made available to the public, the US government  identified  Atiku, his US-based wife, Jennifer,  and a Nigerian businessman, Suleiman Yahyah as co-conspirators in the corruption case against US Congressman William Jefferson,

as key actors in acts of corruption.

The American government described them as “unindicted conspirators” in court papers in the case against Jefferson being heard by a US district court in Alexandria, Virginia.

Details emerging from a US government response to a motion by Jefferson seeking the testimony of  the former vice president  and the two others outside the US.

While the  US government was not  opposed to the idea of having Abubakar  and the two others giving testimony, it did not  support that  the testimony be  given outside the US.
A United States Senate report had  accused Abubakar of laundering over $40 million in suspicious funds into the United States between 2000 and 2008. His partner in the lucrative effort was  Jennifer,  his fourth wife, who  allegedly owes  146  houses across the country.

The Nigerian Bulletin on February 26, 2016,  reports  that the former vice president also collected N100m from ex-Plateau governor, Sen. Joshua Dariye,  from the N1.162billion ecological fund.

Contrary to  Abubakar’s claim that his indictment by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Federal Government Administrative Panel of Inquiry is a premeditated political action intended to halt his presidential ambition, the report of a forensic investigation into the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF)  said that he was culpable of  the mismanagement of the fund.
The report of the Special Audit/Forensic Investigation of  PTDF  from 1999 to May 31, 2006, submitted that Abubakar’s  approval for the release of $20million  from the treasury and subsequent placement in Trans International Bank without appropriation and approval by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) was improper and amounted to abuse of office.

The Senate Ad hoc Committee on PTDF report in 2007 was revealing:

“ …His Excellency, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, vice-president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007, abused his office by aiding and abetting the diversion of public funds in the sums of $125million  and $20million  respectively approved for specific projects to deposits in banks, some of which were fraudulently converted to loans to Netlink Digital Television, Mofas Shipping Company Limited and Transvari Services Limited,’’ the report said.
It also noted that contrary to the argument by Abubakar that PTDF funds were not lost in the various placements, the N1.130billion loaned in two installments to the NDTV; N420million to Mofas Shipping Company Limited; and N300million to Transvari Services Limited by TIB were yet to be recovered.
The committee, however, said that although the loans had been restructured with the acquisition of TIB by Spring Bank Plc., they might not be recovered outside the restructured framework without endangering the health of Spring Bank.
It, therefore, recommended that the  vice president  be penalised for the offences.

Abubakar  was also linked to the  $182 million Halliburton bribery scandal, a scam which allegedly involved some former Nigerian heads of state. Ironically, he is today one of the leading lights of the APC and Buhari’s confidant.

Senator Bukola Saraki

Former governor of Kwara State and presently Senate President, Bukola Saraki, is currently in the eye of the storm. His questionable wealth in Nigeria and the United Kingdom had grown bigger just as the fortunes of the family bank, Society Generale in which he was the Executive Director,  deteriorated and finally collapsed.

On 29 November, 2001, Saraki was said  to have bought a mansion in London for £4,250,000.00). The house which has deed title number NGL805616 is located at 70 Bourne Street, London SW1W 8JW.

This was coming at a time when the bank was sent out of  the clearing house and capital market. His wife, Toyin, who is equally not a stranger at  the EFCC’s  office on allegation  that she had  previously bought number 69 Bourne Street in 2000 for two million pounds. In 2002, the former governor also bought Number 53 Ashley Gardens for 4 million pounds. He used a front company known as “Ashley Gardens limited.”

Apart from his U.K properties,  Saraki owns several properties in Nigeria worth several millions of Naira including a N700 million house in Victoria Island fetching him N96 million in  rent annually.

The development made the EFCC to  invite Saraki for questioning and also declared wanted, Kennedy Izuagbe, a former director of  SGBN  and Managing Director of Carlisle Properties and Investment Limited, a company that had  been linked with the former governor  in a case of  conspiracy and money laundering to the tune of over N3.6 billion.

As a two-term governor of Kwara State, he  was alleged to have misappropriated several billions of naira belonging to  the state.

SaharaReporters, the online media, said  it received   exclusive documents of   police investigation detailing how Saraki, during his tenure as  governor used several shell companies, including Skyview Properties Ltd., Limkers Ltd., Dicetrade Ltd., Carlisle Properties and Investment Ltd. and Joy Petroleum to make questionable deposits and illegal withdrawals from banks.

The investigation,  which was reportedly led by a team of detectives at the Special Fraud Unit of the  police  further alleged that Saraki withdrew millions of naira disguised as loans from GTBank, Intercontinental Bank and  Zenith Bank Plc.

The funds were then moved into different accounts under the guise that the purpose was to pay off some bank debts with other “loans.”

According to the report, the investigation also saw evidence of a N200 million loan facility that was availed by Zenith Bank to Joy Petroleum Ltd.

Saraki, was said to have at various times withdrawn N 11 billion  from the Intercontinental Bank, N160 million  from Zenith Bank  and  N204 million  from GTBank.
The governor  is presently facing  a 13-count trial at the Code of Conduct Bureau over falsification of asset declaration.

An official of the CCB, Peter Danladi, stated in the counter-affidavit that the investigation of the various petitions on  corruption, theft and  money laundering  among others  against Saraki in 2010  was conducted jointly by   officials of the EFCC, CCB and DSS.

“The EFCC conducted its investigation on the various petitions and made findings which showed that the defendant/applicant abused his office  while he was the governor of Kwara State and was involved in various acts of corruption as the governor of the state.

“Saraki borrowed huge sums of money running into billions from commercial banks, particularly Guaranty Trust Bank, and used the proceeds of the loan to acquire several landed properties in Lagos, Abuja and London  while he was the governor of Kwara State.

“Using his own legitimate income to defray the loan, he took public funds, running into billions from Kwara State Governemnt and lodged same in several branches and in cash into his GTB account in GRA (Government Reservation Area), Ilorin, Kwara State,’’ the report said.

 The affidavit stated: “ The CCB Assets Declaration Form  for public officers filed by the defendant/respondent revealed the following:

` The landed property listed as No.42 Gerald Road, Ikoyi was visited by Mr. Ikechi Iwuagwu (Deputy Director, CCB), Miss. Geraldine Longsten (DSS) and Adamu Garba (EFCC) sometime in 2006 and  it was discovered that the property was under construction.

“Contrary to the declaration by the defendant that he was earning an annual income of N110,000,000 from No.42 Gerald Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, there were no tenants in the property as same was an empty land as at the time of the declaration.

“Contrary to the declaration by the defendant that he owned 15A and 15B McDonald, Ikoyi, Lagos as at the time of the declaration in 2003, our investigation revealed that the said properties were acquired in 2006 from the Implementation Committee on Federal Government Landed properties through his companies called Tiny Tee Limited and Vitti Oil Limited wherein he paid the sum of N396,150, 000 to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

“The defendant made an anticipatory declaration for the said 15A and 15B, Ikoyi, Lagos. The defendant acquired the properties in the name of two companies because he could not buy two Federal Government properties in his personal name.

“The defendant bidded for and acquired 17, 17A and 17B McDonald, Ikoyi, Lagos,  from the Implementation Committee on Federal Government Landed Property and paid an aggregate sum of N497,200,000 to the Federal Government between October 2006 and 2007.

“A scrutiny of the defendant’s  salary account with the Intercontinental Bank (now Access Bank)  account No: 0100857813 reveals that his monthly take home salary as at the time he acquired the property was not  more than N500,000 and the defendant acquired properties far in excess of his income.

“While the Federal Government was selling its properties, the Central Bank of Nigeria, being an agency of the Federal Government,  sold plot 2A, Glover Road, Ikoyi, Lagos for N325,000,000 between 2007 and 2008 to the defendant, which the defendant purchased through his company called Carlisle Properties when he was the governor of Kwara State,” Danladi said.

He added that further investigation by the CCB revealed that Saraki also acquired a property at Plot 2A  Glover Road, Ikoyi, Lagos through Carlisle Properties Limited while he was governor of Kwara state and that he had  been receiving rent from the property.

Danladi said investigation on the asset declaration forms submitted by Saraki between 2003 and 2011 revealed that he failed to declare his interest in Plot 2A Glover Road, Ikoyi, Lagos (in his 2011 asset declaration form); No: 1 Targus Street, Maitama, Abuja otherwise known as 2482 Cadastral Zone A06, which he claimed he acquired in November 1996 from one David Baba Akawu (in his assets declaration form of 2003).

Saraki was also said to have failed to declare his ownership of  No: 3 Targus Street, Maitama, Abuja, otherwise known as 2481 Cadastral Zone A06, Abuja which he acquired from one Alhaji Attahiru Adamu in his asset declaration form (of June 3, 2011) and No: 42, Remi Fani-Kayode Street, Ikeja,  Lagos, which he acquired through his company, Skyview Properties Limited, from First Finance Trust Limited on December 12, 1996.

“The defendant has a domiciliary account with GTB Plc in Nigeria with account No: 441441953210 from where he made various cash transfers totalling 3.4million US dollar between 2009 and 2012 to American Express Service Europe Limited with account No: 730580 maintained with the American Express Bank, New York and the various sums were transferred into the defendant’s card account No: 374588216836009 maintained by the defendant outside Nigeria,’’ the affidavit said.

Saraki was  one of the young Turks that pulled down the house of the PDP to usher in the Buhari administration.  Until the schism in the ruling APC broke open, Saraki was readily one of the leading  exponents  of the Buhari  change mantra.

Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi

Former Rivers  Governor and Minister of  Transportation, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi is no stranger to allegations of corruption.

A report recently emerged detailing Amaechi’s  indictment in corruption investigations against him by the Rivers state government under  Nyesom Wike for the misappropriation of the sum of N96 billion naira ($400 million) during his tenure as governor.

The report also indicted Mr. Tonye Cole, Managing Director of Sahara Energy Plc  for questionably dealings with the  Rivers State Government under Amaechi.

Cole was named in the questionable sale of four gas turbines belonging to the Rivers State Government and the 40-year concession deal of Olympia Hotel for the sum of $86,250 per year.

In the document, Cole’s company, NG-Power HPS Limited, was  indicted for receiving a payment of $53 million as repayment for a non-existent loan from the Rivers State Government.

Amaechi is also indicted in the corrupt disbursement of N2 billion designated for Agric Credit loans.

He was made Minister of Transportation by  Buhari despite allegations by the incumbent Rivers State government over alleged mismanagement of funds, abuse of executive powers, cronyism, and outright fraud during his tenure as Rivers State Governor from 2007 to 2015.

Amaechi was alleged to have been one of the  financiers  of the election of  Buhari. In a televised event mid-2015, it was announced that Amaechi contributed 80% of the funds used to bring Buhari to office as president.

In addition, Amaechi is praised by APC leaders for single-handedly funding the governorship campaigns of at least five  APC governors including that of former Speaker, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State.

The Rivers State Government had  set up a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to investigate Amaechi’s tenure as governor.

The commission was chaired by  Justice George Omereji and it submitted its report in October 2015.

But  to stall his prosecution  as recommended by the commission, Amaechi swiftly filed a case against the government.

Kemi Adeosun

The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun,  was a former Commissioner of Finance in Ogun state.  She was alleged to have engaged in financial mismanagement, questionable and self-beneficial transactions of government businesses, wastefulness, acquisition of questionable wealth, ineptness and graft.

An NGO, CACOL had in a statement directed at Buhari, said:  “Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, we dare say, is one individual that cannot add any value or gain to your administration which you have consistently been promising would be focused, proactive, selfless and above all, corrupt-free, given her antecedent that has been found to be filled with so many scandalous activities premising on financial mismanagement, questionable and self-beneficial transactions of government businesses, wastefulness, acquisition of questionable wealth, ineptness and of course, graft.”
The minster, however,  denied the allegations and challenged the group to provide evidence of their claims.

Abdulrahman Dambazau

The Minister of Interior and a onetime Chief of Army staff, Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau,  is highly regarded as a fine soldier who was strictly professional even at a time when the country was faced with leadership crisis  stemming  from the state of health of late President   Umar Yar’Adua.

Saharara Reporters  sources  implicated Dambazau  in improper financial deals that made it easy for the “Yar’Adua hawks” to enlist him in their plans.  According to a petition, Dambazau  through the Ministry of Defense had awarded “peacekeeping” contracts  to fictitious companies owned by James Ibori,  and an Israeli arms supplier, Alon Neiken.

The online medium further revealed that Dambazau has a stake in four of the companies that received the jumbo “peacekeeping “contracts. The companies said to be involved in the scandalous contracts are HIS Nigeria, Nurit International, Yommy Logistics, Mass International, Arsenal International and M-2 International.

Chris Nigige

The Minster of  Labour  and Employment and one-time governor of Anambra, Dr. Chris Ngige, allegedly converted over N46 billion meant for local councils in the state to personal use.

The minister  also allegedly colluded with some members of the State Assembly, appointed council chairmen, and some consultants to divert and launder the said monies.

Ngige in 2003, allegedly ordered that two accounts- project and security accounts- be opened in the now defunct Guardian Express Bank. EFCC investigators said the move was suspicious particularly as there was an existing project account maintained by the State Accountant-General in Intercontinental (now Access) Bank Plc.

According to the EFCC investigators, Ngige ordered the transfer of  N6, 726, 054, 692. 00 and another N3, 892, 929.00 meant for local government councils in Anambra to the project account.

Inspite of the avalanche of allegations bordering on corruption,  Ngige  again remains one of the president’s  most trusted confidants.

Like former Governor of Lagos state and the current Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN who was alleged on corrupt practices over outreageous website hosting and drilling of a borehole while he was in office as governor. Though, Fashola debunked the allegation while standing before the Senate during the ministerial screening saying that he did not corruptly enriched himself as governor and he never signed any cheque he however challenged anybody with contrary opinion to come out with valid evidence. The same corruption allegation was leveled against the former Governor of Ekiti state and the current Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr Kayode Fayemi who was equally alleged for being over invoiced the cost of building Ekiti Government Hous, Fayemi denied the allegation said, the Ekiti State government House costs least in the array of government houses in Nigeria. He added that he did the needful to bequeathed such as a befitting government house to the people of Ekiti.

Giving the fact that there are President’s men that issues of corrupt practices hanging on their neck so also there are some that and cleaned and unblemished, among these categories are a seasoned farmer, Chief Audu Ogbeh, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Developmenent, Senator Udoma Udo Udom, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, former Senoir Special Assistant to three President on Mellinium Development Goals (MDGs), a development practitioner and technocrat, the current Minister of Environment, Hajia Amina J. Muhammed, former Chairman of Nationa Hajj Commission and the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Alhaji Bello Musa Muhammed, the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Christopher Ogbonaya Onu, Mr. Abubakar Malami, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Barrister Adebayo Shittu, the Minister of Communications, Dr Ibe Kachkwu, the State Minister of Petrolum Resources among manu others who answer no querry that bother on corruption.

Quite typically, the Presidency had maintained a stoic mien and in several instances brushed aside the worries of  the agitated Nigerians and insisting that they were mere allegations against the president’s men.

At a time the president’s popularity is  dove tailing into a nose-dive due to the country’s worsening economic fortunes, it would  be catastrophic for the president to remain an island of  rectitude in an ocean of  sleaze.