Bukola Saraki records unveil a pattern of lies, evasion on questions about his nationality and identity

Jonathan’s Aides, Abati, Adegbe, Obua, Others Stripped Of Passports

Two months after leaving power,  no fewer than 12 close aides of former President Goodluck Jonathan have been stripped of their official passports.

A competent source told Saturday Vanguard that the decision to withdraw the official passports of the former aides of Dr Jonathan was to prevent misuse and conflict with new aides and officials of President Muhammadu Buhari, who assumed duties on May 29, 2015.
It could not be established last night whether the affected officials were ordered by the Presidency to surrender the passports or whether they did so voluntarily.
But Saturday Vanguard learned that the affected former aides of Jonathan had already returned the passports to the Presidential Villa preparatory to being handed over to the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS.
  Abati, Adegbe, Obua, 9 others affected
Among those whose passports have been retrieved are former Special Adviser to the President on Media Reuben Abati; former Aide-de-Camp, Col. Ojogbane Adegbe and former Chief Security Officer, Gordon Obua, who is currently hospitalised over poor health arising from his recent incarceration by security agents.
Nine other key officials of the Jonathan Presidency who were also issued with official passports have also been stripped of the travel documents.
It was gathered that the former officials had been asked by the Presidency to relinquish their official passports to the Villa within a stipulated time-frame for onward return to the NIS, which issued them.
  Questions to answer
However, another source hinted that the withdrawal of the former president’s henchmen’s travel documents was to prevent some of them who have some issues to explain to the new administration from leaving the country and being given preferential treatment at their destinations.
“Don’t forget that some of these officials may be needed here to answer some questions relating to their tenure,” the source said.
  No ill-motive –NIS
However, the Nigerian Immigration Service said last night that there was no ill-motive in withdrawing the official passports of  government officials who had completed their assignments.
NIS Public Relations Officer, Mr.  Joachim Obua, explained that it was normal for officials of government to surrender their official passports at the end of their tenure.
“It is important for the position to be made clear that official passports are not the property of anyone holding it. Once you complete your assignment you have to return it to the NIS,” he explained.

I Asked Jonathan If He Could Handle Ngozi Okonjo Iweala- OBASANJO

 
Below is excerpt of the first part of the interview.
PT: Thank you sir for granting us this opportunity to talk about your book. Some people say it is selling like hot cake, I don’t know if it is true but that’s what people say. How has it been? What has been the financial reward from there?

Obasanjo: The book was not written for financial reward. If it was written for financial reward, now that…what do you call him… Kashamu had done the stupid things he did, I would have sued him‎ for damages and I would have got damages. But that’s not what the book was written for. The book was written for my experience, my understanding, my knowledge, and what you may call wisdom as a result of all these, to put it for others to be able to learn or acquire knowledge. That’s one. Two, it was also written to set the record right. One of the things that people don’t know, people that I call arm chair presidents is that they don’t know what goes in before decisions are made or what the man making decisions, what leads him to making decisions.
Take for instance the decision on privatising all refineries. I explained that what I met were refineries that were not working, refineries that were given to an amateur for repairs, for maintenance, what they call turn around maintenance to the company of Emeka Offor – Chrome Group. Where has Emeka Offor maintained refineries before? Where has he? That’s what we met. So the refineries were not working. I called Shell. I said ‘come and help us, just run the refinery.’ Shell was frank with me.
It said that ‘we make our money from upstream, downstream is more of a service. Two, your refineries are small. Port Harcourt is 60,000 barrels a day. Refineries now go 300,000 barrels a day. Three, your refineries have not been maintained well. Four, we don’t want to go into the corruption that is entailed in all these’. I said ‘ok, come and help me run it’. They refused. Now when I then saw people who agreed to take 51 percent equity in two of the refineries; they did not promise to pay, they paid 750 million, I was dancing and I said ‘look, this is God sent.’ My successor came (and) they cancelled it and paid them the money back. Those refineries today – you won’t get them because they’ve become scrap.

PT: They recently said that they are working again…

Obasanjo: Who made them work? (laughs)
PT: You mentioned Emeka Offor. There were lots of stories about the refineries you met, how you handled it. But you never recovered anything from Emeka Offor.
Obasanjo: What can you recover? A man ‎who was paid upfront. He had people. He got some police…people were there. And like they have said to you now, look, if it works for a week, that’s all you get. And Emeka Offor, after I left he became friends with every government that has come. Now he’s not only into refinery and oil and all that, he’s now also in energy.

PT: Something came out of your book. You said that before you were elected, that the feeling and perception was that only a northerner ‎could be elected in Nigeria. How did you feel breaking that myth, because you called it a myth in your book?

Obasanjo: It’s a myth. It’s a myth that….well, before my election we have had, since independence, three or four elections. We had election in 1959 that was conducted by the British, NPC won. We were still in the days of parliamentary. We had election in 1964 that was conducted by ourselves. It was a coalition of NPC and NCNC but the head of the government was Tafawa Balewa. We had election again in 1979, Shagari won. We had again in 1983, again Shagari won. And then we had the June 12…

PT: (Cuts in) I was thinking that (1993) was when the myth was broken.
Obasanjo: Election which result has not been declared, you cannot talk of… It doesn’t matter what you may see but until the election result is formally declared, it could be anything.

PT: So you think that period was a very momentous period in Nigeria’s history?
Obasanjo: I think it was good for Nigeria. It was one of the great strides that Nigeria made. Just as I believe that Jonathan winning election in 2011 was also a great stride for us or 2015, now that the incumbent was defeated by the opposition. These are landmarks, or if you like, reference points in our advancement in democracy.
PT: In the Volume 2 of your book, you wrote extensively about the role God used you to play in enthroning Yar’Adua and Jonathan. You also admitted later – extensive analysis – how both leaders performed poorly. There are those who believe that you owe Nigerians an apology for leading them to enthrone non-performing leaders.

Obasanjo: (Cuts in) You are absolutely wrong Now you voted for them. I didn’t just take them and put them there. And they went through a process. Don’t you know that? Do you know or don’t you know that they went through a process? Do you know or don’t you know? Answer (slaps interviewer’s thigh vigorously).

PT: I know.
Obasanjo: Okay. They went through a process. And that is the process that the constitution and the electoral system allow.
PT: In other words, are you saying that all of us are guilty?
Obasanjo: Of course. If you want to put that, everybody who voted for them is guilty.
PT: But you know people believed you. People believed you. When you speak….
Obasanjo: (Cuts in) When I speak, I am not an oracle. And I’m not infallible. But on this particular one I have said to all of you, you can get a job for a man you cannot do it for him. Even your own son if you put him in a job…. There is a good saying that if you want to know how anybody will perform, put him in position of power or put money into his hand.
PT: So maybe the thing to say is that you didn’t do enough due diligence…
Obasanjo: (Cuts in) No. You are wrong. There’s no due diligence that you can do to allow a man…. You cannot know the quality of a gift from the wrapping. You don’t know that, you will never go anywhere (slaps interviewer’s thigh). That is absolute wrong.
PT: That point has to be made…
Obasanjo: (Cuts in) But I’ve always made it. I keep on making it. In my book, I said look, Gowon sent me to the war front and because of my performance there, my popularity started to rise…

PT: (Cuts in) Because he knew you had the capacity, he checked you very well…
Obasanjo: (Cuts in) No no no. Adekunle was there before me. So he didn’t know Adekunle had the capacity? Answer me. In that same Division, Adekunle was there. And if Adekunle had remained there, there’s the possibility that Nigeria could have lost the war. So will you blame him for that?
PT: We won’t. But you know a lot of people believe that between 1999 and 2007 when you left was a time that a lot changed in Nigeria for the better. And people just keep saying that you destroyed everything that you put in place with the successors you enthroned.

Obasanjo: But take Ngozi (Okonjo-Iweala), who worked for me. And who worked competently for me. Because I know Ngozi’s weaknesses, but I know her strong points. Her strong point is technical competence. But Ngozi needs to be led and to be supervised. Now will you comment on Ngozi who worked for me as the same Ngozi who worked for Jonathan? Will you? But it’s the same person.
PT: At what point do you think she derailed if I may use that word?

Obasanjo: No.

PT: Is it at the point that you changed her – because you removed her as finance minister. Was it at that point that she began to derail?
Obasanjo: She derailed because….when Jonathan even said he wanted her, I said ‘I hope you can manage her.’ And Ngozi herself sent me a text (and) I told her times have changed.
PT: But why did you change her? She was managing the economy very well for you. Why did you now remove her suddenly?
Obasanjo: I wrote it in that my book.
PT: It didn’t come out clearly enough?
Obasanjo:It must have come out. Maybe you haven’t read the book very well. I said I’ve touched reform. I’ve touched almost everywhere except Ministry of Education and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. So one day, I was in my office and the Head of Service, Yayale (Ahmed), came in. He said ‘look, you are looking not happy, what is the matter?’ I said I am worried about two ministries and the ministers who can do the work I wanted to be done there in these two ministries are already doing good work where they are. And he said ‘talk let me see.’ I said education and foreign affairs. And he said ‘who are the ministers that you think can do the job.’ I said Oby (Ezekwesili), Ngozi, and El-Rufai. He said ‘what is Oby doing for you now?’ I said Oby is doing Solid Minerals. He said ‘Sir, in all sincerity, I know you don’t like to rank ministries, but will you say Ministry of Solid Minerals is as important as Ministry of Education.’ I said yes I don’t rank ministries, they are all important. He said, ‘Can’t you take any of these three to do education and then get somebody else to do solid minerals?’ So I took Oby there. Now in the Ministry of Finance we had got debt relief, so I could afford to take Ngozi to Foreign Affairs. That’s all. And then she had Nenadi (Usman) who was the minister of state. She’s not a buffoon. And then, which is also part of her weakness, she came to me and said, look, since it’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she will like to take International Finance along with it. I said talk to your sister with whom you are working and I don’t see anything wrong with that provided you work out a relationship. But she didn’t accord Nenadi the recognition and the consideration that was necessary. I then said the ministry of International finance should go back to Finance and that happened. She said she couldn’t act. She put in a letter of resignation. And she had done that before, and before she could come and get people to come and beg, I announced acceptance (of her resignation).

PT: She once resigned before and she took it back?

Obasanjo: Yes.

PT: Which means you were always having disagreements…
Obasanjo: No no no. I know her character.
PT: So why did she resign the first time?
Obasanjo: She just felt if she cannot have her way, with me…. If I am the one in charge, then it has to be what I see as what is the best interest of the nation.

PT: So even when she resigned, if you didn’t announce the acceptance she would have come back. So all efforts to make her come back didn’t work?

Obasanjo: No no no. Because I had announced.

PT: In 1999, IBB supported you to become president…

Obasanjo: (Cuts in) I said that.

PT: Yes, you said that. And many even said he helped fund your campaign at the time.
Obasanjo: No.

PT: You didn’t say that. You said he supported you. But in your book, you spoke of how in 2011, you chose to support Jonathan…..because you called a South West PDP meeting where Jonathan was endorsed, even when IBB had also indicated interest in running. Why did you prefer to act that way?
Obasanjo: I wrote in my book that this is the opportunity we have for a minority. And I’ve said that. I’ve explained that. I’ve said that times without number. And we have scaled that hurdle. Nobody in Nigeria today can say ‘oh, because I’m a minority I cannot get there.’

PT: So was he not angry with you that ‘look, I backed you in 1999?’
Obasanjo: That’s not…What nonsense is that? Because you backed me I must back you? It doesn’t matter who you are? And I don’t have consideration for Nigeria? It’s consideration that you backed me? No, if that is the way you think then you are short-sighted and myopic and stupid. And put that one. No Nigerian should think that way. You backed me? And if you don’t back me others will back me. So everybody who backed me that time, I must now come and say, look, when you want anything, any office…. I don’t act like that.

PT: It means that you were able to break the jinx of the problem of minority.
Obasanjo: It is necessary that we deal with that.
PT: You said something very shocking in your book – that the presidency instructed EFCC to remove a vital document in Gbenga Daniel’s file in their custody as a way of getting the former governor off their hook.
Obasanjo: No. The president knows about it but it was his chief of staff who gave the instruction.
PT: With the consent of the then president?

Obasanjo: The president knows about it.

PT: Now listen to what you wrote in page 81 of your book. “To fight corruption, the leader needs absolute transparency, no skeleton in the cupboard, clean hands, a clear mind, fear of God, and absolute honesty and integrity, submission to scrupulous investigation. Search and enquiries are also good for a leader who wants to lead by example.” Great message for any leader all over the world! This is prescriptive. Now what do you say to those who keep linking you with corruption during your own tenure, especially the unresolved Halliburton scam for which some of your aides were arrested?

Obasanjo: Look, anybody can make any allegation. Go and read the EFCC report on me. I’m the only leader who has left office who has had, I said they should carry out clinical… did you see that in the book? And if you haven’t seen that in the book then you haven’t read the book. So what else do you want? (Ndudi) Elumelu carried out a report. Did you see the report of the House and the action of the House? What more do you want? So it doesn’t matter the allegation you make, that’s entirely up to you. Halliburton, Bodunde (one of his aides) has been taken to court twice and the court has dismissed the case. What more do you want? The latest was the one Jonathan did. Just before he left, he took Bodunde back to court. He was discharged and the case dismissed the first time. The second time Jonathan took him to court and he was discharged again. So what do you want?
PT: You may not know about it, you may not have a hand in it, but it does appear, especially from reports from US investigators that some officials of your administration perhaps took bribe from Halliburton.
Obasanjo: No no no! I don’t deny that. But not me! I don’t deny their reports about Halliburton but not me. I don’t even know what Halliburton was doing here. So what’s your problem? And EFCC looked into it. You read the report of EFCC bordering on Halliburton.
PT: The only gap is that people are wondering why you didn’t take steps to bring those officials of your regime to book.

Obasanjo: (Cuts in) There’s no gap. You can make any allegation. Now EFCC – you can count number of people who are taken to court. I don’t take anybody to court, Mojeed. And don’t annoy me. Now you have the system that takes them to court. I don’t take anybody to court. Because if I have to be the one to say ‘take this one to court,’ that will be witch- hunting. That’s not my job. My job is – set up the system and if anybody in that system is not performing then look for somebody to perform. So it doesn’t matter what allegation. If you read that report of EFCC, one man was hired, and he went out with all sorts of spurious allegations and EFCC took it one by one. Even Ribadu told me that when he gave that report, because he didn’t give the report to me…I said, look, carry out a critical investigation. I thought that was good. Then when he wrote his report, he gave it to Yar’Adua. And he said Yar’Adua asked him, ‘You can’t find anything at all?’ He brought Metropolitan Police here and he said whenever they are doing investigation in the past, when they get somewhere they will say ‘oh, yes, some people are interested.’ But this is the first time they had free hand to carry out investigation. So what more do you want? And what I put there is what I believe in. Has anybody working under me said to you that ‘oh, he asked me to take bribe?

Toyin Saraki Arrived Totally Unprepared-EFCC

Silent Reporters revealed how Senate President Saraki and his wife collaborated in looting funds from Kwara state using fictitious names of depositors. The couple also scammed numerous other banks by taking out dubious loans, and plundering funds belonging to Kwara State.

Silent Reporters also revealed that Mrs. Saraki helped launder her husband's ill-gotten cash through various shady banking transactions and by making deposits into their personal accounts.

An EFCC investigator told Silent Reporters  this evening that Mrs. Saraki “left knowing that there is a strong case against her.”

The investigator also disclosed that "many of the allegations against her [Mrs. Saraki] connect directly" to Mr. Saraki’s own activities.

EFCC officials told Silent Reporters on Tuesday that Mrs. Saraki arrived at their offices totally unprepared, and left shocked at how much investigators knew of her alleged crimes.

On Tuesday, an entourage of politicians and power brokers, including Senator Dino Melaye- who once headed an anti-corruption NGO- accompanied Mrs. Saraki to the EFCC offices in Abuja. Silent Reporters attempted to reach Senator Melaye to ascertain whether he accompanied Mrs. Saraki again today, but he could not be reached by phone.

A source at the EFCC told Silent Reporters that Mrs. Saraki “may be asked to return again for questioning" related to the commission's ongoing investigation into alleged theft and money laundering involving her husband and her.

The EFCC source said the anti-corruption would now explore issues that arose from Mrs. Saraki's responses to investigators' questions.

EFCC Arrests PDP Chairman

The interrogation of former aides and associates of Sullivan Chime, former governor of Enugu State by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, continued today with the grilling of Ikeje Asogwa, former managing director, Enugu State Housing Corporation and incumbent chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Enugu State.

Asogwa arrived the headquarters of EFCC in Abuja about 10.30am on July 31. He was still being interrogated at the headquarters of the EFCC.

Sources at the anti-graft agency disclosed that Asogwa's invitation followed the discovery that he diverted Enugu state funds meant for public housing in the state.

His interrogation comes a day after Ifeoma Nwobodo, Chime's ex- Chief of Staff, was grilled for alleged money laundering and misappropriation of funds. She is still in the custody of the agency.

Toyin Saraki Causes Commotion At EFCC Office

Toyin Saraki, the wife of Nigeria’s embattled Senate President, Bukola Saraki, this morning showed up at the headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) accompanied by a horde of politicians and supporters.

Our correspondent said EFCC officials appeared overwhelmed by the huge entourage that accompanied Mrs. Saraki to their office.

Mrs. Saraki arrived some two hours late for her appointment at the commission, her ostentatious arrival causing a commotion on the premises of the anti-corruption agency.

An EFCC source told Silent Reporters that the unruly crowd brought along by the Senate President’s wife forced their way into the offices of the EFCC’s Director of Operations, accusing the anti-corruption agency of bias.

Apart from the members of Mrs. Saraki’s entourage who forced their way into the EFCC’s building, another group of her sympathizers stood outside the gates, creating a scene that seemed calculated to rattle EFCC agents.

A senior agent at the EFCC told our correspondent that the commission was not worried by Mrs. Saraki’s melodramatic ploy, adding that investigators at the agency had generated solid evidence of graft against her.

“We are going to focus on doing our work, instead of minding that she came here with a large crowd to cause tension,” the agent said.

Since receiving a summons from the EFCC last week to appear for questioning, Mrs. Saraki and her husband, Senator Saraki, have reportedly been behind a series of propaganda campaigns to portray the EFCC as an organization engaged in a witch hunt against them. A source within the agency told
  Silent Reporters that the commission was not deterred by the campaigns. “They want to claim that our invitation was engineered by Senator Bukola Saraki’s political opponents. We cannot engage in press propaganda. But once we do a thorough job, the public will see the facts of the case. And that is the best way to rubbish the propaganda,” he said.

Silent Reporters learned that Mr. Saraki is directly and indirectly implicated in a series of money laundering schemes involving his wife.

An EFCC sources said their team of investigators were ready to begin questioning Mrs. Saraki on her alleged involvement in a multibillion naira misappropriation of bank loans and laundering of funds stolen from Kwara State during the two terms her husband was governor there.

One EFCC source revealed that the agency began to investigate Mrs. Saraki based on a petition submitted to the commission by the Kwara State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). However, it became public knowledge that the chapter had complained about the senator’s wife, the national leadership of the PDP has been pressuring their Kwara State chapter to withdraw their petition. The PDP even claimed that the signatures on the petition were forged.

An EFCC source told  Silent Reporters that nothing would stop their investigation at this point, since investigators at the commission had uncovered significant “information about Mrs. Saraki’s activities during her husband’s tenure as governor.”

Aftermath of Buhari's meeting with Dogara and Gbajabiamila

Yesterday,the 27th of July,2015,President Muhammadu buhari had a meeting with APC law makers at Abuja to resolve the leadership crisis rocking the lower chamber but the meeting ended in a deadlock with both factions, the Yakubu Dogara faction and Femi Gbajabiamila faction, refusing to bulge and sticking to their different positions. President Buhari however told the members to respect the party's decision. The house has been in a lingering crisis after the Dogara faction rejected APC's decision to make Femi Gbajabiamila the House Majority leader.
However,Buhari allegedly gave them six hours to resolve the issues,and the outcome is that Femi Gbajabiamila has been announced as the House of Representatives majority leader. Speaker
Yakubu Dogara announced his appointment at the resumed sitting of the house earlier today.

Buba Jibrin (Northcentral) was announced as Deputy Majority Leader, while Alhassan Doguwa (Northwest) was announced as Chief Whip and Pally Iriase (Southsouth) is Deputy Whip.

United States Attorney General, Loretta Lynch + Buhari Focus On How To Prosecute Dieziani Allison Madueke

Nigeria's president went to the Monday meeting with a delegation that included Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State.

High on the agenda was to discuss American support for a vast investigation of racketeering schemes spearheaded by Ms. Alison-Madueke and several of her cohorts in the oil sector who conspired to deprive the Nigerian treasury of billions of dollars that went to private interests.

A source with authoritative information on the meeting revealed that the US Justice Department provided President Buhari with a dossier listing numerous participants in the theft of several billions of dollars. US authorities also pledged to offer further documents on condition that Nigerian prosecutors demonstrate a focused and determined effort to pursue ethical and serious prosecution.

Our source revealed that the documents submitted and promised by the US disclose how Mrs. Alison-Madueke and her cohorts used several offshore accounts to move money between Switzerland and Germany.                  

According to our source, the name of Kola Aluko featured prominently in the discussion and documents. Mr. Aluko, a player in the oil sector who was picked by Ms. Alison-Madueke as a front for some of her more egregious deals, emerged in the last five years from relative obscurity to become one of Africa’s richest people.

Mr. Aluko, who fell out with the former Petroleum Minister after he reportedly started dating former superstar model Naomi Campbell, has acquired a stunningly expensive yacht, a retinue of Rolls Royce cars, other expensive cars well as multi-million homes and apartments in such locations as London, New York, and Dubai.

Our source explained that US law enforcement agents, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), spent more than two years on the investigation that uncovered a pattern of obscene theft of billions of dollars of Nigeria’s oil revenues. An FBI field officer in Abuja reportedly played a key role in the investigation of Ms. Alison-Madueke and her self-chosen collaborators, including Mr. Aluko.

Our source disclosed that the US Justice Department officials at the meeting indicated that they would be reluctant to sustain their collaboration with Nigerian authorities unless the Buhari administration set some process in place to identify and fire corrupt judges from the Nigerian judiciary.

A confidante of Mr. Buhari has it that, after leaving the meeting with the US Attorney General, at the Blair House guest house  Buhari, vowed that he would take decisive steps to rid Nigeria of corrupt judges to ensure the success of his anti-corruption agenda.

Last week, during his US visit,  Buhari publicly accused unnamed former ministers of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration of stealing up to one million barrels of crude oil per day from the Nigerian people. In official speeches and media interviews, the Nigerian president also restated his determination to go after corrupt officials, regardless of their political affiliation.

Boko Haram Attacks Family House Of New Army Chief

Suspected Boko Haram militants burned down houses, including the family home of Nigeria’s new army chief, in Buratai, Borno State, on Tuesday.

The attack came two days after the chief of army staff, Tukur Buratai, vowed to compel the insurgents to beg for peace.
Mr. Buratai was not present at the time of the attack in the early hours, Reuters reported Tuesday quoting security sources.

Since his appointment last week, Mr. Buratai has talked tough about crushing the deadly sect responsible for nearly 20,000 deaths since 2009.

Speaking Sunday, the new Chief of Army said under his command, Boko Haram would either beg for peace or face the wrath of highly motivated and combat ready soldiers.

The Borno State-born Major General, who took over command of the nation’s army last week, said he was ready to lead soldiers to the dens and enclaves of the insurgents.

He re-christened the operational code of the counter insurgency efforts from

“Operation Zaman Lafiya” to “Operation Zaman Lafiya Dole” – which in Hausa means ‘the quest for peace becomes a must’.

Mr. Buratai, who was in neighboring Yobe State to celebrate the Islamic eid-el-fitri festival with Nigerian troops, moved to Borno on Sunday afternoon.

“As Chief of Army Staff, I will be actively involved in this ‘Operation Zaman Lafiya Dole’ to end the madness of Boko Haram if I will have your collective maximum support and cooperation,” he said.

“Since Boko Haram terrorists have refused peace (Zaman Lafiya), we will now force them to accept peace.

“The peace that permeated Borno and transcended Lake Chad will soon return. My wish was to clear Konduga of Boko Haram vestige so that people can return home to rebuild their houses,” the army chief added.

EFCC Set To Pobe Jonathan,His Ministers + Aides

THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has concluded plans to commence the probe of the former President Goodluck Jonathan with investigations into the financial transactions of his ministers and aides.

PUNCH gathered that the EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde, had already directed that all petitions against former public officers at the federal level should be forwarded to him to be acted upon.

We have it  that Ex ministers, special advisers, heads of parastatals and other Federal Government agencies would be invited for interrogation by the EFCC in a few weeks from now.

Our correspondents learnt that the anti-graft agency would focus on those whose establishments attracted huge allocations from the Federal Government when Jonathan was in power.

Such ministries and agencies, it was learnt, included defence, petroleum resources and power.

Three top sources in the anti-graft agency revealed to us  that Lamorde was “determined to expose any corrupt act during the administration of the GEJ.”

Our source narrated that anti-graft operatives had yet to arrest any of the former ministers, special advisers and heads of agencies who served under the Jonatham.

He said, “I am not aware of anybody who has been summoned or interrogated by the EFCC.
Those to be interrogated would be determined by the gravity of the allegations against them as contained in the petitions.

“What happened last week was that a directive was issued to move all petitions against public office holders under the Ex President to the office of the Chairman.

“The files will be studied and assigned to units to handle the investigations. It is based on the petitions that people will be summoned.

“Most likely next week, action would be taken on those petition.”

But the Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwajaren, denied knowledge of such  directive when contacted.
In his words “I am not aware of the directive you are talking about. It is not to my knowledge,” the agency’s spokesman said.

Reacting to the development, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Abdullahi Jalo, said the party was not afraid of a probe.

According to him, the party and former President Goodluck Jonathan have nothing to hide, saying all the party is asking for is that any probe must be within the ambit of the law.

Jalo said the PDP discharged its duty of providing leadership for Nigeria for 16 years and that it did so transparently.

He said, “I am sure Nigerians still remember that it was because of PDP’s desire to deal with the scourge of corruption that our government under the leadership of President Olusegun Obasanjo established the EFCC and the ICPC. The records are there.

“All we are asking for is that there must be fairness and justice. Whatever probe they want to carry out must have respect for the rule of law, good conscience and the fear of God.

“Such a probe must not be carried out based on vendetta or simply because somebody does not like the name or the face of somebody.”

Jalo also advised the All Progressives Congress-led administration to pay more attention to providing leadership to Nigeria “rather than dissipating energy in the pursuit of trivialities.”

Senior Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, said last week, that President Muhammadu Buhari would probe Jonathan’s government.

He had added that the present administration would recover billions of dollars, adding that “the world is too small a place for anybody to hide if you are running from justice.”

Adesina stated, “It doesn’t mean that anybody that has ill-gotten wealth will not regurgitate it. They will. Remember when PMB went to Germany for the G7 summit, he met with President Obama and Obama told him to just give us information on where the loot is hidden and we will help you recover it. The government has been working on that. So, that shows that looters will never go free.”

Operatives of the Department of State Services had invaded the houses of Jonathan’s National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), on Friday, forcing the former NSA to a house arrest for 24 hours.

The security agency in a statement the following day accused Dasuki of felony, misuse of power and possession of destructive weapons.

It said it recovered from Dasuki’s home seven high calibre rifles , several magazines, military related gear and 12 new vehicles, including five bulletproof cars.

A top officer of the DSS revealed that Dasuki would face further interrogation this week.

Also, the ex-President’s Chief Security Officer, Gordon Obua, is being detained as part of investigations into the security spending at the Presidential Villa during his time.

A lawyer for Obua has raised the alarm about the detention of his client.

The lawyer, Onochie Onwuegbuna, said in a statement that Obua had been in detention since July 16 without being told what offence he committed.

Tony Elumelu,Jim Ovia And Wale Tinubu Run After Buhari In The US

The event was organized for the President by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and The Corporate Council on Africa.

Buhari departed from his prepared text to tell the surprised crowd he was surprised to see Mr. Ovia, and that he thought the CBN Governor had brought him along.  He also expressed surprise at the presence of Wale Tinubu, who happens to be a good friend of Buhari’s All Progressives Congress chieftain, Bola Tinubu.

The crowd, which mostly comprised of US businessmen, did not fully understand the heart of Buhari’s position which wasn’t part of his prepared speech for the evening.

Buhari earlier warned his aides not to smuggle Nigerian businessmen into his meetings throughout his US visit.

It was also learned that Tony Elumelu, the Chairman of the United Bank for Africa, who was at the dinner , was only allowed to greet Buhari when it was over.

Elumelu and Ovia were formidable supporters of former President Goodluck Jonathan but since Buhari’s victory, these and many other businessmen have been looking for ways to warm themselves into the Buhari fold.

Dieziani Allison-Madueke Offers To Refund $250 Million

Nigeria's Ex Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has offered to refund the sum of $250 million dollars to the government in return for immunity from further investigation and possible prosecution. Her game plan turned out to be unsuccessful as Mr.President turned down her offers.
Our correspondent has it that the ex powerful minister has been reaching out to influential government and ruling party officials, in and outside Abuja, to prevail on President Buhari to accept her offer and let go. Dieziani  had enlisted the support of several figures close to Buhari, including Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, to intercede with  Mr. President.

Dieziani was one of the closest ministers to former President Goodluck Jonathan, and is reputed to have anchored and facilitated numerous money-laundering scandals and deals that characterized the era of the just-ended Jonathan administration. The former Petroleum Minister oversaw several oil swap deals, the disposition of oil wells handed over by Shell Petroleum to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and the direct looting of funds through the NNPC. Former Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, was forced out of office after he revealed that the NNPC had failed to remit more than $20 billion in oil revenues with the CBN.

The former Petroleum Minister is the latest of several officials who served under Mr. Jonathan’s government that are currently negotiating “soft landing deals” with the Buhari administration. The incumbent president, who was sworn in on May 29, 2015, has vowed to probe various questionable financial actions taken by his successor or officials of his government. Mr. Buhari is reportedly determined to recover billions of dollars in stolen funds.

One source said Mrs. Alison-Madueke’s latest offer to refund at least $250 million to the government came after she learned that President Buhari’s scheduled meeting with US Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, would include a discussion of ways that the US government could facilitate the investigation, arrest and prosecution of some officials of the Jonathan administration implicated in the theft of billions of dollars and a variety of frauds that resulted in the loss of significant sums of public funds in Nigeria.

Our sources revealed that Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala had given the Buhari administration documents that expose a number of shady financial deals executed by the Jonathan administration.

Few days ago, we reported that former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Emeka Anyaoku, had appealed to Mr. Buhari to halt the ongoing probe of former President Jonathan’s administration. Even though Mr. Anyaoku has denied that he urged Mr. Buhari to stop the investigation of his predecessor’s financial dealings, our sources insisted that the ex-Commonwealth chief executive brought up the matter.

Our sources disclosed that Mr. Buhari was unimpressed by Mrs. Alison-Madueke’s offer. “Mr. President considers the $250 million as ridiculous considering the amount of money Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke is suspected to have diverted into her pocket and those of others,” said one source.

We have it that President Buhari is intent on ordering a full audit of deals and transactions done by the former Petroleum Minister and her cohorts in the various agencies that reported to her.

In addition, the new president is reportedly focused on looking further at the extensive embezzlement of security funds by appointees of the former president. Mr. Buhari has approved an investigation of how more than $3 billion in Nigeria’s defense budget was spent. Security agents who searched the homes of former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, reportedly carted away some revealing documents.

Earlier today, the Department of State Security (DSS) arrested and detained Gordon Obuah, a former Chief Security Officer to President Goodluck Jonathan. Mr. Obuah is reportedly being questioned over his alleged mastermind of a multi-million dollar oil bunkering deal during the former administration.

Buhari Intercepts 113 Vessels From Lifting Nigeria's Crude Oil

Anyaoku Begs Buhari Not To Probe Jonathan

Several sources in Abuja, including aides of President Buhari, has it that Ex President Jonathan’s dispatch of  Anyaoku as an emissary to his successor.

Jonathan moved quickly to send powerful intercessors to the Presidency after the Buhari administration began to question massive last-minute withdrawals and disappearance of more than $20 billion in government funds orchestrated by Ex President Jonathan as well as his closest ministers and aides.

Our source has it that Anyaoku’s desperate mission to President Buhari revealed that the former Commonwealth Secretary urged the new president to remember that  Jonathan voluntarily decided not to contest the results of the March 28, 2015 presidential election, won by Buhari, on the understanding that he and his administration would not be subjected to a probe.

We gathered that Mr. Anyaoku spent a little more than two hours in a close-door meeting yesterday where he sought to prevail on President Buhari to halt the ongoing probe of what happened to billions of public funds during the last few months of the Jonathan government.

Before imploring  Anyaoku to plead with President Buhari, Jonathan had also asked former military head of state, Abdulsalam Abubakar, to talk to PMB and suggest a suspension of all ongoing probes.
Buhari has put in place several investigative committees to probe the illicit withdrawal and disbursement of public funds by the Jonathan administration. The presidential committees are charged with advising the administration on strategies for retrieving any public assets stolen by officials and cohorts of the Jonathan Presidency.

One of the committees has already discovered that Mr. Jonathan and some members of his cabinet apparently colluded in the dying days of the previous government to loot billions of dollars. The funds were looted via the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Ministry of Finance, the Nigerian Maritime Authority, the Federal Capital Territory, and several other departments. A source within the investigative committee revealed that Mr. Jonathan and his closest aides and political appointees made illegal withdrawals of funds to finance his failed bid for re-election.

Former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has stated that former President Jonathan asked her to withdraw more than $1.2 billion from the excess crude account. Even though Mrs. Okonji-Iweala continues to maintain publicly that she did nothing wrong during her tenure, a source told SaharaReporters that the former minister, who coordinated economic affairs during the former president’s tenure, has been quietly cooperative with the Buhari administration. According to the source, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala has offered what amounts to a dossier of corrupt deals authorized by the former president.

In an attempt to curry favor with the new government, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala recently directed officials of her polling agency, NOI Polls, to give President Buhari a 70% approval rating among Nigerians. “The polling results were simply cooked up,” a professional pollster told SaharaReporters. Prior to the 2015 general elections, the former minister’s fake polling organization kept repeating that Mr. Jonathan approval rating was  up even as his political fortune plummeted.

SaharaReporters also learned that former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, is also actively cooperating with the Buhari administration. As earlier revealed by us, Mrs. Alison-Madueke had struck a deal with the new government to submit a document to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) exposing her collaborators at the NNPC. The former Petroleum minister, who was one of the closest cabinet members to Mr. Jonathan—and the mastermind of numerous money laundering deals on behalf of the former president—currently shuttles between the UK and Switzerland. A source close to Mrs. Alison-Madueke said the former minister was receiving treatment in the UK related to breast cancer.

After emerging from his marathon meeting with Mr. Buhari yesterday, Mr. Anyaoku claimed that he had visited to offer “advice” to the president regarding his forthcoming official trip to the US. Mr. Buhari is scheduled to start his US trip on Sunday.

A source at the Presidency told SaharaReporters that Mr. Anyaoku had misrepresented the purpose of his visit. “The elder statesman [Anyaoku] did not come to advise Mr. President about the trip to the US. The plans for the trip were already concluded a while ago, with all logistics and programming support,” the source added.

Former President Jonathan is currently in Abuja where he remains in constant touch with Abdulsalam Abubakar and other political players to prevail on President Buhari to halt the probe of his administration.

A source at the Presidency revealed that Buhari turned a deaf ear to Anyaoku. In the words of our source, the president told the former Commonwealth Secretary that the massive theft of funds by officials of the previous administration had robbed him of funds to start meeting his promises to the Nigerian people. “The president’s concern is for everybody who stole funds, including the former president, to disclose their willingness to return their loot to the Nigerian people”

Diezani Alison-Madueke has an habitual liking for adulterous affairs using the nation's wealth, a lawsuit claims.

Nigeria’s Ex Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke has no reputation to protect, as the married woman has an habitual liking for adulterous affairs, a lawsuit claims.

The suit, filed at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja by Moremi Publishing House Limited, publishers of Osun Defender, asserts that Alison-Madueke’s illicit affairs outside her marriage have been undertaken using the nation’s wealth upon which she sat as Minister of Petroleum.

The suit is a response to a libel suit filed by Alison-Madueke filed in june 2015

The defendants insist in their statement of defence that there is a treasure trove of documentation in the nation’s press as well as in various public investigations which include the reports of the audit firms KPMG and PriceWaterHouse Coopers on the Nigeria National Petroleum (NNPC), as well as that of the House of Representatives on the activities of Alison-Madueke.

Maintaining that they are “responsible corporate citizens of Nigeria with high ethical and professional standing” who would libel no one, the plaintiff inclusive, the defendants declared that they only publish “credible and verifiable” stories.

They cited a wide variety of published stories in different media outside of themselves which reflect a wide variety of corruption and collusion on the part of Alison-Madueke during her tenure as Minister.

Among others, the defendants asserted that under the Plaintiff’s watch as Minister for Petroleum Resources, 445,000 barrels of crude oil were stolen on a daily basis for about four years with no effort by Alison-Madueke to identify, initiate arrest or prosecute the criminals who were responsible for that huge theft and depletion of national wealth.

“The allegation of daily theft of crude oil was asserted by former President Goodluck Jonathan, Vice President Namadi Sambo and Minister for Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on several occasions and which facts were never contradicted nor debunked by the Plaintiff and which led to the award of bogus contracts of pipeline monitoring and protection to rag-tag security formations of ex-militants and ethnic militias by the government under which the Plaintiff served as Minister,” they said.

They also recalled the House of Representatives’ investigation of Alison-Madueke for squandering about N10 billion of tax payers’ money on charter and maintenance of a Challenger 850 aircraft for unofficial use as was widely reported in the mass media.

“The Defendants aver that, at the trial of this suit, they shall rely on opinions of average Nigerians about the Plaintiff to buttress the fact that the Plaintiff has no reputation to protect save in the coterie of her corrupt associates,” for which they underlined they will rely on various publications to prove their point.

Text of the statement of claim:

In the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory

In the Abuja Judicial Division

Holden at Abuja


                                                       Suit No: FCT/HC/CV/1712/2015

Between                       

Mrs. Diezani Alison Madueke                                         …Plaintiff


And


Moremi Publishing House Ltd.                                     …1st Defendant

Kola Olabisi                                                                …2nd Defendant


Statement of Defence


Save and except as is hereinafter expressly admitted, the Defendants deny each and every allegation of facts contained in the Statement of Claim as if same were herein set out and denied seriatim.

1.  The 1st Defendant admits paragraph 1 of the Statement of Claim to the extent that the Plaintiff was at the relevant time of filing this action the Minister for Petroleum Resources of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

2.  The Defendants admit paragraphs 2 and 3 of the Statement of Claim but deny that the said publications were defamatory of the Plaintiff contrary to the allegation in paragraph 4 of the Statement of Claim as the statements made in the publications are true.

3.  Contrary to paragraphs 9 and 10 of the Statement of Claim, the Defendants say that:

3.1.   no independent investigation has been conducted by anybody, whether the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria or PriceWaterhouseCoopers, that exonerated the Plaintiff contrary to the Plaintiff’s contention;

3.2.   rather, PriceWaterhouseCoopers (hereinafter referred to as PWC) in its audit report on the accounts of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), a corporation under the Ministry of Petroleum Resources presided over by the Plaintiff between April 2010 and May 2015, indicates that

a.  the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) refused to open their financial statement to PWC and hence the latter could not have access to NPDC’s full accounts and records;

b.  no supporting documents were provided by the NPDC for the $0.25 billion claimed by the NPDC as Nigerian Port Authority charges;

c.   a sum totaling $10,257,161.07 could not be substantiated due to insufficient documents which ought to be provided by the NPDC;

d.  a total of $59,324,737.01 ($59.3) Million on Charter Hire Services could not be substantiated due to lack of supporting documents which ought to be provided by the NPDC;

e.  out of the $17,767,683.54 claimed as payments for manning and management fee of MT Tuma and MT Oloibiri, the sum of $6,658,588.74 could not be ascertained due to lack of supporting documents which ought to be supplied by NPDC;

f.   the total claim of $5,457,006.98 out of the total claim $46,265,215.13 could not be substantiated due to lack of supporting documents. NNPC claimed the sum of $46,265,215.13 as crude transport payments during the review period, (which fell in between the Plaintiff’s service as Minister for Petroleum Resources) which was incurred on crude oil transportation from Escravos terminals to Warri refinery jetty using marine vessels;

g.  the sum of $6,707,826.05 could not be substantiated due to lack of supporting documents. This forms part of the expenses allegedly incurred on marine throughput by the NNPC under the management of the Plaintiff;

h.  on capital expenditure, the sum of $24,179,005.48 could not be substantiated due to insufficient supporting documents which were supposed to be provided by NPDC and NNPC under the Ministry of the Plaintiff;

i.   no amount whatsoever was substantiated for the total claim on Pipeline Vandalism and Repair Cost of $11,896,654.71 and on Management Charge out Rate claim of $59,712,530.83 as no supporting documents were provided for the costs;

j.   while there were documentary evidence that the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria had ordered that subsidy on DPK be stopped and the Executive Secretary PPPRA to the CBN Governor confirmed that PPPRA had ceased granting subsidy on Kerosene and no appropriation was made in the nation’s budget in 2012 and 2013, NNPC, under the Ministry of the Plaintiff claimed they spent $9.9 billion on kerosene without budgetary allocation;

k.  whereas the sale of kerosene has been deregulated and average common man takes no benefit of the subsidy payments, yet the Plaintiff supervised the payment of huge sums of money for payment of subsidy on a deregulated product for more than two years in her ministry, the amounts paid has never been recovered and the Plaintiff did not finger any recipient of the funds for prosecution by the relevant agencies;

l.    in January 2015, investigators discovered that the various NNPC (55%) portion of Oil leases (OMLs) involved in the Shell Divestments related to eight OMLs were transferred to NPDC for aggregate sum of US$1.85 billion. So far, only the sum of US$100 million had been remitted in relation to these assets and the sum of US$1.75 billion remains unremitted while the Plaintiff presides over the affairs of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources. In addition, the said assets were sold for less their commercial value;

m. the total amount remitted from the sale of domestic crude amounted to $14.5 billion which is just half the total amount of $28,215,731,691 claimed by NNPC to have accrued from the total revenue generated from domestic crude sales;

n.  rather than allowing the House of Representatives Committee to complete its investigation, the Plaintiff went to court and obtained an order preventing the Committee from proceeding on its investigation and the said suit is still pending till the time of filing this defence.

4.  The Defendants say that, further to and in clarification of paragraph 3 above, the NNPC is a wholly-owned outfit of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) which operates through its subsidiary, NPDC, in direct petroleum exploration and production operations and the affairs of all these bodies were superintended over by the Plaintiff as the Minister for Petroleum Resources. For paragraph 3 above, the Defendants shall rely on the PWC Audit Report as reported in an on-line tabloid, Nigeria News Headline Today on Tuesday, April 28, 2015 at http://www.newsheadlines.com.ng/latest- news/2015/04/28/highlights-pwc-audit-of-nnpc-accounts/ and accessed on 6/5/15 at 8:19 pm. Notice is hereby issued to the Plaintiff to produce the original of the report of PWC which is in her possession at the trial of this suit.

5.  A report in The Guardian online edition on May 14 2014 confirmed that “PWC audit report confirms that $18.5 bn was diverted from NNPC account”. The Defendants shall rely on this report accessed at http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/2015/05/pwc-audit-report-confirms-18-5bn-was-diverted-from-nnpc-account-says-sanusi on Friday 5 June 2015.

6.  The Defendants further aver that under the Plaintiff’s watch as Minister for Petroleum Resources, 445,000 barrels of crude oil were stolen on a daily basis for about four years without efforts by the Plaintiff to identify, initiate arrest or prosecute the criminals who were responsible for this huge theft and depletion of national wealth. The allegation of daily theft of crude oil was asserted by former President Goodluck Jonathan, Vice President Namadi Sambo and Minister for Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on several occasions and which facts were never contradicted nor debunked by the Plaintiff and which led to the award of bogus contracts of pipeline monitoring and protection to rag-tag security formations of ex-militants and ethnic militias by the government under which the Plaintiff served as Minister.

7.  The Defendants aver that, contrary to paragraphs 11 and 12 of the Statement of Claim, the statements contained in the said publications are true and the Plaintiff has no such reputation that can be damaged as the accounts of the Plaintiff’s stewardships in the Ministry of Transportation, Ministry of Mines and Steel Development and, later, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, are a catalogue of unscrupulous and indecent practices characterized by profligacy, self-aggrandisement, serial scandals and wanton embezzlement.

8.  The Defendants shall, in justification, rely on the House of Representatives’ investigation of the Plaintiff for squandering about 10 billion Naira of tax payers’ money on charter and maintenance of a Challenger 850 aircraft for unofficial use as reported by

i.         Newswatch Times of May 9, 2014 in a report titled “Reps Probe Diezani’s N10bn Aircraft, Jonathan Media Chat” at http://www.mynewswatchtimesng.com/reps-probe-diezanis-10bn-aircraft and accessed on 6/18/15 at 2:21 pm;

ii.       Premium Times report titled “House of Reps orders probe of Alison-Madueke for allegedly spending N10 billion on private jet” reported at http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/157135-house-reps-orders-probe-of-alison-madueke-for -allegedly-spending-n10billion-on-private-jet/ accessed on 6/18/15 at 2:26 pm;

iii.     Punch newspapers online report of March 27 2014 titled “Diezani’s jet scandal: Reps panel under pressure, uncovers third aircraft” reported at http://www.punchng.com/news/diezanis-jet-scandal-reps-panel-under-pressure-uncovers-third-aircraft/ accessed on 6/18/15 at 2:28 pm; and

iv.      Encomium Magazine online report titled “Inside Diezani Alison Madueke’s N5.1 billion Bombardier Challenger jet” reported at http://encomium.ng/inside-diezani-alison-maduekes-n5-1-billion-bombardier-challenger-jet/ accessed on 6/18/15 at 4:38 pm.

9.  The Defendants further aver that the Plaintiff has been a subject of several reports of shady deals and dirty transactions relating to sale of oil blocks belonging to the Federation. The Defendants shall rely on

a.        online reports of The Icon titled “Shady allocation of oil blocks: Alison-Madueke has a case to answer” reported at http://www/theiconng.com/shady-allocation-of-oil-blocks-alison-madueke-has-a-case-to-answer/ and accessed on 6/5/15 at 7:29 pm which transaction the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is still investigating as at present;

b.        Punch newspapers online report of 06 March 2015 titled “Petroleum minister summoned over sale of oil blocks” reported at http://www.news24.com.ng/National/News/Petroleum-minister-summoned-over-sale-of-oil-blocks-20150306.

10.     The Defendants further state that the Plaintiff, a married woman, is a personage of notorious reputation and penchant for illicit affairs which have been sustained by the nation’s oil wealth. The Defendants shall rely on the following publications to this effect:

a.        an online blog, called Amazing Stories Around the World, published on Sunday 8 December 2013 a report titled “Kola Aluko’s Romance with Diezani, Omokore Exposed” which detailed the lavish lifestyle of one Kola Aluko who, according to reports, abandoned the Plaintiff after a sizzling romantic relationship and opted for the British model, Naomi Campbell. The said report is on http://amazingstoriesaroundtheworld.blogspot.com/2013/12/kola-alukos-romance-with-diezani.html and accessed on 6/5/15 at 8:49 pm;

b.        a November 24, 2013 online report titled “The Dirty Secret Between Kola Aluko and Petroleum Minister, Allison Madueke Exposed” published by abusidiqu.com which details how the relationship between the Plaintiff and the said Kola Aluko went sour the latter having escaped with billions of dollars which were profits made from illegal oil deals involving the Plaintiff. The said story is on http://abusidiqu.com/dirty-secret-kola-aluko-petroleum-minister-allison-madueke-exposed/ accessed on June 6, 2015 at 12:28 pm;

c.         a Wednesday November 13, 2013 online report published by NewsRescue titled “Diezani’s Hustler, Kola Aluko, his Super Yatch, Naomi Campbell and His $Billions Wealth Status” which details the expansive wealth of the said Kola Aluko and how same was made from the relationship with the Plaintiff. The said report is at http://newsrescue.com/diezanis-hustler-kola-aluko-super-yatch-naomi-campbell-billions-wealth-status/ accessed on 6/5/15 at 8:51 pm;

d.        a report by Sahara Reporters on August 19, 2013 titled “Petroleum Minister, Diezani Allison-Madueke, Accused of Blowing N2 Billion on Private Jets” detailing how the Plaintiff had been wasting Nigeria’s resources in mind-boggling and satanic splendor published at http://saharareporters.com/2013/08/19/petroleum-minister-diezani-allison-madueke-accused-blowing-n2-billion-private-jets accessed on 6/5/15 at 7:17 pm;

e.        a May 26, 2015 online report published by The Icon titled “N1bn Libel Suit: Allison-Madueke and agents evading service” in which the Plaintiff was alleged to be evading service of court process in Suit No. CV/1679/15 at the FCT High Court for libel and unauthorized use of the name of one Simon Imobo-Tswan and his platform, Network of Progressive Activists as well as his GSM number to launder the Plaintiff’s image in the media via news-stories and advertorial which report was accessed at http://www.theiconng.com/n1bn-libel-suit-alison-madueke-and-agents-evading-service/.

11.     The Defendants aver that, at the trial of this suit, they shall rely on opinions of average Nigerians about the Plaintiff to buttress the fact that the Plaintiff has no reputation to protect save in the coterie of her corrupt associates and shall rely on the following publications:

a.        an article published online by Sahara Reporters on April 19, 2015 titled “Ten Reasons Why Diezani Alison-Madueke Must Go To Prison” by Churchill Okonkwo and accessed at http://secure.saharareporters.com/2015/04/19/ten-reasons-why-diezani-alison-madueke-must-go-prison-churchill-okonkwo on 6/5/15 at 7:59 pm;

b.        an article published online by Premium Times on April 28, 2015 titled “Why the Federal Government Should Prosecute Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke” by Femi Akinfolarin and accessed at http://blogs.premiumtimesng.com on 6/5/15 at 7:55 pm;

c.        the publication by Sahara Reporters of January 27, 2014 titled “Anti-Corruption Coalition Wants Nigeria’s Petroleum Minister, Alison-Madueke, Removed As Alternate President of OPEC”, a report of a petition by Civil Society Network Against Corruption which detailed a number of corrupt practices of the Plaintiff as the Minister for Transportation, Minister of Mines and Steel Development, and later, Minister for  Petroleum Resources, all between 2007 - 2015. The said publication is on http://saharareporters.com/2014/01/27/anti-corruption-coalition-wants-nigeria%E2%80%99s-petroleum-minister-alison-madueke-removed and accessed on 6/24/15 at 11.43 am;

d.        the KPMG report on the sleaze that characterized the Plaintiff’s stewardship in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources which report described NNPC as a “House of Fraud” but was brought to public attention by Premium Times of February 1, 2012 in a write-up titled “KPMG report: 20 Nigerians EFCC should interrogate” - accessed at http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/3636-kpmg-report-20-nigeriana-efcc-should-interrogate.html on 6/24/15 at 11:58 am. The Plaintiff is hereby given notice to produce the report of KPMG which was submitted to her but was covered up for a long time until unearthed by Premium Times;

e.        the editorial opinion of Punch Newspapers published online on April 1, 2014 titled “Mr President, Alison-Madueke’s cup is full” at http://www.punchng.com/editorials/mr-president-alison-madueke’s-cup-is-full and accessed on 6/24/15 at 12:54 pm.

12.     The Defendants maintain that they are responsible corporate citizens of Nigeria with high ethical and professional standing and shall not libel anybody, the Plaintiff inclusive, but only publish real, credible and verifiable stories.

13.     The Defendants shall rely on the defence of justification in this case as the Plaintiff has no reputation to protect.

14.     The Defendants shall also rely on the defence of qualified privilege at the trial of this suit as it is part of their duties to inform the public.

15.     Whereof the Defendants pray for the dismissal of the Claimant’s action with punitive and substantial costs as the said action is frivolous, vexatious and completely lacking in merit.


Dated this                 day of June, 2015                        

                                                                               __________________

ü R. A. O. Adegoke,

Dare Oketade,                                                 

 M. A. Banire & Associates,

 Defendants’ Counsel,

c/o Olujinmi & Akeredolu & Co.,

5th Floor, NICON Plaza,

Muhammadu Buhari Way,

Central Area, Abuja.

+234-802-449-6925

info@mabandassociates.com

For Service On:

The Plaintiff,

c/o her counsel,

Dr. Chike Amobi,

Chike Amobi & Co.,

Ambassador Albert I Osakwe House,

1473, Inner Block Road, Suit 203,

Central Business District,

Abuja.

Lamido And Sons Granted Bail

Embattled ex-Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido and his two sons have been granted bail amounting to N75 million by the Federal High Court in Abuja. Justice Gabriel Kolawole gave the ruling today amid tight security at the court premises to forestall a breakdown of law and order.

The trio are facing a 28-count charge filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegations of mismanagement of over N1.3 billion in public funds

President Buhari Sacks National Security Adviser Sambo Dasuki, Announces New Military Chiefs

We learnt that the National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, has been sacked effective immediately. This news comes amidst a major shake up in the security and military hierarchy in Nigeria. These are also the most high profile appointments in Buhari’s presidential administration.

The appointees include Major-General Abayomi Gabriel Olonishakin as the new Chief of Defense Staff, Major-General T.Y. Buratai as the new Chief of Army Staff, and Major-General Babagana Monguno as the new National Security Adviser.

Read full press release below:


STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE

PRESIDENT BUHARI APPOINTS NEW SERVICE CHIEFS AND NSA

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the following appointments:

1. Major-General Abayomi Gabriel Olonishakin - Chief of Defence Staff;

2. Major-General T.Y. Buratai - Chief of Army Staff

3. Rear Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas - Chief of Naval Staff

4. Air Vice Marshal Sadique Abubakar - Chief of Air Staff

5. Air Vice Marshal Monday Riku  Morgan - Chief of Defence Intelligence

6. Major-General Babagana Monguno (rtd.) - National Security Adviser

The new Chief of Defence Staff, Maj.-Gen. Olonishakin (N/6901) hails from Ekiti State. Until his appointment as Chief of Defence Staff today, he was the Head of the Nigerian Army Training and Doctrine Command in Minna, Niger State.

The new Chief of Army Staff, Maj.-Gen. Buratai hails from Borno State. Until his new appointment today, he was the Commander of the Multinational Joint Task Force which has its headquarters in Ndjamena. Maj-Gen. Buratai has previously served as Commander of the Nigerian Army's 2nd Brigade in Port Harcourt and Commander of the Nigerian Army School of Infantry in Jaji, Kaduna State.

The new Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Ibas (NN/0746) hails from Cross River State. He enlisted into the Nigerian Defence Academy as a member of the 26th Regular Course in 1979 and was commissioned as a Sub-Lieutenant in 1983. His previous appointments include: Naval Provost Marshal, Chief Staff Officer, Naval Training Command, Chief of Administration, Naval Headquarters, Flag Officer Commanding Western Naval Command and Chief of Logistics, Naval Headquarters. Until his appointment as Chief of Naval Staff, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Navy Holdings Limited.

The new Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Abubakar (NAF/1433) hails from Bauchi State. His previous appointments include: Chief of Standards and Evaluation, NAF Headquarters; Chief of Defence Communications and Air Officer Commanding, NAF Training Command. Until his new appointment today as Chief of Air Staff, he was the Chief of Administration, NAF Headquarters.

The new Service Chiefs will hold their appointments in an acting capacity until confirmed by the Senate.

President Buhari thanks the outgoing Service Chiefs and National Security Adviser for their services to the nation and wishes them well in their future endeavours.


Femi Adesina

Special Adviser to the President

(Media & Publicity)

Amaechi, Pastor Bakare, And Farouk Adamu On Buhari’s 18-Man Delegation To The US, Governors From Edo, Imo, Oyo Accompanying Delegation

The three-day visit is expected to discuss ways of partnering with Nigeria to defeat Boko Haram and explore ways of combating corruption in Nigeria. President Buhari will meet with President Obama on July 20th in the White House.

Five State Governors including those of Oyo State, Imo State, Edo State and two others will accompany President Muhammadu Buhari to the United States when he meets President Barack Obama in Washington, DC on July 19th, 2015.

The five Governors are separate from an 18-man delegation made up of top aides and political associates of the President. The former Governor of Rivers State Rotimi Amaechi, the former Vice Presidential candidate to Buhari Tunde Bakare, and former member of the House of Representatives Farouk Adamu will be on the Presidential delegation.

In addition to these delegates, President Buhari will bring along top civil servants, representatives from the Office of the National Security Adviser, and representatives from economic policy and foreign affairs think tanks.

The three-day visit is expected to discuss ways of partnering with Nigeria to defeat Boko Haram and explore ways of combating corruption in Nigeria. President Buhari will meet with President Obama on July 20th in the White House.

Buhari Refuses To Meet With Saraki

President Muhammadu Buhari has resisted fresh moves by the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, to formally meet with him, SUNDAY PUNCH has learnt.

An official in the Presidency who confided in one of our correspondents on Saturday said the President and the Senate President had only met once since the latter’s emergence as the leader of the senate.

The official said all efforts by Saraki to have another meeting with the president, after the party’s National Executive Council meeting penultimate Friday, were rebuffed by Buhari.

The reliable source said the president of the Senate had at different times reached out to people to help him persuade Buhari to grant him audience.

Saraki had defied the All Progressives Congress to contest for the position of the senate president on June and emerged victorious after a controversial election that excluded a sizeable number of senators. The APC had endorsed

Senator Ahmed Lawan as its candidate for the senate presidency.

The government official who spoke to SUNDAY PUNCH said, “The truth is that the President is still displeased with what transpired in the National Assembly, especially the Senate.

“Their encounter during the APC National Executive Council meeting, when they shook hands, was the first meeting between President Buhari and Saraki since he emerged as the President of the Senate.

“We are aware that Saraki has been going about begging people to assist him to plead with the President to meet with him. That was one of the reasons why he visited former President Obasanjo.

“I can tell you that the President is very pained by what happened. He felt that since he had been transparent with the party, everybody should play that way. But since Saraki took that path, the President was and he is still pained.

Let us just hope that at the end of it all, they will be able to put the matter behind them.”

Also speaking to SUNDAY PUNCH, a highly placed party official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, told one of our correspondents that the handshake between the President and Saraki during the recent NEC meeting of the APC “was for journalists.”

He stated, “President Buhari is still upset because of what happened. If you read in-between the line his speech during our last NEC meeting, he reminded people who joined the party after it was formed not to rubbish the sacrifices made by party leaders.

“It was not for the fun of it that the President took time to go down the memory lane to trace the genesis of the APC.

“Although the President said he was prepared to work with anybody who emerged as leader in the National Assembly, he did not envisage a scenario where Saraki would emerge as the Senate President and Ike Ekweremadu, a member of the PDP, would emerge as the deputy president of the Senate.”

Asked whether or not the President might change his mind anytime soon, the source said, “Not until the governors, who were mandated by the NEC to resolve the matter in the National Assembly, bring the matter under control.”

When contacted, the Special Adviser to the Senate President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Yusuph Olaniyonu, said there was no cause for alarm. During a telephone interview on Saturday, Olaniyonu said Buhari had repeatedly told

Nigerians that he believed in the independence of the parliament.

He explained that Buhari had had cause to formally communicate with on “state issues” and that they exchanged warm pleasantries at the APC NEC meeting held in Abuja.

He said, “The president of a nation can have private discussions with the Senate President or the Speaker of the House of Representatives anytime he likes.

“At the moment, President Buhari, probably wants the issue around the National Assembly leadership positions formally resolved before calling for such meetings. He has said that he would not involve himself in the affairs of the legislature and we should respect his views.”

Olaniyonu explained that Saraki and Buhari had been having regular official communication and that such would continue because the Senate would have to approve all appointments made by the President.

Asked why the President had met with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, without meeting with Saraki up till now, Olaniyonu answered that he was not aware of the Buhari-Dogara meeting.

He said, “I am not aware of that meeting you talked about. If the meeting had held, the picture taken afterwards would have been published in the dailies. To the best of my knowledge, I don’t think there was anything like that. “

Also, the spokesperson for the pro-Saraki Senators of Like Minds, Dino Melaye, told one of our correspondents on Saturday that Saraki and Buhari met and had fruitful deliberation at the NEC meeting of the APC.

“The President and the Senate President met at the NEC meeting. We are all awaiting the outcome of the peace moves initiated at the meeting. For now, there is no cause for concern,” he said.

When contacted, the Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina declined comments.

House Speaker Dogara Flies In Luxury Jet Estimated To Cost N66.8 million To Quote Scripture

Yakubu Dogara, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, flew a private jet to Delta State for a weekend trip to commission a “King Jesus and I Ministry’s Covenant Alter of Testimony.” The private jet is estimated to cost about 1,392,650 Naira ($7K) per hour, which means Speaker Dogara’s estimated two-day trip cost about N66.8 million ($336,000).

Speaker Dogara told the media that he paid for the trip himself and did not use public money to fund his personal getaway.

Speaker Dogara, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), just began his term in the National Assembly on a campaign, which promised to fight corruption and waste in government. He was recently elected as Speaker of the House in the midst of infighting between APC factions in the National Assembly.

The Speaker did not explain how he could afford to pay his own weekend trip in a luxury jet, when he has been a National Assembly representative since 2007.

His N66.8 million trip culminated with a speech at the Ubuli-uku-based ministry that upon all politicians in Nigeria to end the political fighting and to “allow popular will to prevail” across the country. He said that he did not want to travel to Delta State but was "directed by God" to come and speak to the church members.

Money Laundering: Ex-Gov Ohakim, Gets N270m Bail

Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Thursday, July 9, 2015 admitted former governor of Imo State, Ikedi Ohakim, to bail.

Ohakim was arraigned on Wednesday, July 8, 2015 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on a three-count charge bordering on money laundering.

Moving the bail application yesterday, Ohakim’s counsel, Chris Uche, SAN, prayed the court to admit his client to bail on liberal terms, adding that the charges are bailable.

However, prosecuting counsel, Festus Keyamo, urged the court to refuse the application.

After listening to both counsels, Justice Adeniyi admitted the accused person to bail in the sum of N270m (Two Hundred and Seventy Million Naira) with one surety who must be resident in Abuja. The surety, who must have landed property within Abuja, must swear to an affidavit of means. The surety is also to deposit his/her international passport with the Deputy Registrar of the court.

The case has been adjourned to October 20, 2015.

It will be recalled that Ohakim was arrested by operatives of the EFCC on Tuesday, July 7, 2015.

The former governor is being prosecuted, among other things, for making a cash payment to the tune of $2, 290,000.00(Two Million, Two Hundred and Ninety Thousand Dollars), for the purchase of a piece of land at Plot No. 1098 Cadastral Zone A04, Asokoro District, otherwise known as No.60, Kwame Nkurumah Street, Asokoro, Abuja.

Wilson Uwujaren
Head, Media & Publicity
9th July, 2015

Bayelsa Governor Hires World’s Most Ruthless Hackers For N100M To Hack Computers, Phones In Nigeria

The Bayelsa state government paid close to one hundred million naira to an Italian firm, Hacking Team, to hack computers and phones in Nigeria, new information emerging from the firm’s leaked internal data has shown.

Hacking Team, notorious for equipping governments with tools to hack citizens’ computers and phones, was itself hacked Sunday night and 415 gigabyte of internal data leaked to the public.

Researchers have been pouring through the leaked documents since it was first leaked Sunday night, throwing up many shocking details of the firm’s secret dealings with Bayelsa state and other repressive governments, including Sudan, Russia, and Bahrain.

Documents seen by PREMIUM TIMES show that the Bayelsa government, a small state in Nigeria’s oil rich Niger Delta, paid Hacking Team N98 million to carry out internet attacks, in what appears to be the most ambitious hacking project by a Nigerian state government.

The contract was signed in late 2013, Hacking Team’s internal documents, leaked after the Sunday night hack attack on the company, show.

Details of the extent of the attacks Hacking Team carried out on behalf of the state is not clear at the moment.

The contract with the Bayelsa government is classed “intelligence ” – the same class with contracts the firm unlawfully held with Russia and Sudan.

The cost of Bayelsa government’s contract with the firm is equivalent to what the Russian government recently paid the firm for maintenance of its Remote Control System. And worth more than what Turkey, Columbia and Bahrain paid to the firm.

Hacking Team, now learning how it feels to have one’s privacy breached, is notorious for developing intrusive softwares for state clients who use them to hack citizen’s computers and smartphones. Hacking Team’s twitter account was hacked and used to announce the hack.

The firm claims its intrusion softwares – Remote Control Systems – are the most invasive and ruthless, with ability to compromise most operating systems, except iOS – but including jail-broken iOS.

In one video commercial, it boasted that its software could hack offline and encrypted computers and smartphones, even if the target was outside the government’s “monitoring domain”.

Hacking Team’s Remote Control Systems are more dangerous and intrusive than the WISE technology the Nigerian government bought from Israeli company, Elbit in 2013.

While WISE depended on transmitted data such as voice calls, social media postings, and number plates, Hacking Team specialized in software that had full capabilities to hack, compromise your gadget and silently steal stored data like SMS, Whatsapp messages, call records, and photos.

Galileo, one of the company’s most evil softwares, is also able to secretly take snapshots and record conversations of its victims.

Hacking Team is loathed by digital activists and freedom of expression advocates all over the world for helping oppressive regimes abuses citizens’ right to privacy and freedom of speech.

Reporters Without Borders listed the firm on its Enemies of the Internet index due to its primary surveillance tool, Da Vinci.

Few weeks ago, co-founder David Vincenzetti joked in emails about how bad a leak would be for Hacking Team. In one of the leaked internal emails, he described the firm’s product as the “evilest” technology ever developed on earth.

The hacking software is originally designed as a country-wide attack tool.

The intentions of the Bayelsa state government in purchasing the software is unclear at this time.

As at the time the Bayelsa state government acquired the software, the state was not known to be under any external cyber aggression.

But it’s governor, Seriake Dickson, was persecuting a citizen over critical Facebook comments.

It was also in the run-up to the 2015 general elections.

During the same period, PREMIUM TIMES and few other Nigerian news organisations believed to be critical of the former regime, led by Goodluck Jonathan, suffered several cyber attacks.

Mr. Jonathan is from Bayelsa state and enjoyed absolute loyalty from Mr. Dickson at the time.

Hacking Team did not sell its software directly to the Bayelsa state government. The transaction was channeled through an Israeli company, NICE, and then V&V Nigeria.

V&V, also Israeli-owned, is known to have close relationship with former Bayelsa state governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha.

V&V is responsible for the supply of many government hacking tools in Nigeria. PREMIUM TIMES had earlier this year exclusively reported how V&V won a N6 billion contract, back in 2010, for a N6 billion strategic GSM Tracking System for the Nigeria Police Force and expansion/upgrade of the existing system with Nigeria’s secret police, the State Security Service.

The Bayelsa Governor could initially not be reached to comment for this story.

His spokesperson, Daniel Iworiso-Markson did not answer or return calls seeking comment. He also did not respond to a text message sent to him. And so also was Dan Kikile, the state commissioner for information.

However, about an hour after this report was published, Mr. Iworiso-Markson said the allegation against his principal was “absolutely untrue”.

“That is part of a series of propaganda from those who are unable to contest ideas of development with the governor,” he said.

Ex-Jigawa Governor Lamido And Sons Remanded In Kano Prison Over N1.3 Billion Public Funds

The powerful former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, and two of his sons are to remain in prison until at least September 28 for allegations of mismanagement of over N1.3 billion in State funds. The three men are standing trial at the Federal High Court in Kano for a 28-count charge filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The former governor is alleged to have awarded contracts valued at N1.3 billion to some companies owned by his children. The EFCC also seeks to charge him and his sons with money-laundering and abuse of office.

Lamido’s eldest son, Aminu, was arrested at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport for under-declaration and was subsequently convicted for a similar offense (money laundering).

The presiding judge, Justice Evelyn Anyadime, adjourned the case to September 28, when hearing on the substantive suit will begin.

The accused were taken to the Kano prison in a Toyota bus belonging to the Nigeria Prison Service, guarded by tight security.

Outside the court premises, hundreds of protesting youths chanted songs in solidarity with the former governor.  Some of them carried placards with inscriptions in his support.

One of the placards read, "It's political motivated. We stand with you. God will see you through."

The court appearance also attracted top members of the Peoples Democratic Party from Kano and Jigawa.

How Senate President Saraki Used Credit Card To Launder Funds Stolen From Banks And Kwara State -Police Investigators

The police investigation has it that Mr. Saraki, during his tenure as Governor of Kwara State, was the prime promoter of several shell companies, including Skyview Properties Ltd., Limkers Ltd., Dicetrade Ltd., Carlisle Properties and Investment Ltd., and the parent company known as Joy Petroleum.

Senator Saraki’s moneymaking scheme, according to the details of the Special Fraud Unit’s investigation, was to withdraw millions of naira disguised as loans from GTBank, Intercontinental Bank, Zenith Bank Plc. The funds were then moved into different accounts, sometimes under the guise that the purpose was to pay off some bank debts with other “loans.”

A part of the investigation discovered that Senator Saraki at various times withdrew 11 billion naira from the Intercontinental Bank, 160 million naira from Zenith Bank, and 204 million naira from GTBank. According to the report, “the investigation also saw evidence of a 200 million naira loan facility that was availed by Zenith Bank to Joy Petroleum Ltd.”

During an interrogation, Mr. Saraki admitted to owning all these companies with the exception of Joy Petroleum. The owner of Joy Petroleum, the senator claimed, was his former personal assistant, Mathew Obahor. He also added that Mr. Obahor administered the other companies throughout his tenure as Governor of Kwara State.

However, the investigators believed that Mr. Saraki lied to them about Obahor’s role. They found out that Mr. Obahor was “sick and in a vegetative state and could not have instructed the bank” to make financial transactions in the name of Joy Petroleum or any of other companies.

As the special investigators reviewed Bukola Saraki’s statements they found that Zenith Bank issued a loan in Saraki’s name on November 25, 2009 for N160 million.

When pressured, the bank provided two incriminating documents including “(1) an internal [bank] ledger statement of account in the name of Dr. Bukola Saraki showing a debit withdrawal of 160 million on 26/11/2009 and a credit deposit of 11,901369.98 on 26/05/2010. (2) A page of the bank’s Manager’s Cheque register showing that a draft of 160 million naira in favor of Joy Petroleum Ltd was signed for by one Uche Phillips.”

The investigation noted, “Bukola Saraki, who was purportedly granted a N160 million loan with which a draft of N160 million was made in the name of Joy Petroleum Ltd, was not a customer of Zenith Bank. He neither maintains a current nor saving account with the Zenith Bank that claimed to have granted him the loan.”

The report also added that Bukola Saraki did not apply for that loan with a “formal request as is best practice.”

The police also concluded that the “purported loan has remained unpaid and un-serviced and there is no evidence that the bank has made any demand on Dr. Bukola Saraki to repay the purported loan.”

The Special Fraud Unit extended its investigation into companies belonging to Bukola Saraki, and discovered “evidence indicative of money laundering.” The investigation found that “a series of cash lodgments were found in accounts of the companies solely belonging to Dr. Bukola Saraki within the period he was the Executive Governor of Kwara State. The investigation observes that the monies were deposited in cash by personal aides of Dr. Bukola Saraki, especially one Abdul Adama.”

The investigators found that the total sum of money laundered by Mr. Saraki was more than two billion naira. They also remarked numerous sneaky tactics that Saraki’s aides used to make secret deposits of laundered funds. According to investigators, Abdul Adama “was responsible for making the cash deposits using several fictitious names and GSM numbers of several unsuspecting members of the public.” The police used the identical handwriting on the deposit slips to trace the deposits to Mr. Adama.

The investigators also discovered that Bukola Saraki’s wife, Toyin Saraki, was listed as the second Director and shareholder of Skyview Properties Ltd, but she was unable to explain how the company generated revenue or the source of cash deposits.

The police investigators also found, according to the report, that “a series of cash lodgments was found in the personal accounts of Dr. Bukola Saraki during the period he was Executive Governor of Kwara State.” Moreover, the report concluded that the “pattern and frequencies of cash deposits into these personal accounts of Dr. Bukola Saraki, are indicative of money laundering.”

The police report also asserted: “the [stolen] funds were mostly washed overseas to fund Dr. Bukola Saraki’s American Express Card No. 374588216836009.” The investigators concluded that Mr. Saraki’s personal account “also received an inflow of about $4,560,871.27 between May 18th 2009 and May 5th 2011, mostly cash lodgments and a couple NIFT Transfers.”

The Special Fraud Unit recommended that Bukola Saraki be prosecuted for offenses related to money laundering, violation of foreign exchange laws, and breaches of the Failed Banks (Recovery of Debts) and Financial Malpractices in Banks Act.

The police investigators accused Mr. Saraki of using proceeds of corruption to purchase properties abroad. In particular, the report revealed that Senator Saraki bought several houses in the UK both in his name as well as that of his wife.

One of our sources in the Ministry of Justice stated that Nigeria’s immediate past Attorney General, Bello Adoke, obstructed the prosecution of the current Senate President. “Both the police investigators and some lawyers in the Ministry [of Justice] recommended that Governor Bukola Saraki should face prosecution. However, the AGF Adoke refused to give permission to prosecute Saraki based on the weighty evidence provided by the Special Fraud Unit,” a source in the ministry told our correspondent.

Instead of proceeding with the prosecution of Mr. Saraki, the Ministry of Justice instructed the Special Fraud Unit to focus more of their attention on the role of Zenith Bank in the shady financial transactions.

Mr. Adoke’s tenure as AGF saw the weakening of the ministry’s prosecution of political powerful as well as high-level corporate elements in Nigeria. Mr. Saraki was one of the notable beneficiaries of the Adoke era of “looking the other way instead of tackling massive cases of graft and money laundering,” said one source.