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Tag: AGF

  • NDDC yet to respond to N183.7bn indictment, says AGF

    Weeks after the Auditor General of the Federation indicted the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) of not accounting for N183.7 billion, the commission is yet to respond to the indictment.

    A statement released Tuesday by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation and signed by Ogunmosunle, O.A. for the auditor general stated that “at the time of this Press Release, the NDDC is yet to respond to the Special Periodic Checks.”

    The statement noted that “it took NDDC, 16 months to grant the Office permission to commence the periodic checks beginning from 9thDecember, 2011 to 6th May, 2013. Similarly, it took another 16 months and several reminders to the NDDC with effect from the 24th of April, 2014 to 12th August, 2015 before the final report was submitted to the National Assembly.”

    The Auditor General decried media reports alleged to be engineered by the NDDC “denying and casting aspersions on the Special Periodic Checks recently submitted to the National Assembly.”

    The Office of the Auditor General said it stands by its report and its contents despite “the negative sentiments occasioned by the NDDC’s condemnation of the Special Periodic Checks in various media calculated to demean the efficacy of the Constitutional mandate carried out by the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation.”

    The statement maintained that “the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation has a constitutional mandate to submit its Reports to the National Assembly and in doing so, due process are usually followed.”

    The NDDC was reminded that if it “is not satisfied with the contents of the Special Report it has the opportunity to defend itself before the Public Accounts Committees (PACs) of the National Assembly.”

  • Treasury Single Account not punitive, says AGF

    Treasury Single Account not punitive, says AGF

    The Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Alhaji Ahmed Idris, has said the introduction of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) is not a punitive measure targeted at any government establishment.

    Idris made this clarification in Abuja while receiving members of the Committee of Vice Chancellors of Federal Universities who were at the Treasury House to discuss the operations of the universities.

    He said: “The introduction of the TSA is not a punitive measure targeted at any government establishment or an attempt to jeopardise the peace and stability of the university system, but part of the reforms being introduced by this administration to institutionalise a more effective and transparent management of public finances in the country.”

    He maintained that the TSA is aimed at creating a single pool where all government’s receipts are kept in one account, thus making it possible at a glance to know the state of all the accounts.

    In order to ensure smooth implementation of the TSA, Alhaji Idris said the Office of the Accountant General (OAGF) has set up a special committee to be headed by a director, to address all issues or enquires from the affected ministries, department and afencies (MDAs) and make sure the operations of specialised agencies such as  the universities are not hampered by the project.    He reassured the visitors that the OAGF will collaborate with the universities to ensure that all matters raised are addressed to ensure that the universities are more efficient and transparently managed.

    The AGF allayed fears being expressed by some MDAs that the directive of President Muhammed Buhari on TSA for the e-collection of government receipts will negatively affect the operations of some specialised agencies. He said: “It will rather improve their efficiency and increase the rating of the nation’s economy.”

    Earlier, the leader of the delegation and Secretary of the Committee of Vice chancellors, Prof Michael Faborode, told the AGF that the universities by their operations and services rendered, are peculiar establishments which should not regarded as purely public service or categorised as revenue generating agencies. He therefore  called for a review of the inclusion of the universities in the TSA circular.

    He expressed fears that the implementation of the TSA in the university system may distort effective functioning of the university system, since according to him, their allocations are hardly enough to cater for their basic needs.

  • Caging impunity

    • We await with baited breath the audit reports of all MDAs

    The Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (AGF) is the institutional fulcrum against graft and official corruption. Where this office is properly established and functional, corruption in public offices is often a rarity. This is why any attempt to curb fiscal indiscipline and financial recklessness often starts at the office of the AGF.

    This office tracks all financial transactions in all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) by releasing annual audit reports. It issues queries to individuals and units found to be remiss in handling finances. The report is statutorily presented to the Senate annually and also placed in the public arena.

    By the very act of this report from the office of the AGF, accountability and transparency in government’s finances are ensured. This way, too, individuals and civil society groups would be able to track government expenditures both generally and as it concerns them.

    The last time a proper report was presented to the Senate was in 2004 when the then AGF, Mr. Vincent Azia, released the report for 2002. The report which was in itself a novelty as there was hardly any notable one before then, caused so much uproar in the polity. The report was a showcase of financial malfeasance and recklessness in the extreme. Hardly any MDA was clean, even the Presidency and National Assembly (NASS) were not only held up for finagling over finances, they had many unanswered queries.

    Not many other serious audit reports had been released since then. It seemed quite convenient both for the Senate and the Presidency not to care about the AGF’s reports. In fact, all through the era of President Goodluck Jonathan the only reports that emanated from the office of the AGF were about the poor funding of this critical office.

    It is based on the foregoing that we applaud the recent directive by President Mohammadu Buhari that all outstanding audit queries must be resolved within 30 day. Miffed by the wretched state of the AGF’s office currently, President Buhari during a meeting with the AGF called for an immediate return to the standard operating procedures and financial regulations in the service.

    In addition, the president ordered that going forward, audit queries must be answered within 24 hours. “The era of impunity is gone,” said the president. As stated by his media aide, “President Buhari will ensure that public officials and civil servants in the service of the Federal Government pay heavy price from now on for violating financial regulations and disregarding audit queries.”

    The real issues here are impunity and a complete disregard for laid-down rules and procedures governing public service. Just as is the case with tracking expenditures, so it is with monitoring remittances from MDAs to the federal treasury. Impunity reigns supreme in this area too, for instance, it was reported last week that the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) found that the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) company failed to remit about $11.6 billion (N2.32 trillion) between 2009 and 2012.

    Particularly notable is the frustration of the NEITI chief, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed who lamented that issues thrown up in her agency’s audit reports had remained unimplemented, describing the situation as “an unfortunate recurring decimal.”

    All these indeed paint a picture of a state mired in fiscal anomie. Revenues both at the state and federal levels are not tracked while expenditures have no proper accounts. The individuals and bodies concerned ignore audit queries when they manage to come and nobody seemed to care. There is no better way to gauge a collapsed polity than by the way finances are managed.

    While we salute President Buhari for identifying one of the main sources of graft in the system, we urge him to go beyond the periphery. The rot is very deep so he must make fundamental changes to the system.

    The office of the AGF is a key institution of state; it requires a complete overhaul and retooling to enable it carry out its crucial assignment. There is also a need to set up a body to track the revenues of MDAs and ensure that they are duly remitted to the treasury.

    We must cage impunity now.

  • ‘Southsouth should produce next AGF’

    ‘Southsouth should produce next AGF’

    Emeh, a lawyer, is former Rivers State Commissioner for Transport and Chief of Staff. He spoke with reporters about the succession crisis in the Southsouth State and other partisan issues.

    There is the clamour for the Southsouth zone to produce the next Secretary to the Government of the Federation. What is your take on this?

    I have always advocated that one of the best things you can find in life that will not bring trouble in any society is equity. When you apply it, whatever decision you are making from the point of equity, fairness, fair play will work out fine. The southsouth region has always looked forward to when the Nigerian nation will begin to appreciate that the region is a very important component of the country. Every region is as important as the other, but it will not be out of place to say that the South-South region can be adequately described without mincing words, as the most important region in the country, being the region that produces the wealth which other regions are feeding on at the moment.

    So, we deserve a special treatment. Even when our young men went ahead to demand this special treatment, though in their own form through what they called militancy, most people did not understand that they were doing so, as a way of driving home their point, that the region deserves special attention.

    In the present dispensation, I have no difficulty in believing that President Buhari will pay special attention to the region and more importantly, the fact that every region has picked one important position or the other except the South-South region, we are very expectant.

    What it means is that the only next important position left untouched at the moment is the office of Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF). I don’t need a soothsayer to tell me that the decision is deliberate, it is designed and set aside for the people of south-south since other regions have been settled. We believe that the next SGF should come from the south-south region, and we don’t need much debate on it.

    Both the APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, and former Governor of Rivers State, Chief Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, are jostling for the position. What is your expectation of them?

    It is quite interesting to note that the two of such persons are being considered. I have read about this in the national dailies, and I am also aware that Chief Oyegun has opted out of the race, what it means therefore is that Rt. Hon. Amaechi is a candidate that has no competitor anymore. So far there is no other name that we know to have shown interest, or been penciled down to occupy that position.

    I would have said that both ex-Governors have  sufficient pedigree for the position, but now that Chief Oyegun has opted out, let us concentrate on the fact that Amaechi having been a two- term Speaker in a complex state as Rivers, and thereafter Governor for eight years, also in such a peculiar state as ours, we have no doubt that he has acquired sufficient knowledge, sufficient experience and sufficient information and therefore adequately ready to occupy and perform any administrative function of any type, irrespective of what name that office or position is called.

    I don’t see a person who has managed a place like Rivers State as a governor for eight years and would not be able to creditably perform in the position of Secretary to the Government of the Federation, which is just a component of government. I believe that, if it is the wish of the Federal Government to narrow the appointment of the SGF, to the South-South which in any case  deserves  the position and Amaechi is from the South-South, there should be no difficulty in situating him to the office, if that is what the president would wish to do. In any case every person in APC appreciate the enormous contribution of  Amaechi in the formation and nurturing of APC culminating in managing the party’s presidential campaign directing the election that threw up General Mohammadu Buhari as the winner.

    Both as South-Southerner and as a person, I think, it is like the proverb which says that, “you put a palm fruit into drum of palm oil”. I have no difficulty to believe that in view of Amaechi’s experience, just like any other person who has had high level of experience shouldn’t have difficulty in performing very well in the office of Secretary to the Government of the Federation SGF.

    What do you think the South-South region really needs from this new political dispensation?

    We have discussed a little bit in that regard, but for the sake of emphasis. If you build a house, chances are that you would not want to be kept at the corridors of the house. You will need a room. You cannot finish building a house, and you give the room and parlour to the visitor, and remain at the balcony of the house. The Southsouth, being the producers of the wealth of this country, deserve to be taken of by the government at the centre and I know President Buhari is disposed to carrying us along.

  • AGF backs out of negotiation on $3.2b judgments against Fed Govt

    AGF backs out of negotiation on $3.2b judgments against Fed Govt

    THE Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Ahmed Idris, has backed out of the planned settlement talks with beneficiaries of two judgments worth $3,188,079,505.96 given against the Federal Government by a Federal High Court in Abuja.

    The judgments were given in 2013 by Justice Adeniyi Ademola, in favour of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), its consultant, Linas International Limited and some others in relation to the debts settlement agreement between the Federal Government and the Paris Club.

    Also listed as beneficiaries of the judgments are some firms and two lawyers.

    They are Phil-Tech Nigeria Limited, Riok Nigeria Limited, XI Nigeria Limited, Snecou Group of Companies Limited, Wells Procurement Services Limited, Systematic Engineering Limited, Prince Orji Nwafor –Orizu and Bello Olaitan Busayo.

    The companies are those ALGON purportedly awarded contracts to for the provision of healthcare and security services in all local governments.

    But a recent investigation report commissioned by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) raised doubt about the legitimacy of both judgments.

    The report queried the conduct of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), the Minister of Finance and the former Accountant General of the Federation, who were defendants in the case.

    It revealed how the AGF, the Minister of Finance and the Accountant General of the Federation allegedly neglected to defend both suits, which sought to deprive the country large amount of money. It raised questions about the actual motive behind the suits.

    Yesterday, at the resumed hearing of the garnishee proceedings initiated by ALGON and its consultant, Linas International, to retrieve the judgment money from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), lawyer to the judgment creditors, Joe Agi (SAN) said the AGF has opted to allow the court decide the case.

    “We took a date before today with a view to holding a meeting with the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF). However, on the day we were to meet, another AGF was appointed by the Federal Government.

    “He (the AGF) subsequently called off the meeting and advised that he will rather await the decision of the court. So, we have come today, ready to conclude the cross-examination,” Agi said.

    A. A. Muhammad, a lawyer, who represented the Accountant General of the Federation, did not confirm or deny Agi’s position.

    Lawyer to the CBN, Ahmed Raji (SAN), denied knowledge of the development as reported by the creditors’ lawyer.

    “We did not know the meeting has been called off. We are not aware of this development. The AGF wrote to us formerly about this meeting. We have no further information that the meeting will not hold.

    “Our understanding is that the meeting was postponed because of the handover proceedings between the immediate past AGF and the new one,” Raji said.

    He sought an adjournment to enable him confirm the current state of affairs. He said parties were willing to attend court during the court’s vacation, beginning next week.

    Agi did not object to Raji’s request, following which Justice Ademola adjourned the case. He said parties will be informed about the new date during the vacation.

    A lawyer to the CBN, Ozeigbe Omo-Egharevba, on June 30, told the court that representatives of the CBN, the Accountant-General of the Federation and the judgment creditors met the previous day on the issue.

    “Representatives of the CBN and the Accountant-General of the Federation met with the representatives of the plaintiff yesterday (Monday) to see how we can explore an out of court settlement of the case,” Oziegbe Omo-Egharevba said, but was silent on the details of the meeting.

    Lawyer to the judgments’ beneficiaries Chief A. Akunebu, however, said he could neither confirm nor deny what the CBN’s lawyer said.

    He said the plaintiffs’ lead lawyer, Joe Agi (SAN), who would confirm whether or not such settlement effort was ongoing was not yet in court, following which the judge adjourned to yesterday.

    ALGON and Linas had challenged the alleged Federal Government’s unilateral withdrawal of funds from the Federation Account to fund the London Club debt buyback of 1992 and London Club debt exit payment of 2006.

    They had argued that the Federal Government’s deployment of the funds for the payment of foreign debt without the consent of the other tiers of government contravened the provision of Section 162(1), (3), and (5) of the Constitution.

    The plaintiffs urged the court to order the refund of $3,188,079,505.96 to them; order the defendants to pay 20 per cent of the money to Linas through its lawyers as consultancy fees; and that the court should order the defendants to pay 15 per cent of all amount due to the local governments “for utilisation on security and healthcare delivery all over the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.

    Defendants in the suit were the Federal Government, the AGF and Minister of Finance and Accountant General of the Federation.

    Linas, however, filed a separate suit against the AGF, the Minister of Finance and Accountant General of the Federation, ALGON and 180 local governments (who were part of the plaintiffs in the initial case).

    The company claimed it was entitled to N1 million per local government and another 20 per cent of the $3,188,079,505.96 being claimed by the plaintiffs in the case over the foreign debt deduction, as its consultancy fees.

    Since the defendants did not defend the case, Justice Ademola granted the plaintiffs’ prayers in both cases in the judgments given on December 3, 2013. The defendants also failed to appeal, prompting the plaintiffs to begin garnishee proceedings against the Federal government. So far, the court has granted four garnishee orders nisi against the government.

    The current proceedings will result in the court making the garnishee order nisi absolute or otherwise.

  • Credit card fraud: Court okays suspect’s extradition to U.S

    Credit card fraud: Court okays suspect’s extradition to U.S

    Justice Saliu Saidu of the Federal High Court, Lagos, has granted an application by the Federal Government seeking to extradite Mr. Olugbemiga Adebisi to the United States to face credit card and other fraud charges.

    The office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) said three indictments were filed in the U.S District Court, New Hampshire, against Adebisi.

    He was charged in the Hampshire court with “access device fraud, receipt of stolen mail matter, aggravated identity theft and fraudulent use of social security number” on July 20, 2006.

    The alleged offences were in violation of Title 18, U.S. Code, sections 1029, 1708, 1028A and Title 42, U.S. Code, Section 408(a) 7(b).

    Adebisi was also said to have been charged on April 5, 2005 in the Trial Court of Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Concord District Court, U.S.

    He was accused of “larceny over $250 credit card fraud, forgery of a document, uttering false document and identify fraud.”

    The offences were said to be a violation of Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 266, Section 30(1), 37(c)(e) and Chapter 267, Section 1 and 5.

    ‎Granting the application, Justice Saidu held that he was satisfied that “the U.S had formally requested for the extradition of the respondent within the requirement of the Extradition Act Cap E25 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.”

    He added: “The affidavit of Alfred Rubega (a United States Assistant Attorney) was signed before a magistrate judge of the District of New Hampshire, which has not been disputed by the respondent in the case.

    “And this affidavit was only attached to a certificate duly executed from the Department of State of the U.S.A. and the United State Department of Justice and further certified by one David Warmer, an Associate Director, Office of International Affairs Criminal Division, Department of Justice, U.S.A.

    “All these are enough evidence to give credit and validity to the affidavit of Alfred Rubega.”

    A lawyer from the AGF’s office, Akintah Ukaeyina, had argued that the offences for which Adebisi is being wanted in the U.S are also provided for and punishable in the contemplation of Nigerian laws.

    But Adebisi’s lawyer, Toye Latilo, urged the court to refuse the extradition application because it was only initiated after his client had challenged his prolonged detention without charge.

    “The respondent was arrested at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport by the Interpol on the basis of a warrant of arrest issued in the United States and from that time till date he has been in the prison custody.

    “It was when the respondent applied to enforce his fundamental right that the applicant was prompted to initiate these proceedings before this court,” the lawyer said.

     

  • Corruption can’t occur without finance managers, says AGF

    The Accountant General of the Federal (AGF), Alhaji Amed Idris,  has said corruption cannot thrive without the support of finance managers.

    Idris spoke in Abuja yesterday.

    He warned his workers that he would not tolerate corruption.

    Amed Idris said this yesterday as he formally assumed office at the Treasury House. The  AGF assured workers of the OAGF that he would operate an open-door policy while being fair and just to everyone.

    The AGF thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for considering him “worthy of the appointment and pledged to commit totally to transparency and accountability, and probity in the management of the public purse.”

    According to Amed Idris, “this is a trust from the almighty and I pledge to discharge my duties sincerely to the best of my ability within the ambit of the law  and extent regulation.”

    He noted that “corruption as a national challenge cannot occur without active collaboration and connivance of finance managers. Officers with corrupt tendencies must be prepared to purge themselves of it as the treasury under my watch would maintain zero tolerance for corruption” he said.

    The AGF noted that the “treasury is entrusted with public funds and therefore the responsibility of providing adequate accounting system and controls with best practices to ensure revenues accruing to government are fully collected and accounted for and authorized payments are used for purposes meant; and that assets and liabilities are fully recorded and financial statements are rendered timely.”

    The former acting AGF, Mr. Mohammad Dikwa ,solicited support for the AGF stressing that “the ultimate target of the current reforms in the treasury was to allow for zero tolerance for corruption.”

    Gombe State Government Hassan Dakwambo, who was also former AGF, appealed to candidates who lost out in their bid to lead the treasury office,  to support Idris.

     

  • Judge withdraws from Babalakin’s suit against AGF, EFCC

    Judge withdraws from Babalakin’s suit against AGF, EFCC

    Justice John Tsoho of the Federal High, Lagos, on Monday withdrew from adjudicating over a fundamental rights suit filed by Chairman of Bi-Courtney Limited, Dr. Wale Babalakin (SAN).

    It follows Babalakin’s petition to the Chief Judge, Justice Ibrahim Auta, praying him to re-assign the case to a different judge.

    The suit is a fundamental rights enforcement action against the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    Babalakin is seeking an order barring them from arraigning him on criminal charges filed at the Lagos State High Court, Ikeja.

    Through his lawyers Wale Akoni (SAN) and Abiodun Layonu (SAN), Babalakin in the June 19 petition, said there was no guarantee he would get justice from Justice Tsoho.

    According to him, the judge vacated an interim injunction he made on April 29, barring the respondents from going on with the proposed arraignment pending the determination of the fundamental rights enforcement suit.

    In the ruling, Justice Tsoho said the ex-parte order granted Babalakin was intended as a brief intervention to prevent injury and not meant to last a long time.

    He explained that the order had outlived its lifespan and was no longer valid.

    “If the applicants had filed their application early, the respondent would have responded appropriately. But this case will be adjourned without an award of cost. An ex-parte order is meant to be a brief intervention to prevent injury and not meant to last a long time.

    “Therefore, the order has outlived its life span and is hereby discharged, but the respondent should not take any action that will jeopardise this proceeding,” the judge said.

    Before the ruling was delivered, EFCC’s lawyer Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) had prayed the court to discharge the restraining order.

    He said it had been abused by the applicant who he said failed to file the rights enforcement application within the five days interval ordered by the court, but instead served it on the respondent at the court premises almost 30 days later, contrary to the court’s order.

    However, Babalakin’s lawyers said the judge discharged the order “without a formal application from the respondents.” They prayed that the case be re-assigned to another judge.

    Babalakin had in April sought to stop the AGF and the EFCC from arraigning him again on an alleged N4.7billion fraud.

    A Lagos State High Court had in February this year discharged him from the allegation.

    Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo, who discharged Babalakin, his two companies, Bi-Courtney Limited and Stabilini Visinoni Limited, along with one Alex Okoh, and his company, Renix Nigeria, described the 27-count charge filed against them as being “incurably bad.”

    The judge had held that none of the 27 counts filed by the EFCC against Babalakin and others constituted an offence under the laws of Nigeria.

  • Buhari’s directive ‘ignored in appointment of acting AGF’

    President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive that the most Senior Officer be appointed to act as the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF)  following the retirement of the AGF Jonah Otunla, was ignored, it was learnt yesterday.

    Otunla left office a fortnight ago and handed over to Mr. Mohammed Dikwa, who is said to be the second most senior director.

    Omoniyi Fagbemi, the director of Revenue is the most senior director Dikwa is said to be ranked at No 18 in the order of seniority of directors of Finance and Accounts in the Federal Civil Service.

    Dikwa’s appointment is trailed by discontent in the civil service.

    Senior Civil Servants have condemned the decision of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (HoS), Danladi Kifasi as lacking in due process and against the norm.

    The development is viewed as inimical to seniority, experience and discipline.

    According to a civil service source, who pleaded anonymity, the handling of the screening procedures for the eventual appointment of a substantive AGF has equally heightened suspicions which may question the integrity and veracity of the process.

    She explained that further to a tradition enthroned by Mr Steve Oronsaye to ensure transparency, applicants aspiring to various leadership positions in the civil service including those of Permanent Secretary, Accountant General and Auditor General, among others, are required to write qualifying examinations and undergo further screening.

    “Thirty Directors of Finance and Accounts across the civil service, sat for the most recent qualifying examination but based on performance in the three-stage test, the number should have been whittled down to a more manageable size to enable oral interface, before recommendation for presidential approval.

    “The template which was put in place and followed religiously under former President Olusegun Obasanjo was for the best three candidates, following tests and screening for top-level service positions, to be proposed for eventual ratification at the discretion of the President.

    “This applied to Vice-Chancellors, Chief Medical Directors, Rectors and Provost of federal government-owned tertiary institutions and health facilities, and by extension other service appointments.

    “Without regards for this rule, however, four of the 34 candidates who sat for the AGF qualifying examination were randomly selected for post-screening, in circumstances which were but transparent.

    “These include Director, Finance and Accounts in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture Alhaji Idris Mamman and Dikwa.

    “While Mamman came ninth in the examination, Dikwa placed 29. If merit, transparency and due process were followed, both officers will not make the post examination interface,” she said.

    The game plan, according to the source, was aimed at a subtle attempt to narrow the options for eventual presentation for presidential assent, to the Northeast geo-political zone, where Kifasi comes from.

    She said: “Whereas Kifasi is from Taraba State, Mamman and Dikwa are both from Borno in the same Northeast zone.

    “The argument for skipping Fagbemi for Dikwa in the appointment of an acting AGF, is that he comes from the Southwest, as Otunla the former AGF.

    “When did it become a crime for people serving in the same establishment to come from the same zone? If the Office of the Head of Service (OHOSF), is not working towards a premeditated result, why didn’t the office make its shortlist based strictly on the results of the examination conducted specifically for the appointment of a new AGF?

    “The OHOSF has impugned the integrity and fairness of the whole process with the dispassionate manner it has handled it thus far”.

    On the implication of the development which was said to have been the same that threw up Otunla, who had came ninth out of the 10 Directors that took the second round of the examination in January 2011, the source regretted that the due process and anti-corruption stance of this administration would be unfairly impugned.

    She said: “Rumours are rife that the process has been unwittingly compromised and corrupted.

    The source, however, hoped that as an experienced and tested administrator, President Buhari would take more than a passing interest in the process leading to the first substantive appointment which will bear his approval.

     

  • AGF, NSA, EFCC trade accusation over custody of recovered Abacha loot

    Offices of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), the National Security Adviser (NSA) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) are trading blames in court over which one of them is in custody of what was recovered from the money looted from the nation’s treasury by the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha.

    While the EFCC said the recovered funds could be accounted for by the offices of the AGF and the NSA, they have both denied knowledge of what has been recovered and where it is being kept.

    The claim among the three Federal Government’s offices is captured in the court processes they filed in reaction to a suit filed by a group, the Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP), seeking information about the state of the recovered loot.

    LEDAP, in 2011, instituted the suit under the Freedom of Information Act after the EFCC (earlier named as the sole defendant) refused its request for the information.

    It later joined  the AGF and the NSA when the EFCC, in a counter-affidavit, said it was only offices of the AGF and NSA that could account for the recovered looted funds.

    An EFCC official, Austin Emmumejakpor, said in the counter-affidavit of March 5, 2012, that he was “informed that remittances relating to the estate of the late Gen. Abacha were coordinated by the offices of the National Security Adviser and the Attorney-General of the Federation and not the respondent (EFCC) as erroneously thought by the applicant.”

    The offices of the AGF and NSA, in separate counter-affidavits filed by their lawyer, Godwin Onwusi, denied knowledge of details of the recovered loots. They urged the court to excuse them from the suit.

    In a counter-affidavit dated March 25, 2014, both offices denied custody of the requested information on behalf of both the AGF and the NSA, stating: “That the 1st and 2nd parties sought to be joined (AGF and NSA) did not coordinate the remittances relating to the estate of late Gen. Abacha.”

    In another counter-affidavit of January 28, 2015, it was stated that the 2nd party sought to be joined (NSA) did not coordinate the remittances relating to the estate of the late Gen. Abacha.

    “The 2nd party sought to be joined is neither in custody nor in possession of information relating to the remittances referred to in paragraph 5 above. The 2nd party sought to be joined is neither a necessary party nor an indispensable party in this suit.”

    Lawyer to the plaintiff, Chino Obiagwu, has, in a reply on point of law, argued that both the offices of AGF and the NSA are parties necessary for the just determination of the case.

    He argued that by virtue of the provisions of Section 21 of the FoI Act, 2011, “the onus is on such body to prove that the information is not within its control”.

    Justice Mohammed has adjourned hearing on the applications to October 8.