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Tag: aides

  • Obiano sacks commissioners, aides

    Obiano sacks commissioners, aides

    Ahead of his second tenure inauguration on March 17, Anambra State Governor Willie Obiano has sacked his commissioners and political appointees.

    The sack letter was signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof Solo Chukwulobelu. The letter was titled: “Submission of hand over notes by political appointees and non-civil servant heads of MDAs in the state”

    The letter reads: “Governor Willie Obiano has directed that all political appointees and non-civil Servant Heads of MDAs submit their hand over notes, reports on or before March 16, to the permanent secretaries of their respective MDAs, or to the most senior Civil Servant there in the absence of a permanent secretary.

    “All SSAs/SAs are to submit their hand over notes/reports to the permanent secretary of office of the SSG.

    “A copy of the hand over note/report must be submitted to the Secretary to the State Government on or before March 16.

    “Further to the above, political appointees and non-civil servant heads of MDAs and SSAs/SAs under reference are to hand over any government project/utility vehicles in their custody to the permanent secretary, office of the Secretary to the State Government, on or before March 16.

    “The contents of this letter are for your attention and necessary actions, even as I assure you of my high regards.”

  • Fayemi kicks as Fayose bars him from public office

    Fayemi kicks as Fayose bars him from public office

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose has banned his predecessor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, from joining the 2018 governorship race, as speculated in many quarters.

    The Fayose administration, yesterday, accepted the recommendations of the Judicial Commission of Enquiry to bar Fayemi from holding public offices in Ekiti State and other parts of Nigeria for 10 years.

    The panel, which was chaired by former Acting Chief Judge, Justice Silas Oyewole (retd.), submitted its report on December 13, last year, to Fayose and recommended that Fayemi must refund over N2 billion and return 17 vehicles.

    Also recommended for 10-year ban from public office is the former Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development, Mr. Dapo Kolawole, who served under Fayemi.

    The recommendation followed the receipt of a White Paper on the report of the Judicial Commission of Enquiry which investigated the handling of the state’s finances during the Fayemi administration between October 2010 and October 2014.

    The White Paper also recommended that the duo should refund various sums of money to the coffers of the state government.

    The State Executive Council (Exco) accepted the recommendations and adopted the White Paper at an emergency meeting yesterday.

    Fayemi is the Minister of Mines and Steel Development while Kolawole is a board member of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA).

    The ex-governor refused to appear before the panel on account of a lawsuit he filed to the effect that he would not get justice at the panel.

    He claimed that members of the panel are loyalists, associates and card-carrying members of Fayose’s party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Although Fayemi is yet to declare intent to run for the July 14 governorship election, his foot soldiers are working to draft him into the race.

    His posters with inscription “Happy New Year, JKF Again” appeared in Ado-Ekiti and other major towns last week.

    The recommendation banning Fayemi and Kolawole appears on page 22 of the White Paper.

    It reads: “Government accepts the recommendation to bar Dr. John Kayode Fayemi and the Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Dapo Vincent Kolawole, from holding public offices in Ekiti State for 10 years.”

    On Page 15 of the White Paper, Fayemi and Kolawole were declared “unfit to hold any public office” for their refusal to appear before the seven-man jury to give evidence on how they managed the state treasury when they were in office.

    It reads: “Both His Excellency, Dr. John Kayode Fayemi, and Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Dapo Vincent Kolawole, are recommended as unfit to hold any public office in the state for their refusal to appear before this Commission of Enquiry, even, after the determination of the case challenging the inauguration of this commission before the Ekiti State High Court.

    “Their disrespect to the constituted authority and the undignified roles they played in the whole contract saga, were obviously against the interest of the state.”

    The White Paper recommended that Fayemi, Kolawole and other members of the erstwhile Exco should account for N2,750,000,000 allegedly allocated for the execution of the contract for the ultramodern market “which was never executed”.

    ‘Governor’s kangaroo panel’s recommendations laughable’

    The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has said the White Paper the state government released yesterday on his alleged probe is a joke taken too far.

    A statement by his Senior Special Assistant (Media),  Olayinka Oyebode, reads: “The attention of the Media Office of the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has been drawn to the pre-meditated verdict of the Ekiti State government, as contained in the White Paper submitted by the panel set up by Governor Ayo Fayose to investigate the finances of the state between 2010 and 2014.

    “While we believe it is part of the responsibilities of the state administration to look into the finances of the state at any point in time, we are also of the belief  that such must be done in a very responsible manner devoid of prejudice, witch hunting and a calculated attempt to victimise a citizen.

    “In this particular case, the entire process is discredited right from the beginning, as the only agenda of the panel was to rubbish Dr Kayode Fayemi’s public service record.

    “One is therefore not surprised at the recommendations of the White Paper: It only goes to confirm our initial position that the panel was compromised right from inception and targeted against Dr Fayemi.

    “In his desperation, Governor Fayose chose the crude and ignoble path towards hitting a perceived political foe.

    “In the process, they ignored the rule of law and behaved as if the court does not matter; thus making their actions subjudice to the court.

    “Fayose was, however, misguided into believing that he could pass a death sentence on Dr Fayemi’s public service with the White Paper. This is not only laughable but also ridiculous, as neither Governor Fayose nor his paid agents have the power to bar anyone from political participation.

    “The entire process and the character personae involved are discredited and since it is impossible to build something on nothing, legally speaking, their recommendation is not only null and void, it is ultra vires.

    “We urge the teeming supporters of Dr Fayemi, the good people of Ekiti State and the general public not to be disturbed by the development. It is simply another act of illegality, from an administration that has elevated political debauchery to state craft.

    “It shall not stand. It is nothing but a joke taken too far, perhaps joke of the century.”

     

  • Nigerian media aides and the Tantalus plague (2)

    •Mutations of the journalist in the corridors of power

    A notable politician/public officer dismisses fear of backlash over his persistent rape and impregnation of minors. He brags to a friend in Diaspora, in his native dialect translatable thus: “The news is dead on delivery. I have top journalists at my beck and call.” He bragged that he has journalism’s shining lights on a leash of cash. As the mongrel dares extremities for a gift of bone, so do his ‘boys’ in the media, he claimed.

    Predictably, the most senior media aide in the culprit’s pack of hounds spread the cash and killed news of his sex crimes.

    It is only fair that the aide watches helplessly as randy, power-drunk politicians rape his daughters and infect them with gonorrhea, like his principal’s underage victims; by Edumare’s retributive grace. It is only just that Edumare situates the fruit of his loins in similar circumstances, without the luxury of justice. That he might understand agonies of his principal’s victims and their families.

    The media aide is neither conflicted nor appalled. He says: “Na today e dey happen?” (It’s no oddity. It happens). A passion for truth and ethics could never spur him to imperil his job – which he considers a saving grace, his ‘out’ from bleak, thankless Journalism.

    The life of a journalist-turned-media-aide is a parody in which honour plays no part. Unlike other members of his principal’s court, he enjoys no prideful place. He sits on his haunch, like a dog on its paws outside its master’s court. Like the hound, he is forever waiting to lunge, with a kill-cry and bare fangs, at perceived ‘detractors’ of his principal, the dog owner.

    ‘Ki lo ma nse awon boys yii naa?’ (What’s wrong with these boys?), he drones irritably, whenever his former colleagues in the media, subject his principal to harsh scrutiny and objective criticism. He assures his principal – who could be the president, senate president, a state governor, legislative speaker or local government chairman – that the press can be bought over.

    Media aides wrongly assume every news editor, correspondent and  reporter to be manipulable by cash, a foreign trip, a gallon of vegetable oil, Christmas/Ileya ram or a bag of rice, items by which his conscience was sold and bought.

    Thus he gets a generous budget to silence the ‘boys’ and inspire them to ignore the ineptitude and corruption of his principal. Of the bribe allotment, the media aide siphons 70 per cent to his personal account, and splits the remainder among the ‘boys.’

    It never gets old to see the so-called ‘press boys’ scurry for residue of the bribe with dark delight. Rebels against the prevalent rot are daubed unfairly aggressive, biased, sanctimonious or driven by questionable animosity because they have been ‘left out.’

    There is a difference between ‘press boys’ and ‘Gentlemen of the Press.’ The press boy forever prowls, lobbying along the corridors of power in frantic quest to become media aide. A ‘Gentleman of the Press’ however, is a true ethical native. And he exists.

    He understands that the work of a media aide connotes the soul’s struggle against the body. Thus he rejects the role, knowing that as media aide, he would suffer the affliction of languid ethics, insatiable lusts and poisonous glamour, like a courtesan haunted in post-orgasmic flush, by relentless spasms of lust for riches and unearned pleasure. Like fabled Tantalus, his thirst is never quenched.

    Media aides get confused too. Mcenteer calls this condition occupational hazard for those who move from journalism into government, or vice versa. They experience confusion about the role and functions on their new jobs, likewise their colleagues and news audience, seeking information from or about them, their professionalism and evolving identities.

    Reuben Abati for instance, was a notable, venerated critic, celebrated at home and abroad. Yet he suffered irredeemable descent as justifier of ineptitude and political trifles as ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s Special Adviser on Media Affairs (SAMA).

    Enter Femi Adesina, SAMA to President Muhammadu Buhari. Adesina’s performance as presidential media aide further diminishes the worth of the journalist in the corridors of power. Although his apologists within and outside media circuits justify his indiscretions claiming, “What’s he supposed to do? Would you quit if it were you?”

    Nobody is asking Adesina to quit. Yet it is instructive that a man who used to be a journalist of immense wisdom and worth, at least to those inspired by him, has been reduced to whatever he is currently.

    Adesina’s difficulties vary in character and severity but are classifiable as problems of ethics, irony, conflict, confusion and blur. What if he had vied for the presidency? This couldn’t be preposterous given his once luscious reputation as a thought moulder, manager of men and resources. Sadly, like his predecessors and several lesser aides, he manifested as glowing work of self-sculpture, until his descent into the labyrinth of power, as presidential statuette and every gadfly’s unfinished model.

    Similar ethical dilemma afflict journalists across the seas. Charles Royer suffered unpleasant, public, irony at his election to Seattle City Hall. Before he became American Mayor, Royer attained fame for his nightly 60 to 90-second political commentaries on KING-TV. In 1976, his half-hour documentary, “The Bucks Stop Here,” exposed improper use of special-interest money in the state legislature.

    The programme earned him two national journalism awards. When he became Mayor in 1977, Royer decided to share valuable information with his former press colleagues in off-the-record sessions. But TV crews wanted to bring their cameras into the meetings, against his wishes. Royer eventually showed up on TV and newspaper front pages, shoving TV cameras out. He will forever remember the headline with the photo: “TV Commentator turned Mayor shuts out TV.”

    Another poignant example is Edward R. Murrow, respected radio and TV journalist’s alleged bid to prevent the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)  from airing “Harvest of Shame” soon after he became the head of United States Information Agency. It was one of Murrow’s final documentaries for the CBS network and it revealed the terrible living and working conditions of migrant farm laborers in Florida.

    His attempt however, failed, but leaked to the press thus embarrassing the novice bureaucrat. “Murrow, the government propaganda chief, had tried to censor Murrow, the muckraking journalist,” notes Mcenteer.

    Despite their shortcomings Royer and Murrow served in more ennobling circumstances. Not as glorified errand boys or attack hounds. It is the job of journalist turned media aides to pitilessly offer harsh but constructive criticisms from patriotic and envisaged media perspective, of their principals’ intended policies or actions before they are made public.

    If it is their principals’ wish to transform Nigeria, media aides should help them understand that in heaven, saints don’t become ‘God’ and an angel is nobody in particular.

  • Nigerian media aides and the Tantalus plague (1)

    •Mutations of the journalist in the corridors of power

    Man loses wife and three kids to vehicle accident caused by bad road. Media aide justifies governor’s refusal to repair the road, claiming there were more pressing state projects. Aide scornfully dismisses uproar over the incident as negligible tirade of ‘the wailing wailers.’

    It is only fair that the aide suffers the loss of all his children and wife, in similar circumstances, that he might understand the misery of the bereaved father and husband.

    If presidential media aides disdainfully justify government indolence in curbing frequent murder of innocent rural families by northern herdsmen, it is only fair that such aides suffer inexplicable, brazen murder of their loved ones too. That they might understand the insane pain borne by victims of such killings.

    A governor cum phony progressive honours an African president with an obscene N520 million effigy, to the consternation of his impoverished electorate. His media aide justifies the juvenile enterprise even as the governor owes salaries and pensions. It is only fair that the aide experiences divinely imposed hunger and famine of the purse, that he might understand the agony of the state’s starving, elderly pensioners.

    If after experiencing such losses, media aides are able to smile, keep a stiff upper lip and unflinching belief in the ‘fairness, efficiency and honesty’ of their principals, Nigerians may begin to assimilate their illusory gospel of fortitude and hope.

    The contemporary media aide urges you to be happy irrespective of your plight. He advances to dissenters, the illusion of happiness, an attitude akin to David Cooperrider’s “Transformational Positivity.”

    Media aides urge oppressed electorate to embrace their pains and see the world anew, touting obscure and incomprehensible jargon about the power of positive thinking. ‘Nigeria is getting better,’ they urge the citizenry to believe.

    Their admonition would be edifying had they experienced same miseries as the citizenry they request such optimism of. Their smiley gospel of contrived bliss and resignation would be acceptable if they could mount the soapbox and preach so, soon after they lose loved ones to avoidable deaths caused by bad governance by the principals they represent.

    When the citizenry complain of perceived shortcomings of their principals, media aides liken expressed dissent to whimpers and cries of neutered enemies of the state. These days, they simply dub every critic, a ‘wailing wailer.’ For instance, if you criticize the incumbent administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, you must be one of the greedy beneficiaries of immediate past President, Goodluck Jonathan’s corrupt regime.

    If you complain of deaths on the nation’s bad roads, hospital corridors of death, substandard schools, corrupt, overzealous government agency officials , they tell you that Nigeria can’t achieve a sudden resurrection from devastation and sleaze foisted upon her by previous regimes.

    There is no gainsaying that Nigeria currently experiences pangs of a healing process, which requires patience and commitment to the course of positive ‘change.’ It is an open secret however, that the process of rebirth is constantly hobbled by leadership and nemeses enslaved to hubris, nepotism, greed and a god complex.

    The incumbent All Progressives Congress (APC) government expects to be cuddled and patronised while its chieftains and elected officers foists on Nigeria, grotesque governance akin to that imposed on the country by immediate past leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

    No doubt, bad roads and deadly waterways, substandard education and healthcare, depressive economy and unemployment , insecurity and untimely death, still constitute the greatest assault on the populace by the ruling class.

    The citizenry’s deadliest  aggressor, however, are journalists turned media aides in the corridors of power. They are like Spenser’s genitally deformed Duessa to the ruling class’ misshapen phallus.

    From the presidential villa and state houses, to lower public service ministries, journalists mutate into modern versions of the whore of Babylon. Like Spenser’s Acrasia, Phaedria, Malecasta, Duessa and Hellenore, they foster the triumph of predatory government over a critical press. While a shrewd few struggle to stay upright and true, a greater number play whore to the ruling class.

    It is instructive to note however, that the Nigerian media aide nurtures variants of lesser aides or attack dogs within and outside his office. While he licks the boot of his principal, his minions jostle for crumbs from his ‘operating budget’ or the largesse he gets from his employer.

    Mongrels to the media aide often function further down the pecking order; they are the thugs and trolls of the traditional and new media. They issue caustic retorts to critics and perceived detractors of the media aide and his principal. A critique of a presidential media aide’s disgraceful sycophancy for instance, attracted sharp retort from one of his thugs.

    Manipulative and exploitative, media aides tirelessly seek to validate humiliation, poverty, pestilence and death foisted upon mostly poor, underprivileged citizenry by their principals.

    But unlike majority of Nigeria’s impoverished who are driven by hunger, tokenism and base sentimentality to justify the callousness of their elected representatives, these ‘Yes-men’ aren’t conditioned so by severe bouts of hunger or affliction by Stockholm Syndrome.

    They are in perfect control of their desires and aspiration to be ‘turned’ and dominated by predatory principals. They are eager to serve and devote their lives to the celebration of evil, in whatever guise, as long as it translates to currency deposits in their bank accounts.

    They are greatly efficient in closed, womblike spaces; the TV studio, compact halls, the boardroom, and State House press halls. These replace the medieval spaces in the bedchamber, groves and caves like the leafy grotto of Homer’s Calypso, where their medieval archetype is captured, seduced, sodomized and infantilized.

    Thus Nigeria’s major affliction besides the archetypal rogue, corrupt journalist includes, Special Advisers on Media Affairs, some State Commissioners for Information, Chief Press Secretaries and Special Assistant on Media Affairs. These ‘Yes-men’ conduct themselves like political Labradors, constantly undergoing psychological entrancement, thus turning their linearity of quest into a Tantalus problem.

    Tantalus, the eternally hungry king in Greek mythology, was condemned to stand in water under a fruit tree. Whenever he tried to drink or eat, the water or fruit receded beyond his reach. Such is the predicament of the media aide. Like his principal, he is ravenous for unearned riches and other vulgar perks. Thus his insatiable appetite for the spoils of office, irrespective of his position at the root of the totem pole.

    Media aides should be pitied. They bring no honour to their work. They are mere errand boys hence their inability to speak truth to power. Before their descent and domestication like yard dogs, some of them struggled to personify the country’s finest press men, critics and leaders of thought. Today, they serve in mortifying circumstances, in capacities unbecoming of patriot-journalists and critics.

  • Fayose gives cars to aides over EFCC detention

    Fayose gives cars to aides over EFCC detention

    •Governor to sue anti-graft agency

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose has fulfilled his promise to give new cars to the two officials of his administration who spent two weeks in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged diversion of over N680 million from the state’s share of bailout funds.

    The governor yesterday presented the Commissioner for Finance, Chief Toyin Ojo, and the Accountant General, Mrs. Yemisi Owolabi, with new Kia Rio cars after a thanksgiving service to mark the third anniversary of his administration.

    Fayose said he was honouring the two officials “for their loyalty to the state” in the face of a fresh onslaught by the anti-graft agency.

    The two government officials were arrested in Abuja on September 28 while attending the governor’s declaration to run for President in 2019.

    The governor also held a welcome party for Ojo and Owolabi last Thursday, which he declared as “half-work day,’ to allow civil servants attend the occasion.

    But majority of workers shunned the event.

    At yesterday’s event, Fayose said: “We have to reward you for enduring intimidation, mental and emotional torture and illegal incarceration for the sake of our state. The Constitution of Nigeria does not empower the EFCC to arrest state officials over alleged graft.

    “That function belongs to our House of Assembly. We will sue the EFCC to court for this illegality, pursue the case to a logical conclusion and get damages for this ill-treatment.

    “The Constitution of Nigeria is supreme and has over-riding influence over any government parastatal, such as EFCC.”

  • Arrest of Fayose’s aides shouldn’t cause salary delay, says APC

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has said the arrest of the Commissioner of Finance, Toyin Ojo and Accountant General, Mrs. Yemisi Owolabi, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was not the cause of the delay in the payment of workers’ salaries.

    The party described the claim by the Chairman of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Mr. Odunayo Adesoye, as “another conspiratorial role that some labour leaders have been playing to sabotage the interest of their members”.

    In a statement yesterday, Ekiti State APC’s Publicity Secretary Taiwo Olatunbosun expressed regrets that Labour had failed to protect the interests of workers but was ready to defend Governor Ayo Fayose’s alleged failure to pay their entitlements.

    Olatunbosun said: “It is common knowledge that a section of the Labour movement has compromised their office in the protection of workers’ interest. But Fayose should not hide under the arrest of the Commissioner for Finance, Toyin Ojo and the Accountant General, Yemisi Owolabi, for non-payment of salary.

    “Ojo is not a signatory to any salary account; there are two other alternate signatories who include the Director of Funds Management.

    “Ekiti people and workers in particular should also note that when the Accountant General was on leave for about three weeks recently, the financial transactions of the state were going on unhindered.

    “Therefore, contrary to TUC’s claim, there is no reason the arrest of the two state officials should be an excuse for non-payment of salaries by the governor, which of course, he has not been paying before their arrest.

    “Fayose has received several billions of naira in the form of bailout and Paris Club refund but has refused to pay workers’ salaries for five months: local government workers for eight months’ and pensioners’ 13 months’ allowance arrears. These include his refusal to pay the severance package of former political office holders after the funds for these purposes were captured in tranches of bailout and Paris Club refund.”

  • Ekiti PDP condemns Adeyeye’s silence over arrest of Fayose’s aides

    Ekiti PDP condemns Adeyeye’s silence over arrest of Fayose’s aides

    •Party chief: I can’t carry governor’s cross for him

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State has condemned the alleged silence of the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, on the arrest and detention of Commissioner for Finance, Chief Toyin Ojo, and the Accountant General, Mrs. Yemisi Owolabi, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    The party claimed that his governorship ambition had made him to abandon his duties.

    Adeyeye fired back, saying: “The PDP as a party abhors corruption and Fayose, at his presidential ambition declaration, promised to fight corruption with much vigour, if elected.”

    In a statement yesterday in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, Ekiti PDP Publicity Secretary Jackson Adebayo said: “Adeyeye should purge himself of anger over his failure to secure Governor Ayo Fayose’s support for his governorship ambition.”

    But the Director of Media and Publicity for Prince Adedayo Adeyeye Movement (PAAM), Mr. Niyi Ojo, said: “The PDP is greater and larger than any individual or group; anybody who sinned must not force others to carry the cross for him.”

    Ekiti PDP urged Adeyeye to resign and face his governorship ambition “because as it is, the ambition to be governor of Ekiti State is already affecting the performance of his duties to the PDP and its members”.

    It added: “If Adeyeye, whose duty is to defend our party and its members, cannot speak against the unlawful arrest of officials of the PDP government of his home state, just because the governor did not support his governorship ambition, which PDP controlled-state will he now defend?

    “Should we then conclude that Adeyeye has constituted himself to an opposition against the PDP government of Ekiti State, even more than the All Progressives Congress (APC), such that he lost his voice when members of his own party were unlawfully arrested by the EFCC and dumped in detention since Thursday?

    “Condemning or obstructing the law enforcement agencies from carrying out their constitutionally assigned responsibilities is not a veritable opposition.

    “If truly those officials were invited by EFCC, why did they refuse to honour the invitations? Were they also covered by the immunity of the governor?

    “We at PAAM believe that they will be released after interrogation if their hands are clean. Is the Accountant General also a PDP card-carrying member? He who wants to go to equity must go with clean hands.

    “Now, you need Adeyeye to do the Public Relations job for your already battered image. No, it can’t work. You can’t blackmail and intimidate Adeyeye out of office until after the national convention of our great party in December.”

     

  • EFCC probes Saraki’s aides over N3.5b Paris Club cash

    EFCC probes Saraki’s aides over N3.5b Paris Club cash

    Cash traced to Dubai jeweller

    Senate President: it’s mudslinging

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission( EFCC) has frozen 15 accounts of some individuals and companies for the alleged diversion of N19billion from the London-Paris loan refund.

    Besides, about $183,000 (N71, 370,000) of  the loan refund has been traced to a jeweller’s account in Dubai.

    The anti-graft agency is probing a former  Heritage Bank Executive Director Mr. Robert Mbonu, three aides of Senate President Bukola Saraki and three others on how N3.5billion was wired into some accounts. The cash is said to be part of the  N19billion allegedly diverted from the N522.74 billion initial refund to states.

    The others are Melrose General Services Limited, the Relationship Manager to the Senate President, Kathleen Erhimu, Obiora Amobi, the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Senate President, Hon. Gbenga Peter Makanjuola, Mr. Kolawole Shittu and Oladapo Joseph Idowu.

    Mbonu is said to be one of the consultants engaged by the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF).

    These highlights are contained in a March 10, 2016 report, which has been submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari.

    The report got to the Presidency about five days before the Senate’s rejection of Acting EFCC Chairman  Ibrahim Magu’s second nomination.

    The report may have fuelled Magu’s rejection by the Senate because some of Saraki’s aides were implicated, a source close to the investigation said.

    An EFCC source said: “This agency has frozen more than 15 accounts used to divert the N19billion remitted into the account of the Nigerian Governors Forum(NGF).

    “Some of these accounts include those of Bureau De Change, companies, mortgage firms, and personal types.

    “We have been able to recover some money from these frozen accounts. Also, some bankers have made useful statements to this commission.”

    In a report to the presidency, the EFCC confirmed that it had traced $183,000 into the account of a Dubai jeweler.

    The EFCC report said in part: “Mr. Robert Mbonu is alleged to have received N3.5billion  into his company’s (Melrose General Services Limited’s) account from the NGF through Account 0005892453 domiciled in Access Bank.

    “Investigation revealed that one Kathleen Erhimu is the Relationship Manager to Dr. Bukola Saraki’s account with Access Bank.

    “That Saraki at a meeting introduced one Joseph Oladapo Idowu and Gbenga Peter Makanjuola to her and Hon. Makanjuola thereafter introduced Mr. Robert Mbonu to Ms Kathleen Erhimu.

    “That Mbonu operates an account , Melrose General Services with Access Bank Plc 0005892453 and 0005653500 which was up till 13th December a business account.

    “That Halima Kyari , the Head of Private Banking Group stated in a letter dated 13th December , 2016 , Mr. Robert Mbonu requested a transfer of Melrose General Services Company account from Business Account to a Private Banking Group Platform as he was expecting huge funds into the account.

    “Subsequently, on the 14th December , the sum of N3.5billion was lodged into Melrose General Services Company account number 0005892453 domiciled in Access Bank from the Nigerian Governors Forum(NGF).

    “That thereafter Mr. Obiora Amobi and Hon. Gbenga Makanjuola were introduced to Access Bank as representatives of Melrose General Services Limited by Robert Mbonu to enable them cash withdrawals from the account.

    “That one Oluyemi Braithwaite, the MD/ CEO of Reinex Bureau de Change, Caddington Capital Limited and Westgate Limited also manages a BDC stated to have known Mbonu as a client and he requested for dollars in exchange for the Naira equivalent which were to be handed over to one Mr. Gbenga in Abuja.

    “That Ms Oluyemi Braithwaite contacted one Hassan Dantani Abubakar, the owner of Hamma Procurement Limited, Ashrab Nigeria Limited and Insoire Solar Application to make available  the dollars based on the Naira equivalent  as transferred from Robert Mbonu who she had introduced via phone to Hassan Dantani.

    “That on 16th December 2016, Melrose General Services transferred the sum of N246million to Hamma Procurement First Bank Accouny No. 2030756168 in exchange for the sum of $500,000 which was handed to one Mr. Gbenga in Abuja who acknowledged receipt of the same amount.

    “That on the 21st Dec 2016, Ms Oluyemi Braithwaite contacted Hassan Dantani Abubakar, requesting for another transaction of $370,000. Melrose General Services Company transferred the sum of N181m to Inspire Solar Application. The $370,000 was handed over to one Mr. Dapo in Abuja.

    “That on the 4th of January 2017, Mbonu through Melrose General Services Company transferred the sum of N248, 500,000 to Caddington Capital Limited belonging to Ms Oluyemi Braithwaite who transferred same to Hassan Dantani Abubakar’s FCMB account, Ashrab Nigeria Limited for the sum of $500,000. The dollar equivalent was handed over to Mr. Kolawole Shittu in Abuja

    “That on the 10th of January 2017, Mr. Robert Mbonu through Melrose General Services Company transferred the sum of N99,820,000 to Caddington Capital Limited belonging to Ms. Oluyemi Braithwaite who transferred same to Hassan Dantani Abubakar’s FCMB Ashrab Nigeria Limited  for the sum of $200,000. The dollar equivalent was handed over to one Mr. Peter in Abuja.

    “That on the 19th December, there was a cash withdrawal of the sum of N50million from Melrose General Services account via cheque by Hon. Gbenga Peter Makanjuola.

    “Also, the sum of $1,570,000 was received by the trio of Mr. Gbenga Peter Makanjuola, Mr. Kolawole Shittu and Mr. Oladapo Joseph Idowu at various times and locations at Abuja FCT.

    “That on the 29th December, 2016, Mr. Robert Mbonu called Mrs. Kathleen Erhimu of Access Bank requesting her to source for a customer that would have the sum of $500,000 in exchange for the Naira equivalent. She introduced Mr. Robert Mbonu to Acarast Commercial Limited and Capital Field Investment to help him source for dollars.

    “That on the 21st December 2016, GCA Energy Limited paid the sum of $25,000 to Asterio Energy Services Limited which subsequently transferred the sum of $23,200 to Cactus Communication Limited account with Access Bank.

    “The MD of Sought-After  International Synergy Limited, Julius Okedele stated that Mr. Kelechi Edomobi of Acarast Commercial Enterprises contacted him and requested to purchase dollars after the transfer of N73,950,000 to Sought-After  International Synergy Limited. Mr. Edomobi gave him the account number of Cactus Communication Limited Access Bank as the nominated account to receive the dollar equivalent of the sum of $149,000.

    “Investigation further confirmed that Cactus Communication Limited  is owned and operated by Joseph Oladapo Idowu, an aide to Bukola Saraki.

    “That Mr. Kelechi Edomobi also transferred the sum of N1m on the 15th of January, 2017, to Joseph Oladapo Idowu’s personal account number 0001679877 with Access Bank Plc.

    “That Asterio Energy Services Limited on 21st and 22nd December, 2016, transferred $100,000 and $85,000 to Bhaskar Devji Jewellers LLC  in Dubai respectively the same company that Dr. Bukola Saraki repeatedly made transfer to from his Black Card Account.

    “That Cactus Communication Limited on 30th December, 2016, paid the sum of $59,,660.67 to Bhaskar Devji Jewellers LLC  in Dubai.

    “That Asterio Energy Services Limited on 20/1/2917, 30/1/2017 and 31/1/2017 transferred $46,000, $39,000 and $37,620 to Cactus Communication Limited.”

    “That Mr. Obiora Amobi and Gbenga Makanjuola made cash withdrawals of various tranches of N5 million and N10 million.

    “Based on the foregoing findings, it is clear that Robert Mbonu, the Managing Director of Melrose General Services Company and his company were used to help divert proceeds of unlawful activities under the guise of payment for contractual obligations with the Nigerian Governors’ Forum ( NGF).

    “Suffice to apprise that all payments received by Melrose General Services Company from the NGF have hitherto been diverted directly via cash withdrawals and indirectly through transfers by Hon. Gbenga Peter Makanjuola, Kolawole Shittu and Oladapo Joseph Idowu who are principal aides of the Senate President.

    “Furthermore, other payments from Melrose General Services Company has also been linked to companies that Dr. Bukola Saraki has interest in and carry out transactions with.

    “This includes the sum of $183,000 which was transferred to Bhaska Devji Jewellers, Dubai, a company Dr. Bukola Saraki had repeatedly made payments to.

    “Also, the sum of N200 million was transferred to Wasp Networks Limited that subsequently transferred the sum of N170 million to Xtract Energy Services Limited, a company that routinely made deposits into Dr. Bukola ‘s Access Bank United States Domicilliary Account.

    “A prima facie case of conspiracy to retain the proceeds of unlawful activities  and money laundering contrary to Sections 15(3) and 18(9) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2004 can be established against the aforementioned suspects.

    “Additionally, investigation into their personal accounts is ongoing.”

    From the initial tranche of ofN522.74 billion, about N19 billion was remitted by states into two accounts of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) as commission to consultants.

    But the commission was found out to have ended up in the accounts of some of the seven governors, some public officers and some individuals who had no business with the refunds.

    It was also learnt that some consultants engaged by the NGF and some states have not been paid by the governors.

    Besides locating the two accounts where the N19 billion was allegedly remitted into, the EFCC has interrogated more than four people involved in hiring of consultants and payment.

    Some states remitted as much as N600 million into NGF’s emergency accounts for the commission.

    It was learnt that the two NGF accounts were hurriedly opened in defiance of the agreement.

    According to findings, reports made available to presidency by the EFCC and other security agencies showed that the governors did not keep to the terms for the refund.

  • Mimiko’s aides resign to join APC

    Mimiko’s aides resign to join APC

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo State has sufferred another blow as the special assistants to Governor Olusegun Mimiko on Political and Mobilization Matters resigned from office to join  the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    In a statement in Akure, the state capital, the APC Publicity Secretary, Omo’ba Abayomi Adesanya said: “the deputy governorship candidate of our party, Hon. Agboola Ajayi, has received two prominent leaders of the PDP, Hon. Aderonke Oladun, Special Assistant to Governor Mimiko on Political Matters and Mr Ojo Victor, Special Assistant on Mobilization at the Akeredolu Campaign Office as bonafide members of APC family”.

    “He assured them of equal opportunities and urged them to work assiduously for the APC in the November 26 election.”

    Also, Adesanya has described a governorship aspirants, Dr. Olusegun Abraham, as one of the pillars of the party, who has contributed immensely to the growth and development of the progressive family.

    He said: “No member of the party can and should undermine the values and importance of the contributions of Pastor Abraham to the party, which dated back to the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).”

    Adesanya commended Abraham’s steadfastness, loyalty and support towards the party. He added: “No matter the issue that might arise from the primary, it is still a family affair. He (Abraham) is therefore, appealed to, to work assiduously for the victory of the party, in the November 26 governorship election.”

    He urged Abraham to disregard any unsavory comments from any quarters, and cautioned party members from making unguided statement on their leaders.

  • APC blasts Fayose, aides over ‘dead’ lawmaker controversy

    APC blasts Fayose, aides over ‘dead’ lawmaker controversy

    The Ekiti State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has slammed Governor Ayo Fayose and his aides for allegedly employing lies and falsehood to create tension and divert attention from alleged crimes against the constitution and the people.

    The party said the claim of the Fayose administration that the lawmaker representing Efon, Afolabi Akanni, has died in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) was an attempt to blackmail the Federal Government.

    In a statement yesterday by its Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, the APC said three other lawmakers declared “missing” by the House of Assembly are hiding in Fayose’s home in Afao-Ekiti.

    The APC said the recent claim by Fayose’s men that DSS officers invaded the House of Assembly “was one in the series of the governor’s shameless lies to set Nigerians against the security agency.”

    According to the party, this is even after security report and workers of the Assembly had said “there was no invasion and shooting anywhere”.

    “The spreading of the rumour of Akanni’s death bore the mark of usual blackmail stunts by the governor to create tension among the people to cause mayhem.

    ”This is to divert attention from his alleged criminal acts, including court invasion to beat up a judge, attacks on the opposition and criminal manipulation of electoral process that gave him victory.”

    Olatunbosun urged Nigerians not to see Fayose’s behaviour as a standard conduct among Ekiti people.

    “The governor’s special behaviour is the price of electing ‘unserious people’ into honourable positions of authority.”