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Tag: Samuel Madojemu

  • Ten reasons Saraki was acquitted by CCT

    Ten reasons Saraki was acquitted by CCT

    The Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki was on Wednesday at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) cleared of the false assets declaration charge preferred against him.

    Below are the major reasons the Code of Conduct Tribunal acquitted the Senate President.

    Upholding Saraki’s “no-case submission”, the tribunal made up of two men, the Chairman and a member said:

    1. The prosecution failed to discharge the burden of proof placed on it under the law.
    2. The CCT Chairman Justice Danladi Yakubu Umar said the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case against Saraki to warrant his being called to defend himself.
    3. Umar faulted the evidence of the third prosecution witness, Samuel Madojemu (Head of Investigation at the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB) that he received oral instructions to join a team from other agencies to investigate Saraki.
    4. He said Madojemu was unhelpful to the prosecution when he (Madojemu) claimed that all information in the affidavit in support of the 18-count charge was based on information supplied to him by an undisclosed team of investigators.
    5. Umar said what the EFCC tendered before the tribunal was more of a product of  intelligence gathering than of conventional investigation.
    6. It is wrong of the investigators not to have invited the defendant to make a statement so that the truth can be unearthed.
    7. Agwadza noted that while the prosecution alleged that Saraki was earning salary from the Kwara State government even as a Senator, it (prosecution) failed to call the state’s Accountant-General to prove that allegation.
    8. The prosecution failed to produce material evidence including the defendant’s statement and the original copies of his assets declaration forms.
    9. In criminal prosecution, he said, the onus was on the prosecution to prove its case, adding that where it fails in that duty, the defence could not be called to prove its innocence.
    10. The prosecution, he said, failed to call vital witnesses to “effectively link the defendant to the offences charged”.

    The CCT noted that the evidence was so discredited, unreliable that no reasonable court will attach probate value to them.

    He said the team referred to by Madojemu comprising operatives of the EFCC, DSS and CCB is unknown to law, adding that the team has no constitutional or statutory backing to have done what it did.

    The tribunal’s sole member, Williams Atedze Agwadza.

    “My humble conclusion is that the defendant in this case has no case to answer and he is accordingly discharged and acquitted,” Agwadza said.

  • Witnesses’ absence stalls Saraki’s false asset declaration trial

    Witnesses’ absence stalls Saraki’s false asset declaration trial

    The absence of prosecution witnesses on Thursday in Abuja at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) again stalled the trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki.

    The senate president is standing trial over alleged false assets declaration while serving as governor of Kwara.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the trial had suffered similar fate between April 18 and April 25.

    Both adjournments, however, were at the instance of the prosecution team.

    Saraki’s trial which began in September 2015 had suffered numerous setbacks, mostly at the instance of the prosecution.

    NAN recalls that the prosecution shortlisted eight witnesses who would testify against the senate president in the 13- count charge of alleged false assets declaration.

    Those to testify are Yahaya Bello, Michael Wetkas, Mustapha Musa, Nura Bako, Adamu Garba, Samuel Madojemu, Abdulrahaman Dauda and Nwachukwu Amazu.

    Some of the witnesses were said to be DSS operators who investigated the four forms submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau by Saraki.

    The prosecutor, Mr Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) had asked for short adjournment to enable him produce his witnesses.

    The Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Danladi Umar adjourned the matter till May 4 for continuation.

  • ACLN react to Saraki’s proposed visit: Diaspora Nigerians can’t tolerate corrupt office holders

    ACLN react to Saraki’s proposed visit: Diaspora Nigerians can’t tolerate corrupt office holders

    The Association for Credible Leadership in Nigeria (ACLN) acknowledges the proposed visitation of the Senate President of Nigeria, Dr Bukola Saraki to the United States, unfortunately, he is not welcomed as planned in early May.

    We cannot hold back from revealing how disappointed we, like many Nigerians, are with the Senate President and his Senate, who have failed to address the several cases of corruption levelled against them.

    Sadly, Saraki in recent times said that a lot of stakeholders must respect the Senate institution; an institution that has only succeeded in further granting power and more wealth to elected few. No wonder the institution will demand respect that it could not earn.

    •Saraki

    Recall that Saraki, like many others in the senate, has ongoing cases that have practically been swept under the carpet. Among several corruption allegations which till date has not been answered but rather avoided are:

    1. Saraki’s operation of foreign accounts between 2009 and 2012 while serving as a public office holder.

    2. Saraki was the Kwara State Governor between 2003 and 2011. Till date, there are still unanswered allegations regarding his misappropriation of the public funds during his tenure.

    3. Similarly, he was involved in the Panama papers controversy of 2016 and yet to resolve allegations of corruption levelled against the senate by the Paris Club.

    4. According to the Head of Intelligence Unit at the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), Samuel Madojemu, Saraki was wrong to have earned monthly payments from the Kwara State government at the same time when he was already elected to the Senate.

    5. Also worthy of mention is the fact that, it is under Saraki’s leadership that a key member of the Nigerian Senate was suspended for standing for the truth. Former Majority Leader, Senator Ali Ndume, was sent home for six months for filing a petition against Saraki and the lawmaker representing Kogi West Senatorial District, Senator Dino Melaye, who was involved in certificates forgery case. A Senior Advocate of Nigeria – Femi Falana in a recent interview declared this act of the senate as absolutely unconstitutional.

    Aside a 6-month suspension of a fellow senator being unconstitutional, Saraki’s (Senate) Committee on ethics failed to address the raised issues, instead, they attacked the person. What a shame of a body of lawmakers’ institution.

    6. For several years, the Nigerian Senate has operated a hidden budget despite the demand for transparency and accountability by taxpayers. A fight that the governor of Kaduna state Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has taken on himself by challenging the National Assembly to follow his example of releasing the Kaduna state audited budget.

    ACLN commends governor El-Rufai for this action and hereby demand that Saraki and his team, as well

    •Governor El-Rufai

    as governors across the nation, release their audited budget otherwise they are not welcomed in the United States and are not fit to occupy the seats at the Nigerian National Assembly or Governor and at the ACLN, we will continue to hold them accountable. They are public office holders not private.

    Unfortunately, what Saraki is expected to speak on at the Town Hall event at Crown Plaza Suites Hotel, 9090 Southwest Freeway, Houston on May 4th, 2017, is Brain Drain and ACLN could not but marvel at the disillusion of Saraki and his team. Our question is, what has he done with the brains of Bachelor and Master degrees holders who have remained jobless in Nigeria? What is the Senate doing to the youths unemployment/underemployment which according to the country’s bureau of statistics stood at an alarming rate of 45.65% for Q3 of 2016. Is that not chasing shadows?

    To ACLN, it shows that Saraki and his team are disillusioned if they are concerned about Brain Drain but have not found a solution to the worrisome level of unemployment, poor infrastructure, shameful public institutions and rate of corruption in Nigeria.

    With the facts stated above and more not mentioned herein, the ACLN insists that the Senate President is not worthy of coming to the United States to address learned, skilled and hardworking Nigerians who, in their little capacity, contribute to the uplift of the country back home.

    Consequently, if Saraki eventually visits Houston, we hereby urge Nigerians in Houston and across the United States to rise up and show him our displeasure along with those of his colleagues in the National Assembly by protesting his presence. We cannot allow these rogues the pleasure of a peaceful visit to the U.S.A while they leave our fellow Nigerians languishing in misery back home.

     

  • Saraki loses bid to stop CCB official’s recall

    Saraki loses bid to stop CCB official’s recall

    Senate President, Bukola Saraki, on Wednesday lost in his bid to prevent the recall of an official of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) who had earlier testified in his trial before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) for alleged false assets declaration.

    At the commencement of proceedings on Wednesday, lead prosecution lawyer, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), re-invited the CCB official, Samuel Madojemu, to clarify his earlier testimonies during cross-examination by Saraki’s lawyer.

    Before Madojemu could answer the first question from Jacobs, Saraki’s lawyer, Paul Erokoro (SAN), objected to the witness being asked questions about the Senate president’s London property.

    Erokoro said Madojemu had earlier admitted that he knew nothing about the London mortgage and did not seek any explanation from the Fortis Bank in London.

    The CCT Chairman, Danladi Umar, overruled Erokoro and allowed Jacobs to continue with his re-examination of the witness.

    Madojemu proceeded to answer Jacobs’ question and restated his evidence that Saraki failed to declare a London property he allegedly acquired through mortgage in 2010.

    Madojemu, the Head of Intelligence Unit at the CCB, had during cross-examination by Erokoro, identified a property at 70 Bourne Street, South-West London, valued at $4,800,000, which he said  Saraki declared that he acquired through proceeds from sales of rice and sugar in January 2002.

     

  • Assets declaration: ‘Why CCB didn’t interview Saraki during investigation’

    Assets declaration: ‘Why CCB didn’t interview Saraki during investigation’

    …Trial resumes March 21

     

    The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) did not see the need to interview Senate President, Bukola Saraki while investigating the alleged inconsistencies in the various assets declaration forms Saraki submitted, a senior official of the bureau explained Thursday.

    Saraki has consistently claimed to have been denied fair hearing on the ground that he was not interviewed by the CCB on the alleged discrepancies in his assets declaration forms before he was charged before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).

    But, Thursday, CCB’s Head of Investigation Department, Samuel Madojemu explained that it was not a mandatory requirement that everyone being investigated by the CCB must be interviewed personally before charges are filed against such a person before the CCT.

    He said, in Saraki’s case, the CCB chose not to invite him for interview because his statement on oath as represented by his declarations in the various assets declaration forms he submitted to the CCB was sufficient.

    Madojemu spoke while being cross-examined as the third prosecution witness by Saraki’s lawyer and former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Kanu Agabi (SAN), at the resumption of proceedings yesterday in the Senate President’s trial before the CCT.

    “The defendant (Saraki) was not interviewed because he had already made his statement on oath in the form of his assets declaration form.

    As a matter of convention in the CCB, we usually invite subjects (those being investigated), but it is not compulsory. It is within the prerogative of the Chairman of the CCB to invite or not to invite,” Madojemu said.

    He also said Saraki was not the only former state governor investigated by the CCB.  Madojemu said he could not confirm if the team that investigated Saraki in 2006 interviewed him, because he (the witness) was not part of that team.

    The witness, who said he was a member of the team of investigators that investigated Saraki’s assets declaration claims in 2015, stated that the 2015 investigation was in furtherance of an earlier investigation conducted in 2006.

    He said the latter investigation was informed by complaint from the Federal Ministry of Justice, which found that report of the 2006 investigation scanty. He said he was not aware there was a petition to the CCB against Saraki.

    Madojemu said: “The 2015 investigation was informed by the need for further investigation of his claims in the assets declaration forms. I am not here to challenge the work of the 2006 investigation team, but to state that, based on the outcome of the investigation conducted by the 2006 team, which was found to be scanty; there was need for further investigation.”

    When Agabi sought to know who declared the 2006 report scanty, the witness said the EFCC reviewed the report and found that it did not cover all the years Saraki served in public offices and decided there was need for further investigation of all his assets declaration claims.

    On who directed the 2015 investigation, Madojemu said: “The complaint came from the Federal Ministry of Justice, arising from the investigation by the EFCC. From the complaint and intelligence supplied by the Federal Ministry of Justice, the CCB and EFCC decided to collaborate to ensure detailed investigation of the case.”

    The witness gave names of some members of the 2015 investigation team to include himself, Michael Wetkas (of the EFCC), Nura (EFCC), Samuel Yahaya (CCB), Peter Danladi (CCB) and Yahaya Bello (EFCC).

    The tribunal, which sat for less than two hours yesterday, has adjourned further hearing to March 21.

  • ‘Saraki wrong to earn double salaries as public officer’

    ‘Saraki wrong to earn double salaries as public officer’

    An official of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), Samuel Madojemu on Thursday insisted that Senate President, Bukola Saraki was wrong to have earned monthly payments from the Kwara State governor at the same time when he was already elected to the Senate. 

    Madojemu, who is the Head, Intelligence Unit of the CCB was emphatic when he said:  “A public officer is not permitted to earn two salaries from public treasuries, using two government positions at the same time.” 

    The CCB official spoke while testifying as the third prosecution witness at the resumption of proceedings in Saraki’s trial before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) on charges of false assets declaration.

    Led in evidence by lead prosecution lawyer, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), Madojemu also said Saraki failed to declare, among others, his mortgage and the property he acquired through mortgage in London. He added that Saraki failed to declare his liability of about $3.4m in an America Express Card.

    “Your lordship, a public officer who has a mortgage abroad is expected to declare the mortgage. Having fully paid the mortgage, the public officer is expected to declare the property in his asset declaration form. But the defendant did not declare any mortgage in London.

    “He (Saraki) gave instruction to his banker, the GTB, to transfer £1,516,000 in two days to a bank in Fortis Bank for a mortgage in London. There was no declaration for the property in London.”

    Madojemu also said the Senate President made a single deposit of N77m cash on September 5, 2007, when his monthly salary, as governor of Kwara State, was N254,412.25.

    The witness, who read from a statement of Saraki’s account with the Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, said the N77m was deposited in the defendant’s account in one day.

    “Your lordship, the cash lodgment deposited is not consonant with the income of the defendant as a governor. It cannot be attributable to his legitimate income. Your lordship, the defendant was earning 254,412.25 for a month. 

    “Within that same period, in one single day, as shown in the statement of account made available by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), there was lodgment of N77m in his account in one day.

    “From Exhibit 15, the salary of governors as of August 12, 2007, was N254,412.25.”

    On his role in the investigation of Saraki’s case, the witness said: “My role with reference to the exhibits mentioned already, was to compare the exhibits with the asset declaration forms of the defendants to see if there was any infraction with regards to his declarations.Those exhibits were sourced by EFCC officials in my team.”

    Under cross-examination by the defence lawyer, Paul Erokoro (SAN), Madojemu was shown the contradiction in the number of Saraki’s asset declaration forms that the prosecution had tendered in court and the number of the forms which the CCB official had linked to Saraki in an affidavit.

    While seven of Saraki’s declaration forms had been tendered before the CCT, Madojemu had stated in the affidavit that Saraki had only declared four.

    When asked by the defence lawyer if four and seven were the same, the witness said no.

    Responding to further questions, the witness confirmed that he had earlier stated that it was unlawful for a public officer to trade in rice and sugar commodities.

    The witness said a public officer was permitted to own shares in companies, and when asked further, he said nothing stopped such public officers from owning shares in companies trading in rice and sugar.

    He confirmed that he never met Saraki in person and never asked him if he had shares in any company trading in rice and sugar.

    Madojemu said: “Public officer is allowed to own shares in a company. Nothing to my knowledge stops a public officer from owning controlling shares in a limited liability company. A public officer can be allowed to own controlling shares in a company that trades in rice and sugar. 

    “I did not ask the defendant whether he had shares in the company that traded rice and sugar. I did not find out if any of the companies in which the defendant owns share trades in rice and sugar. I have never seen the audited account of the defendant’s companies,” the witness said.

    Earlier, Saraki was re-arraigned on an amended 18-count charge filed by the prosecution, t which he pleaded not guilty.

    Saraki is, in the amended charge, accused of failing to make a written declaration of his “properties and assets”, that is, N77m paid into his account with Guaranty Trust Bank, GRA, Ilorin branch on September 5, 2007.

    It was also alleged that the sum of N77m was “not fairly attributable” to Saraki’s “income, gifts or loan approved by the Code of Conduct for Public Officers”.

    Further hearing in the case is adjourned to March 2.

  • Prosecution closes case in Orubebe’s trial

    Prosecution closes case in Orubebe’s trial

    The prosecution team in the trial of ex-Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godsday Orubebe, closed its case at the Code of Conduct Tribunal on Tuesday.

    Orubebe is being tried on a one count charge of false asset declaration at the tribunal.

    He is accused by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) of failing to declare his ownership of a landed property in Abuja.

    The prosecution called one witness to testify against the ex-minister on Tuesday.

    The prosecution witness, Samuel Madojemu, an official of the CCB, in his evidence-in-chief on April 7 gave details of how his agency discovered a property owned by the ex-minister in Abuja which he allegedly refused to disclose.

    Madojemu said Orubebe failed to declare the property identified as Plot 2057, Asokoro District, Abuja, when he served as a minister between 2007 and 2011.

    He said Orubebe submitted five asset declaration forms to the CCB between 2007 and 2011.

    Copies of the forms were admitted by the CCT as exhibits.