Crime
Nigerian Govt. $311m Abacha Loot ‘Directly to Contractors’
Nigeria’s presidency on Sunday revealed that the $311 million loot by the late former military Head of State, General Sani Abacha, which was repatriated to the country, has been paid directly to contractors for various jobs executed for the government.
It said the direct payment was to prevent the National Assembly and the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) from diverting the money.
The federal government had in May received $311,797,866.11 as part of recovered assets of the former military dictator.
The fund, which was repatriated from the United States and the Bailiwick of Jersey, was committed to expediting the construction of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, Abuja-Kano road, and the Second Niger Bridge,
Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Public Affairs, Ajuri Ngelale, explained during a virtual town hall meeting hosted on Twitter by the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu Media Centre, how the presidency prevented the National Assembly from diverting the money.
While presenting the scorecard of the Buhari administration, especially, in the area of infrastructure, Ngelale said the country would not be able to expand its revenue base without putting the infrastructure on ground.
According to Ngelale, “The cycle does not begin until you put the infrastructure on the ground. What we’ve been doing for the last 40-50 years before this administration was essentially living on borrowed time, where you have oil revenues coming in very effortlessly and all of that and we’re simply sharing it across import purchase and other forms of misuse.”
Ngelale explained that considering the infrastructure deficit in the country, the Buhari government devised innovative ways to finance, to bridge 50 years of infrastructure neglect in the country. He said it was based on this that the Sukuk bond was issued in 2017, which he said was oversubscribed when it was floated.
The presidential aide stated, “So, I think the country was shocked when there was an oversubscription to the tune of about 120 per cent. When we were asking for N100 billion and we came away with about N133 billion due to oversubscribed Sukuk from the private investors on the stock market.”
Ngelale explained that the Sukuk bond was oversubscribed because investors had confidence due to the verifiable mechanisms put in place by the government for Sukuk fund application. He said the fund would go towards the construction of roads and the investors would get the money back through the utilisation of those roads
The presidential aide added that the federal government also initiated the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF), which helped to provide a large sum for the construction of three major projects – the Second Niger Bridge, Lagos-Shagamu-Ibadan Expressway, and Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria Expressway.
Ngelale stated, “So you have three major projects under the PIDF that we have been able to fund directly to the contractor through the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA).
“And Nigerians have seen the truth of that, we don’t have to boast about it or talk about it because they can see it. Whether it’s a Second Niger Bridge, whether it’s the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway or whether it’s the Abuja-Kano, they know the work that is going on, it’s not in dispute.
“And because of the structure of the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund conceived by President Muhammadu Buhari, nobody, no middleman can put his finger on a kobo of that money on $1 of that money.
“And, of course, we’ve been able to further galvanise other funding inputs from, of course, the Abacha loot, signing deals with the with the US government and the Jersey authorities to ensure that $311 million was put back into those three projects, with each project taking about $103 million or 33.3 per cent of the total Abacha loot that was sent back.
“So, that’s another one where we’ve been able to mobilise private and public financing to be able to directly get this money into the hands of contractors straight without National Assembly diversion, without MDAs diversion, and all of that.”
Ngelale said the Apapa-Oworonsoki-Tollgate road would be completed by December 2022, just as Lagos-Sagamu-Ibadan Expressway and Second Nigeria Bridge. He said the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Expressway would be completed in 2023, while the Lekki Deep Sea Port would be completed by December this year.
The police in Lagos have dragged two women, Mmesuma Ofunna, and Blessing Adimekwe, before an Ojo Magistrates’ Court in Lagos, over alleged obtaining money by false pretence.
Ofunna, 22, and Adimekwe, 25, were arraigned before the Magistrate, Mr L K J Layeni, on a four-count charge bordering on conspiracy, obtaining by false pretence, stealing and conduct likely to breach peace.
They each, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The prosecutor, ASP Simon Uche, told the court that the defendants conspired with others now at large, to commit the offence on Oct. 26 at the Okokomaiko area of Ojo.
He alleged that they had obtained the sum of N70, 000 from one Faith Ahamefule, with a promise not to post her nude photo on social media.
The prosecutor alleged that the defendants later posted the nude photo of the nominal complainant on social media, knowing that their promise was false.
He alleged that they stole the N70, 0000, thereby conducting themselves in a manner likely to breach public peace.
The offence contravenes the provisions of sections 168(d), 287, 314, and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015.
The court granted the defendants bails in the sum of N500, 000 each, with two sureties each in like sum.
He adjourned the case until Jan. 8, 2025 for mention.
A Jos Magistrates’ Court on Monday, sentenced a 26-year-old Mechanic, Sadiq Umar to 15 months imprisonment for pickpocketing from passengers.
The Magistrate, Shawomi Bokkos, summarily tried and sentenced the convict after he pleaded guilty to the charge.
Bokkos in his judgment, ordered the convict to pay an option of N100, 000 fine or spend one year in prison.
He also asked him to pay a compensation of N15, 000 or an additional three months in prison in default.
Earlier, the Prosecutor, Insp Ijuptil Thiawur, told the court that the case was reported on Nov.16, at the “A” Division Police station by Moses Pam, Alexander Bakshak and Simon Justice the complaints.
Thiawur said that the convict attempted to steal from them before he was caught in the act and when the driver stopped the vehicle to search him he fled but was caught.
The Police said that the offence contravened the Plateau Penal Code Law.
The Zone-2 Police Command in Lagos says it has detained two suspected international fraudsters that allegedly specialised in forging foreign certificates in Lagos and Ghana.
The AIG in charge of the zone, Adegoke Fayaode, confirmed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday.
Fayoade said that the suspects allegedly offered N66m to the operatives with a view to free them but the offer was turned down.
NAN reports that the same zone operatives rejected a N174m bribe offered by a suspect in November to set him free.
Fayoade said that the suspects simply identified as Elvis, 23 and Kelly, 24, allegedly specialised in forging certificates of different nations and African Universities and defrauding their unsuspecting victims on the internet.
He said that the suspects have succeeded in acquiring exotic cars and erecting mansions in different parts of the country with the proceeds of their loot.
The AIG pointed out that luck ran out of the suspects after detectives at the Anti-Corruption Unit of the Zone received credible information from Nigerians in diaspora concerning some group of boys that specialised in forging foreign certificates.
According to him, on getting the information, he detailed the anti-corruption unit to investigate it and arrest the suspects without delay.
Fayoade said that based on his directives, the detectives stormed Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos waiting for the arrival of the suspects, whom they trailed to a five star hotel at Osapa-London in Lekki Area.
He said that the operatives arrested the suspects at a bus stop while they were about to escape secretly from the hotel, after monitoring their activities.
“Searching their luggage, one certificate of Blue Crest College, Ghana, belonging to Elvis and a student identity card of Academic City College belonging to Kelly were recovered.
“Further search revealed a transcript of an academic record from Blue Crest University belonging to Elvis.
“A letter of English proficiency from the said college and a letter of recommendation from the same Blue Crest College were recovered,” he said.
The AIG said that the suspects made useful statements to the police and confessed that they never got any admission into the school, stressing that they only procured the degree certificates through the help of a female Nigerian resident in Ghana.
“The suspects further confessed that the major aim of doing that is to enable them to get Ghana resident permit, which they got.
“The resident permit is showing them also as a student of Academic City University and that none of them has ever been admitted in the school.
“They claimed they paid a total of 26,000 Ghana Cedis for all the documents procured.
“They confessed that they procured all the documents to evade arrest in Ghana since they don’t have any means of livelihood.
Whenever police intercepted them, they showed their passports that they were students in Ghana.”
Fayoade said that the suspects were also allegedly involved in online romance scam, provision of foreign bank accounts for fraudulent transactions on the internet through what they call ‘Facebook bombing’.
He said the suspects presented themselves as an American soldier by name Captain Donald Rowe, serving in Syria, whom they impersonated on Instagram, using his name to defraud innocent persons.
The AIG said that while detectives were making frantic efforts to get more credible information from the suspects, they started negotiating to bribe the operatives for them to be set free.
“I directed my men to play along and recover the money as an exhibit. Subsequently, the detectives played along and the suspects paid them a sum of N66m, which they collected and kept as an exhibit.
“The Nigeria Police authorities have written to the Ghana embassy to get more information about the result and their suspected partners in Ghana said to be spearheading the fraud.
Fayoade said that they had also spread their dragnets through the International Police, Interpol, to round up their foreign accomplices.
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