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Hurricane Ribadu-TheNEWS/Saharareporters

September 3, 2006
Nuhu Ribadu, the harmless-looking but iron-willed Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Executive Chairman was a guest speaker at a recent lecture organised by the Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC), Lagos. His message, however, reverberated beyond the venue, where financial experts in banks, insurance and blue chip companies had gathered to bolster their resolve to be better practitioners of their professions.

“Over $400 billion oil money has been stolen by bad leaders,” Ribadu revealed, even as the financial gurus present exchanged glances after hearing the mind-boggling sum.


Ribadu clenched his fist and pounded the lectern for emphasis. “We are going to trace the activities of past and present leaders and publish the names of those leaders who had laundered money, their accounts, and the names of the banks where the money is being kept,” he vowed. “We will also close the account of those politicians who have laundered money and converted it for their political ambitions. This will stop bad people from coming into power.”

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True to his words, Ribadu and his men have been moving against corrupt public figures with what his admirers call the resolve and effectiveness of a combined harvester. Those that have fallen into their net are state governors, their officials, bank chiefs, advance fee fraudsters, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) staff, business moguls (like Mike Adenuga of Globacom), politicians (General Ibrahim Babangida’s son, Muhammed), Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s men, lawyers, local government chairmen and others.


As at June this year, the Commission had investigated 550 cases, confiscated several landed properties, private jets, oil tankers, exotic automobiles. It has also recovered over $4billion (N560 billion) assets. Ribadu revealed further that 24 Governors whose cases had been investigated but could not be tried because of the immunity clause, would be prosecuted when they leave office.


EFCC’s battle in the states has taken on the nature of a cyclone. What began in Plateau State in 2004 when Governor Joshua Dariye was arrested in London, became more dramatic recently when EFCC men arrested the state’s legislators in the premises of the Federal High Court, Abuja. They were in court to defend themselves against a civil matter brought against them by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The Plateau Speaker, Simon Lalong and his deputy, Zumunta Musa, were picked up by the EFCC.

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They were on Tuesday 29 August dragged by the Commission before a Federal High Court, Lagos and slammed with a 21-count charge of money laundering. Charged with them were five others: Samuel Danila, Meshak Chindaba, Victor Lapang, Nanchan Napchwat and Hosea Azi. EFCC accused the lawmakers of collecting N63 million from the state government in 2004 for car loans and as part-payment for their constituency projects.


As the commission put it, this action contravened Section 15(2) (b) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2004. The breakdown was that each of the legislators was given N4million as car loan and N2.5 million as constituency project allowance.


In Benue, the fear of EFCC is the beginning of wisdom. It was, therefore, not surprising to observers that since 27 July, 2006 when the Commission raided Makurdi, the state capital, governance has been grounded as top government officials abandoned their duty posts for fear of being whisked away by operatives of the Commission. Offices of senior government functionaries were locked up for days. Contractors slated to be paid mobilisation fees for various contracts at the state Ministry of Finance were turned back.

 
But the government officials could not escape from the EFCC dragnet as it stormed Makurdi in August in a commando-like manner, carting away government documents and official files. It also arrested three government functionaries. They were detained at the state police headquarters, Makurdi and later taken to EFCC custody in Abuja. Those arrested were Mr. Terna Ahua of Ministry of Water Resources and Environment; Mr. Peter Paa, Deputy Director in the Accountant-General’s office; and Mrs. Ruth Ijir, Director, Monitoring and Evaluation at the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.


Prior to the arrest, the Commission had, in a letter dated July 31 this year, written to the state Commissioner of Police, requesting for the release of 10 top government officials for investigations into alleged cases of criminal conspiracy, abuse of office, corrupt practices, diversion of public funds and money laundering-related offences through contract awards. The projects being investigated, according to the letter, include: the abandoned Makurdi International Hotel, Makurdi boreholes, Makurdi solar power panels, Makurdi Golf Course, Asphalt  Plant, the comatose Fruit Industry, Tarka Dam, the ailing Taraka Mills and a host of others.
These contracts, TheNEWS learnt, were abandoned by the contractors after the state government had reportedly paid them over 70 per cent of the contract sums.


Beginning from February this year, the EFCC focused its searchlight on Ekiti State. It accused the Governor, Ayo Fayose administration of mismanaging funds, the worst of which was the N1.4 billion poultry project. Thus on Wednesday 26 July, Gbenga James, a business associate of Fayose and Goke Olatunji, the Governor’s Personal Assistant, were dragged by EFCC to a Federal High Court Lagos over the contract.
In a 15-count charge, EFCC said Olatunji and James acted as go-between to divert money meant for the project. They allegedly built a N9.25 million house for the Governor in Ibadan, bought a N2.1million Mercedez Benz car for Fayose’s mother and paid the Governor N10million from the project. The case is still in court.


Ribadu also arrested no fewer than nine local government chairmen in Imo State. This was based on  Chief Arthur Nzeribe’s petition that N50 billion belonging to the third tier of government was diverted by Theresa, Governor Achike Udenwa’s wife, through road contracts awarded to Rom Soil Fix Ltd.


The former Governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha will not forget the EFCC in a hurry. The Commission accused him of money laundering, abuse of office and official corruption. Aside these, the EFCC found out that Alamieyeseigha had a hefty bank balance of N1.7 billion and  sumptuous assets at home and abroad. These include an investment of 2.7 million pounds sterling in a refinery in Ecuador, an N850 million property on Allen Avenue, N1 billion shares in Bond Bank and ownership of Chelsea Hotel, Abuja worth N1.5 billion. In spite of these grave allegations hanging on his neck, Alamieyeseigha was confident that he would evade impeachment. But the manner in which he jumped bail in far away London was to be his albatross. And by December 2005, three months after he was arrested in London, the Bayelsa State House of Assembly impeached him. He was subsequently arrested, handcuffed and taken to Abuja enroute Port Harcourt.
Before the London arrest and fall of the governor, the EFCC operatives had on 5 September 2005 stormed Bayelsa State and picked up some top government functionaries. Those arrested are Solomon Appreala, Commissioner of Finance; Steven Emmanuel, Accountant-General and Olaitari Ikemike (Government House Accountant). They were alleged to have inflated contract sums running into billions of Naira.


Even Sokoto State, the seat of the caliphate, has had a fair share of the EFCC fever. Following a petition written by Alhaji Ibrahim Magaji (PDP) accusing the Governor Bafarawa administration of looting public purse and awarding major contracts to the governor’s pointman, Alhaji Umarun Kwabo, the commission invaded the state on 26 August. Expectedly, Kwabo was arrested and whisked away to Abuja for grilling. Beside falling short of due process in contract award, the petitioner said the contract sums were bloated.
TheNEWS gathered also that Wema Bank is under EFCC investigation.  On 28 August, Ribadu took his anti-corruption war a notch higher when it charged Zamfara State Governor, Ahmed Sani; Secretary to the State Government, Abubakar Hassan Moriki and six others before a Federal High Court in Abuja. EFCC accused them of conspiracy and money laundering of about N750 million. This covers local government funds, award of contracts, Education Tax funds and illegal bank loans.


Moriki, Idris Mohammed Keita, Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs; and Bala Wakuti, Secretary to the state Finance and General Purpose Committee, who had been in EFCC’s detention since 7 July, were dragged before Justice Babs Kuewumi. However, while Governor Yerima did not show up because of the immunity he enjoys under Section 108 of the constitution, Kasimu Mohammed Anka, the Accountant-General; Bello Makau, Commissioner for Finance, Abdulaziz Abubakar Yari and other officials had earlier voted with their feet.


The acting General Secretary of the National Union of Textile Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN), Issa Aremu, said the money “was enough to resuscitate many prostrate textile mills in the state.”  In Ikeja Local Government, the Chairman, Wale Odunlami and six of his councillors were, in July, arrested by the EFCC. They were Simeon Ajisafe, Mufutau Odekunle, Idowu Ayinde, Rasheed Badmus, Mustapha Adeshina and Lai Moses.
The officials  were alleged to have demanded N30 million from Wahab Owokoniran, the suspended chairman. While Odunlami allegedly inflated a fence repair contract from N350,000 to N1.7million, Ajisafe allegedly obtained from the council’s funds N1.4million for his mother’s burial. 


Members of the wig and gown profession are not immune from the EFCC cudgel. The commission is investigating 27 lawyers, including Mr. B.E. I. Nwofor, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and former Inspector-General of Police, Tafa Balogun. Nineteen of them are being probed while eight are arraigned in court over scams involving billions of naira.
Some of the other lawyers are Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu, a former Minister during the regime of the late dictator, Sani Abacha; Fred Ajudua and Rickey Tarfa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. Dalhatu allegedly stole $15 million property of Mr. Joseph Lopez Tapia.


According to the EFCC, “The Federal Government paid Mr. Tapia the sum of $15 million being compensation for seizure of his ship, Mt Izarra, through his duly authorised solicitor, Dalhatu. Instead of remitting the money to his client, he misappropriated it.”


 For Tafa Balogun, the immediate past Inspector-General of Police, he was alleged to have looted N17 billion from the Nigeria Police. Rickey Tarfa, on the other hand, was accused of collecting $500,000 from one Frederick Akiruntan to grease the palms of EFCC officials so that the sale of Russel Plaza, Wuse, Abuja, would be effected easily. For this, the Commission has dragged him to court. Simon Lalong, the Plateau speaker, who is also a lawyer, was charged with illegal collecting N9 million from the Plateau State Government, ostensibly for constituency projects but, in actual fact for onward delivery to his own pocket.
John Olatunde Ayeni, Principal Partner, Legal Resources Alliance and Chairman/Chief Executive, Olutoyi Estates and Property Development and Co., is another lawyer being investigated by the anti-corruption body.


He was accused of acting as Mr. Fix It for former Governor Dieprieye Alamieyeseigha in the procurement of some landed property in the United Kingdom. As EFCC explained, “in respect of the property abroad, he transferred money on behalf of the Governor to Med and Co, a UK-based solicitor for the purchase of the property. He also made a transfer to Santolina Investment Corporation, a foreign company of the former governor.”


Maureen Ibekwe, another lawyer, appears on the list for allegedly obtaining N3.2 million from one Mr. Achor Ihim, Chairman of Okigwe Local Government Area, Imo State. Ibekwe claimed that the money would be used to bribe EFCC men so that they could grant Ihim bail.


Another alleged crooked lawyer in EFCC’s black book is Emefo Etudo. He allegedly approached James Ezike and Dr. Okon Onyung that Ribadu was going after them. That, according to Etudo, was based on a petition written against them by Nkasi, Onyung’s estranged wife. Etudo allegedly told the two that EFCC demanded N1 million out of which he had raised N500,000. In other words, he wanted the others to raise the remainder. Since Ezike’s antenna did not work on the same corruption frequency with Etudo, he alerted EFCC operatives, who promptly descended on the fraudster.


Ajudua, on the other hand, defrauded a German-based Palestinian, Ziad Abu Zalaf, to the tune of $1.04million. Ajudua claimed it represented legal fees for a contract which his company, Technical International, executed for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Zalaf’s money just made some round-about movements, detoured and ended up in Ajudua’s wallet.


But Mr. Lanke Odogiyan, the former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) chairman, asked that Ribadu be removed. This is because, he and Malam Nasir el-Rufai, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, disobey court orders whimsically. “The two of them represent the new face of government disobedience of court orders,” Odogiyan charged at the 2006 Bar Conference in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital. He added that the Attorney-General and Justice Minister, Chief Bayo Ojo “either looks the other way or is completely castrated and helpless in the face of these two lawless institutions (EFCC and FCT) that parade themselves as giants.” Odogiyan claimed that he and his association acknowledge EFCC’s war against some corrupt persons and agencies, but they condemned the use of the Commission as an instrument of witch-hunting political opponents of the government in power.


The commission, however, reacted. “The issue is not about the removal or appointment of Nuhu Ribadu. The war on corruption has started and there is no stopping it. Odogiyan, by his statement, seems to have aligned himself with the forces that are desperate to see to the collapse of the war against corruption.”
Odogiyan’s anger notwithstanding, Ribadu has continued to attract sympathy. Adams Oshiomhole, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President, advised Odogiyan to use his energy to “refocus the judiciary, purge it of corrupt judges such that big men and corrupt people cannot use their money to buy judgement in order to roll back the wheel of justice.”


A member of the Bar, Chief Gani Fawehinmi pitched his tent with Ribadu. He considered Odogiyan’s outburst as “most irresponsible, grossly thoughtless, obviously unreasonable and undoubtedly lacking in legal and factual substance.”
Fawehinmi’s missiles did not cease. He challenged Odogiyan to provide details of those EFCC detained illegally, the court orders that it disobeyed and facts on the Commission’s Gestapo tactics. Otherwise, Fawehinmi said, he would wave off Odogiyan’s attacks as “gaseous effusions of a professional with a tail coat mentality who still clings to Victorian age professional disposition of protecting the upper crust with doubtful credentials.” Rather, Fawehinmi wanted the NBA to praise EFCC for being able to move against the rich and the powerful, the influential and the well-connected, the highly placed, the 419 crooks, the money launderers “who control the governmental purse of the people, the suspected professionals, including lawyers...”


Meanwhile, EFCC has referred the lawyers’ cases to the disciplinary committee of the NBA “for necessary action.”
To further demonstrate that it is no respecter of certain corrupt families, EFCC’s horsewhip swirled again and landed in the bosom of General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. His son, Mohammed was, on 11 August 2006, arrested by EFCC operatives for allegedly owning 24 per cent of Globacom’s $1.5billion shareholding illegally. Mohammed was accused of procuring the shares through a front, based in Kaduna.


As Ribadu put it, Mohammed was picked up as “part of the on-going investigations we have been doing ... now on the case of Globacom. The investigations took us to Kaduna to get someone and the information we were looking for. On getting there, we discovered that the house belongs to Mohammed Babangida.” In fact, the Kaduna man reportedly admitted being Mohammed’s front, a revelation  which he made after he could no longer bear his 34-hour detention in EFCC cell.


It was as if the Babangidas took their lessons from the ants which, in the dry season, would store enough provisions against the rainy days. This is to say that Mohammed invested his money (through different proxies) in oil. He is married to Rahama Ndimi, daughter of the Oriental  Energy chairman, Mohammed Ndimi. According to Saharareporters, the company is the owner of Oil Mining Licence (OML) 115, Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL) 224 that covers 61,000 acres in the shallow waters, off the South East coast of Nigeria.”


Oriental Energy is technically assisted by Sovereign Oil, a Texan company. The former’s OML 115, as Sovereign Oil’s chairman, M. Briso revealed, “lies at the centre of a 1.2 million acre tract with over 7 billion barrels of oil reserves. It produces over one million barrels of oil per day.”


The EFCC boss was more direct last week in Abuja at a seminar on economic crimes. He accused IBB of introducing advance fee fraud, called 419, into Nigeria.
EFCC has begun investigations into companies that have links with IBB. Fruitex International, London (FILL), a subsidiary of Fruitex Oil Exploration and Production Limited (FOSPL) lists Mohammed Babangida as a director. The company which began operations in 2001, added the name of Aminu, another of IBB’s sons, as another board member four years after.


IBB’s link with FOEPL has also landed Dr. ABC Orjiakor, a wealthy Catholic from Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State, in trouble. Orjiakor is the chairman of the company, while Mohammed allegedly owns 65 per cent. Orjiakor and IBB were, in the past, collaborators in a joint oil exploration venture in Equatorial Guinea. EFCC picked Orjiakor up two weeks ago, but he was released after the intervention of Reverend Father Matthew Hassan Kukah. Other IBB scams being investigated by EFCC are the $12.4 billion Gulf War oil windfall and the $6 billion debt buy-back deal, revealed by the football star, John  Fashanu.
TheNEWS gathered that apart from IBB’s investments in oil and telecommunications, EFCC had begun to investigate his alleged monstrous shareholding in Julius Berger, which had, before now, been a closely guarded secret.


IBB’s supporters, however, read political meaning to EFCC’s action. Alhaji Aliyu Adamu, National President, All Nigeria Youth Movement for IBB said it was “part of the political game plan on the part of the government to frustrate IBB’s political ambition” and “it was part of the government’s agenda to frustrate and intimidate notable and credible politicians out of the political contest.”
EFCC’s other target was Mike Adenuga. On 15 August 2006, operatives of the commission invaded the head office of Globacom. They came with the Executive Director, Human Resources, Mr. Adewale Sangowawa who they had earlier picked up from his office at Saka Tinubu Street, Victoria Island, Lagos. The EFCC officials went away with documents and computers.


Ribadu explained: “We can understand that people are not used to the fact that just as small businesses are investigated, big ones can also be investigated. We are guided by the principle of equity before the law and we also know that it would take a while before everyone believes that. One thing Nigerians must concede to us is that in the course of our investigation, nobody ever accused us of assault.” It was sequel to the arrest of Adenuga himself on 9 July 2006 over the Petroleum Development Trust Fund (PDTF). An extension of this was the invasion of Adenuga’s Equatorial Trust Bank (ETB) and Conoil.
This, as political and business analysts argued, was a war indirectly targeted at Vice-President Atiku Abubakar. This is because the PTDF, established in 1973 to help develop a local crop of technicians and other professionals in the petroleum sector, had written to Atiku in 2002, asking for authority to deposit $20 million in ETB. As TheNEWS gathered, PTDF was one of the Federal Government parastatals (as well as NPA, NNPC) identified to raise money to fund the PDP election in 2003.


Another arrest that critics said was indirectly aimed at Atiku was that of Otunba Oyewole Fasawe. That was over his $6.5 million indebtedness to Trans International Bank, one of the institutions that now make up Spring Bank.
The Federal Government in its bid to track down money laundering and fraudulent transactions perpetuated through the Nigerian banking system, has spread its dragnet to the bank accounts of suspected fraudsters. The government has launched a major investigation into the pattern of transactions carried out through the accounts, with specific interest in knowing the sources of some of the large scale financial dealings in which Nigerian banks are involved both locally and abroad.


In 2003, EFCC investigated two ailing banks in order to begin prosecution of all those indicted in the activities that brought the banks to their ailing condition.
That same year, Fred Ajudua, a notable 419 kingpin and lawyer from Ibusa, Delta State, Adekunle Alumile, a Lagos socialite popularly called Ade Bendel and Morris Ibekwe, a member of the House of Representatives representing Okigwe North Federal Constituency of Imo State, were arraigned at a Lagos High Court with an eight-count charge bordering on the nature of their businesses.
Ibekwe was said to have defrauded one Munch Klaus, a German national, of about $300,000 and DM 75,000 in 1992. He had allegedly deceived Klaus into believing that German Electronics which Klaus heads, would be awarded a contract to deliver computers, monitors, radar systems, accessories and other needed equipment at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. Ibekwe allegedly posed as the Accountant-General of the Ministry of Transport and Aviation.


Ajudua, who had been in and out of detention on several cases of advance fee fraud, was arraigned at the Lagos High Court in connection with a N234 million scam against Remmy Cima and Pierre Vuger, two Dutch citizens, between 1999 and 2000. They allegedly fell for the proposition by Ajudua and his group to transfer a sum of N36million to their accounts from the Federal Ministry of Aviation.


Ajudua, who allegedly posed as Isa Audu, the Auditor-General of Nigeria, had visited London three times but did not take note that he was being filmed by a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reporter. It was only when the tape was shown on BBC television that Cima knew that his $698,388 had been fleeced.
Ajudua and Ade Bendel, who are facing several charges, are also in EFCC net for the case of F Springer-Beck, 54, a German national whom they duped of about $300,000. Springer-Beck was so devastated by the fraud the she moved to Nigeria.
While Ibekwe died in detention, Ajudua was discharged and acquitted by a Lagos High Court in December 2005. His freedom followed negotiations between the German and the accused on the need to settle the matter out of court. The German had told the court that she was no longer interested in pursuing the case as the accused had approached her in April, last year, for an out-of-court settlement. She told the court that in view of the latest development, she had decided to drop the case.

 
Also arrested that same year by the EFCC was Emmanuel Nwude-Odenigwe, the kingpin who allegedly masterminded the defrauding of Nelson Sakaguchi, a Brazilian bank manager, of the sum of $242 million.
Nwude and Ikechukwu Anajemba (now deceased) had, in 1995, embarked on the journey to defraud Sakaguchi, which not only turned out to be the greatest yield in advance fee fraud for any Nigerian but also allegedly led to the collapse of Banco Nomeste, a bank in Brazil. Sakaguchi was a director of the International Department of Branco Noreste with its headquarters in Sao Paulo. In the said deal, Nwude posed as Paul Ogwuma, then Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria. His accomplice, Anajemba who played out as Rasheed Emwalk, Director of International Remittance in CBN, died sometime in 1998.


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