October 4, 2008
SaharaReporters, New York
Several officials of Rivers State have revealed to SaharaReporters that the attempt by EFCC officials to apprehend the Chief of Staff to the state governor as well as other officials close to Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi is part of an ensuing power-play between Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa and Amaechi's lawyer, Kogi-born Adoki Bello Mohammed (SAN).
Two state officials, who spoke to us on guarantees of anonymity, claimed that there was a political deal going behind the scenes which they said was responsible for the EFCC's inability to arrest Mr. Nyeson Wike and other Rivers state officials accused by the EFCC of siphoning over N300 million using phony account names through the Zenith Bank of Nigeria.
Under the terms of the deal, Governor Amaechi is expected to lead the "indicted officials" personally to the headquarters of the EFCC and also to Umaru Yar'adua at the Aso Rock Villa to find a "political solution" to the problem.
The sources told SaharaReporters that the Rivers State corruption scandal was escalated by a festering rivalry between Mr. Aondoakaa and Adoki Mohammed who is being tipped to become the new Attorney General of the Federation (SAN) in the yet to be constituted federal cabinet slated for next week.
Aondoakaa and Mohammed, once close friends, worked together on a 2007 case at the Supreme Court that led to the court’s declaration that Amaechi was the rightful governor.
One of the sources told SaharaReporters that Amaechi had hired Aondoakaa to represent him at the Supreme Court in his quest to quash his exclusion from the PDP’s gubernatorial ticket for the April 2007 elections. However, Aondoakaa was named the Attorney General and Minister of justice the same week he was hired. Aondoakaa reportedly returned to Rivers state and collected $500,000 from the then incumbent governor, Celestine Omehia, promising to help him with the case. But when Amaechi eventually won the court case, Aondoakaaa also wanted to be paid, but Amaechi’s refusal to meet Aondoakaa’s demand left the AGF bitter.
One EFCC source pointed to the case of Cross River State governor, Liyel Imoke, who reportedly paid Aondoakaa a huge sum in bribes to prevent his arrest and prosecution for corruption. Aondoakaa then helped to prevail on Yar’adua to shield Imoke from arrest, in spite of the massive evidence of corruption against him, until Imoke ran for office again and won back his immunity.
Our sources from Rivers State said that, in the case of Mr. Wike, they had been perturbed by the continuous reports of his being sought by the EFCC. They denied that EFCC officials were actively seeking to arrest any Rivers State government officials. "When did it become difficult for the EFCC to arrest anyone in this country? And this is a time when Aondoakaa and Waziri are claiming that the EFCC is now a national institution.”
However, one EFCC source told SaharaReporters that the agency remains determined to apprehend the officials of Rivers State involved in the scam. The source claimed that those involved are holed up in the Government House in Port Harcourt, therefore making their arrest impossible.
Asked to explain the measures adopted to freeze the Rivers State accounts since a court order is normally required to freeze a bank account suspected of engaging in money laundering activities, our EFCC source said the two accounts located in two different branches of Zenith Bank in Port Harcourt have been “frozen.” These are the Trans-Amadi branch for the state government account – Account Number
601-091-6587 – and the personal account belonging to Mr. Nyeson Wike – Account Number 601-0916587 – domiciled at the Aba Road branch. The two accounts were opened in 2004. While that of the Rivers state government was opened in December 2004, the personal account of Nyeson Wike was opened and has been operational since July 2004 while he was the chairman of Oboi-Akpor local government area of Rivers state.
The EFCC source said this latest revelation of the location of the accounts contradicts initial media reports and information contained in a petition seen by SaharaReporters that the accounts were located at the "Nnamdi Azikiwe Road branch" of Zenith Bank in Port Harcourt.
Asked to explain how the EFCC froze the two accounts, our source explained that EFCC officials sent a "letter of advice" to Zenith Bank of Nigeria on September 7th 2008 to discontinue operations of both accounts and the bank promptly complied with the request.
Our source further stated that Zenith Bank violated the EFCC act by accepting a cash deposit from Mr. Wike in June 2008 of an amount exceeding N100 million, when the law prohibits banks from accepting cash transactions from individuals exceeding N1 million or corporate bodies in excess of N5 million. With specific regard to the Rivers state account frozen at the Trans Amadi branch, the source told SaharaReporters that it had to do with heavy withdrawals from the account made by a mysterious individual named "Harrison B. Princewill."
SaharaReporters tried to get the secretary to the Rivers State government, Magnus Abe said to be in the Government House with the 'wanted' officials to speak on the position of the Rivers state on the investigations but he declined.
Several officials of Rivers State have revealed to SaharaReporters that the attempt by EFCC officials to apprehend the Chief of Staff to the state governor as well as other officials close to Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi is part of an ensuing power-play between Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa and Amaechi's lawyer, Kogi-born Adoki Bello Mohammed (SAN).
Two state officials, who spoke to us on guarantees of anonymity, claimed that there was a political deal going behind the scenes which they said was responsible for the EFCC's inability to arrest Mr. Nyeson Wike and other Rivers state officials accused by the EFCC of siphoning over N300 million using phony account names through the Zenith Bank of Nigeria.
Under the terms of the deal, Governor Amaechi is expected to lead the "indicted officials" personally to the headquarters of the EFCC and also to Umaru Yar'adua at the Aso Rock Villa to find a "political solution" to the problem.
The sources told SaharaReporters that the Rivers State corruption scandal was escalated by a festering rivalry between Mr. Aondoakaa and Adoki Mohammed who is being tipped to become the new Attorney General of the Federation (SAN) in the yet to be constituted federal cabinet slated for next week.
Aondoakaa and Mohammed, once close friends, worked together on a 2007 case at the Supreme Court that led to the court’s declaration that Amaechi was the rightful governor.
One of the sources told SaharaReporters that Amaechi had hired Aondoakaa to represent him at the Supreme Court in his quest to quash his exclusion from the PDP’s gubernatorial ticket for the April 2007 elections. However, Aondoakaa was named the Attorney General and Minister of justice the same week he was hired. Aondoakaa reportedly returned to Rivers state and collected $500,000 from the then incumbent governor, Celestine Omehia, promising to help him with the case. But when Amaechi eventually won the court case, Aondoakaaa also wanted to be paid, but Amaechi’s refusal to meet Aondoakaa’s demand left the AGF bitter.
One EFCC source pointed to the case of Cross River State governor, Liyel Imoke, who reportedly paid Aondoakaa a huge sum in bribes to prevent his arrest and prosecution for corruption. Aondoakaa then helped to prevail on Yar’adua to shield Imoke from arrest, in spite of the massive evidence of corruption against him, until Imoke ran for office again and won back his immunity.
Our sources from Rivers State said that, in the case of Mr. Wike, they had been perturbed by the continuous reports of his being sought by the EFCC. They denied that EFCC officials were actively seeking to arrest any Rivers State government officials. "When did it become difficult for the EFCC to arrest anyone in this country? And this is a time when Aondoakaa and Waziri are claiming that the EFCC is now a national institution.”
However, one EFCC source told SaharaReporters that the agency remains determined to apprehend the officials of Rivers State involved in the scam. The source claimed that those involved are holed up in the Government House in Port Harcourt, therefore making their arrest impossible.
Asked to explain the measures adopted to freeze the Rivers State accounts since a court order is normally required to freeze a bank account suspected of engaging in money laundering activities, our EFCC source said the two accounts located in two different branches of Zenith Bank in Port Harcourt have been “frozen.” These are the Trans-Amadi branch for the state government account – Account Number
601-091-6587 – and the personal account belonging to Mr. Nyeson Wike – Account Number 601-0916587 – domiciled at the Aba Road branch. The two accounts were opened in 2004. While that of the Rivers state government was opened in December 2004, the personal account of Nyeson Wike was opened and has been operational since July 2004 while he was the chairman of Oboi-Akpor local government area of Rivers state.The EFCC source said this latest revelation of the location of the accounts contradicts initial media reports and information contained in a petition seen by SaharaReporters that the accounts were located at the "Nnamdi Azikiwe Road branch" of Zenith Bank in Port Harcourt.
Asked to explain how the EFCC froze the two accounts, our source explained that EFCC officials sent a "letter of advice" to Zenith Bank of Nigeria on September 7th 2008 to discontinue operations of both accounts and the bank promptly complied with the request.
Our source further stated that Zenith Bank violated the EFCC act by accepting a cash deposit from Mr. Wike in June 2008 of an amount exceeding N100 million, when the law prohibits banks from accepting cash transactions from individuals exceeding N1 million or corporate bodies in excess of N5 million. With specific regard to the Rivers state account frozen at the Trans Amadi branch, the source told SaharaReporters that it had to do with heavy withdrawals from the account made by a mysterious individual named "Harrison B. Princewill."
SaharaReporters tried to get the secretary to the Rivers State government, Magnus Abe said to be in the Government House with the 'wanted' officials to speak on the position of the Rivers state on the investigations but he declined.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });