Emmanuel Olutokunbo "Lulu" Enaboifo has been forced to resign from his plum job at the Nigeria-São Tomé & Principe Joint Development Authority (JDA), we can report exclusively.
Saharareporters had carried an investigative report that exposed Mr. Enaboifo’s status as a fugitive from justice in the US. A source in Abuja told our correspondent that, despite desperate moves by former Governor James Ibori to save Mr. Enaboifo, the Yar’adua regime asked for the fugitive’s letter of resignation.
Mr. Enaboifo was appointed as the Executive Director, Finance and Administration to the JDA on the recommendation of Mr. Ibori.
Apart from the fact that Enaboifo has no qualification for the job, our investigations also revealed that he is also a fugitive from the US law. The United States District Court of Eastern Pennsylvania had sentenced him in absentia to a six-month jail term for bank fraud.
After our revelation of his criminal past, Enaboifo held an opulent funeral ceremony in Benin, Edo State for his late mother. A source close to him told Saharareporters “Lulu just used the funeral to celebrate his appointment as the one of the most powerful officials” of the JDA, a bi-national agency that controls the oil and gas rich boundary between Nigeria and Sao Tome. Guests at the funeral included Mr. Ibori, former Governor Bola Tinubu of Lagos, Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo, and Oil baron, Femi Otedola.
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The special assistant to Ambassador Hirse, the minister of state for foreign Affairs, Simeon Uwa, confirmed Mr. Enaboifo’s resignation to Saharareporters. He said Mr. Enaboifo resigned “personal reasons” last Wednesday. However, our correspondents learnt that Yar'adua informed Ibori at a meeting shortly after the latter’s return to Abuja from Enaboifo's funeral party that Enaboifo should resign “in order to safe face.”
Mr. Ibori, himself an ex-convict following two previous convictions for credit card fraud and stealing in the UK, is currently being sought by the Metropolitan Police in London for money laundering. Several of his associates, including his first wife, Theresa Nkoyo, and his UK-based lawyer, Bhadresh Gohil, are facing several counts of money laundering and fraud charges before the Southwark Crown Court in London.
The former governor also faces possible trial for looting the treasury of Delta State between 1999 and 2007, if the EFCC musters enough courage to charge him before a court of law as directed by the Court of Appeal panel that earlier threw away charges against him before a Federal High Court in Kaduna.
In Abuja, Ibori is referred to as Yar'adua's "Prime Minister" on the account of his powerful access to Nigeria's ailing "president." Ibori’s former commissioner of finance, David Edevbie, acts as the "Chief of Staff" to Yar'adua.
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