Investigations by Saharareporters have uncovered details about the extensive involvement of Speaker Dimeji Bankole of the House of Representatives in the rural electrification scam that has embroiled members of the National Assembly as well as senior officials of the Rural Electrification Agency.
Investigations by Saharareporters have uncovered details about the extensive involvement of Speaker Dimeji Bankole of the House of Representatives in the rural electrification scam that has embroiled members of the National Assembly as well as senior officials of the Rural Electrification Agency.
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The House Committee Chairman on Power, Godwin Ndudi Elumelu, his deputy, Jibo Mohammed, Senator Nicholas Yahaya Ugbane, and seven senior management officials of the Rural Electrification Agency are presently facing trial before Justice Abimbola Banjoko of the Federal Capital Territory High Court. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has slammed the suspects with a 156-count charge.
Also, four other members of the House of Representatives are being sought for questioning and possible arraignment, but our source would not name them.
Our latest revelation, based on information from a variety of reliable sources, is that the Yar’adua regime and United Bank for Africa (UBA) are working in tandem in a major effort to cover up the involvement of Speaker Bankole, his father and two siblings.
A source who is part of the investigation told our correspondent that UBA had refused to release further account information to the EFCC that could implicate Mr. Dimeji Bankole. The investigator disclosed that the speaker’s companies, with his father and two brothers serving as proxies, made close to N900 million from the corruption scandal.
Another source told us that Elumelu was also refusing to speak about Bankole’s involvement having been promised soft landing by the speaker, who is very close to Yar’adua.
In the past, Saharareporters had reported on how Speaker Bankole receives kickbacks from oil lifting contracts approved by Yar’adua.
Three of our sources described Elumelu as the arrowhead of the contract bonanza. EFCC sources told Saharareporters that Elumelu alone could have stolen up to N3 billion from the rural electrification scam. The monies were reportedly routed through various dubious accounts at the United Bank of Africa (UBA) owned by Tony Elumelu, the legislator’s brother.
In details gleaned from EFCC sources, members of the House Committee on Power involved in the N6.2 billion fraud and their cohorts at the Rural Electrification Agency met at Transcorp Hilton in Abuja soon after the passage of the supplementary budget late last year. Their objective was to decide how many companies each participant in the scam was to nominate to benefit from the “contracts”. Our sources revealed that no prequalification of companies was done in the entire process leading to the contract award. Our investigation also determined that there was no bidding or tendering procedure was adopted. The shady process adopted by the principals in the scandal violated due process mechanisms put in place by the federal government for award of contracts.
The participating companies allegedly got paid 85% of the purported contract sums for work that was never executed. Some of the companies that benefited from the illicit bonanza are Geophil Services Limited, Maskh Nigeria Limited, Omotosho and Sons Nigeria Limited, Stanley Stephen and Co Limited, Willands Engineering Limited, Con Engineering Nigeria Limited, Mak & Mak Limited, Best Brothers International Limited, Damsal Nigeria Limited, Lakfad Nigeria Limited, Sibga Services Limited, Solabig Nigeria Limited, Bernadinois Nigeria Limited, Nelly Vic Nigeria Limited, El-Pinders Nigeria Limited, Jidec Nigeria Limited, Tometrix International Limited, Asia Africa Trading Co. Limited. Others are C. C OHMS Nigeria Limited, Makfens Nigeria Limited, Savannah Engineering Limited, Bajot Engineering Co Limited, Emacson Engineering Co Limited, Liberty (Overseas) Brothers Limited, Nabeela Nigeria Limited, Sunnex Nigeria Limited, Adolphous Holdings Limited, Lastak Nigeria Limited, Chief and Chief Nigeria Limited, and Helping Hands International Limited.
Our sources did not specify which of the companies belonged to Speaker Bankole, but they said the speaker’s father and his brothers brought 11 companies on board. “Those companies fully benefited from the fraud,” said one of the investigators. He added: “If the powers-that-be don’t order us to back off from investigating the speaker’s involvement, we’ll soon get to the bottom of it.”
Meanwhile, EFCC sources told our correspondent that the agency has declared two women wanted in connection with their involvement in what may become the biggest corruption scandal of the year. The women, described as secretaries to Mr. Ndudi Elumelu, are Angela Oselukwe and Uduak Akpan Israel. Ms. Oselukwe is from Elumelu's hometown, Oselukwu in Anioma Local Government Area in Delta State. Both women are said to be on the run.
The rural electrification projects funds were shared amongst 150 companies. The payments made to each company were systematically broken down into N50 million each to avoid the contracts passing through the approval of the Federal Executive Council.
113 of the companies got contracts for "grid extension" projects while the rest were awarded contracts to provide solar panels in rural areas of Nigeria.
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