UBEC Scam: How Modibbo, Wife Steal Commission’s BillionsThrough Phony Companies

Company ownership reports obtained from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) have blown the lid off a syndicate of phony companies used by Ahmed Modibbo Mohammed, the Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), and his newly-wedded wife, Aishatu Dahiru Mohammed, to skim off billions of naira earmarked for the running of Nigerian primary and junior secondary schools.
UBEC, whose main funds come from a first-line charge of two percent of Nigeria’s consolidated federal revenue, also frequently receives grants from such agencies as Education Tax Fund (ETF) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG)  office, making it one of the richest governmental agencies in Nigeria.

Our investigation of CAC company ownership profiles revealed that Modibbo Mohammed’s wife is the owner of such companies as Binani Nigeria Ltd., Binwa Press Limited, Triangular Communications Ltd., Golden Crescent Nigeria Ltd., Infinity Telecoms Ltd. and Quest Ventures that are major contractors with UBEC. Mrs. Aishatu Dahiru Mohammed, who was Modibbo Mohammed’s lover for close to 15 years, also owns several other companies that have also received lucrative contracts from UBEC. The two married on February 13, 2010, in an opulent wedding in Yola, capital of Modibbo’s home state of Adamawa. Notable Islamic cleric, Sheik Dahiru Usman Bauchi, chaired the event.

Modibbo’s romance with Aishatu Dahiru reportedly dates back to the late 1990s when the former was a history teacher and dean, faculty of arts and social sciences, at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria.

In 1997, General Mamman Kontagora, who was then the university’s sole administrator, appointed a special panel to probe an avalanche of allegations that certain lecturers were offering backhand admissions to otherwise ineligible but delectable ladies in exchange for sex. Mr. Abubakar Gimba, a retired permanent secretary and former President of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) headed that committee. After a thorough investigation, Mr. Gimba’s committee expelled 17 female students with fake credentials. Among the expelled was Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed with fake matriculation number U93HS1029. In addition, the Gimba-led panel recommended that Dr. Modibbo and two other members of the sex-for-admission ring, Dr. Aminu Ladan and Dr. Alkassum Abba, be dismissed. The indicted lecturers however used some prominent northern traditional rulers to prevail on the late military ruler, General Sani Abacha, to reject the recommendation. They contended that the panel had not given them fair hearing, even though they had appeared in person and submitted their defense. Thanks to their pressure, the panel’s recommendation for their sack idled away until Abacha’s death in June 1998.

Ironically, the three arrowheads of the scandal have not unsurprisingly used top politicians to wangle their way back into the heart of Nigeria’s educational system. In March 2000, Modibbo was appointed Director and Chief Executive of the National Teachers’ Institute, Kaduna. Even though his tenure in NTI expired in March 2006, he illegally clung onto office until August 2007 when certain elements in the now decimated cabal around deceased ruler Umaru Yar’adua “redeployed” him to replace Dr. Lami Amodu as UBEC’s Executive Secretary. Mrs. Amodu had only spent four months out of a five-year tenure.

Having successfully removed Dr. Amodu from UBEC without any backlash, members of the cabal also moved into Modibbo’s former office, NTI, replacing its chief executive, Dr. Patrick Onyekwere, with Aminu Ladan, another arrowhead of the ABU sex-for-admission syndicate. Onyekwere was slightly luckier than Amodu: he spent five months out of a three-year tenure.

Dr. Alkassum, the third musketeer in the ABU sex-for-admission ring, is the current Vice Chancellor of the Adamawa State University, Yola.

After Abacha had seemingly settled the dust generated in ABU by the Gimba-led panel, Modibbo was said to have sworn to marry Aishatu as compensation for her “steadfastness and support in his most trying moment.” Said a close friend: “We didn’t believe it when he told some of us that he would one day marry Aishatu for rising up to his defence when she appeared before the probe panel.” The source added, “I suppose that was why he brought her close the moment he was, out of the blues, appointed Director, NTI. And that’s how Aishatu’s companies became the preferred contractors in NTI.”

A source at NTI revealed that the rogue couple’s first break “was when Aishatu’s Binani Nig. Ltd. handled the camping of participants in the controversial National Teachers’ Scheme (NTS) of NTI for which each participant was to be paid N20,000. As director, Modibbo claimed that over 40,000 participated, even when it was obvious that less than 18,000 did.” Two sources within the institute estimated that the lovebirds pocketed over N440 million from the N20, 000 Modibbo received on each of the 22,000 ghost participants. One of the sources added, “Dr. Modibbo Mohammed “still deducted a thousand naira from each of the 18,000 or so who actually participated in the name of bank charges.”

As much money as he stole in NTI, several sources told Saharareporters that, in no time, Modibbo began to feel that the institute’s budget was “too small.” He successfully lobbied ousted Agriculture Minister, Dr. Abba Sayaddi Ruma, to help him get the “juicier” UBEC post, particularly after an American company, Intermarkets, had secured a multi-billion naira project to manufacture special plastic furniture for the estimated 3 million school children in Nigerian junior secondary schools.

“The Intermarkets” project was too mouth-watering to be left to the company,” said a source familiar with Modibbo Mohammed’s deals at UBEC. UBEC’s huge budget was sufficient motivation for Abba Ruma who connived with Mrs. Hajiya Aishatu Dukku, Minister of State for Education,
to breach the UBEC Act, by removing Dr. Lami Amodu, who was appointed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo as Executive Secretary for a statutory tenure of five years. Modibbo became her replacement despite the fact that “his lack of a requisite degree or certificate in education should automatically have disqualified him from holding such a position,” an official of the Ministry of Education told Saharareporters.

“Even at that,” added the official, “Modibbo’s ‘redeployment’—if such a term exists—was purportedly effected by a minister. There is nowhere in the world where a minister can repeal an appointment duly made by the President. What is more, how come the so-called ‘deployments’ happened only in UBEC and ETF less than 24 hours after UBEC’s Executive Secretary indicated a willingness to receive N850 million from her colleague in ETF, when there are close to 30 parastatals in the Education Ministry?” the official asked.

Several sources at UBEC told us that two days after his illegal redeployment to UBEC, Modibbo hit a brick wall when he sought to hijack the plastic furniture contract from the American company and to award it to Saphires and Rubies Ltd., owned by his wife, Aishatu. “The smart investor obtained a court injunction which restrained Modibbo from re-awarding what he rightly felt was his project to Saphires and Rubies. Infuriated, Modibbo counter-attacked, exploiting his links with Presidency officials to get key officials of State Security Service (SSS) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to harass the investor,” the UBEC source offered, adding, “but for the fact that the investor had naturalized as a Nigerian, he would have been deported from the country.”

With Justice Abdullahi Mustapha restraining Modibbo from spending the N850 million and other subsequent ETF grants for the production of plastic furniture, the UBEC boss devised other ingenious means to steal money for the cabal. On December 29, 2008, for instance, he secured the nod of the Minister of State for Education, Aishatu Dukku, to award fraudulent contracts slightly in excess of N161 million to six companies for the “procurement of instructional materials for children with special needs”—that is, physically challenged children. The items included wheelchairs, Braille, hearing aids and other audio-visual devices. The funds came from an ETF grant.

After an understanding on how to share the loot, Mrs. Dukku (in a memo FME/S/94/C/19/83, and signed on her behalf by one Mrs. E. I. Monye), wrote: “The ministerial tenders board at its meeting of Friday, 19th December, 2008, approved the award of the contract for the procurement of instructional materials for children with special needs in favour of the following contractors - Al-Mala Nig. Ltd – N29, 286,000 (North west), Triangular Communications Ltd.-N35, 453,000 (North east); Binwa Press Ltd. N36,721,300 (North central), Infinity Telecoms N24, 703, 000 (South east), Isani Ventures N31, 104, 000 (South-south) and Giniyike Ltd-N30,704 (South west),” concluding, “You are pleased (sic) requested to award the contract accordingly”. The total contract sum came to N167 million.

Our investigations revealed that not a single pin was supplied to the physically challenged children, in whose name the ETF grant was drawn. Besides, a certified copy of a search report of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) revealed that Binwa Press Ltd., RC816457, one of the six companies that benefited from the December 19th, 2008 contract awarded by UBEC, was not even incorporated until five months later. The company’s incorporation took place on 7th May 2009, with its registered address, as 17 Atiku Abubakar Road, Jimeta, Yola. According to the CAC records in the possession of Saharareporters, three persons were listed as directors. According to CAC records, the company has 1,600,001 in total share capital. Of these, Aishatu Dahiru (Modibbo’s wife) owns 1,600,000, her sister, Hauwa Dahiru, has one share, whilst the third director, Ali Biu Adams, has none. Even though Binwa Press Ltd. had not been registered as at December 19th, 2008, Dukku and Modibbo nonetheless awarded the ‘company’ a supply contract in the sum of N36, 721, 300.

There are striking similarities in the case of Ojunwa Press Limited RC 816752. Incorporated on 8th May, 2009, just a day after Binwa Press Ltd., was incorporated, Ojunwa shares the same 17 Atiku Abubakar Road, Jimeta, Yola address with Binwa Press Ltd.  As with Binwa Press, Ojunwa Press Ltd had 1,600, 001 shares of which Aishatu Dahiru had 1,600,000 shares, leaving one Fadimatu Dahiru with just one share.
Having successfully tested the waters, more disturbing contract awards were to follow in UBEC.

On June 22, 2009, barely six weeks after Binwa Press Ltd. and Ojunwa Press Ltd were incorporated, Modibbo and his ministerial abettor awarded a N74 million contract to Ojunwa Press Ltd “for the printing and distribution of 105,385 copies of Macmillan Premier Mathematics Book 4 at the unit cost of N705 per copy.” The total contract sum was for N74,545,720, in LOT MMP3 for delivery to Borno and Bayelsa States. Dukku and Modibbo then awarded another N91 million ‘contract’ to the six-week-old Binwa Printing Press Limited for the “printing and distribution” of textbooks to Cross River State and some unnamed North Central states. The Lot number for the contract was EFP4.

Yet again, Modibbo awarded another N71 million to Binwa Press Ltd. This involved the “printing and distribution of 108,334 units of Macmillan primary English Book 4,” at a unit cost of N655, and an additional N170, 000 for transportation, bringing the contract sum to N71, 128, 770 in Lot EMPR3.

In an emotional voice, an official of UBEC told Saharareporters “Evans Publishers and Longman Publishers didn’t get a single contract to supply a single copy of the books. Yet Modibbo and his cohorts in the sham called the tenders board gave three slots to Binwa Press Ltd and Ojunwa Press Ltd that were incorporated after the bids had been opened. Dr. Modibbo was so dumb that he didn’t even give them sufficient time to import their printing presses before awarding his wife’s fake companies contracts to print the so-called books.” The official added that “Modibbo should know that it is a criminal offence to print a book published by someone else without the original publisher’s consent, yet he went ahead to do it because that was the easiest way for them to line their pockets with billions of naira without anybody raising questions. Macmillan published the books, so why pay people to go and pirate Macmillan’s books?  Whatever happened to the Nigerian Copyright Commission?”

The UBEC official added that his private enquiries with Macmillan revealed that the publisher has enough copies of these books in the company’s warehouses. “If I publish a book and you like it, what do you do? Do you order my books or pay another printer to print my books? Modibbo and former Minister of State, Hajiya Dukku, had their agenda. That was why they first diverted the billions for school feeding money to pirate Macmillan books.” The official added that Macmillan’s topmost official appeared to be a willing accomplice, “silent in the face of what is an international criminal offence simply because their top boss was ‘carried’ along.”

Another official in the Ministry of Education asked angrily, “Pray, how, in the first instance, did Binwa Press and Ojunwa Press open bank accounts without certificates of incorporation? For contracts of that magnitude they surely needed an Advance Payment Guarantee (APG). What bank gave the APGs? Who collected the cheques and how were they cashed? In what names were the accounts opened and who were the signatories? Well, I suppose that the sure answer is that contractor in this case is the wife and the client, the husband. So the issue of how to get paid shouldn’t bother us since they must have simply hauled the monies in Ghana-Must-Go bags into their bedrooms.”

Apart from Ojunwa Press Ltd and Binwa Press Ltd, Binani Nigeria Limited ‘won’ a N160 million contract for the supply of 109,943 copies of Macmillan Primary English course book 4, in Lot EMPR3, and another ‘contract’ for the supply of 320,000 copies of Think and Do: Activity Based Science Book for Primary Four, in Lot SCTDNC. Our company search report revealed that Binani Nigeria Limited was incorporated on 13th March 1997 with the same 17 Atiku Abubakar Road, Jimeta, as registered address. Expectedly, Aishatu Dahiru is recorded by the CAC as the company’s director. She also owns Triangular Communications Limited, recipient of three contracts valued at N177 million “for the supply of textbooks to Kaduna, Ebonyi, South-south states and North-west states”. The contracts are in Lots EMPM3, EFP5 and SCTDSSC respectively.

Triangular Communications Limited (RC Number 309167) was incorporated on 4th March 1997, with 6, Block 4, LSB Road, FHA Maitama as registered address. Listed as directors are Aishatu Dahiru (UBEC boss’ wife), Hadiza Dahiru and Fatima Dahiru. The three ‘directors’ listed the same 6, Block 4, LSB Road, FHA Maitama, Abuja, as their contact addresses.

Investigation by Saharareporters found that, even though Modibbo and his wife were raking huge sums from UBEC using their companies as fronts, the greedy couple soon decided to use ghost companies as well in order to steal even more of UBEC’s funds. For instance, in Lot MMC 4, UBEC awarded a contract to Cigo-Vag Ltd “for the printing and distribution of 124,691 units of Macmillan Champion Mathematics textbooks to Ekiti and Bayelsa states at N710 per unit cost,” and an additional N270, 000 for transportation, bringing the total contract sum to N88, 800,610.
In Lot MFP4 covering Cross River and Anambra States, UBEC gave Al-Mala Company Ltd a contract for the printing of 138,314 units of African First (FEP) Understanding Mathematics for Nigeria (revised edition) at a unit cost of N550. With N300, 000 tagged on for transportation, the contract sum was N77, 064,270. For Lot MUP 4 covering Niger and Kaduna states, UBEC paid Al-Hazen Nig. Ltd. N80, 900,000 to print and distribute 114,768 copies of UP Plc. MAN Primary Mathematics Book 4, at a unit cost of N700, with N190, 000 for transporting the books. Not satisfied, Modibbo and his agents in UBEC, in Lot SCTDNE, paid Ginyike Associates Ltd. N81 million for the ‘printing and distribution of 300,000 copies of “Think and Do: Activity Based Science for Primary Four” at a unit cost of N270. Transportation was set at a whopping N600, 000.

In the course of our investigations, the Corporate Affairs Commission confirmed to Saharareporters that Al-Mala, Cigo-Vag, Al-Hazen and Ginyike Associates—“firms” that collectively received over N326 million in UBEC contracts—exist only in Modibbo Mohammed and his wife’s imaginations. The fraud is confirmed in a letter by Gaji & Associates, a firm of CAC-accredited lawyers, who conducted thorough searches on 13 companies suspected to be owned by Modibbo and his wife.
In a letter dated April 8, 2010 entitled “Re: Corporate Search at Corporate Affairs Commission,” Gaji & Associates of 4, Bamako Street, Wuse Zone 1, Abuja, confirmed that no names containing Al-Mala, Cigo-Vag, Al-Hazen and Ginyike could be traced in all of CAC’s database. The lawyers added, however, that “there is an Almala Company Limited (without a hyphen), with  RCNO.  155219, though, and we have proceeded to apply for search in respect thereto.” A certain H.N. Dickson signed the letter on behalf of Gaji & Associates.

Three UBEC officials told Saharareporters that Modibbo, former “First Lady” Turai Yar’adua, former Agriculture Minister Abba Ruma, and former Minister of State for Education Aishatu Dukku pocketed the entire budget for the printing and distribution of the textbooks. With her loot in place, Aishatu Dukku is reported to be warming up to take the senatorial seat of one a senator from Gombe State who died recently. An UBEC official stated that “The money the ministry earmarked for a committee to monitor the distribution exercise was at the last minute diverted by Modibbo and packaged as parting gift for Hajiya Dukku when she was removed as minister of state for education.” The official added: “Apart from the few copies that were distributed on the day of the elaborate launch of the books by First Lady Turai Yar’Adua, I challenge anybody to tell me where he has seen the books.”

Two associates of the late Umaru Yar’adua fingered Mrs. Dukku as one of the ministers who most exploited the infirmity of the late ruler. A Gombe-born former schoolteacher, Mrs. Dukku prefers being addressed by her maiden name instead of her husband’s name. Her husband, Jamal Arabi, is director of finance at the National Insurance Commission. Incidentally, Dukku’s husband is the elder brother of Jalal Arabi who is the State House Counsel. All the ‘presidential approvals’ secured by Dukku whilst Yar’Adua writhed in pains were reportedly gotten with the devious assistance of her brother-in-law, Jalal Arabi.

“I can tell you that, while Yar’Adua’s condition worsened, the gains of Dukku and some of her minister-colleagues increased,” said a furious former aide to Yar’adua. He said Mrs. Dukku was able to use her brother-in-law to soften some “unyielding” members of the Executive Council of the Federation to approve the diversion of over N3.6 billion of school children’s feeding money to award contracts to Modibbo Mohammed’s wife to print textbooks “that everybody knew were not being printed.”

Our sources said Jalal Arabi was responsible for the 31st December, 2009 ‘appointments’ of Prof. Charles Onocha and Dr. Rasheed Aderinoye as deputy Executive Secretaries of UBEC by the then President Yar’Adua from his sick bed in King Faisal Specialist Hospital, Jeddah. The appointments were reportedly made on the same day that Yar’Adua’s handlers claimed the sick ruler signed the 2009 supplementary Appropriation Bill.

Many UBEC officials saw the appointments, even if they actually came from Yar’Adua, as illegal since. They argued that the five-year tenure of the suspended deputy Executive Secretary (Services), Professor Bridget Sokan, had not elapsed. A top UBEC official said, “Modibbo used the EFCC to frame up Professor Sokan and some of our directors in a charge they have not been able to substantiate since the past one year. She was suspended, not sacked. Since she was placed on suspension, her tenure, too, goes on suspension. Nobody therefore has any right to appoint a replacement until she serves out her term in office. That’s why Dr. Aderinoye remains an impostor.”

Our source from Yar’adua’s cabinet also stated that Modibbo used Dukku to divert the Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Unit, the so-called Due Process office. “Modibbo first lied to the Executive Council that he had a ‘no-objection’ certificate from Due Process office when he was seeking the approval of the N3.6 billion contracts to his wife, only to recant a few weeks later. Modibbo has made history by becoming the first Nigerian that sought for and obtained a ‘retrospective’ due process certificate. This was only possible because Dukku dropped Turai’s name.” The source added that Dukku proved her closeness to the “First Lady” when she got Turai to flag-off the distribution of Modibbo’s wife’s textbooks on television. Saharareporters contacted several state governments to ascertain whether they received the books for which Modibbo awarded contracts. “Till date, our schools are still waiting for copies of the books allocated to us,” said an official of Bayelsa State, a sentiment echoed by education officials in other states. “And yet the Federal Government spent close to N4.2 billion on printing these phantom books,” bemoaned an UBEC official.

Our investigation revealed that Dukku gave Modibbo tacit approval to award six contracts totaling N187 million to Modibbo’s wife approved by the Federal Ministry of Education on 28th December 2008, three days to the end of the year. Several government officials told us that it is illegal to award contracts on any date beyond the 15th of December of any year.

Several UBEC officials who spoke to us are upset that Modibbo still brandishes some of the so-called ‘approvals’ he got from Dukku several months ago, to continue awarding contracts below N20 million. Our sources said that these contracts are awarded with little or no involvement by the lame duck board chaired by Professor Tunde Adeniran whose recent ambassadorial posting to the US was scuttled by alleged sex offender son.

Modibbo’s wife, Aishatu Dahiru, has a long history of dating men with deep pockets. In the hey days of the now defunct Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), she met and fell in ‘love’ with the late Salleh Hijo, whose Afri-Projects were the chief consultants to the PTF. When PTF’s founder, General Sani Abacha died, and the fund dried up, the enchantress waltzed into the waiting arms of Professor Bello Salim, the diminutive Registrar of Joint Admissions Matriculations Board (JAMB). “It was during Salim’s tenure in JAMB that some of Aishatu’s companies hit it big time, and she really was generous to Modibbo,” a family source told Saharareporters.

Aishatu and Modibbo, the source said, are planning on building a multi-billion naira international school on a wide expanse of land on Airport Road, Abuja. “They have concluded all the paper work. What is standing in the way of the project is a disagreement on the choice of contractors to handle the project,” the source added.

Calls and text messages made to UBEC public relations officer, David Apeh, and Modibbo Mohammed were not returned as at the time of filing this report.
See documented evidence:
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