RULAAC in the letter signed by its Executive Director, Okechukwu Nwanguma, and addressed to the Zonal Commander, Kano State Zonal Command of EFCC, said that the petition was filed in 2022 by the Centre for Human Rights and Social Advancement (CEFSAN) on behalf of their client, Salami Safran Olugbenga.
A human rights advocacy organisation, the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC) has written to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) demanding immediate action on alleged criminal breach of trust and cheating petition against one Ugbanu Christopher and other operators of Ivory Rice in Kano State.
RULAAC in the letter signed by its Executive Director, Okechukwu Nwanguma, and addressed to the Zonal Commander, Kano State Zonal Command of EFCC, said that the petition was filed in 2022 by the Centre for Human Rights and Social Advancement (CEFSAN) on behalf of their client, Salami Safran Olugbenga.
Nwanguma said that the letter was with reference to the previous letter Ref: CEFSAN/HR/VOL.III/406 on the same issue dated November 14, 2022, noting that RULAAC which has been briefed on the matter decided to write to the anti-graft agency to convey its concern over the prolongation of investigation of the matter which according to him, has been pending at the EFCC’s Legal Department since November 2022 without any tangible progress.
According to Nwanguma, CEFSAN in its 2022 petition to EFCC stated that sometime in August, 2022 one Mr. Ugbanu Christopher of Niger Street, Kano, Kano State capital collected the total sum of N15,600,000 from Salami Safran Olugbenga under the pretence that he would supply 600 bags of rice to him at the rate of N26,000 per bag.
The petition noted that the initial agreement between Christopher and Olugbenga was that the rice would be supplied to him within two weeks after receipt of payment, but that since Christopher collected the said amount from Olugbenga, he has neither supplied the rice nor refunded the money to him and that he converted the same amount to his personal use.
The petition stated that Olugbenga has approached Christopher severally in his attempt to recover his money but all his efforts proved abortive, and that Christopher has only refunded the sum of N3 million to Olugbenga after mounting much pressure on him.
The CEFSAN in the petition urged the Kano EFCC Zonal Commander to ‘’take possible action for investigation and or/prosecution’’, and all the evidence of payment were attached to the petition.
However, after two months and nothing was heard from the EFCC regarding the petition, CEFSAN wrote a second letter dated September 15, 2023 which was a reminder to the previous letter.
Nwanguma noted that the second petition by CEFSAN drew the attention of the EFCC commander to the fact that the earlier petition was assigned to TFS Section of the commission for investigation and that sometime in April 2023, CEFDAN was informed by the TFS team that three people were invited to the commission in relation to the said petition but since then, no further feedback has been received from the team regarding any progress made in the investigation.
The RULAAC director stated that further findings have revealed that Safiyanu Yahaya and Imran Ismail, are the key operators at Ivory Rice located at Badawa Layout, Kano, Off Peter Obi Street.
Ivory Rice is said to be the company to which the payment for the rice was made.
“These key company actors are the ones directly responsible for diverting the money paid to their company by Mr. Ugbanu Christopher for the rice and they are banking on their influence in society as ‘’untouchables’’ to evade investigation and prosecution for their criminal acts of breach of trust and obtaining by false pretenses.
“We are further informed that despite repeated visits by one of the lawyers at CEFSAN (Comrade Yankuzo) to your office to follow up with the legal department investigating the case, no reassuring words are coming from them. They continue to tell him that they are still working on the file and that he should check back,” Nwanguma stated.
He said that “RULAAC hereby requests you to kindly intervene to expedite action on this investigation. In particular, we request that you direct that the investigation should extend to the key actors in the Rice Company namely Safiyanu Yahaya and Imran Ismail who are believed to be acting like they are so influential and above the law, no matter what offense they may commit.
“We trust that you will give this petition the urgent attention and treatment it deserves, in the interest of justice.”