The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Friday told the Federal High Court in Lagos that no one has come forward to claim the about N15 billion cash found in Flat 7B, Osborne Towers, 16, Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.
It, therefore, prayed Justice Muslim Hassan to make an order of final forfeiture of the money to the Federal Government.
The judge, while ordering a temporary forfeiture of the money on April 13, directed EFCC to advertise the order in a newspaper so that anybody who owns the money can claim it within 14 days.
EFCC’s lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo, said no one showed up in court to show cause why the money should not be permanently forfeited.
The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) had reportedly claimed ownership of the money, following which the federal government launched a probe and suspended NIA Director-General, Ayodele Oke.
EFCC, in an affidavit in support of the application for final forfeiture of the sums, deposed to by a Detective Inspector, Mohammed Chiroma, said Oke’s wife, Folasade, allegedly owns the apartment in which the monies were found.
The Commission said Oke’s wife bought the flat from Fine and Country Limited for $1.658million between August 25 and September 3, 2015 in the name of Chobe Ventures Limited.
According to EFCC, Mrs. Oke and her son, Master Ayodele Oke Junior, were the directors of Chobe Ventures.
EFCC, which tendered the receipt of payment, said Mrs. Oke paid for the apartment in cash in tranches without going through a financial institution.
This, Oyedepo said, violates the Money Laundering Act.
She allegedly paid $700,000, $650,000 and $353,700 to a Bureau de Change (BDC) company, which converted the sums into N360,000,000 with which she bought the property from Fine and Country.
“The circumstances leading to the discovery of the huge sums stockpiled in Flat 7B, Osborne Towers, leaves no one in doubt that the act was pursuant to an unlawful activity.
“The very act of making cash payment of $1.6million without going through any financial institution by Mrs. Folashade Oke for the acquisition of Flat 7B, Osborne Towers, is a criminal act punishable by the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Amendment Act.
“I refer My Lord to sections 1(a), 16(d) and 16(2)(b) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Amendment Act,” Oyedepo said.
According to EFCC, Chobe Ventures was merely incorporated to retain proceeds of suspected unlawful activities.
Alhaji Ladan Baba, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Coordinator in Kano, has appealed to Kano State Government to start offering permanent appointment for the best performing corps members in the state.
The coordinator made the appeal during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Kano.
According to him, if the state government starts offering permanent appointments to such corps members, it will encourage them to perform better toward the development of the state and the country.
He said that the Federal Government was already offering such appointments to the overall best performing corps members in the country, including award of scholarships to further their education.
Baba commended the state government for fulfilling its promise of paying N5, 000 to each corps member serving under the states and the local governments, while calling on private organisations to take a cue.
The coordinator also said that five out of the 2,185 corps members who just passed out, received the 2016 Kano State Honours Awards.
According to him, the awardees are recognised for their “wonderful’’ performance during their service years, especially toward the development of the state and the country in general.
Baba said the awardees bagged such honour due to their patriotism, selflessness, dedication and commitment during their service year in Kano.
“They have done so much during their stay at camp and also at their places of primary assignments for the development of the state and the country.
“This is especially in the areas of education, health and agriculture. And other five corps members will also repeat their service year for various offences,” he said.
“These corps members that will repeat their service year were found guilty of absconding for three or more consecutive months during their one year mandatory period.”
According to him, most of them have absconded completely from their duties without taking permissions from the NYSC or their places of primary assignments.
He said that in Batch 1, Stream 2, 12 of them were repeating their service presently while five in Stream 2 were serving the same punishment.
NAN reports that out of Stream I and 2, 42 corps members had been given extension of their service by various months owing to undisclosed offences.
Jega’s aide: Alleged disparity between presidential and N’Assembly votes in Kano, a ruse
Bolaji Adebiyi in Abuja
As the book, Against the Run of Play, written by the Chairman of the THISDAY Editorial Board, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, continues to generate heated reactions, a new book, Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years: Chibok, 2015 and Other Conspiracies, has given a detailed account of a March, 2014 meeting between the Barack Obama administration and 12 northern governors, saying it was the clearest evidence of the U.S.’ push for regime change in Nigeria in 2015.
The new book, written by former Special Assistant to Jonathan on New Media, Mr. Reno Omokri, quoted copiously, a top intelligence analyst with the Obama administration, Mr. Matthew Page, who he said admitted that the meeting was meant to gauge the governors’ disposition to the possible change of the Nigerian president who had disappointed the U.S. on a number of key issues.
The revelations in Omokri’s book, due for release next month, coincides with a rebuttal by Abdullahi Usman, former Personal Assistant to the former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, on Jonathan’s claim that the difference of a million votes recorded in the presidential and National Assembly elections in Kano State was ample evidence that the presidential election might have been manipulated.
“Go and check the results from Kano. The presidential election and that of the National Assembly happened on the same day and same time. The National Assembly result reflected that about 800,000 people voted but that of the presidential election reflected a vote of about 1.8 million,” Jonathan had said in Adeniyi’s book, implying that this was the general trend in the northern part of the country.
The former president had also blamed a U.S.-led conspiracy, including Britain and France, as one of the key factors that led to his defeat by the All Progressives Congress’ (APC) Muhammadu Buhari, explaining that the foreign powers gave teeth to a local conspiracy of northern political establishment to unseat him.
The former president’s claims triggered searing attacks from critics who said he was fishing for excuses for a defeat that was expected due to his perceived abysmal performance in office.
But Omokri’s upcoming book supported his former boss’ claim, contending that the Obama administration’s meeting with the northern governors was part of the grand plot to remove Jonathan from office.
One of the former governors that attended the meeting, Dr. Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, had hinted at this in Adeniyi’s book, saying: “That was my reading of the situation. I believe it was all about the 2015 election for which the Americans had resolved not to support Jonathan. They just wanted to size us up for the level of commitment to regime change.”
Quoting Page, who until his resignation in 2016 was the U.S. State Department’s top intelligence analyst on Nigeria and who also served as Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Africa with the U.S. National Intelligence Council, Omokri gave a fuller picture of Aliyu’s recollection and detailed how the 12 northern governors were invited to the U.S. for the meetings that began at the State Department and ended in the White House.
Issues raised with Page included why the Obama administration organised the meetings; what transpired at the meetings; and who said what, where, when and why.
According to Omokri, Page, who was at the meetings, said the former governor of Adamawa State, Admiral Murtala Nyako (rtd.), was the most vocal in voicing anti-Jonathan sentiments. He was supported by former Governors Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto) and Kashim Shettima (Borno).
Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara) and former Governor Idris Wada (Kogi), he said, were non-committal.
Page noted that the meetings at the United States Institute for Peace, which started at the State Department and ended in the White House, were initially innocuous but that when the governors proceeded to the closed-door sessions at the U.S. State Department, the purpose became clearer.
According to Page, present at the State Department meetings were Ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfield, who was then the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs; Ambassador Thomas Alfred “Tom” Shannon Jr., who was then the number three man at the State Department; the acting Deputy Secretary of State and the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.
Omokri quoted Page: “Admiral Murtala Nyako read out a memo he had written itemizing the case against Jonathan. He was so openly and almost violently against the Jonathan administration in his speech that he had to be openly rebuked at the meeting by the then Nigerian Ambassador to the US, Ambassador Adebowale Adefuye of blessed memory.
“Admiral Nyako’s belligerence to the Jonathan administration was so venomous that it prompted a rebuttal from the Gombe State Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, who showed loyalty to the then Nigerian president.
“This prompted most of the other Northern governors present to turn on him.”
Page said after the State Department meeting, the governors went for a follow up meeting at the White House on March 18, 2014 and met with the then U.S. National Security Adviser, Ms. Susan Rice.
When asked specifically if the Obama administration was against the re-election of Jonathan, Page said: “My objective opinion is that it was not as if the administration was against Jonathan. There were a number of issues.
“The Obama administration was a bit disappointed (I know that sounds paternalistic) but there were some issues they had felt let down on.
“The human rights situation in the North-east, which has still not changed under Buhari, and Diezani Alison-Madueke, who they felt should have been removed.
“There were some issues with some clauses in the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Bill 2013.”
Intent on drawing a linkage between the governors’ meetings and the presidential election, Omokri wrote: “Another interesting connection is that these high level meetings arranged for Northern governors by the Obama administration took place in 2014, at the same time that Obama confidant and former White House Senior Advisor, Mr. David Axelrod’s firm, AKPD Message and Media, began to work as a paid consultant to the then Nigerian opposition party, All Progressive Congress.”
He argued: “Subliminal messages were communicated by President Obama when he took the unusual step of addressing Nigerians on March 23, 2015, just five days to the presidential elections on March 28, 2015.
“In that broadcast, Obama told Nigerians: ‘Now you have an historic opportunity to help write the next chapter of Nigeria’s progress by voting in the upcoming elections…Boko Haram wants to destroy Nigeria and all that you have built. By casting your ballot you can help secure your nation’s progress.’
“Note the words ‘next chapter’. During the present Fourth Republic, Nigeria had had four successful presidential elections before 2015. 2015 was not a ‘next chapter’. The only way it would have been a next chapter would be for the incumbent to be unseated by the opposition.”
Commenting on Omokri’s book, Jonathan’s media assistant, Mr. Ikechukwu Eze, said Page’s comments confirmed what was already known by many Nigerians on the outcome of 2015 presidential election.
He, however, urged Nigerians to wait for his boss’ account, adding: “Only then will people realise that Jonathan’s claims did not stem from sour grapes, but from a patriotic attempt to ensure that future elections are decided by the Nigerian people without any undue foreign influence.”
Jonathan had in a short reaction on his Facebook page to diverse and critical comments on his claims, said: “At the right time, the main characters in the elections, including myself will come out with a true account of what transpired, either in major interviews or books.”
Kano Votes Not Unusual
In the meantime, Usman, the former personal assistant to Jega, the former INEC chairman that conducted the election in which Jonathan was shown the exit, has controverted the former president’s claim that there was a major disparity between the votes cast for the presidential and National Assembly elections in Kano State in 2015.
Jonathan had said in Adeniyi’s book: “Go and check the results from Kano. The presidential election and that of the National Assembly happened on the same day and same time. The National Assembly result reflected that about 800,000 people voted but that of the presidential election reflected a vote of about 1.8 million”.
But Usman said Jonathan’s claim was factually inaccurate, pointing out that the official figures released at the end of the elections had nothing unusual about them and insisted they reflected a general trend in the country.
“The figures ascribed to each of the two elections in the earlier statement were nowhere near the actual number of voters in the officially declared results of the two elections,” he said in a statement made available to THISDAY yesterday.
According to him, “In truth, therefore, the total number of votes cast in the 2015 presidential election in Kano State was 2,172,447, as captured on INEC’s official results collation document, the Presidential Election Summary of Results from States ‘Form EC 8D (A)’, a stamped and sealed copy of which was given out to agents of all the 14 political parties on the ballot, as well as to representatives of each of the security agencies present at the International Conference Centre Results Collation Centre, following the formal declaration of results by the commission in the early hours of Tuesday, March 31, 2015.”
He said the total votes scored by the two leading political parties in the contest for the three senatorial districts of the state was 2,097,881, excluding rejected ballots and votes scored by the remaining political parties that contested for the election in each senatorial District, explaining that rejected votes could be responsible for the difference of 74,566 between the total votes cast in the presidential and senatorial elections.
Usman added that the total votes scored by the two leading political parties in the House of Representatives election across the state was 2,032,472, excluding rejected ballots and votes scored by the remaining political parties that contested for the election.
“From the foregoing breakdown of votes tally across the three elections conducted on March 28, 2015 in Kano State, therefore, it is quite evident that any allusion to a probable disparity of one million votes between the number of people that voted in the presidential election and those that voted in either of the two National Assembly elections is nothing but an illusion,” he said.
NAF sustains aerial bombardment on terrorists’ cells
Michael Olugbode in Maiduguri
Attempted suicide attacks on Maiduguri by three females were foiled on Wednesday night.
According to a press statement by the spokesman of the National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA), Abdulkadir Ibrahim the three teenage females with explosive strapped on them died.
Ibrahim said a security officer, who was among those who intercepted the three teenagers, was injured.
The statement read: “Yesterday (Wednesday) night at 10:05pm, three female teenage suicide bombers attempted to attack a military outpost popularly known as “Gontanamo” along Muna garage.
“They were sighted trying to gain access to the premises and were shot by the security personnel leading to the detonation of their concealed explosives, which killed all three of them and injured one of the security personnel.”
Ibrahim revealed that the corpses of the trio were evacuated to the Borno State Specialist Hospital, Maiduguri by emergency aid workers.
Despite the seemingly unending attempts at suicide attacks, the Nigerian military said yesterday that the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has sustained its aerial bombardments of terrorists’ cells in the North-east.
A statement by the Nigerian Army spokesman, Brig.-Gen. Sani Kukasheka Usman acknowledged that there had been several enquiries on the rumoured wounding of Boko Haram’s factional leader Abubakar Shekau, but fell short of confirming the rumour.
He said: “As you are aware, the Boko Haram terrorists have been on the run, but now they have nowhere to go. We wish to confirm that there are ongoing clearance operations in various parts of the North-east by the military.
“The Nigerian Air Force specifically has been carrying out excellent aerial bombardments with utmost precision to the point that they have destroyed the Boko Haram terrorists’ logistics, weapons and equipment and neutralised quite a number of terrorists in Mangusum, various parts of Sambisa including Balla and Parisu.
“The ongoing renewed combat readiness and good efforts by the Nigerian Air Force are indeed very commendable, as it led to the recovery of high calibre weapons and further decimation of the remnants of the Boko Haram terrorists.
“There were indications that quite a number of the terrorists key leaders have either been killed or wounded.
“Efforts are ongoing to further confirm the details from our troops who have been involved in Operation DEEP PUNCH.”
Usman added that the Nigerian Army Special Forces School (NASFS) at a brief ceremony handed over of a water point established for a community on the outskirts of Buni Yadi in Yobe State, as part of efforts to enhance civilian-military relations.
He said the water point was drawn from an industrial borehole and was handed over to Lawal Abubakar Adam of Fulatari in Buni Yadi by Brig.-Gen. MG Ali, Commandant of the NASFS.
“Present were the ward heads of the four benefiting communities,” the army spokesman said.
