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[size=14pt]Tinubu: Travails of a hegemonist[/size]
Written by Abiodun Awolaja Monday, 07 March 2011

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political dealings apart, Tinubu is currently facing grave allegations. Two weeks ago, the Federal Government filed a fresh criminal charge against him for allegedly operating 16 foreign accounts between 1999 and 2007, when he was Lagos State contrary to the provisions of the c. The trial will be conducted by the Code of Conduct Bureau, an agency under the supervision of the presidency. The charge came just as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was reportedly investigating the hurried sale of five houses belonging to the ACN sole proprietor in the USA, two of which are said to be located at Limestone Crescent, Maryland, and Hyllened, Maryland. Idowu Jokpeyibo, the bureau’s spokesperson, confirmed that the EFCC had handed over to the Bureau, the aspect of the ongoing probe of Tinubu that bordered on illegal operation of the foreign account.

In the amended charge, the former governor was accused of operating several foreign bank accounts since he assumed office in 1999 till date, “contrary to Section 7 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, Cap 56 LFN, 1990 and punishable under section 23 (2) thereof as incorporated under paragraph 18, part I, Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”The foreign bank accounts listed against him in the earlier charge which was just slightly amended by the bureau included: First Heritage Bank, Country Club Hills, Illinois, USA.Account Name: Bola Tinubu Account No: 263226700; Citibank NA New York, USA, Account Name: Bola Tinubu & Compass Finance and Investment Company Ltd.

Account Nos: 39483134, 39483396, 4650279566, 00400220, 39936404, 39936383.Citibank International New-York Account Name-Bola Tinubu Account No-52050-89451952 and 52050-89451953; HSBC, 177 Great Portland Street London, WIW 6QJ. Account Name-Sen. Bola Tinubu Account No-71253670 SORT Code-40-03-15;HSBC, 177 Great Portland Street, London, WIW 6QJ. Account Name-Sen. Bola Oluremi Tinubu Account No-71253670 SORT Code-40-03-15HSBC, 177 Great Portland Street, London, WIW 6OJ.Account Name-Sen. Bola Tinubu Money Market Account No-04320002DN; HSBC, 177 Great Portland Street London, WIW 6OJ. Account - Tinubu Habitat Oyindamola (Miss) Account No. – 1320960111; HSBC 177 Great Portland Street London WIW 60JAccount Name- Tinubu Zainab Abisola (Miss) Account No. – 172447101; HSBC 177 Great Portland Street London WIW 60J Account Name- Tinubu Oluremi Shade Account No. – 1916667988; HSBC 177 Great Portland Street London WIW 60J Account Name- Oluremi Shade Tinubu Account No. – 41421522.



Mrs Farida Waziri, EFCC Chairman
In a seven-paragraph affidavit supporting the initial charge, deposed to by Ikechi Iwuagwu, a Deputy Director in the Code of Conduct Bureau, the prosecution claimed, among others, “That on 4th of March, 2003, before the expiration of the first term in office of Governor Bola Tinubu, an asset declaration form CCB-1 was sent to the accused person as a public officer. That the accused person declared his assets and liabilities in the said form and returned the form to our office on 6th January, 2004. A copy of the said form is hereby attached and marked as Exhibit “A”That all the assets declared by the accused person are as indicated in the assets declaration from CCB-1. That the accused person did not declare any other things/assets or the operation of several foreign bank accounts in the said assets declaration form CCB-1submitted by the accused person marked as Exhibit A.

“That I was informed by Mr. O.T Olatigbe, counsel handling this matter and I verily believe him that the accused person is still operating several foreign bank accounts which he did not declare before the Code of Conduct Bureau.His counsel then, Gbenga Adeyemi, had offered immunity guaranteed under Section 308 of the constitution as an excuse for Tinubu failing to show up for trial when the case came up on 24th April, 2007.

Similarly, in a paid advertorial published in the Nigerian Tribune last Friday, a group, the Clean Slate Anti-corruption Initiative, asked the Inspector General of Police, Hafiz Ringim, to direct “Mr Bola Ahmed Tinubu to produce verifiable evidence that he attended Government College, Ibadan, between 1965 and 1968 and the University of Chicago between 1972 and 1976, as contained in the affidavit he had sworn to at the Ikeja High Court entitled “Affidavit in respect of lost certificates. Tinubu’s Form CF 001 of INEC also contained similar claims.’’ The group, which said it ‘’had been particularly encouraged and spurred into action by some recent comments on corruption in Nigeria by some prominent politicians, including the former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, stated that ‘’since he who goes to equity must come with clean hands, it is imperative that Tinubu is subjected to some of the standards with which he judges others.’’

Abdullahi Tokoya, recently accused Tinubu of looting the treasury through the incumbent governor of the state, Babatunde Fashola. Tokoya, speaking in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune last week, said: “If you look at the infrastructure on the ground, you will see that they are not commensurate with the revenue flowing into government coffers. And why is this so? Fashola’s predecessor, Senator Bola Tinubu, through his company, Alpha Beta, takes 10 per cent of the IGR on a monthly basis, as commission on taxes.

“Tell me, how will the state develop under this arrangement? Quote me, Tinubu has been plundering the state under the guise of performing the role of a tax consultant to the state.’’

This allegation is seen by analysts in the context of Tinubu’s role as the alleged main financier of the ACN. Indeed, the build up to Tinubu’s endorsement of a second term for Fashola saw the former governor’s associates at the state House of Assembly attempting to impeach the governor based on allegations of financial misconduct levelled against him by a group, the True Face of Lagos. Although the governor has, to date, not been proved to be innocent of the grave allegations levelled against him by the group, a number of analysts were, in the thick of the plot, of the opinion that Fashola’s travails stemmed from his desire to get out of the firm grip of his predecessor.

However, Tinubu’s alleged financial dealings in the state have continued to be a launching pad for Fashola’s political opponents to query his mission in the state, particularly as public schools and roads have collapsed in many parts of the state,most notably Ikorodu, where teachers are said to sit under trees in what has been described as a natural staff room. According to Tokoya, “Lagosians are suffering and cannot continue with Fashola and his ACN of deceit. Look at what is happening on the Lekki expressway, the toll gate constructed on that highway. Another company belonging to Tinubu, International Concession Company, is collecting toll on that expressway, which was constructed by Alhaji Lateef Jakande’s government.’’

And yet again, last week, operatives of the Department of the State Security Service (SSS), on Tuesday, reportedly quizzed the ACN chieftain at the SSS headquarters, otherwise known as Yellow House, Abuja. Although no official reason was given by the SSS for the questioning, Nigerian Tribune learnt that it might not be unconnected with Tinubu’s pending case at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, as well as his recent outburst at the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) rally in Ibadan, during which he reportedly called President Goodluck Jonathan a “drunkard.” According to our source, he was quizzed over his utterances which the service considered as security “risk” but was later released on self recognition.

Still, with the swearing in of the new acting chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Danladi Yakubu Umar last Tuesday, the stage appears set for the commencement of the prosecution of Tinubu and other past and present public officers indicted for alleged violation of the asset declaration law.

For whatever it is worth, Chief Bola Tinubu has proved to be a wily politician and master strategist, understandably at the expense of decorum and public morality. He has unleashed a gang of hack writers on the presidency through his megaphone, The Nation, who make all sorts of wild allegations to denigrate the person of the president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, while moralising on the president’s speech in Ibadan where he said the South-West was too important and too educated to be left in the hands of rascals. It remains to be seen if Tinubu will survive the charges against him from different quarters. Will Tinubu survive his current travails fuelled most probably by his expansionist agenda?

http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/politics/18448-tinubu-travails-of-a-hegemonist