Panic and confusion have gripped officials at the Code of Conduct Bureau after records relating to Bola Tinubu’s asset declaration suddenly disappeared from the storage facility that has held them for years, Peoples Gazette has learnt, heralding the latest in desperate larcenies of incriminating documents that have been the lifeblood of Nigerian politics for decades.

The disappearance could frustrate ongoing corruption investigation into Mr. Tinubu’s asset by the EFCC, Nigeria’s frontline anti-corruption outfit, which has apparently ignored the embattled politician’s political ties to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Three officials familiar with the matter told the Gazette that the bureau started looking for Mr. Tinubu’s asset filings after the EFCC requested copies as part of an ongoing investigation into the former Lagos governor’s financial and material possessions. Several offices have been rummaged at the bureau as officials scrambled to produce the documents for EFCC’s use — all to a dead end.

“We have searched for the case file everywhere because we want to comply with the lawful request made by the EFCC,” a top management official at the bureau told the Gazette. “We have not been able to find the documents either at the main head office or the annexe office in Asokoro.”


EFCC-Head-Office, Abuja
Another official who interacted with one of the mid-level staffers tasked with finding the documents told the Gazette the matter had become “terribly embarrassing” and a cause for unending worry at the bureau, which is the primary anti-corruption agency in charge of collecting and keep assets of schedule government officials before and after assumption of office.

“We cannot find the asset documents at all,” the official said. “We cannot even find photocopies that we can certify for the EFCC.”

Mr. Tinubu was the governor of Lagos from 1999-2007. Officials said he declared his asset when he assumed office and when he concluded his second term in May 2007.

Anti-graft agencies had previously investigated and charged Mr. Tinubu on the basis of the documents in 2011, but the Code of Conduct Tribunal, which primarily hears cases brought by the bureau, dismissed the matter on technical grounds, leaving the merit of the case floating for nearly a decade. No further charges had been preferred against the ruling party chief ever since.



Code of Conduct Bureau chairman Mohammed Isa. [PHOTO CREDIT: Facebook page of Mr Isa]
Code of Conduct Bureau chairman Mohammed Isa. [PHOTO CREDIT: Facebook page of Mr Isa]
But as he prepares to seek Nigeria’s presidency in 2023, anti-corruption officials told the Gazette they’re now convinced by “institutional memory” that Mr. Tinubu’s asset filings were incriminating and must revisit the matter to prevent “another rogue” from assuming power in a country still reeling from decades of infamy.


“His asset declaration form will not be the only reason for us to arrest and charge him,” an EFCC official said under anonymity over the weekend. “But our detectives and lawyers working on the case said it is likely to be seriously incriminating.”

Both CCB and EFCC officials who spoke with the Gazette for this story urged strict protection of their identities, citing especially their active engagement status and a lack of clearance to speak to journalists on a matter still under investigation. The officials’ personal details have been withheld in accordance with the Gazette’s policy on anonymous sources.

‘So convenient’

A spokesman for the CCB did not return a request seeking comments on the missing files. An EFCC spokesman also declined comments.

Although the EFCC has yet to escalate the disappearance of Mr. Tinubu’s asset filings to the presidency, concerns have nonetheless been flaring amongst top officials of the CCB, an official said. While some officials believed the document might have been stolen by an intruder, others blamed “an inside job” for the development, citing its security.

“Tinubu’s file is one of the VVIP files that is kept with either the chairman or someone he trusts immensely,” an official said. “So claiming that it was stolen from an outsider at the time the EFCC is requesting for it is just so convenient.”

The official said an internal investigation has yet to commence about the disappearance, but the EFCC might be forced to report the CCB, which is a department under the federal cabinet secretary’s office.



“We don’t know how many palms have been oiled to make a sensitive document disappeared from our vault,” the CCB chief said. “We are not going to blame Tinubu for it because he did not come in here to snatch it from us, some people were used.”


Abdulrasheed Bawa, EFCC boss.
The EFCC first wrote to the CCB requesting Mr. Tinubu’s asset declaration details in September, according to a letter obtained by the Gazette and published last week, but the anti-graft agency was forced to repeat the request when the asset fraud office could not produce Mr. Tinubu’s case file.

Since then, the CCB has not been able to comply with EFCC’s request, effectively stalling the case, according to officials at CCB and EFCC.

Still, anti-graft officials said they are treating the file drama more as a temporary setback for concerned agencies than a day of reckoning averted for Mr. Tinubu himself.

“We take all corruption cases very seriously,” an official said. “So we will find a way out of every setback that we are likely to encounter before the prosecution stage.”

‘Other routes’

Anti-graft officials also emphasised to the Gazette that Mr. Tinubu’s asset filings, while potentially incriminating enough, will not be the only ground for his arraignment, which they said Mr. Buhari has not commented on despite Mr. Tinubu’s attempt to quash the matter.

“We have other petitions bordering on his corruption,” an official said. “We are proceeding with every lead we have because we have not heard anything from the presidency to the contrary.”



The president has powers to stop a criminal trial as all law enforcement institutions are under his absolute control, but a presidency official said Mr. Buhari might be reluctant to wade into the matter because of the weighty allegations against Mr. Tinubu.

“The president still respects Ashiwaju Tinubu as a strong ally,” the official said under anonymity. “But the allegations against him are weighty and if they are not thrashed out now another government may eventually be forced to do so in future.”

Although no official memo has been circulated in respect to the charges against Mr. Tinubu, there are strong indications that his infamous bullion vans on the eve of 2019 elections and his involvement in the movement of suspicious funds from Lagos treasury into Alpha-Beta Consulting might be his undoing.

“We have a petition from a group in Abuja that we should investigate the bullion vans,” an official said. “It is possible that both the bullion vans and the case with Alpha-Beta will complement each other if the matter goes to trial.”

A bad hand

A spokesman for Mr. Tinubu did not return a request seeking comments from the Gazette about his principal’s missing files.

The former Lagos governor has long denied all claims of corruption as a handiwork of his political detractors, and he was even more confident of not facing any charges following his undisputed role in bringing Mr. Buhari to power. Respected political analysts said Mr. Tinubu, through funding and resources, led the efforts to make Mr. Buhari appealing to Nigerians who have rejected him at the poll as an ethnic and religious partisan.

Whereas he expected a great degree of influence under Mr. Buhari’s government, Mr. Tinubu has been left largely disappointed, and, in some cases, deliberately slighted by those with domineering influence on the president.

https://gazettengr.com/exclusive-ccb-in-disarray-as-bola-tinubus-case-file-disappears-from-asset-declaration-vault/?utm_source=ReviveOldPost&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ReviveOldPost

Lalasticlala

Ok

Thumbs up to the jagaban of Osun, he knew he was going to be messed up badly and had to play a very fast game. I guess it’s clear for him to contest now

He saw their move ahead, and did the needful. They must be a duplicate somewhere, though I'm afraid that the custodian of such documents might be dead by now except if he is a good dribbler also.

Game of thrones

Lmao. Them don move am. The next thing we will hear is that Wallgecko has eaten the file

Naija house of comedy.

Naija na cruze

That's Naija for you o.

That Bola Tinubu guy is a criminal

Ok

Ok!!! let me quickly go and withdraw my #1350 I have been saving to start my oil company... make I take am chop...I can't kill myself.... to hell with motivational speakers.

We have different types of Milk, oat in 25kg bags and others in whole sale, all for sale at a good price.

Check them in my post link.

https://www.nairaland.com/6448009/milk-butter-chese-pop-corn

lmao....naija na one kind cruise...we still dey analog age...mtchew

For the love of money is what again? Abeg remind me

Why I'm I not surprised.

Power and connections are an incredible combination if only you know how to use them.

Tinubu na jagaban true true... no be for mouth

If i tell una say na strong jazz run am, e go shock una

There is no way a vvip file with photocopies at various locations in the hands of the chairman or his trustee can just loss delibrately knowing fully well that these are supposed buhari fulani loyalists who are out for tinubu 2023.

No usual fire accident, no breaking and entry


I know of a true story of an occult man who bidded for contract worth billions but his file was at the bottom because it was least qualified but every morning the file kept coming on top of others when the morning approval was due.

The chairman kept sending the file to the bottom till he started asking if his trusted colleague had a spare key to be doing this.

The colleague said he didn't, the man set up CCTV and saw it was true, that was how baba approved the man's quotation before he dies for been stiffed neck

H

Lmao. Back in early 2000, when news broke he lied about graduating from GSS Ibadan. OBJ asked him to point out just one of his peers, Baba mute. When they instigated a case of forgery against Baba, na so the Principal office that had all the records got burnt down overnight,��.

donmixc:
oluriburuku

weather the file is found or not, power will never return to south, no southern candidate can match any northern politician

Buhari failed three times until SW came to his rescue. Get that into your almajiri skull.

-cobra

Ok

Well Tinubu has enough financial might to make anything disappear in this country

Snake swallow millions in this Nigeria, then you think file disappearing is a big deal,ordinary file, this is normal things abegi !!!

The gods have taken the file

While this is bad for the institution if true, it is truly sad for the country's anti corruption drive.

But the thing wey this news do yamrees Na another level of painment and lament

OboiiiOo

tunjiajayi:
While this is bad for the institution if true, it is truly sad for the country's anti corruption drive.

But the thing wey this news do yamrees Na another level of painment and lament

Was there. anything like Tinubu case at the EFCC?.
Bloggers exploiting peoples state of mind to drive traffic to their blogs.
Even AIT had to settle out of court for making that stupid documentary on Tinubu.
Who God has blessed no man can curse jor.

Omo!
See magik.
Aaahhh....

Comedy extraordinaire.
A Country where snake and monkey have swallowed millions and billions, is it ordinary file that won't disappear??