₦airaland Forum

The Federal Government has been advised to be cautious of those parading themselves as Niger Delta stakeholders pressuring it to dialogue with them and those stoking the insurgency in the region.

The Warri Study Group (WSG), an Itsekiri think-tank, in a position paper made available to the media in Warri yesterday, also urged the government to treat the rising insurgency as criminality, adding that the problem facing the region is purely of bad management of resources.

The advice came against the backdrop of the deployment of heavy military hardware and personnel to Warri and other towns in the Niger Delta region last weekend.

The paper, signed by the group’s chairman, Edward Ekpoko, and secretary, Tony Ede, which largely reacted to the Chief Edwin Clark-convened regional stakeholders’ meeting in Effurun, Delta State, alleged that those coming out now as leaders of the region, seeking dialogue to end the festering crisis, were the people who initiated the idea to set the region on fire, using the insurgents.

It, however, discredited the conference as not, in any way, representative of the six coastal Niger Delta states it claimed to have drawn participants from, noting that more than 80% of those present were Ijaw. The visit to the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, by some traditional rulers from the region, was strictly an Ijaw affair, WSG said.

The paper, which lamented the damage done to the economy by the activities of insurgents and the insecurity it has gradually foisted on the region, expressed surprise that the Clark-led conference failed to denounce the main insurgent group, the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) for bringing the situation about.

‘’It is an open fact that some of these elders and traditional rulers are acting the script of the militants and have only recruited and/or assembled some few innocent ones and/or those willing to be bought outside their ethnic nationalities to give it a semblance of a Niger Delta struggle for better life, conditions and infrastructure.

‘’We have sadly observed that the communiqué issued at the end of the stakeholders meeting by the so-called six Niger Delta coastal states, which was neither read nor generally agreed on at the meeting, raises more questions than answers, namely: It was signed by only Chief E. K. Clark and Prof. G. G. Darah – both of Delta State out of the so-called six Niger Delta coastal states.

‘’We condemn the activities of the Niger Delta Avengers and other militant groups in the Niger Delta. We call on the Federal Government to bring all perpetrators of the criminal activities to justice.

‘’Federal Government must separate acts of criminality from genuine efforts to develop the region. The problem of the Niger Delta is more of management of the resources allocated than anything else. Evidence abound. Inspite of the trillions of naira that have been provided to the Niger Delta Intervention agencies and ministries over the years, there is nothing on ground to show for it.

‘’Both the consultative meeting of the stakeholders of the six Niger Delta coastal states held on 19 August, 2016 and the Niger Delta monarchs group that met with the Minister of Petroleum Resources are all Ijaw-driven and not pan-Niger Delta. The rest of the Niger Delta, which is made up of the Ibibio, Edo, Urhobo, Ikwerre, Ogoni, Efik, Isoko, Ndokwa, Itsekiri, etc, should not be made to learn and discover that problem solving in the Region can only be through violence and aggression. Violence and aggression should be discouraged by every means.

‘’We encourage the Federal Government and the various states to indeed dialogue for a lasting solution to the Niger Delta problems, but with the right stakeholders, not those that are seeing the struggle as a money-making venture’’, the paper said.

BY SAHARA REPORTERS, NEW YORK AUG 26, 2016
Some of Senate President Bukola Saraki's aides involved in the November 20, 2015 theft of N310 million being transported to the senator have disclosed why they stole the cash. The aides snatched the cash from a bureau de change operator at 5 Nana Close, Maitama in Abuja.

Tracked down by SaharaReporters and speaking anonymously, some of Mr. Saraki’s aides, who are currently on the run, said the senator was in the habit of warehousing large volumes of cash, mainly for use as bribes to judges, investigators and prosecutors to ensure the scuttling of his trial for false assets declaration by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).

The theft, first reported by SaharaReporters, featured five officers of the Department of State Security (DSS) led by Abdulrasheed Maigari, the most senior of the DSS officers attached to Senator Sarak‎i. Mr. Maigari hails from Dungo local government area of Taraba State. The other DSS officers involved in the heist were Ibbi George from Adamawa State, Patrick Ishaya from Plateau State, Peter Okoye from Delta State, and Solomon Yunusa from Kogi State. Other participants included four other aides of Mr. Saraki and five serving military officers led by one Captain Hassan Mshelia.

The aides at large revealed to a correspondent of SaharaReporters that Senator Saraki often used a house, 18 Lake Chad Crescent, Abuja, as a warehouse for illegally acquired money. They said huge stashes of cash from First Bank Plc. branch located at Coomasie House in Abuja were often stored in the house. The aides added that the funds were then moved on behalf of the Senate President for use in a variety of special “political assignments” ordered by Mr. Saraki.

The sources said cash was regularly moved from the bank and the house on Lake Chad Crescent to Mr. Saraki’s mansion at 5 Nana Close in Maitama, from which lawyers as well as judges and their designated representatives collect the cash to obstruct justice.
They said Mr. Saraki regularly used five of his official security aides, supported by five soldiers usually chosen by Paul Ibok, his Chief Security Officer, to move the funds. The aides disclosed to SaharaReporters that, between October and November 2015, there were three cash movements to No 5 Nana Close.

According to them, the cash was usually received by Mr. Saraki’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Peter Makanjuola, who also has the duty of distributing it to judicial officers with whom various deals had been struck regarding plots to scuttle the Senate President's trial.

In one instance, the aides disclosed, N550 million was delivered to Justice Alfa Belgore, a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, to carry out an illicit assignment of obstructing justice on behalf of Mr. Saraki. On another occasion, DSS officers working with soldiers took the sum of N370 million to a venue. According to the wanted DSS operatives, the Senate President had 23 DSS operatives attached to him. The DSS officers are split into two teams (A and B), with both teams taking turns to provide security for the Senate President, who lives in an eight-bedroom official residence. The building, known as “White House,” shares a wall with the official residence of the Inspector-General of Police.

Our sources said that, having observed the unrestricted movement of large sums to Senator Saraki’s home, some of his DSS aides also developed an appetite for cash. Thus, on November 20, 2015, an aide of Mr. Saraki directed the leader of Team A, Ibrahim Shariff, to call Mr. Maigari, who had been off duty, to return to work for a “special assignment”. On his return, Mr. Maigari was told to join four colleagues and five soldiers to go meet one Ibrahim Kabir, a First Bank employee, to pick up money for the Senate President. They said Mr. Kabir happens to be the account officer for Hassan Abubakar Dankani, Mr. Saraki’s favorite bureau de change operator. One longtime associate stated that Mr. Saraki had been using Mr. Dandani to launder funds since the senator’s days as the governor of Kwara State.

Our sources said that, with the increasing scrutiny on him, Senator Saraki had decided against using the DSS officers attached to him to escort cash movement. Instead, the senator asked the management of the bureau de change to make their own arrangement for security escorts to move the cash to Senator Saraki's home.

However, with their own growing hunger for money, Senator Saraki's security details had hatched a plot to corner the cash. And they recruited other colleagues and Captain Mshelia. Dressed in military fatigue, the security agents positioned themselves near the senator’s home and ambushed the vehicle in which the bureau de change operator was conveying the cash. SaharaReporters learnt that the security officers told those moving the cash that they were under arrest for money laundering. The police officers hired as escorts by the bureau de change operator had to leave the scene when the DSS men showed their identification tags, which gave the impression that they were on legal duty.

Once the policemen had left, the DSS officers, including those attached to Mr. Saraki, told the bureau de change operator that they knew of the destination for the cash and that moving huge sums of cash outside the banking system was illegal. The DSS officers then demanded N350 million in order to allow the vehicle to proceed. After a period of haggling, the officers settled for N310 million.

When Mr. Dankani was informed of the development, he phoned Senator Saraki, who instructed him never to mention his name in connection with the cash. Unaware that those who carried out the theft included members of his security detail, Mr. Saraki thought he was safe from being exposed.

Shortly after SaharaReporters reported the heist, disclosing that the cash belonged to Mr. Saraki, the senator’s spokesman, Yusuf Olaniyonu, issued a statement denying the senator’s ownership of the stolen money. “We want to say categorically that Dr. Saraki is not the owner of the stolen money. He does not know the owner who is said to be a bureau de change operator. The police that investigated the robbery incident and the SSS, which issued a statement on it, can confirm that there is no link between the Senate President with the ownership of the money,” Mr. Olaniyonu claimed in a statement.

Mr. Olaniyonu also told SaharaReporters that the police had issued a statement on the matter. But when SaharaReporters demanded where to find the said police statement, he said we should check a ThisDay report, which he claimed contained the police statement.
The paper quoted Wilson Inalegwu, Federal Capital Territory Commissioner of Police, as saying: “In the course of the investigation, we were able to get the names and identities of some of them (the suspects). Unfortunately, two of the DSS operatives are attached to the Senate President.”

Every step of the way, Mr. Saraki made valiant efforts, abetted by the DSS boss, to prevent the money from being linked to him. Mr. Dankani, the owner of the bureau de change, said the robbery took place at 5 Nana Close, off Mississippi Road in Maitama and claimed that the robbers dropped off his boys on the outskirts of Abuja. His version of events, however, was disputed by Mr. Saraki's DSS aides, who told this online newspaper that there was no need to have taken them, as there was no confrontation between them and Mr. Dankani's boys. After taking the cash, the aides said, they left for Maigari's house in Keffi, Nasarawa State, where they shared the loot before returning to work with Mr. Saraki.

Mr. Dankani also told SaharaReporters that he is a nephew of former military head of state, General Abdulsalami Abubakar. Mr. Saraki’s DSS aides disclosed to SaharaReporters that the ex-head of state and the Senate President are very close friends, adding that they had accompanied him numerous times on his visits to Abubakar at his Lake Chad Crescent mansion.

Six days after the theft, both Mr. Maigari and Mr. Ibbi were arrested around 8:30 pm, as they prepared to accompany Senator Saraki to see President Muhammadu Buhari. After their arrest, the wanted aides narrated, they requested to see the DSS Director-General (DG), Lawal Daura, to explain why they stole the money. Mr. Daura declined the request, but sent a DSS officer to tell them that the matter would be resolved internally. He sent firm instructions through the officer that the arrested officers should make statements, but ensure that such statements should not link the stolen cash to Mr. Saraki in any way. As such, the detained officers wrote choreographed statements dictated to them by investigators.

Mr. Saraki's aides on the run disclosed that Mr. Daura and the Senate President are intimate friends and that, on at least four occasions, he secretly met with the senator after the latter’s corruption trial had begun. The first of the clandestine meetings took place at Barcelona Apartments in Abuja. On two other occasions, Mr. Daura and Senator Saraki met at night at the Senate President's official residence. SaharaReporters has constantly reported that the DSS boss, Mr. Daura, was providing strategic support to the Senate President to help him frustrate his trial.

A statement issued by the DSS on December 6, 2015 was carefully tweaked to give the public the misleading impression that the stolen cash belonged to the bureau de change operator. The statement also failed to provide details of the purported robbery. Signed by Tony Opuiyo, the DSS statement said: “The Department of State Services (DSS) wishes to inform the general public that the Service has arrested two (2) out of five (5) of its staff involved in the robbery and sharing, on November 20th, 2015, of the sum of three hundred and ten million naira (N310m) belonging to a Bureau De Change operator in Abuja. While three (3) of the DSS staff are now at large, the Military Authorities have commenced a detailed investigation of five (5) of its personnel involved in the crime.” It added that preliminary investigations revealed that Mr. Maigari conspired with four colleagues to steal the money.

Currently, only Mr. Maigari and Mr. Ibbi are in detention at Kuje Prison, awaiting trial. The others are at large. Representatives of the detained operatives said the DSS first charged them to court in April 2016, after media reports revealed that the money stolen belonged to Mr. Saraki. They were charged to court for planning to demand their freedom through the filing of a fundamental right enforcement suit in Abuja.

Mr. Saraki's security aides who remain on the run told SaharaReporters that five soldiers are also in detention at Kuje Prison in connection with the theft. In April, the police charged the soldiers to court for robbery. But curiously, the soldiers are being tried separately from the DSS officers because the DSS refused to hand over Mr. Maigari and Mr. Ibbi to the police for prosecution, claiming it did not trust the police.

Representatives of the detained DSS officers said they recently discovered that Sunday Agaba, a man who accompanied them to steal and was described as a bureau de change operator, is actually a retired Army officer. He was shot by the police as they arrested him. When SaharaReporters blew the lid on this, both Mr. Maigari and Mr. Ibbi were removed from the underground cell where they had been kept and allowed for the first time to meet with their respective families. It was during such interactions that they realized they had been branded armed robbers. They disclosed that if they were prosecuted along with the soldiers, they would give the exact narration of the alleged robbery incident.

SaharaReporters learnt that Mr. Dankani was listed as a witness in the case. But on cross-examination in April, he claimed he was forced to come for the trial. When SaharaReporters contacted Mr. Dankani shortly before this report was written, he claimed to have a hazy recollection of what went on with the bullion van on the day of the incident. However, he insisted that the money stolen belonged to him.

The DSS operatives being prosecuted claimed that the stolen money was recovered from them in full. However, the DSS told the court that it recovered only N96 million.

The DSS operatives are due to appear again at the Federal Capital Territory High Court 18 when judges return from vacation.

Mr. Saraki too is on vacation with his entire family in Ibiza, Spain. The theft of N310 million was not the only time Mr. Saraki’s money laundering had provoked aides to steal from him. A group of aides at his house in Ilorin recently stole cash worth N110 million from his bedroom in Kwara State.

Kaduna State government has concluded plans to commence the enforcement of free compulsory primary education across the 23 local government areas next month.

The Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Andrew Nok who briefed Journalists on the activities of the ministry, said the bill to enforce compulsory primary education in the state has been passed into law and would be become effective in September.

He said, government came up with law in order to ensure that no one is deprive of basic education in the State, “the law provides penalty to parent who refuse to send their children or ward to school.”

“Anybody who is caught giving or receiving alms to beggars, and parent who sends their children to school would be dealt with by the law,” he said.

He said, the State government is going to get the Almajiri children integrated into the modern school system.

The commissioner also disclosed that a total of N2.2 billion has been spent on the payment of 1,200 newly recruited teachers in the State.

The commissioner said the delay in payment was to ensure that all the newly recruited staff passed through proper documentation to check the “ghost worker syndrome.”

Nok also pledged that 15 secondary schools would be reactivated as boarding schools and equipped with standard facilities across the 23 local government areas.

He said hostels, library, clinic, kitchen facilities, perimeter fence and potable water would be provided to give the schools a conducive environment for teaching and learning.

15 schools to be reactivated as boarding institutions included Queen Amina College, Kaduna, Government Girls secondary School, Kawo; Government Technical College, Malali and Barewa Collage, Zaria.

Others included Government College, Kagoro; Girls Science Secondary School, Giwa; Rimi College, Zaria; Girls Science School, Kwoi; Government Girls Secondary School , Soba, Government college, Saminaka and Government College, Kagoro.

InvertedHammer:
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Did I just read Mrs. Amaka Alajemba of Godax?

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The former Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, Abdulmumin Jibrin, on Thursday claimed that the Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara and three other principal officers he accused of inserting billions into the 2016 budget are attempting to obstruct justice.

The lawmaker said Dogara and others are trying to obstruct justice by seizing information relevant to the allegation and impeding investigations.

A statement issued by Jibrin on Thursday reads:

“Speaker Dogara has ordered that all the computers in the appropriation secretariat be shut down and moved to his office as if that is the answer to the allegations I raised.

“The secretariat workers are being harassed to keep quiet and suppress facts. There has also been an attempt to break into my office at the House.

“I know he wants to tamper with documents critical to his and three others future investigation and prosecution but unfortunately for him we already have enough evidence in our possession. The security and anti -corruption agencies should kindly take note. ”

Speaking on the press briefing organised by Gombe Reps Caucus which accused him of waging a “campaign of calumny,” he said:

“Five members of the Gombe caucus addressed the press today (Thursday) in a show of shame and succeeded in only rehearsing the accusation of lies leveled against me by Speaker Dogara.

“Two of them are part of the list of corrupt members I will be submitting to the EFCC. My response to them is they should simply read my full reply released yesterday and join the Transparency Group (TG), an alliance of hundreds of members to cleanse the House of corruption and corrupt members.

“They should act honourably by calling on Speaker Dogara to listen to the call of Nigerians to reconvene the House immediately so that an independent investigation can commence.”

When the Special Adviser to the Speaker on Media and Public Affairs, Turaki Hassan, was contacted on the issue, he declined to react to the allegation.

The speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, on Thursday said he would pursue defamation charges against PREMIUM TIMES for allegedly publishing a “libellous” material circulated by a former chairman of House Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin.
Mr. Dogara said he gave this newspaper a seven-day grace period for it to retract and apologise for publishing the July 25 article which Mr. Jibrin said he distributed to media houses to throw more light on the unfolding budget padding scandal involving him, Mr. Dogara and other House principal officers.
In a letter dated July 27 and titled: “Demand for Apology for a Libelous Publication Contained in the Front Page of Your Newspaper of July 26, 2016,” Mr. Dogara quoted excerpts of the article and said their publication caused him “public opprobrium, odium, scorn and ridicule”.
Mr. Dogara and Mr. Jibrin had been locked in fierce political and media battle after the latter was removed as chair of the appropriation committee last Wednesday.
Mr. Jibrin, a lawmaker from Kano State, said Mr. Dogara colluded with his deputy, Yusuf Lasun, Chief Whip Alhassan Doguwa, and Minority Whip Leo Ogor to allot up to ₦40 billion to themselves in the budget.
The lawmakers denied the allegations and said Mr. Jibrin was angry because he lost his position as chairman of Committee on Appropriation.
Mr. Dogara’s letter to PREMIUM TIMES was written by a law firm, Messrs. Joash Ojo Amupitan (SAN) and Co., and was signed by Johnson Usman, a legal partner in the firm.
“The personal references are obviously directed at our client and amount to a very serious libel,” the letter said.
“Take notice that in the event of your failure/refusal to unconditionally retract your false and defamatory statements within seven (7) days of the receipt of this letter, you will have left us with no choice but to proceed with legal action against you. In that event, we will pursue all options to undo the reputational injury caused by you including a claim for aggravated and exemplary damages,” Mr. Dogara’s lawyers said.
PREMIUM TIMES’ legal adviser, Jiti Ogunye, said this paper did nothing untoward in publishing Mr. Jibrin’s allegations, and said Mr. Dogara’s threat was “unwarranted and legally offensive”.
Mr. Ogunye said Mr. Dogara’s action was aimed at stifling the freedom of the press.
“Indeed, it is a calculated but an unacceptable attempt to kill the right to freedom of expression and the press,” Mr. Ogunye said. “Section 22 of the Constitution imposes a duty on the press to hold the government accountable to the people. And what PREMIUM TIMES is doing is a very professional and responsible discharge of that constitutional duty.”
“The allegations and counter allegations from both sides are fairly reflected in PREMIUM TIMES reports and it is in the public interest that PREMIUM TIMES is upholding the right of the Nigerian people to know.”
Mr. Ogunye said Mr. Dogara was trying to drag PREMIUM TIMES into the corruption scandal rocking the House in order to create a legal loophole for himself and others enmeshed in it.
“A mischief is afoot because this threat to institute a civil action alleging defamation of character may just be a way to immediately deposit the allegations in a court so that they can say ‘because the matter is already in court it can no longer be entertained before the House.’”
Mr. Ogunye said rather than threaten PREMIUM TIMES, Mr. Dogara should preoccupy himself with relentless invitation to the EFCC and ICPC to come in and investigate the scandal, adding that PREMIUM TIMES would remain firm in its resolve to ensure that Nigerians remain abreast of unfolding developments in the scandal as well as other cases of sharp practices in public service.
“PREMIUM TIMES cannot be intimidated by the Speaker or anyone else because the shield of PREMIUM TIMES is integrity and adherence to the highest professional standards in journalism,” Mr. Ogunye said.