₦airaland Forum

Corruption Perceptions Index 2015: Corruption still rife but 2015 saw pockets of hope

TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL CALLS ON PEOPLE EVERYWHERE TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST CORRUPTION

2015 showed that people working together can succeed in the battle against corruption. Although corruption is still rife globally, more countries improved their scores in the 2015 edition of Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index than declined.

Overall, two-thirds of the 168 countries on the 2015 index scored below 50, on a scale from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 100 (perceived to be very clean).

Yet in places like Guatemala, Sri Lanka and Ghana, citizen activists in groups and on their own worked hard to drive out the corrupt, sending a strong message that should encourage others to take decisive action in 2016.

“Corruption can be beaten if we work together. To stamp out the abuse of power, bribery and shed light on secret deals, citizens must together tell their governments they have had enough.

“The 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index clearly shows that corruption remains a blight around the world. But 2015 was also a year when people again took to the streets to protest corruption. People across the globe sent a strong signal to those in power: it is time to tackle grand corruption," said José Ugaz, Chair of Transparency International.

Grand corruption is the abuse of high-level power that benefits the few at the expense of the many, and causes serious and widespread harm to individuals and society. It often goes unpunished.

This year Transparency International is calling on all people to take action by voting at unmaskthecorrupt.org. We want to know which cases the public most believe merit urgent attention to send a message that we will take a stand against grand corruption.

Brazil was the biggest decliner in the index, falling 5 points and dropping 7 positions to a rank of 76. The unfolding Petrobras scandal brought people into the streets in 2015 and the start of judicial process may help Brazil stop corruption.

Good news stories on the fight against corruption can be found on our website here about Mongolia, here on Guatemala and here on whistleblowing and include successes from our network of more than 100 chapters.

The results

The index covers perceptions of public sector corruption in 168 countries.

Denmark took the top spot for the 2nd year running, with North Korea and Somalia the worst performers, scoring just 8 points each.

Top performers share key characteristics: high levels of press freedom; access to budget information so the public knows where money comes from and how it is spent; high levels of integrity among people in power; and judiciaries that don’t differentiate between rich and poor, and that are truly independent from other parts of government.

In addition to conflict and war, poor governance, weak public institutions like police and the judiciary, and a lack of independence in the media characterise the lowest ranked countries.

The big decliners in the past 4 years include Libya, Australia, Brazil, Spain and Turkey. The big improvers include Greece, Senegal and UK.

The Corruption Perceptions Index is based on expert opinions of public sector corruption. Countries’ scores can be helped by open government where the public can hold leaders to account, while a poor score is a sign of prevalent bribery, lack of punishment for corruption and public institutions that don’t respond to citizens’ needs.

Press contact(s):
Chris Sanders
T: +49 30 34 38 20 666
E: press@transparency.org
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WHICH COUNTRIES IMPROVED? WHICH GOT WORSE?

2015 showed that people working together can succeed in fighting corruption. Although corruption is still rife globally, more countries improved their scores in 2015 than declined.

Some countries have improved in recent years – Greece, Senegal and the UK are among those that have seen a significant increase in scores since 2012.

Others, including Australia, Brazil, Libya, Spain and Turkey, have deteriorated.

Dealing with many entrenched corruption issues, Brazil has been rocked by the Petrobras scandal, in which politicians are reported to have taken kickbacks in exchange for awarding public contracts. As the economy crunches, tens of thousands of ordinary Brazilians have lost their jobs already. They didn’t make the decisions that led to the scandal. But they’re the ones living with the consequences.

Dariye diverted N1.126bn, gave Atiku’s firm N100m – Witness

January 26, 2016

https://www.punchng.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/dariye.jpg

About nine years after preferring the charges of alleged diversion of the Plateau State’s N1.126bn ecological funds against a former governor of the state, Joshua Dariye, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission finally opened its case before a Federal Capital Territory High Court in Gudu, Abuja, on Monday.

The trial began with a Supreme Court’s judgment delivered on February 27, 2015, laying to rest an interlocutory application filed by Dariye and which had stalled the trial since it was filed in 2007.

The apex court after dismissing Dariye’s appeal in the judgment ordered Dariye, who was the Plateau State governor between May 29, 1999 and May 18, 2004, to submit himself for trial.

Dariye, who is currently a senator representing Plateau Central, dressed in a brown kaftan, and looked unruffled as the first prosecution witness testified in court on Monday.

The prosecution called its first witness, Musa Sunday, who narrated to the court, presided over by Justice Adebukola Banjoko, how Dariye allegedly diverted the state’s N1.126bn ecological funds.

Sunday, a detective with the EFCC, said he was involved in the investigation into how Dariye allegedly diverted Plateau State’s funds while serving as governor.

The witness said investigation by the EFCC operatives revealed that the former governor had, in 2001, applied for the ecological funds in the name of his state but collected the money in person and lodged it with the Abuja branch of the All States Trust Bank Plc (now defunct).

The witness added that the bank manager, allegedly acting on Dariye’s instructions paid N100m in the name of ‘PDP South-West.” The money he said was later traced to a company – Marine Float Nigeria Limited – allegedly owned by former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar.

Sunday, who was led in evidence by the prosecuting counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), said efforts to ensure that the firm refunded the money failed.

He said Dariye instructed the payment of N178.8m to an unregistered company – Ebenezer Retnan Venture Limited, which was later discovered to belong to the former governor.

He said investigation also revealed that Dariye ordered the payment of N80m from the ecological funds to the Permanent Secretary in the Ecological Fund Office, Kingsley Nkumeh.

The witness said although the EFCC later recovered the N80m from Nkumeh, he fled the country on learning that he was to be prosecuted.

He said Nkumeh had yet to return to the country.

Sunday added that Dariye paid N250m to a firm – Pinnacle Communications – owned by a contractor to the Plateau State Government.

He told the court that the decision to investigate Dariye was informed by a request by the London Metropolitan Police for Nigeria’s assistance in investigating some parties and companies linked with the former governor.

The witness said, “We invited Pinnacle Communications and the representative of the company actually confirmed collecting the N250m, but told us he is a contractor of the Plateau State Government.

“The N80m paid to Union Homes turned out to have been paid to a Permanent Secretary, Ecological Funds Office, Kingsley Nkumeh.

“When interviewed, he said that was his share for facilitating the payment of the ecological funds to the state. The said amount was recovered by the EFCC from the Permanent Secretary of Ecological Funds Office.

“Charges were later prepared for him to be charged to court in Lagos. He was granted an administrative bail; he resigned and left the country. Our investigation at Union Homes revealed that the cheque was cleared into an account owned by the Permanent Secretary, Nkumeh.

“The bank gave us the mandate card of the Permanent Secretary, into whose account the N80m was paid. The N176.8m was traced to Ebenezer Retnan Venture’s account domiciled at All States Trust Bank. From investigation at the Corporate Affairs Commission, we found it was not registered. There was no record of the company’s existence.

“The N100m paid to the PDP South-West was traced to Marine Float Limited. The mandate we received from the bank showed that Marine Float is owned by a former Vice President of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. Efforts at recovering this money have been going on. We did not succeed in recovering it.”

The court proceedings were interrupted by an outage.

Sunday, also in the course of his testimony, narrated how the bank, All States Trust Bank Plc (now defunct), aided the former governor to lodge the cheque into his (Dariye’s) account instead of the state government’s accounts.

The witness said, “The CBN cheque and the handwritten disbursement letter were recovered and another additional type-written disbursement letter by the defendant to the bank’s branch manager was all recovered.

“When we recovered those documents and cheques from CBN, we traced it to where it came from. Investigation led us to the Ecological Funds Unit, under the Presidency. At the Ecological Funds Unit, we interviewed one Mr. Adewusi, who told us that there was a time the Plateau State Government applied for ecological funds for ecological problem in the state, and approval was given for N1.126bn.

“And that before the cheque was prepared, a payment voucher covering the said amount, which had other documents attached to it, were prepared and audited, at the end of which payment was made.

“When the cheque was ready for collection, the defendant and his orderly, one Inspector Victor, went to the Ecological Funds Office and, upon instruction by the defendant, the aide signed for the cheque and the defendant took the cheque to All States Trust Bank, Abuja.

“Investigation revealed that in the office of the bank manager, the defendant instructed the bank manager how the money should be disbursed to some individuals and companies. The bank’s branch manager complied with the defendant’s instruction.

“Instead of the money to be paid into any of the Plateau State Government’s accounts, the bank used its own bank accounts to clear the cheque and disbursed to individuals and companies as instructed by the defendant.

“Copies of his instructions, both type written and handwritten were made available to us during investigation.”

Sunday is expected to resume his testimony today (Tuesday) by 10am.

The EFCC, in 2007, preferred money laundering and charges bordering on the diversion of the ecological funds against Dariye.

Omoyele Sowore raises alarm, says Sahara Reporters cloned

24 January 2016

“Recently a web clone emerged from Ilorin, Kwara from persons reportedly working with Senate President Bukola Saraki.” - Sowore

Omoyele Sowore, founder of SaharaReporters has reported an alleged cloning of his media website, SaharaReporters by yet-to-be-identified persons.

According to Sowore, the persons responsible are reportedly working with Senate President, Bukola Saraki.

On his Facebook page, Mr. Sowore raised the alarm saying:

“Friends, please note there is renewed attempt to clone/impersonate SaharaReporters.com.

“Recently a web clone emerged from Ilorin, Kwara from persons reportedly working with Senate President Bukola Saraki.

“The website was registered on January 16 2016 using a South Africa based domain registration company, WEB4AFRICA INC.

“We've always known these attempts won't stop, however, it is very important that we put our friends on guard at all times.

whois.web4africa.net
Domain Name: .COM
Registry Domain ID: 1993312265_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.web4africa.net
Registrar URL: http://www.web4africa.net
Updated Date: 2016-01-11T12:28:41Z
Creation Date: 2016-01-11T12:28:18Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2017-01-11T12:28:18Z
Registrar: Web4Africa Inc.
Registrar IANA ID: 664
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: Kunjore
Registrant Organization: Not Applicable
Registrant Street: 10 ikeja
Registrant City: lagos Island
Registrant State/Province: Lagos
Registrant Postal Code: 234
Registrant Country: NG
Registrant Phone: +234.07066026978
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: support@appyet.com
Registry Admin ID:
Admin Name: Kunjore
Admin Organization: Not Applicable
Admin Street: 10 ikeja

Louislewis:
[size=18pt]It is already glaring that APC always lie to have reasons to nail their next intended opposition victim. Majority of Nigerians foolishly believe them. Fayose, please watch your back.[/size]

Olatunbosun said the party had raised the alarm many times in the last one year on the governor’s frequent trips to Dubai almost every month after receiving the state’s allocation from Abuja, noting that such trips could not be associated with any trade and investment agreement with the Middle-East country.

He said: “Only last December, we raised the alarm that Fayose for the umpteenth time again travelled to Dubai with about N250 million Ekiti money when he fraudulently collected estacode for 10 aides who never travelled with him.

“It is the height of insensitivity and wickedness on the part of Governor Fayose, who daily deceives Ekiti workers that Ekiti State is broke, to loot the treasury and invest in properties in Dubai.

“Not done, Fayose imposed heavy taxes on Ekiti masses thereby making life difficult for them while he currently owes Ekiti civil servants four months salary even though he collects federal allocation to the state every month, yet he is owing pensioners five months arrears while he and his wife travel to Dubai almost interchangeably.”

January 22, 2016

BUHARI REPLIES TRUMP – “I WILL REPATRIATE EVERY SINGLE AMERICAN IN NIGERIA

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President Muhammadu Buhari has finally given in to pressure from different quarters by replying the statements made recently by American Presidential Hopeful, Donald Trump concerning Nigerians.

Speaking to journalists in the United Arab Emirates, President Buhari had a simple reply to Donald Trump.

“He says he will pursue all my people out of America. No problem. I wish him well at the forthcoming elections. But if he thinks he can threaten my people, then I don’t think he understands who I am and what I am capable of”. President Buhari told newsmen.

“He should go and ask the family of Umaru Dikko. he should ask the Mossad about me. If he threatens my people, how does he think the Americans in Nigeria will be safe?”

The President went on to issue a warning to all Americans resident in Nigeria, both on temporary and permanent basis.

“I hope all of you are praying this man loses. because if he wins, all of you, from embassy to the streets, will be sent home. And don’t discount the probability that your plane might not land exactly in America. That is all I can say for now”.

Donald Trump could not be reached for comments as at press time. However, Hilary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, both Democratic Hopefuls, and Dr. Ben Carson and Ted Cruz of the GOP, have reached out to President Buhari, reassuring him that if they win, none of Mr. Trump’s threats will come to fruition.

https://i0.wp.com/nigeriacamera.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Buhari-Replies-Trump.jpg

American Billionaire and Republican Presidential Front-runner, Donald Trump, has shot a subtle warning to the Nigerian Community in the United States, after he said all Nigerians would be made to leave the country “when he becomes President”. He made the “threat” during a rally at Wichita, Kansas.

According to Donald Trump, Nigerians ad Mexicans have taken all the jobs meant for honest hard working Americans.

“To Make America great again, we need to get rid of the Muslims, Mexicans and the Africans, especially the Nigerians. They take all our jobs, jobs meant for honest hard working Americans, and when we don’t give them the jobs, the Muslims blow us up”, Trump said.

“We need to get the Africans out. Not the blacks, the Africans. Especially the Nigerians. They’re everywhere. I went for a rally in Alaska and met just one African in the entire state. Where was he from? Nigeria! He’s in Alaska taking our jobs. They’re in Houston taking our jobs. Why can’t they stay in their own country? Why? I’ll tell you why. Because they are corrupt."

playtheblues:
Propagandists at work.


You had to wait for 5 years to tell your story right?


Lying liars.

I DID NOT MOLEST STAFF OF BNA ABUJA – PDP VICE CHAIRMAN

Written by AKI BUORO

Wednesday, 16 March 2011

National Vice Chairman (South East) of the Peoples Democratic Party Chief Olisa Metuh has denied allegations in the media that he invaded his children former school and molested some staff of institution over the seizure of his son’s telephone handset.

Chief Metuh in a statement issued by his Special Assistant Mr. Emeka Onyia described as wicked and orchestrated campaign aimed at smearing his name and that of his cherished family.

Onyia explained that Chief Metuh with a legal background could not have in any material particular go to a school in which he was a pioneer registered Trustee to molest and assault the school’s teaching staff in company of his aides.

The statement further explained that the PDP National Vice Chairman did not and could not have embarked on such a venture that tend to cast an undeserved aspersions on his person and his family.

Chief Metuh, according to his Special Assistant had cause to withdraw his children from one of the best schools in Abuja and transferred them to the British Nigerian Academy sometimes ago but later for some personal reasons he does not intend to divulge to the public had to again withdraw them from the same school in December 2010.

According to “It should be noted that Chief Metuh's children were model students whilst they were at the School. In fact, his son was a class prefect whilst his daughter was the School's Prayer prefect. There are several eloquent testimonials from the School to confirm their excellence in behaviour and academics.”

Onyia noted that on the 19th of February 2011 Chief Metuh's son who was on his way back from his new School for mid-term break realized that it was also his former school’s (British Nigerian Academy) visiting day, decided to visit his cousins and friends in the School.

“It should be noted that in spite of the fact that Chief Metuh's son was in his new School's uniform, it still attracted the wrath of the British Nigerian School's staff who descended on the hapless child, seized his phone and started mocking him about his new School.

“All entreaties by Chief Metuh's wife to the School's staff to release the phone since the son was no longer a student of the school fell on deaf ears. In fact the insults were then extended to Chief Metuh's wife. It was at this point that Chief Metuh's attention was drawn to the matter.” Onyia enthused.

He further explained that Chief Metuh's immediate reaction was to call the proprietress of the School and lodged a complaint as well as seek her intervention in the matter but unfortunately after about 30 minutes the situation did not changed which made Chief Metuh to visit the School in the company of one of his aides.

The Special Assistant also said that upon arrival at the School, Chief Metuh approached the staff of the School by gently requesting for the release of his son's phone but the Vice Principal claimed that the phone was with the proprietress of the School adding that it was at that point that Chief Metuh pointedly told the Staff of the School that since his son was no longer a student of the school, the staff had no right to seize his telephone or that of any visitor who was legally within the premises on a visiting day.

“Chief Metuh argued that the best the School could have done was to return the phone and ask his son to leave the School's premises if he was not wanted there as a former student. Unfortunately the staff of the School remained adamant even in the face of superior logic.

“It was clear that the staff's posture was informed by the bitterness the School felt from the withdrawal of Chief Metuh's children from the School. Even at that the matter was eventually resolved and the phone was returned.

“At no point was anybody assaulted physically. It is only in the imagination of the sponsors of the attacks that someone was assaulted. Chief Metuh is a Lawyer of more than 20 years post call experience. He is a law abiding Citizen who has utmost respect for the law and law enforcement agencies,” Onyia enthused.

The Special Assistant to the PDP National Vice Chairman further debunked allegation that he turned down police invitation on the matter saying at no time was he invited by the Police adding that at anytime the Police invites him, he would be too willing to honour such invitation.

Onyia said; “It is instructive to note that this matter was never in the press domain until certain political events happened. It is clear that this matter has taken a political dimension.”

The Special Assistant also said that upon arrival at the School, Chief Metuh approached the staff of the School by gently requesting for the release of his son's phone

Pidggin:
Is Metuh a violent killer? Why is he being treated like one

arresa:
https://whyy.org/cms/radiotimes/files/2009/11/PERZELPERP.jpg

In America where we borrowed democracy from, corrupt government officials facing charges are placed in handcuffs..

You are the direct and immediate victims of the crimes committed by these criminals so it beats me why you anything to defend them and fight for their bogus rights when in fact they care less about yours.

arresa:
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsee/files/2015/04/udrea-catuse.jpg


Corruption and anti-corruption in Romania. Finally turning the corner

obailala:
Abubakar Audu on handcuffs
https://newsrescue.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/abubakar-audu-1.jpg

Tafa Balogun on handcuffs
https://www.nigerianmuse.com/images/Balogun_Tafa_handcuffed.jpg

Whatever the reason is for hancuffing metusellah, only God knows, but hancuffing suspects is not a new thing. If you cant stand the heat, leave the kitchen.

ikaboy:
Dasuki never came to court from Kuje prison rather from EFCC custody, unlike Metuh who came from the prisons.

Naijacitizen:
To those of you trying to twist history to fix your ass, I would never be my concern whether you agree or disagree. You have the right to believe whatever you deem fit. All your hatred toward north and its people especially Muslim, will never add or subtract sugar from my breakfast koko.

"Don't tell lies. Fight lies when they are told. Don't disguise difficulties, errors, and failures. Do not trust in easy victories nor in appearances...
Practice and defend the truth, always the truth, to militants, leaders, and the people, whatever the difficulties the knowledge of the truth can create."

“On the day of the presidential election in 2015, we suffered a layer 7 – or application layer DDoS – that lasted 23 hours and peaked at 200 Megabytes per second forcing us to deploy extensive measures to remain online,” PREMIUM TIMES Managing Editor, Musikilu Mojeed, said.

oduastates:
This would have been a good write up but saying that Ahmadu bello was anything but a neo-conservative and a tribal leader is not true.
In fact, trying to make it out that he was a great leader is nothing but an expression of ignorance.
In fact, his actions led to his death. Every ailment afflicting Nigeria today started Under his watch.
From corruption,jailing opposition, election rigging to using the military to suppress dissent.
Nkurumah,as flawed as he was, was a far more effective leader than Ahmadu Bello and someone who knew what had to be done.
Finally the most annoying aspect of it, where this man tries to make Pan - africanism a bad idea or phrase.
That Ahmadu bello and the writer think pan - africanism is bad says a lot about their state of mind,ignorance and their incapacity.
People who have been brain-washed and mentally incapacitated by a combination of religion , feudal elitism and cronyism and the allure of being the top topdog in a crony capitalist society.
Nothing but "we are the ones to replace the colonial masters mentality."
If Ahmadu bello thought that being a pan africanist is the same as being a racist, it is further proof that he was unfit to lead.
He and his follower can head off to Saudi Arabia, UAE or any other country to await further instructions from their masters.

ZKOSOSO:
Liar Mohammed!! Tyrant Mohammad u! Killer-profet Mohammad!!
why do all bad guys like to bear mohammed as a name! Yet they say it means the noble one!

baby124:
Just imagine the priorities of the last government? Jonathan and his advisers must have been high on something really stup*id. If you do your job will you fear criticism? Why trying to silence people badly. At the end to whose gain? All of us have lost now with the deceit and stupi*dity. Just take a look at the economy.

Mr. Salman claims the Nigerian government owes him $600 thousand on this project.

An accounting official at the NSA office, Yazidu Ibrahim, had earlier testified that “in the last five years, for all the companies that were paid, VAT and Withholding Tax were never paid for any contract.”

Master Surveillance

Mr. Salman runs a second company called Mi Marathon with another Israeli, Maoz Steinhauer. In the run up to the 2015 elections, Mi Marathon, grabbed two juicy contracts from the Nigerian government through the former NSA, Dasuki.

The largest contract was one called Fiber Optic Landing Solution worth N712.2 million ($3,580,000.00).

This contract was meant to create a backdoor access to all fibre optic cables landing in Nigeria for the office of the National Security Adviser.

Insiders explained this contract as ‘simply plug into all the optic fiber cables linking Nigeria so that the NSA can have direct access and inspect all packets entering or leaving Nigeria’. “Mass surveillance from the source.”

Papers for this contract was signed in January 2014. Ibikunle Daramola, a naval Group Captain, who was secretary to the former NSA signed agreements on January 17, 2014.

But the contract was not completed, insiders said. Mr. Salman blamed this on the NSA.

The third was a N335.1 million (USD1.6 million) contract to supply a stealth and intrusive GSM mass surveillance called Engage GI2 Tactical Solution developed by Verint.

M.I. Smart Solutions, a subsidiary of MI Marathon, sent in the proposal to supply this device in April 2014. By July, the NSA had approved and payments were made to another company in the Mi Marathon network, Mimarathon Resources Limited.

Interestingly, rather than approve the contracts before payments were made, the former NSA directed the Central Bank of Nigeria to pay Mi Marathon, in United States Dollars, on July 11 while approval for the contract was documented 10 days later.

The former NSA did not prioritize service delivery and cost effectiveness while awarding this contract.

The NSA awarded these contracts on single proposals, a manipulation of the procurement process allowed during natural disasters or emergencies or when procuring services rendered by only one provider.

In transactional documents between the NSA and Mi Marathon, seen by PREMIUM TIMES, the NSA paid for two units of the Engage GI2 Tactical Solution at the cost of $841,000 per device. In the end, only one GI2 IMSI Catcher was supplied at the cost of $329,800.

In this deal alone, Mi Marathon made a profit of over $511,200 thousand. Mr. Salman argued his prices were very competitive.

As at the time the NSA doled out cash for these surveillance devices, the country had little need for them. The NSA had many other systems like the Elbit’s Wise Technology acquired few years before. Pegasus, Circles and many other mass surveillance solutions.

Mr. Salman denied he got these contract to help siphon monies to Mr. Okupe. He explained that the reasons only him got these three juicy contracts from the NSA in one year was because he is a great marketer.

The office of the National Security Adviser, currently headed by Babagana Monguno, declined to comment on these contracts. An FOI request sent to his office was simply ignored.

INVESTIGATION: How Jonathan govt. paid companies linked to Doyin Okupe to hack ‘unfriendly’ websites

January 18, 2016

https://media.premiumtimesng.com/wp-content/files/2012/08/doyin_okupe.jpg

Two companies linked to Doyin Okupe, a former media aide to President Goodluck Jonathan, got at least N1.6 billion off the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, in three shady cyber security contracts, PREMIUM TIMES investigations have shown.

One of the contracts had instructions to hunt down unfriendly media websites with Distributed Denial of Service attacks.

It was a project conceived to shut down online media platforms perceived as friendly to Buhari or critical of Mr. Jonathan ahead of the 2015 election.

The other was a contract to intercept all optic fibre cables landing in Nigeria. The third was a passive mass and target GSM interception that had the ability to decrypt ciphers and operate undetected.

Mr. Okupe, a former Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to Mr, Jonathan, has so far evaded scrutiny in the ongoing arms contracting scandal where the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, is charged for allegedly mismanaging funds meant for the fight against Boko Haram in Nigeria’s northeast region.

The government believes Mr. Dasuki’s actions led to the death of thousands of Nigerians and hundreds of Nigerian troops in the hands of Boko Haram fighters.

The contracts awarded Mr. Okupe’s close allies reinforces claims that the former NSA merely doled out cash and contracts to cronies and political associates and violated procurement regulations in the process.

In the three contracts investigated by PREMIUM TIMES, the NSA did not prioritize efficiency or due process and value for money in the awarding process. Rather, there was a pattern of hurried release of cash. In one instance, full contract sums were paid before delivery of products – and insiders claim product was never delivered.

In the three contracts, the NSA paid more than double the actual amounts of items purchased and relied on single source when it could have opened up the contract to competitive bidding.

Hunting the opposition

On June 13, 2014, in the heat of the 2015 presidential elections campaigns, Romix Technologies Ltd, registered as an offshore and anonymous company in Cyprus, received N398 million – two million US dollars – payment from the Office of the National Security Adviser in Nigeria.

That was a part payment for a cyber-hooliganism contract that would later cost Nigeria $2.6 million.

The sum was wired to Romix technologies Ltd’s bank account account held with Luemi Private Bank in Zurich, Switzerland in June 2014.

The contract for which Romix Technologies was paid N398 million was merely explained as “supply and installation of cyber intelligence system software at the office of the National Security Adviser.”

The specific software was not stated. But PREMIUM TIMES investigations revealed that the true nature of the contract was to acquire tools to carry out Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks on websites believed to be critical of Mr. Jonathan, ahead of the elections.

The actual purchase was a DDoS service called “The Systems” offered by Packets Technologies AD, an Israeli company operating out of Bulgaria.

Its job was simple – attack and bring down websites the NSA felt was not sympathetic to the administration of Goodluck Jonathan. This they did by flooding target website servers with malicious traffic with the aim of shutting out genuine visitors and working host servers till they break down.

Many Nigerian media websites, including PREMIUM TIMES, were victims of these attacks through the campaign period to the election days.

“On the day of the presidential election in 2015, we suffered a layer 7 – or application layer DDoS – that lasted 23 hours and peaked at 200 Megabytes per second forcing us to deploy extensive measures to remain online,” PREMIUM TIMES Managing Editor, Musikilu Mojeed, said.

DerideGull:
The above crap sounds more like political activism than well-thought-out litigious indictment.

“If your hands are clean, you will not be afraid of any probe’’ ~ Metuh

“Corruption is a crime against the people, the nation and our Constitution’’ ~ Metuh

“If your hands are clean, you will not be afraid of any probe’’ ~ Metuh

“Corruption is a crime against the people, the nation and our Constitution’’ ~ Metuh

As for Ms. Buhari, who is living in Virginia, it’s not clear who she really is. For one, she is under investigation in Nigeria by its Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, said its head, Nuhu Ribadu.