₦airaland Forum

Sometime in 2013, Nigerian multi-billionaire businessman, Leno Adesanya, approached a secrecy seller in the British Virgin Islands, Trident Trust Company Limited, to help family members of Sambo Dasuki, the National Security Adviser at the time, to register a shell company, Hydropower Investments Limited.

In the documentation submitted for the company’s incorporation, Mr Adesanya indicated that Hydropower Investment was set up to own real estate and investment portfolios.

The businessman also indicated that the company would, on behalf of the Dasuki family, hold 1.5 million shares in Sino Africa (Nigeria) Limited, a 19-year old company that has him (Adesanya) and a certain Uche Nwokedi as directors.

Hydropower Investments, company documents also showed, will also hold for the Dasukis 10 million shares in Sunrise Power & Transmission (Nigeria) Co. Limited, a company that is locked in a long-drawn dispute with the Nigerian government over the Mambilla power project. The legal dispute is stalling the key funding from the Chinese EXIM Bank to execute the Mambilla project, an ambitious electricity generation infrastructure considered key to tackling Nigeria’s long-standing power sector crisis.

The shell company, Hydropower Investments, was registered on November 14, 2013, with Mr Adesanya and Abubakar Atiku Dasuki, a son of a former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, as directors.

But while Mr Adesanya serves as the face of the company and uses his Lagos home as the contact address for the offshore firm, he holds no single share. The shareholders and ultimate beneficial owners of the company are Abubakar Atiku Dasuki, (17,000 shares), Hassan Sultan Dasuki (16,500 shares) and Asmau Iman Dasuki (16,500 shares). Abubakar was 31 years old at the time the company was established while Hassan and Asmau were 18.

The three shareholders are children of former NSA Dasuki, one of the most powerful figures in Nigeria at the time the company was incorporated, and awarded a combined 11.5million shares in Mr Adesanya’s companies — Sunrise and Sino Africa.

There is no evidence that Mr Dasuki or his children paid for the shares. When the registration agent, Trident Trust Company, sought to know how the shareholders sourced the funds with which they planned to acquire the assets, Mr Adesanya simply provided a vague response, telling them the assets would be “carried interest through a loan to be arranged by the sponsor (Leno Adesanya) of the project.”

The uncovering of Mr Adesanya’s offshore link with the Dasuki family came from Pandora Papers, a trove of 11.9 million leaked confidential records obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, ICIJ.

The ICIJ coordinated a team of 617 journalists from 150 news outlets, including PREMIUM TIMES, who spent two years poring through the leaked records, tracking down sources, and digging into court files and other public records from dozens of countries. It is the biggest collaboration of investigative journalists – from 117 countries and territories – in history.

The leaked records came from 14 offshore services firms from around the world that set up shell companies and other offshore nooks for clients like the Adesanyas and Dasukis, who seek to shroud their financial activities, often suspicious, in secrecy.

It remains unclear why Mr Adesanya would provide a loan to buy several million shares from his own companies in favour of the children of one of the country’s most powerful political personalities at the time.

Mr Adesanya. speaking through his representative, said he derived no favours from Mr Dasuki and added that “the children wanted to start doing business and they were advised by me to set up an offshore company for discretionary purposes.”

Illicit finance experts said roundabout schemes like that are sometimes designed to funnel bribes to compromised officials or to return favours already received or expected to come.

PREMIUM TIMES has no evidence that that was the case here, although Mr Dasuki was a key political officeholder in Nigeria at a time two of Mr Adesanya’s companies were seeking major favours from the Nigerian government.

Responding to an inquiry from PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Dasuki said, through a representative, he did not ask Mr Adesanya to register the company for his children. He said business people sometimes render unsolicited favours to government officials even without their knowledge.

He added that, moreover, his children were adults, who could make business decisions on their own.

Businessman Adesanya and a top Secret
However, Mr Adesanya appeared to have strategised hard to keep his business relationship with the Dasukis a top secret. For one, although the share transfer transaction was done about eight years ago, the businessman is yet to file documents at the Corporate Affairs Commission reflecting the new ownership structures of both Sunrise Power and Sino Africa. That has left the CAC in the dark about the changes.

Mr Adesanya has also continued to be the face of Hydropower Investments, remaining the main liaison between the registration agent and the company, and effectively shielding the Dasukis from being apparent in the running of the firm. His Lagos home is the main contact address of the company and his email contact is the official email address listed for the company.

The businessman left instructions with Trident Trust to hold on to all documents related to the company and that on no condition should the firm’s documents or correspondences be couriered to Nigeria, ostensibly so they are not intercepted by authorities.

In what also appeared a strategy to conceal the identity of the Dasuki kids, Mr Adesanya, in correspondences with Trident Trust, kept referring to them as his cousins. When he was asked to provide proof of address for the three shareholders, the businessman falsely claimed the Dasukis lived with him in his Lagos address and then provided a notarized document to back the claim.

Adesanya, Dasuki and multi-billion issues with government

Sambo Dasuki, a retired army colonel and father of the three Hydropower Investments shareholders, was appointed national security adviser on June 22, 2012, by then-President Goodluck Jonathan.

He remained in that influential position until July 2015, months after Mr Jonathan lost reelection when he was removed by President Muhammadu Buhari. While in office, Mr. Dasuki was immensely powerful, enjoyed unrestricted access to the presidential villa, and consistently had the president’s ears.

Those who related with Mr Dasuki during his term in office said he was mostly genial and approachable with a consistent desire to solve the problems, official and unofficial, of anyone able to reach him.

During the 37 months that Mr Dasuki lasted as NSA, Mr Adesanya had at least two knotty multibillion-dollar issues to resolve with the Nigerian government.

For about 20 years before the Jonathan government took charge, a business dispute had arisen between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Lutin Investments Limited, a BVI company owned by Mr Adesanya and his family, over a contract for the supply of ocean vessels with equipment for the storage of petroleum products and related activities.

A Lutin Resolution

In 1993, Lutin and the NNPC submitted the dispute to international arbitration, which, in May 2007, ruled in favour of Lutin. The arbitrator ordered the NNPC to pay Lutin damages in the amount of $55,281,109, plus 10 percent compound interest; £20,480, plus 10 percent compound interest, and N4,692,930, plus 21 percent compound interest. The arbitrator added that all interest obligations must begin to accrue from July 7, 1993.

Mr Adesanya then approached the French Tribunal de Grande Instance on July 6, 2007, for recognition of the arbitration award. He succeeded. The NNPC then appealed to the Paris Court of Appeal. But on December 2, 2014, the court affirmed the decision of the Tribunal de Grande Instance.

However, even before the Paris Court of Appeal gave its verdict, Mr Adesanya had begun to negotiate with the Jonathan-led government (in which Mr Dasuki was a key player) for the payment of the arbitral award which had then accrued to $477 million.

In the end, the administration paid him about $55.3 million as full and final settlement, although he later protested, saying he did not obtain the consent of his board before signing the agreement with the NNPC.

A chunk of Sunrise Power

The second business logjam that Mr Adesanya battled to resolve during the Jonathan administration concerned the $6billion Mambilla power project which was awarded to his company, Sunrise Powers and Transmission Company Limited, but which later became the subject of an intense business dispute and power play.

The Mambilla power project, first conceived in the 1970s and expected to produce 3,050 megawatts of electricity, has stalled owing to controversies surrounding the award of the contract to Sunrise Power.

The award was sequel to a 2003 agreement under the Olusegun Obasanjo-led administration to construct the 3,050MW plant in Mambilla, Taraba State, on a build, operate and transfer basis.

The Jonathan government, in which Mr Dasuki played a prominent role, worked very hard to resolve the logjam. For instance, in 2012, the then president directed the Ministry of Power to fast-track amicable resolution of the dispute arising from multiple lawsuits.

The ministry then initiated discussions with the contending contracting partners. The discussions and negotiations culminated in the execution of a General Project Execution Agreement between the government, Mr Adesanya’s Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited (SPTCL) and Sinohydro Corporation of China on November 23, 2012.

In fact, things moved so fast that in January 2015, the federal ministry of power issued an award letter to Sinohydro Corporation, CGGC of China and Sunrise Power, for the execution of the project, with Sunrise as the local content partner for the project.

It is unclear if Mr Dasuki offered Mr Adesanya and his company help in any way. But it was within that period – November 2013 – that Mr Adesanya discreetly incorporated Hydropower Investments for the Dasukis and then awarded them 10 million shares in Sunrise Power and another 1.5 million shares in another of his companies — Sino Africa.

However, after the Jonathan government left office, the legal tussle returned and has remained unresolved, again stalling the execution of the Mambilla project.

Dasuki, Adesanya and EFCC

Soon after the end of the Jonathan administration, the anti-graft agency, EFCC, launched an investigation into a bribery scheme, involving indicted former Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, some bank chiefs, and oil tycoons. Those investigated included Mr Adesanya and Benedict Peters, managing director of Aiteo Group, were accused of bribing officials of the electoral body INEC with an estimated $115 (23 billion naira at the prevailing rate) to influence the 2015 elections.

In addition to the cash brought by Ms Madueke, companies belonging to Mr Adesanya and Mr Peters were said to have contributed to the slush fund.

Some INEC officials were charged and a number of them have been convicted and jailed. Ms Madueke was also charged but she shunned her trial.

Mr Dasuki, too, was arrested in December 2015 by the State Security Service over allegations he diverted 2.1 billion dollars security funds. The Buhari government repeatedly cited national security concerns for Mr Dasuki’s continued detention despite courts ordering his release. The SSS eventually released Mr Dasuki in December 2019.

Hydropower Investments, company documents also showed, will also hold for the Dasukis 10 million shares in Sunrise Power & Transmission (Nigeria) Co. Limited, a company that is locked in a long-drawn dispute with the Nigerian government over the Mambilla power project. The legal dispute is stalling the key funding from the Chinese EXIM Bank to execute the Mambilla project, an ambitious electricity generation infrastructure considered key to tackling Nigeria’s long-standing power sector crisis.

NGpatriot:
Mambilla power project is a massive 3,050 MW currently stalled due to legal issues instigated by Sunrise Power & Transmission (Nigeria) Co. Limited, we can not go ahead because of this legal challenge by this company, come to find out, Sambo Dasuki and his family are owners of this company.

We can not move forward because of these crooks, namely Dambo Dasuki.


Sad.

Hydropower Investments, company documents also showed, will also hold for the Dasukis 10 million shares in Sunrise Power & Transmission (Nigeria) Co. Limited, a company that is locked in a long-drawn dispute with the Nigerian government over the Mambilla power project. The legal dispute is stalling the key funding from the Chinese EXIM Bank to execute the Mambilla project, an ambitious electricity generation infrastructure considered key to tackling Nigeria’s long-standing power sector crisis.

The shell company, Hydropower Investments, was registered on November 14, 2013, with Mr Adesanya and Abubakar Atiku Dasuki, a son of a former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, as directors.

But while Mr Adesanya serves as the face of the company and uses his Lagos home as the contact address for the offshore firm, he holds no single share. The shareholders and ultimate beneficial owners of the company are Abubakar Atiku Dasuki, (17,000 shares), Hassan Sultan Dasuki (16,500 shares) and Asmau Iman Dasuki (16,500 shares). Abubakar was 31 years old at the time the company was established while Hassan and Asmau were 18.

Jimasun:
It shall not be well with every single person that supported him during his ordeal with Buhari.
It shall not be well with PDP.
Can you imagine?

uptimum123:
Which way my naija people


If not for President Buhari, this country would have turn to syria.

NGpatriot:
Nigeria was already done for when PMB came in, GEJ was borrowing money to pay workers salaries until the day he handed over to PMB, if you remember the states did not have 1 kobo to pay workers salaries and PMB had to save them with bail out loans, just imagine the situation without PMB bailing out the states, it means tens of millions of Nigeria out of work and serious economic meltdown.

Many Nigerians did not know that they dodge catastrophe, they did not know how bad things were, I doubt they even noticed when GEJ declared austerity measure in late 2014, that was the first warning that Nigeria was broke and in danger, at this point, they had no choice but to start borrowing hundreds of billions to pay workers salaries.

The economy look normal under GEJ because corruption money was greasing the economy, corruption money was in circulation, but once that stopped, everything unraveled out in the open.

God Bless PMB for saving Nigeria.

NGpatriot:
Nigeria was already done for when PMB came in, GEJ was borrowing money to pay workers salaries until the day he handed over to PMB, if you remember the states did not have 1 kobo to pay workers salaries and PMB had to save them with bail out loans, just imagine the situation without PMB bailing out the states, it means tens of millions of Nigeria out of work and serious economic meltdown.

Many Nigerians did not know that they dodge catastrophe, they did not know how bad things were, I doubt they even noticed when GEJ declared austerity measure in late 2014, that was the first warning that Nigeria was broke and in danger, at this point, they had no choice but to start borrowing hundreds of billions to pay workers salaries.

The economy look normal under GEJ because corruption money was greasing the economy, corruption money was in circulation, but once that stopped, everything unraveled out in the open.

God Bless PMB for saving Nigeria.

9jah:
Solution To Nigerian National Crisis: Restoration To Federalism.

A return to federalism is a way forward for the Nigeria as such move will not lead to the disintegration of the country but rights the wrongs committed in 1966.
the acceptable and equitable solution to the National crisis for majority of Nigerians is to return to the Federal constitutional arrangement upon which Nigeria secured its independence is because, Nigerian witnessed its golden age in terms of progress and development and much more political collaboration when the Federal Constitutional Governance was operating.;
“that the centralization and unitarisation of governance since 1966 has led to extreme injustice, inequity and unfairness in the allocation of socio-economic and political appointments in spite of the clear provision in Chapter 11 of the 1999 Constitution dealing with Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principle of State Policy which provides that the composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few States or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies”.
“National restructuring has been given different interpretations by commentators and opinion leaders including well-meaning people and mischief makers to satisfy their predilections and prejudices.
Nigerian is an heterogeneous people of diverse ethnic nationalities who had occupied and dominated their various geographical space with absolute and undisturbed control of their lands, water, trees, mineral resources, cultures, traditions, artifacts, folklores, mores, religious, languages until the invading colonial masters, nay imperialist Great Britain exploited their superior fire power to conquer the diverse peoples which they forcefully married into co-habitation in a newly created land mass which Lord Lugard’s wife nee Shaw called Nigeria.
The major campaigners for Nigerian independence were representatives of the main ethnic nationalities, Leaders of Trade Unions and Professional Organizations and they were united in a common front against the continuity of the British occupation and administration of Nigeria.
The Nationalists compromised among themselves and negotiated for a Federal Constitutional Governance having regard to the compelling reality that the new country is made up of heterogeneous peoples. So, the 1960 Independence and the 1963 Republican Constitutions were therefore federal constitutions. In them, there were three sections, Exclusive, Concurrent and Residual powers. Exclusive for Central, Concurrent for Regions while Residual was common for the use of the two tiers of government,Federal and Regional Governments between 1951 – 1966. Nigerian pioneer political rulers performed fairly well in governance as beginners and there were healthy competitions among the various governments in free education, establishment of pioneer tertiary institutions, development of farm settlements, river basin, media institutions, first minimum wage among others.

“The Constitutional provisions were of great assistance to the two tiers of government, that’s, Central and Regional Governments. In both constitutions, each region kept 50% of proceeds from its natural economic resources to itself, contributed 20% to the Federal Government and put 30% into the distributable account which were shared out among the regions on the basis of need. Fiscal federalism was a constitutional order.
But as soon as the military overthrew the civilian government of Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, as Prime Minister, the Federal Constitution was the first casualty as it was suspended with the Constitution, Decree 1 of January 17, 1966 but not published in the official Gazette until March 4, 1966. Within the shortest possible time, the Military Government had appropriated to the Central Government, about 68% of powers and authorities that were within the competence and authority of the Regional Governments. The Military Rulers equally appropriated to itself the major means of raising resources in the regions to the central military government. And since the Military Governors were agents of their bosses on military postings to the Regions/States, they were bound to comply with the decrees and directives of the ruling military rulers.
Again, the Military had Balkanized Nigeria into very unviable component units and thereby effectively weaken the component units and unproductively increased the Recurrent expenditure to finance the Nigerian bureaucracy to about 80% of our total national income till date. Nigeria has therefore been left with less than 20% for capital expenses. Nigerians can now appreciate why there had been no commensurable meaningful development related to the humongous earning of Nigeria from petrol dollars which is above 400 billion USD in the last 50years. Our global ratings in Human Development Index, Infant mortality Rate and Gross Domestic products index/analysis do not correspond with the huge receipt.These three statistics/analysis expose Nigeria to be within the ranks of war ravaged areas like Sudan, Afghanistan, Somalia etc.
; “Since the military overthrew the civilian government in 1966, they have imposed a Centralist and Unitarist government to which they have appropriated disproportionate national resource at the expense of the component units.
The centralization and unitarisation of governance since 1966 has led to extreme injustice, inequity and unfairness in the allocation of socio-economic and political appointments in spite of the clear provision in Chapter 11 of the 1999 Constitution dealing with Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principle of State Policy particularly section 14:3 which provides “The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few States or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies”.

The Federal character Commission remains a charade,thereby leading to unending National incohesion, mutual national mistrust and regular political instability and disunity which are traceable to the centralist and unitarist constitution. But the Nigerian state has continued with the false claim that we are running a federal government.

As of today, four zones of Nigeria as well as the ethnic National nationalities which were the building blocks upon which Nigeria edifice was constructed are united and determined to campaign aggressively for Nigeria to restore to Federalism.

“Let it be said without sounding alarmist that the Nigerian State has been held together by the force of arms, first by the imperialist Great Britain and later since the Nigerian Army illegally supplanted the constitutional order in existence on January 15, 1966 and have since replaced the negotiated Federal Constitution with their various decrees and the militarily programmed various constitutional orders which are usually brought into existence by decrees, the last being Decree 24, of 1999 which brought into existence, the current 1999 Constitution.

“Let’s also note that almost all nation states formerly held together by force of arms have virtually disintegrated. Today, there is no more USSR or Yugoslavia on the world map. Even the mercenary imperial master, Great Britain had to concede significant freedom and independence to Ireland and Scotland in the Good Friday Accord before there could be some negotiated peace.
It is human to prefer being governed by your people and that is why self determination is the anthem of this new millennium.

It is the prevailing centralist and unitarist agenda that is responsible for the retardation and under development of Nigeria in spite of our God-given human and natural endowment. Return to Federalism will not break up Nigeria. The civil war which was avoidable except for the personal ego of the military leaders did not settle the Nigerian National Question.

“But the fact that matters to me is that Nigerian secured its independence on a Federal constitutional order. The military politicians treasonably and unwisely overthrew the existing order with their decrees which essentially abrogated the existing federal constitution. We cannot make progress nor develop until we return to the negotiated federal constitutional order. Then Nigeria will be able to creditably respond to her manifest destiny as the Leader of the black race to which we have remained a great disappointment till date. Let’s stop being a giant with a feet of clay.

We must get back to federalism; so long that people want to have a country ,where ;they live and grow together.

NGpatriot:
Mambilla power project is a massive 3,050 MW currently stalled due to legal issues instigated by Sunrise Power & Transmission (Nigeria) Co. Limited, we can not go ahead because of this legal challenge by this company, come to find out, Sambo Dasuki and his family are owners of this company.

We can not move forward because of these crooks, namely Dambo Dasuki.


Sad.

NGpatriot:
Nigeria was already done for when PMB came in, GEJ was borrowing money to pay workers salaries until the day he handed over to PMB, if you remember the states did not have 1 kobo to pay workers salaries and PMB had to save them with bail out loans, just imagine the situation without PMB bailing out the states, it means tens of millions of Nigeria out of work and serious economic meltdown.

Many Nigerians did not know that they dodge catastrophe, they did not know how bad things were, I doubt they even noticed when GEJ declared austerity measure in late 2014, that was the first warning that Nigeria was broke and in danger, at this point, they had no choice but to start borrowing hundreds of billions to pay workers salaries.

The economy look normal under GEJ because corruption money was greasing the economy, corruption money was in circulation, but once that stopped, everything unraveled out in the open.

God Bless PMB for saving Nigeria.