₦airaland Forum

Interesting

y is this thing still here, thought it shouldn be on FP by now. Not surprised, I once wrote an article on our education system but no one(mod) care about the content. Seun should create a system where we can vote for and against a mod and also thread.

In a saner clime,
All these deep revelations are enough to send many people to prison and change government!
But in Nigeria?

Pangea:
In a saner clime,
All these deep revelations are enough to send many people to prison and change government!
But in Nigeria?

Send people to prison ? Ordinary prosecution of suspected criminal politicians in court, you will hear shouts of victimization, witch haunting, is he the only one, etc, by his family, tribe, region, religion and political party.

Chubhie:
Edit and Make the Topic controversially sensational. Paste the part on Nigeria on your Opening post. Every attempted attempt to allow this die a natural death shall be resisted.

I've done the best i can,
onward to front page!

Cc:
Obrigardo
politricks
Wanice
Chubhie
TonySpike
modath
Omenka
Gbawe
hahn
mapet
Seun
Afam4eva, 
OAM4J
lalasticlala
passingshot

God bless the op for this thread, I need to recommend this to my friends. These are the sort of articles that should be on front page. I will give this article the widest publicity I can

TonySpike:
After reading all these testimonies, it keeps me wondering on how much bribes and kickbacks must have been paid by someone like Aliko Dangote to keep his business afloat. This is so unfortunate. By the way, Masiyiwa is so right about Botswana, this is perhaps the only country in Africa that is almost 100% corruption free!

This is a front page material...

People like Dangote, Adenuga, Otedola and Co practically converted the government money to their personal stash!
I still wonder the sense in Jonathan put them in his economic team?
They manipulated the economic policies to their advantage!
Those people are all economic saboteurs!

OlujobaSamuel:
y is this thing still here, thought it shouldn be on FP by now. Not surprised, I once wrote an article on our education system but no one(mod) care about the content. Seun should create a system where we can vote for and against a mod and also thread.

This right here is why you won't see me put my fingers to hard labour...

If it had been Tonto Dike dancing skelewu on a bicycle, 4 views & it makes it...

MY BANKING EXPERIENCE DURING THE SALE OF AKS SHARES IN ECONET

I remember working in the regional office of a first generation bank in Akwa Ibom state back in '07. During that time (specifically Feb '07), the proceeds of the AKSG divestment from Econet shares was paid into a domicillary account (which was hurriedly opened on a Sunday) in one of the branches in the region. The value of the proceeds was $80m. At that time, I had just joined the bank, so I had no idea what the State initial shares in Econet was or whether the divestment was full or partial, but that money was huge dropping on the CABAL of the branch. The branch made a profit of over N200m that month just from COT from that account.

Something else I noticed as a young lad then was that the State Accountant General wrote to the bank to convert the $80m proceeds into Naira and be paid into a stage govt Naira account. The curious part was that, at the time, dollar was exchanging at N128, but the AG specifically wrote to the bank stating that the dollars should be exchanged at N126/$. Of course, the bank exchanged the money @ N128 and paid N126 to the government account. The AG and the bankers shared N2x80m (N160m). How do I know all this? I was the P.A to the Regional Director, so I was naively privy to most of the correspondences and transactions.

Apparently, from what strive has written, it is obvious the state was massively short-changed in that transaction. Strive had said that the initial bribe was $9m but latter increased to $13.5m. Is it possible that the initial $9m was to be shared among 2 states @ $4.5m each, but then AKS came into the picture so they had to increase it by another $4.5m to $13.5m (just thinking!).

I have always held former Gov Victor Attah in high esteem, but Strive Masiyiwa is challenging that position now.

Bevista:
I have always held Gov Victor Attah in high esteem, but Strive Masiyiwa is challenging that position now.

I remember working in the regional office of a first generation bank in Akwa Ibom state in '07. During that time (Feb '07), the proceeds of the divestment from Econet shares was paid into a domicillary account (which was hurriedly opened on a Sunday) in one of the branches in the region. The value was $80m. At that time, I had just joined the bank, so I had no idea what the State initial shares in Econet was or whether the divestment was full or partial, but that money was huge dropping on the CABAL of the branch. The branch made a profit of over N200m that month just from COT from that account.

Something else I noticed as a young lad then was that the State Accountant General wrote to the bank to convert the $80m proceeds into Naira and be paid into a stage govt Naira account. The curious part was that, at the time, dollar was exchanging at N128, but the AG specifically wrote to the bank stating that the dollars should be exchanged at N126/$. Of course, the bank exchanged the money @ N128 and paid N126 to the government account. The AG and the bankers shared N2x80m (N160m). How do I know all this? I was the P.A to the Regional Director, so I was naively privy to most of the correspondences and transactions.

Apparently, from what strive has written, it is obvious the state was massively short-changed in that transaction. For Strive to suggest that the SPV structure he saw was going to help govt officials pocket over $100m, then it is possible that the value of the state govt shares in Econet at that time may have been in excess of $150m. Yet, the state officially got only $80m.

Do we need people like strive to open up this kind of deals?
If their hands are clean, are these info not supposed to be public domain?
Government in nigeria is run like a secret cult, I voted for Buhari but I must point out that even, he is also toeing thesame line.
From all indications, no one is clean, starting from our founding fathers
No one is clean, I mean no one!
From North to the East, to the South and to the West.
It is corruption galore.
Until we the youths of this country, arm ourselves with knowledge and start asking relevant questions, I am afraid, this country will continue to be the grave yards of talents that it is, for the wealth that ought to be our support has all been looted.
And it will continue to get worse!
These information should be our rallying point and we should ask more questions from all the companies doing business in nigeria.

Pangea:
Do we need people like strive to open up this kind of deals?
If their hands are clean, are they not supposed to be public knowledge?
Government in nigeria is run like a secret cult, I voted for Buhari but I must point out that even, he is also toeing thesame line.
From all indications, no one is clean, starting from out founding fathers.
I heard when we were growing up that for every bottle of coke you buy, that Awolowo's family receives 2 naira!
I don't know how true that is!
Until we the youths of this country, arm ourselves with knowledge and start asking relevant questions, I am afraid, this country will continue to be the grave yards of talents that it is, for the wealth that ought to be our support has all been looted.
And it will continue to get worse!
These information should be our rallying point and we should ask more questions from all the companies doing business in nigeria.

Apparently, this is why some people opine that Corruption is a CULTURE in Nigeria. It is so endemic and pervasive in all strata of society that one does not know where to start the cleanup or re-orientation from. Corruption is an open secret in Nigeria, starting from govt officials, law enforcement agents, lecturers, lawyers/judges, religious leaders, students, etc. Infact, it's so "normal" that you look stupid not engaging in it.

As challenging as the issues are, I believe that even if PMB cannot cleanup the mess, he will at least stall its progress. Sometimes, I wish it was possible for PMB to have won the elections under CPC, but it wasn't possible. The unwholly alliance with the likes of Tinubu, Amaechi, Atiku, Saraki, etc is very regrettable and might force the president's hand on some issues.

Pangea:
I've done the best i can,
onward to front page!

Cc:
Obrigardo
politricks
Wanice
Chubhie
TonySpike
modath
Omenka
Gbawe
hahn
mapet
Seun
Afam4eva, 
OAM4J
lalasticlala
passingshot

I hope Seun has seen this post, and there is no reason this should not be on the front page. Till today many people don't know why james ibori was jailed

Agencies like EFCC in Nigeria
sometimes have brave and gallant law
enforcement officers. Unfortunately, as
I observed, they’re often let down by
their political bosses, and sometimes
even by the courts. This can change if
activism from the citizenry emerges to
support their work.

Indeed, but the problem is the politicians have not only succeeded in screwing the anti-corruption agencies, they've also bastardised the psyche of the average Nigerian to such extent the man on the street who bears the brunt of the evil deeds of these politicians are the ones that form the first line of defence whenever the slightest move is made against them (the politicians). Some even die in the process!!

The agencies were comatose in the last admin but seem to have found a new lease of life under the current dispensation- and for that reason, just like I said above, the word "witch -hunting" has now become staple in our lexicon!

One thing I'd NEVER do is support a politician accused of looting the treasury, and fanatical as this might sound, frankly, I think Buhari is the only clean man out there. I just don't understand the rationale behind ordinary citizens taking sides with their oppressors when they should scream for joy at the breaking of such news as the arrest of a one time untouchable politician. Amaechi once said they do what they do with impunity because they don't get stoned by the people- how revealing!!

Whatever it is, it is my sincere hope Buhari would be unfazed by the noise from certain quarters about victimisation and witch hunt. The current momentum must be sustained and as a matter of fact increased if we are to achieve anything better than what Obj, Yaradua and Jonathan achieved in this regard.


Cc: Chubhie.

No body shd listen to this crook called strive massiya..he came to nigeria with only his experience to run a telco. He came wit econet wireless international(EWI) while the nigerian investors-the oba otudekos, tinubu n ibori led econet wireless nigeria, EWN.

EWI had no dime and out of $285m contributed zilch. Yet EWI toook CEO,CFO,CTO and came wit 200 zims. Each earning almost $78k den. And all their salaries were paid into massiwaya's private account, for him to now pay them.

Ontop on all dis EWI had 90% shares EWN had only 10% and they EWN brought all the money.plus massiwaya was getting 3% of turnover...not even 3% of net profit.imagine.

After getting the licence,they needed $10m to roll out. Massiwaya n EWI still didnt have a dime n Delta lagos n otudeko got first bank to raise a 10m facility for econet.

yet massiwaya thru his zim appoinees was controlling the money(CFO), he was controlling the company(CEO) and he was controlling the technology (CTO).

how you go use nigerians head. In a board meeting, they now gave him an ultimatum, inject money or we whittle down your shareholding. Thats how from 90% ownership, he was cut down to 5% shares.

he packed up and left starting a 10year fruitless legal journey.

corruption didnt drive him out...his greed did. The man is such a coward..he mentions ibori but now refrains in mentioning tinubu..is it becos one is doing time in her majestys jail, as such he has nothing to fear from him n the other is hobnobbing with the president?

Yeye man..theres corruption in nigeria and these men he calls out r corrupt. But his own deviousness made him lose econet. Cunny man die,cunny man bury am

There are always 3 sides to a story, so let's sit down and enjoy the ride.

So many talking points. Let me read the update and draft some questions and send to strive and also invite him here to take questions..... I hope he obliges.

cityAdventures:
No body shd listen to this crook called strive massiya..he came to nigeria with only his experience to run a telco. He came wit econet wireless international(EWI) while the nigerian investors-the oba otudekos, tinubu n ibori led econet wireless nigeria, EWN.

EWI had no dime and out of $285m contributed zilch. Yet EWI toook CEO,CFO,CTO and came wit 200 zims. Each earning almost $78k den. And all their salaries were paid into massiwaya's private account, for him to now pay them.

Ontop on all dis EWI had 90% shares EWN had only 10% and they EWN brought all the money.plus massiwaya was getting 3% of turnover...not even 3% of net profit.imagine.

After getting the licence,they needed $10m to roll out. Massiwaya n EWI still didnt have a dime n Delta lagos n otudeko got first bank to raise a 10m facility for econet.

yet massiwaya thru his zim appoinees was controlling the money(CFO), he was controlling the company(CEO) and he was controlling the technology (CTO).

how you go use nigerians head. In a board meeting, they now gave him an ultimatum, inject money or we whittle down your shareholding. Thats how from 90% ownership, he was cut down to 5% shares.

he packed up and left starting a 10year fruitless legal journey.

corruption didnt drive him out...his greed did. The man is such a coward..he mentions ibori but now refrains in mentioning tinubu..is it becos one is doing time in her majestys jail, as such he has nothing to fear from him n the other is hobnobbing with the president?

Yeye man..theres corruption in nigeria and these men he calls out r corrupt. But his own deviousness made him lose econet. Cunny man die,cunny man bury am

Hello cityAdventures, you are very important person to this thread cos of the balance you seem to bring to the table. It would be appreciated if there are no personal insults but genuine attempts to uncover truths no matter how irritating it might be.

Thanks for your understanding.

Chubhie:
So many talking points. Let me read the update and draft some questions and send to strive and also invite him here to take questions..... I hope he obliges.

Wonderful idea
We will welcome him here to do an AMA!
Hope he has thick skin sha?

Pangea:
Wonderful idea
We will welcome him here to do an AMA!
Hope he has thick skin sha?

The mods should be able to give him the needed protection but if they elect to give a beauty of a thread as this the default Nairaland free for all fight then, we should be ready to take bullets for him so truths can come to light. It is now a question of if and when he obliges.

Chubhie:
The mods should be able to give him the needed protection but if they elect to give a beauty of a thread as this the default Nairaland free for all fight then, we should be ready to take bullets for him so truths can come to light. It is now a question of if and when he obliges.

Count me in

Bevista:
MY BANKING EXPERIENCE DURING THE SALE OF AKS SHARES IN ECONET

I remember working in the regional office of a first generation bank in Akwa Ibom state back in '07. During that time (specifically Feb '07), the proceeds of the AKSG divestment from Econet shares was paid into a domicillary account (which was hurriedly opened on a Sunday) in one of the branches in the region. The value of the proceeds was $80m. At that time, I had just joined the bank, so I had no idea what the State initial shares in Econet was or whether the divestment was full or partial, but that money was huge dropping on the CABAL of the branch. The branch made a profit of over N200m that month just from COT from that account.

Something else I noticed as a young lad then was that the State Accountant General wrote to the bank to convert the $80m proceeds into Naira and be paid into a stage govt Naira account. The curious part was that, at the time, dollar was exchanging at N128, but the AG specifically wrote to the bank stating that the dollars should be exchanged at N126/$. Of course, the bank exchanged the money @ N128 and paid N126 to the government account. The AG and the bankers shared N2x80m (N160m). How do I know all this? I was the P.A to the Regional Director, so I was naively privy to most of the correspondences and transactions.

Apparently, from what strive has written, it is obvious the state was massively short-changed in that transaction. Strive had said that the initial bribe was $9m but latter increased to $13.5m. Is it possible that the initial $9m was to be shared among 2 states @ $4.5m each, but then AKS came into the picture so they had to increase it by another $4.5m to $13.5m (just thinking!).

I have always held former Gov Victor Attah in high esteem, but Strive Masiyiwa is challenging that position now.

Your contribution is highly appreciated. Nice to have you as a VIP.

.

Pangea:
[size=13pt]Strive Masiyiwa
It’s time to play by a different (ethical) set of rules (Part 9) Nigeria 3
[/size]
__ Beware the company you keep

The state government of Akwa Ibom held 15% of the equity in Econet Wireless Nigeria. This state was not one of the original investors but joined us later.

After five years, the governor of the state of Akwa Ibom decided to sell its stake. It had more than doubled in value in dollar terms, which meant it had been a good investment.

The state governor, an elderly gentleman called Victor Attah, sent a message through a friend that he wanted to see me in London to find out if I was interested in exercising Econet’s right to buy its shares. I agreed to meet him in London.

"I want to sell the shares to build an airport before I leave office," the governor explained.

The governor was accompanied to the meeting by a British lawyer who sat quietly taking notes. His name was Bhadresh Gohil.

With a wave of his hand, the governor said, "Mr Gohil is our legal advisor here in London. I have instructed him to handle all our negotiations with you."

The meeting did not last more than 30 minutes, as the governor was on his way to catch a flight to the U.S.

We agreed with Mr Gohil that we would meet with my own advisors a few days later to start the process.

A few days later, I went to his office with a professional banker who advised me on such transactions. We met in the lawyer's plush London offices. He was confident and smooth-spoken as he explained how much we were expected to pay. Then he explained that our money was to go to a "Special Purpose Vehicle" (SPV) before it was transferred to Nigeria. It was a sophisticated structure and he showed me a drawing of how it would work. I wrote it all down very carefully into my notebook.

___Such corporate entities as SPVs can definitely have legitimate purposes, but this one did not!

As I quizzed him about why such an unusual structure was necessary, Mr Gohil changed tact and tried to entice me with an offer I could not refuse (or so he hoped): "I'm also the advisor to the governor of Delta State, Mr James Ibori, and if you agree to pay for these shares using this structure, we will offer you shares belonging to all the state governments. In total, you can have more than 30% additional shares. It will be enough to take control of the company. My clients just want out, and they are willing to give you what you have always wanted."

I listened to him, quietly taking notes in my small notebook. I did not give away anything, but inside I was very angry. From the design of the structure, I knew immediately that it was meant to siphon off money before it reached the state governments. It was clear there was a conspiracy to steal a lot of money.

___Having already pocketed $13.5m, now the government officials could easily pocket probably another $100m through the sale process that they had developed with the help of Mr Gohil and other clever advisors in London!

When I left the meeting I immediately contacted the mutual friend who'd set up the governor's meeting. The friend was so embarrassed as I explained the corrupt structure clearly designed to steal money from the state governments. He promised to raise the issue with Governor Victor Attah. A few days later he came back and said Governor Attah had claimed ignorance about the proposal put to me by Mr Gohil. He said he would speak to Mr Gohil and tell him it had to be done properly without the structures.

We never heard from them again. Mr Gohil simply vanished. A few months later we were told that the shares had been offered to a company from the Middle East who subsequently bought them. I was not privy to how they did it except that they had violated my right to buy the shares... That is another chapter in the saga, but not for now.

Fast-forward three years, long after the sale. Our lawyers in London called me one day and asked if I could come urgently to a meeting with the Proceeds of Corruption Unit of the London Metropolitan Police: "You are not in any trouble, but I think you will find what they have to say very interesting!"

This special unit was launched by the British to investigate corruption by foreign government officials who try to launder stolen money to the U.S. and the UK.

The officers asked me to explain everything I knew about the sale of V-Mobile shares to Celtel (later Zain).

I explained the history of the entire transaction and the shareholders disputes that had led to our departure. After awhile, they asked me to focus on specific events, and, in particular, my meetings in London with the governor of Akwa Ibom, and also the meetings with Mr Gohil. It became clear to me that they had a lot of information!

"What can you tell us about this structure, using a Special Purpose Vehicle?"

I explained my understanding of it. Later on, I gave them my diary in which I had recorded the details of my meeting that day with Mr Gohil.

Below my drawing of the structure, I had written in bold letters:

"This is corrupt!!!"

Not long after my meeting with the Proceeds of Corruption Unit, Mr Gohil was arrested together with one of his partners and several others. I later learned that when the Middle Eastern company bought the shares, some of the proceeds had been diverted using the Gohil structure. Some of the money was sent to a bank in London. This large amount of money was enough to alert the British authorities that money was being laundered through their banking system.

Their investigations led them to Gohil and his associates. They raided his offices and found stashes of documents, including details of the structures. Now they were looking for witnesses to help prosecute them for corruption and money laundering.

The British authorities tried without success to get other parties, including the governor of Akwa Ibom, to come out and clear their names but they refused. Officials of President Umaru Musa Yar'Aduah's government successfully thwarted all extradition requests.

I was asked to be a witness in the trial of those who had been arrested in London. I willingly accepted. Next I will tell you about my role as a 'Witness to the Crown" on behalf of the people of Nigeria whose money had been stolen. It would be the first time that someone big went to jail (in a foreign country) for stealing money from Africans.

To be continued . . .

this report sort of indicts ex governor victor attah and the presidency under yaradua

speechless. . .

asha80:
this report sort of indicts ex governor victor attah and the presidency under yaradua

Which ex governor is free?
Today we are reading about Econet , tomorrow it will be another company!
Corruption has someone said above has been institutionalized!

PassingShot:
This is the part for me and it is what we all need to understand.

Those who stand to defend Sarakis, Diezanis, IBBs and other who have caused untold hardship to the common man are as guilty as those looters.

Op exposes his bias by only mentioning these names. Why not Tinubu, Amaechi, Attah, etc. Afteral like these that I have mentioned, none of those you mentioned have been found guilty by any court. Let's be careful else we allow our personal feelings interfere with an issue as serious as corruption that the Econet man is talking about.

Pangea:
Which ex governor is free?
Today we are reading about Econet , tomorrow it will be another company!
Corruption has someone said above has been institutionalized!

and we wonder why why some people have given up on the country..even the people that are being looked up to and neckdeep in corruption

@seun pls move this topic to the front page. This is an eye opener for the youths out there....... God we need your divine intervention in nigeria and africa as a whole..

Strive Masiyiwa
Afterthought 1.

Countries around the world can easily enter into a global accord to introduce laws like the one used by the U.S. and the UK.
We need to see such exemplary convictions in Switzerland, France, Germany, India, Brazil, Dubai, China and even South Africa. Banks in those countries and their law enforcement agents must be willing to do what we saw the British do against Ibori and his associates.

Pangea:
I've done the best i can,
onward to front page!

Cc:
Obrigardo
politricks
Wanice
Chubhie
TonySpike
modath
Omenka
Gbawe
hahn
mapet
Seun
Afam4eva, 
OAM4J
lalasticlala
passingshot

It indeed is surprising that a thread of this nature is yet to be on front page...it is outrageous! A meretricious thread with mediocrity all over it wouldn't last a minute without it being pushed to the front page. This raises some questions about nairaland and some of its key moderator..it is sad nairaland cannot be used on a positive note as a radical agent for change we collectively as Nigerians clamour for.

kentus07:
@seun pls move this topic to the front page. This is an eye opener for the youths out there....... God we need your divine intervention in nigeria and africa as a whole..

#SEUN, LALASTICLALA can this be moved to front page, please?

Pangea:
I've done the best i can,
onward to front page!

Cc:
Obrigardo
politricks
Wanice
Chubhie
TonySpike
modath
Omenka
Gbawe
hahn
mapet
Seun
Afam4eva, 
OAM4J
lalasticlala
passingshot

First of all I will like to say I am honored to be mentioned on this thread. I actually took the time to read every single sentence and as an entrepreneur it is very encouraging to discover that even despite all the challenges we face on this continent, we are the solution. This post has proven that fact. I still can't beilieve that it is not yet on frontpage but then since I started taking nairaland seriously, I have discovered that great threads don't necessarily make front page and I have also come to the conclusion that this is actually a good thing.

Everything of value is hidden and knowledge is a priviledge to those who seek it. As I have learnt from dearpreye, bare1, menesheh, johnnydon22, teempakguy, oahray and a lot of intelligent people on this thread, you are the change you seek.

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