The Federal Government said it recovered another 151 million dollars and N8 billion looted funds from three sources through whistke-blowers.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed disclosed this in a statement issued on Sunday in Lagos.

Mohammed sad actionable information given by whistle-blowers to the office of the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation led to the recovery of the looted fund.

He said the looted funds do not include the 9.2 million dollars in cash allegedly owned
by a former Group Managing Director of the NNPC, also a dividend of the whistle-blower policy.

“The biggest amount of 136.7 million dollars was recovered from an account in




a commercial bank, where the money was kept under an apparently fake
account name.
“This was followed by N7 billion and 15 million dollars from another person and N1 billion from yet another,” he said.

The minister reiterated the position of government that there was a primitive and mindless looting of the national treasury under the last administration.

He said the whistle-blower policy has started yielding fruit, few months after its adoption by the government.

“The whistle-blower policy is barely two months old and Nigerians have started feeling its impact, how a few people squirrelled away public funds.

It is doubtful if any economy in the world will not feel the impact of such mind-boggling looting of the treasury as was experienced in Nigeria.

”Yet whatever has been recovered so far, including the 9.2 million dollars by the EFCC, is just a tip of the iceberg,” he said.

The minister appealed to Nigerians with useful information on looted funds to continue to provide the authorities with such information, saying confidentiality will be maintained with regards to the source of the
information.

He also reminded Nigerians of the financial reward aspect of the policy.

”If there is a voluntary return of stolen or concealed public funds or assets on the account of the information provided, the whistle blower may be entitled to anywhere between 2.5 per cent (Minimum) and 5.0 per cent (Maximum) of the total amount recovered,” he said. (NAN)

Eighty-six-year-old Alex Ajayi is the first graduate from Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State. He was also the campaign director to the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo during the 1979 presidential election. He talks about his life with KAMARUDEEN OGUNDELE

How was growing up like?

I was born on June 28, 1930. I was privileged to come from a literate family. My father worked with missionary priests who were Oxford-trained. Ado Ekiti, as a metropolis and occupied by agrarian people, did not develop as fast it should be in the beginning. Many towns and villages near and far from Ado produced graduates decades before our own time.

My father combined teaching with evangelism. He was in charge of three schools and three churches in Ikere in the 1920s. He and one other person established the first Olu Scout Troupe in Owo where I also became a member in 1941. My mother was also trained by the missionaries. My parents travelled to different parts of the country.


Which schools did you attend?

I attended many primary schools because my father was a headmaster and pastor. I started at St Luke’s Ikere and then St. Mary in Ode Ekiti. I later had a stint at Emmanuel Primary School, Ado Ekiti and in All Saints, Ogbonkowo, in Ondo State. I was at St James Igbara Odo, Ekiti, when my father was the headmaster and catechist there. I was at St Patrick, Owo, in 1941. My headmaster was the late Pa D.O Fagunwa who authored Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irumale and later became my class master at Igbobi College. I later went to All Saints, Owode in Abeokuta, Ogun State, which my father upgraded to Standard 5 and 6 till October 1943 when I came to Ado after my father was transferred to Aramoko Ekiti. I finished Standard 6 in Christ’s School, Ado Ekiti.

After leaving Christ’s School, which other schools did you attend?

I attended Igbobi College, Lagos from 1944 to 1949. At the time, the principal was the only member of the Headmaster’s Conference of England. I got sound education from the school. Because I belonged to a group of boys who were adventurous, we begged the school to allow us to sit for a high examination and school certificate when we were in final year.

We also sat for the London matriculation examination and many of us passed. I was able to teach my own mates while they were still in school because I left school months before them. I later gained admission into Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone, an affiliate of University of Durham in England. The college produced Bishop Ajayi Crowther and all the great men of letters at the time. The first Nigerian Vice-Chancellor of University of Ibadan, Kenneth Dike, attended the university. I skipped the first year and spent only three years and that gave me a lot of advantages. Many of my seniors in grammar schools started working and could not continue with their education. That was how I became the first graduate in Ado Ekiti.

[b]Can you give insights into your career in the civil service?

I was the principal of Fiditi Grammar School, Oyo State, at age 26 in 1956 and produced the first set of students in 1959. I ensured that the school was stabilised before I joined the West African Examinations Council. I also established a football team and the late Teslim (Thunder) Balogun came from Ibadan to train my boys. They went on to win all their matches in the western region and even defeated the University of Ibadan football team 12-0. With that level of achievements, I joined the West African Examination Council as a pioneer staff. I was the first substantive Nigerian Assistant Registrar. I took over the control of the examination from the University of Cambridge. I took examiners to Cambridge for training across 10 years and trained them in Nigeria. I had the opportunity of issuing WAEC certificates to three former Heads of State: Buhari, Abacha and Babangida in the 60s. When I was in WAEC, I was put on the council of the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) in 1966 by the national government of Aguiyi Ironsi. I was put on three important committees. The vice-chancellor and others were interested that I became a full staff of the university which I was not really keen about. But I finally accepted out of pressure. When I was serving on the council of the University of Ife, I was among the three-member committee selected by Chief Obafemi Awolowo as the first chancellor. I was on the council that installed him in 1967. From the early days of my life, I never applied for jobs. I was just invited. I stayed at the University of Ife before I left for an examination correspondence college as a director and controller producing lectures for professional courses and involved with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Institute of Insurers and Institute of Bankers. I had the joy of launching these new lecture courses in the universities in Lagos, Ife and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Thereafter, I went into private business with the late of Oni of Ife and Leventis. I established a factory at Ibadan where I was a director and subscribing shareholder.[/b]

In those days, we produced carpet used by the Senate, the Nigerian Stock Exchange and others. The carpet companies in Lagos then were just distributors; we were the real manufacturers.

Did you hold any public office?

I served as the local government chairman of Ado Ekiti between 1973 and 1983 first under the military and again invited under the civilians without receiving a kobo. That was when I gave out my house as Senate to the then Obafemi Awolowo University, Ado Ekiti. I’m used to giving to charity. I have instituted a scholarship for the best final year student in Christ’s School since 1967. These are just some flashes of my public and private life.

How did you meet your wife?

It was during independence in 1960. We had a ceremony at a Race Course which later became Tafawa Balewa Square. A lot of my friends came all the way from Freetown to watch the independence ceremony in Lagos. So, I decided to take them out. They gave me an address. But when I got there, maybe they were not so sure of the address, there was no sight of them. I met a young lady in front of the house. I asked for direction and she tried to explain to me whether it was another street or so. That was how we met. The friendship flourished. We married six years later. She is a brilliant, healthy and virtuous woman. She was the captain of netball in her school and later captained all Lagos netball teams that toured the whole of the West.

How do you unwind?

I enjoyed dancing a lot. In those days, we had jazz, jive, swig; these took us to different parties and restaurants in Lagos. In the university on Saturdays we had hops and dancing in the theatre. In my days in London we had Saturday hops. I am a life member of Lagos Island Club. I was a founding member of Ado Ekiti Inland Club. I was the launch chairman of scouting movement in the University of Ife in 1971. I am a life patron of Boys Brigade in Ado Ekiti. I compose hymns and write poems. I am a life patron of the choir in St Francis in Lagos; a patron of the choir in All Saints, Yaba and in Emmanuel Cathedral in Ado Ekiti. This gives me enough time to relax and enjoy hymns.

Tell us about your relationship with the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

My working relationship with Chief Obafemi Awolowo started with my father. In 1954, my father became a member of the House of Assembly in Ado Ekiti. Then, Awolowo was about founding the Action Group. At the time, not many people knew the difference between Awolowo and Nnamdi Azikiwe. They saw Awolowo as co-runner to Zik. Many people in the West then were Zikists. When members of the assembly were elected, it was on the day the assembly was going to open that Awolowo announced Action Group and started calling people to join him. I advised my father to stay with the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons because I belonged to a group referred to as Zikists Movement. Although I had just left secondary school then, Lagos gave us much political maturity because as students, we were allowed to attend public lecturers by the likes of Nwafor Orizu Zik, among others. Awolowo put my father on a very important committee. As principal of Fiditi Grammar School, Awolowo wanted to land his helicopter on the school’s field, but I insisted that the Premier must write a letter of permission, which he did. He wrote the letter and we allowed him to land the helicopter on the school’s field in June 1959. And he campaigned. I started visiting his house. Later on, Awolowo gave the first set of 200 scholarships. Before that, he gave out 40 to graduates and post- graduates students whom I was among. He wrote us letters personally at different locations to congratulate us. I replied his letter and thanked him. He was very pleased. I later became his campaign director under the United Party of Nigeria for the 1979 election.

You were Awolowo’s campaign director in Borno State for the 1979 elections. Do you share the belief that UPN was a party for westerners?

The intention of the founding fathers was to build a national party with branches all over the country. I had my office in Maimalari in Maiduguri, Borno State. Awolowo had his men all over the country. It was just the reception that failed. There were people that wanted to work with him in the North but they were in the minority. They were people that were anti-establishment who would rather be on their own. There was acceptance but not enough to change the status quo. But we still won a seat in Biu senatorial district. However, there was still rigging.

If the election was not rigged as you said, do you think Awolowo could have won the election?

No, he could not have won. There was suspicion in the North that the first coup plotters of 1966 wanted to make him the prime minister. There was so much distrust of him in the North because many leading northern leaders were killed in the first coup. So, they didn’t want him to become the president. But some still believed in him and worked for him. We still won a seat in Biu senatorial district.

Senate C’ttee Uncovers 1,691 Contracts’ Scam, 22 Illegal Accounts Operated by NDDC

The Senate Committee on Public Accounts wednesday uncovered 1,697 contract scams allegedly perpetrated by the management of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) at an investigative hearing organised by the committee in the National Assembly.

While the committee was scrutinising the records of contracts executed by NDDC between 2014 and 2016, the commission represented by its Acting Managing Director, Mrs. Ibim Seminitari, could not provide verifiable evidence of approval for 1,691 contracts.

Displeased by the development, the committee Chairman, Senator Andy Uba, ordered the commission to ensure it searches out verifiable records of approval for the contracts within seven days along with evidences of approval for all the contracts executed within the period as well as a relevant certificate of no objection from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP). It accused NDDC of presenting vague reports to the committee.

“This committee and by extension, the Senate, is not happy with this vague report before us particularly on contract award, date of award, level of execution, names of contractors etc,” Uba said.

The committee also queried the rationale behind the commission’s decision to operate 22 bank accounts before the implementation of Treasury Single Account (TSA) in 2015, bearing in mind that only four accounts were approved for the commission by federal government at the time.

The committee also frowned at the commission unilateral decision to operate unauthorised accounts and insisted that such illegal accounts must be thoroughly investigated. It therefore mandated NDDC to send the names of the 22 banks where the accounts were domiciled along with statements of such accounts before the implementation of TSA.

The committee was also irritated by the commission’s failure to pay accumulated tax to the tune of N28.7 billion to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) as it equally ordered it to immediately begin to off set such volume of debt to FIRS.

However, Seminitari explained that of the N28.7 billion unpaid tax, N23billion had been owed by the commission before her emergence as NDDC boss, adding that the balance of N5.7 billion was a penalty imposed on it by FIRS. She also explained that the commission had entered into an agreement with FIRS on the payment schedule.

The commission was also accused of deliberately omitting its income figures in its 2016 income and expenditure report. This accusation prompted Seminitari to disclose how the federal government allocated N23.5billion to NDDC within the period under review as well as another N87.1billion proceeds it got from oil companies. But the committee viewed the subsequent explanation as an after thought.

While reeling out the records of the commission’s ineptitude earlier, Uba said: “The committee as part of its mandate of ensuring accountability and transparency in the management of the public account of the federation and on receipt of petitions of corruption on the award of contracts at the commission decided to embark on special oversight on income and expenditure of the commission.

“Sequel to the above, the committee wrote the commission on 23rd and 30th August, 2016 requesting for information on revenue, expenditure and personel information. The commission was to respond within the period of two weeks and on the 16th September, invited the acting managing director to appear before it on September 20, 2016.

“The commission refused to furnish the committee with the requested information and the managing director did not appear before the committee. The committee again wrote another reminder to the commission on the requested information and rescheduled the appearance of the MD to 22nd September, 2016.”

The prolonged cold war between President Muhammadu Buhari and his erstwhile close political associate and South-West political strongman, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, may soon come to an end.

Reliable sources within the party told SUNDAY PUNCH during the week that the two sides began planning to bury the hatchet during a recent meeting that President Buhari held with some of Tinubu’s loyalists in Aso Rock.

The President had met with the trio of Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, former Osun governor, Chief Bisi Akande, and Senator Olusola Adeyeye last week Sunday. The sources also said both parties agreed that the President needed to take some confidence-boosting measures to restore Tinubu’s faith in him.

The two men reportedly fell out following what Tinubu and his loyalists saw as attempts to diminish his contributions to President Buhari’s victory at the 2015 poll and erode his political capital in his South-West base. Some supporters of the former governor had also complained that the President rejected Tinubu’s ministerial nominees, and worked against the ex-Lagos governor’s candidates in the Kogi elections and Ondo governorship primary, among other ills.
A reliable source who was privy to the events that culminated in the meeting said its seeds were planted during President Buhari’s three-day state visit to Germany. Prior to that time, Buhari and Tinubu had not had any private communication in a while. But the source said the President contacted Akande, who is one of Tinubu’s closest associates and a former Interim Chairman of the APC, asking him to see him in Aso Rock.

The President’s call reportedly came barely 48 hours after the controversial interview the President’s wife, Aisha, granted the British Broadcasting Corporation . In the interview which went viral, the president’s wife accused her husband of neglecting those who helped him to power in 2015. Mrs. Buhari also threatened not to support her husband in 2019 if the President did not change tack.

Sources said although both men’s relationship began to sour almost as soon as Buhari won the election, it deteriorated when Professor John Paden, in his book titled ‘Muhammadu Buhari: Challenges of Leadership,’ claimed that Tinubu was against the emergence of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo as Vice President. Both Buhari and Tinubu were present at the book launch.
Insiders say this did not go down well with Tinubu and his men, as the All Progressives Congress national leader’s camp saw it as yet another attempt by the President and his men to reduce his contributions to the emergence of the APC government and also rewrite history.
Shortly after, Tinubu in a scathing open letter asked the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, to step down, after alleging that the chairman doctored results of the Ondo State APC governorship primary. Odigie-Oyegun, a former Edo State governor, who had been cautious in his initial response to Tinubu’s letter, paid a visit to Buhari in Aso Rock and thereafter launched an attack on Tinubu, describing his letter as ‘reckless.’

Seeing that he was fast losing at the centre, the APC chieftain, popularly known as the Jagaban (of Borgu), started reaching out to his political foes in the South-West in order to consolidate his influence in the region. With several meetings held, Tinubu’s most vocal critics such as Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Sir Olanihun Ajayi, among others, began to drum up support for him publicly.
A source in the presidency told our correspondent that Akande, who cut short his trip abroad to see the President, did not mince words during the meeting.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Akande told Buhari that despite the roles Tinubu and the South-West played in making him President, he had relegated the APC national leader and the region.

The source said, “Baba Akande told the President that they were not happy with him. He told Buhari that apart from not giving Tinubu sufficient consideration during the ministerial appointments, everything that played out in the Kogi and Ondo elections showed that the President was supporting Asiwaju’s enemies.
“Baba also said Paden’s book was a major slight and that they believed the President was aware of the content of the book before it went public. He further said some of the people around Buhari were hell-bent on ensuring that the President and Tinubu became enemies because of what they would gain from the crisis.”
The source stated that Buhari countered that he was unhappy with the acrimony in the ruling party and that he had tried to be fair to all parties. But Akande was said to have disagreed with the President in his response, and cited further examples.

SUNDAY PUNCH further gathered that Akande told the President to take practical steps to show that he was not fighting Tinubu and the South-West. While listing their demands, Akande and others told him that they needed to see more representation of those that helped him to power during the next cabinet reshuffle.
There have been reports that a cabinet change is imminent.
Akande, who travelled abroad after the meeting with Buhari, could not be reached for comments, but a top APC member close to him confirmed details of the meeting, saying, “They want Buhari to accept Tinubu’s list when he makes changes in his cabinet. They specifically told him that they are only in support of one of the South-West ministers in his cabinet. They also asked him to get the party leadership to hold the National Executive Council meetings regularly while also facilitating the constitution of the party’s board of trustees.”
A source close to the South-West leadership of the party disclosed to one of our correspondents that Akande and Aregbesola had met at the former’s residence in Ila-Orangun two Wednesdays ago before meeting the President.
Akande had been honoured by the Catholic Diocese in Otan-Ayegbaju, Osun State, where a school was inaugurated in his name. The late mother of a former Governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who hailed from Otan-Ayegbaju, was also honoured by the church, which inaugurated a multipurpose hall in her honour.
APC leaders, members and supporters, including Aregbesola, who thronged the venue of the ceremony, accompanied Akande to Ila-Orangun as a mark of respect.
It was gathered that Aregbesola and Akande held a meeting at Akande’s residence, where they discussed the face-off between Buhari and Tinubu.
The source said, “We were at Otan-Ayegbaji together. We later accompanied Baba Akande to Ila-Orangun after the Otan-Ayegbaju ceremony. When we got to Ila-Orangun, both the governor and Baba Akande went inside for a very long time. I’m sure that was where the decision to intervene in the matter was taken.
“When they met Buhari, they complained about the marginalisation of Tinubu’s men. At the meeting, Aregbesola said they (Tinubu loyalists) were not out to fight Buhari, but that the President should consider the Tinubu group in terms of appointments.
“Buhari told them that he was not out to undermine Tinubu’s group and that things would change in the coming days.”
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in an interview with one of our correspondents, said he was not aware of what transpired during the meeting between the President and the APC chieftains.
He said, “I am not aware of what was discussed with the President in the said meeting. As a matter of fact, it is not the nature of the President to disclose what people discuss with him in confidence during meetings.”