₦airaland Forum

This rejoinder is meant to kill. Lamido has gotten former president Jonathan angry. The words are carefully used to show him (Lamido), how useless and unsubstantiated his claims are.
But come to think of it, a stateman should always weigh his words before releasing them: it is called wisdom

by Praise Olowe

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has challenged a former Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido, or any other persons to publish evidence linking him with the controversial Malabu Oil scam, if they had any, or forever remain silent.


Jonathan was reacting to a report credited to Lamido in a national newspaper in which the former governor accused the ex President of trading off the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the November 16 governorship election in Bayelsa State.

The APC dislodged the PDP in the state, which has been a stronghold of the PDP since 1999 and Jonathan’s home state.

In an interview granted the newspaper, Lamido was quoted to have said: “The leadership of the APC and the government are blackmailing Jonathan and I think I can say it anywhere that he traded this for his own freedom.”

Lamido had also stated in the said report that, “Jonathan worked against his party because he was very, very angry with (Governor) Dickson. It was because he (Jonathan) sure knows his problem with Buhari and his government. And the issue of Malabu, I think, played a key role”.

But in a lengthy statement on Monday by his media adviser, Ikechukwu Eze, the former President described Lamido as “sulking skunk” to whom logic or reason meant nothing.

Jonathan said, “It didn’t matter to him that, as a well respected member of the society, he shouldn’t make such weighty claims against a former President if he was only guessing, like he admitted.

“We really do not know why Mr. Lamido, chose to speak like he did, especially with such hostility, contempt and lies against former President Jonathan. However, one thing is clear: In his anger and apparent bile-filled disposition, Mr. Lamido, an otherwise astute and erudite politician, obviously dropped the ball by electing not to speak responsibly like a statesman.

“Apparently seized by some inexplicable resentment, Lamido held on to the lie currently being pushed by a few mischief-makers to the effect that former President Jonathan helped the APC to win the last gubernatorial election in Bayelsa State.

“Unfortunately, the former Governor jumped into this convenient bandwagon of grovellers without first thinking of the burden of substantiating his claim. What to do? Orchestrate a raft of incongruent drivel of cheap lies to confuse the readers.

“This absurd claim definitely would have gained more traction in the public space if it really made any sense. But it didn’t. What, if we may ask Mr. Lamido, is the correlation between Jonathan supporting APC because he was angry with Governor Dickson and Jonathan supporting APC to avoid prosecution over Malabu?

“Where was Lamido and his ‘Malabu problem’ when Jonathan campaigned vigorously and helped PDP to win Bayelsa governorship election in 2015, under the same President Buhari?
It is important to establish at this point that Mr. Lamido probably knows very little about the Malabu case, for which he was not supposed to have commented blindly.

“It bears repeating that the documents relating to the transactions and decisions of the Federal Government on the Malabo issue, during the Jonathan administration, are in the relevant Government offices, where they are accessible.

“We would like to point out that all the actions taken by the Jonathan administration in relation to activities in the oil industry were legally conducted by relevant Nigerian Government officials and were carried out in the best interest of the country.

“We call on anyone, including Mr. Sule Lamido, who has any shred of evidence linking former President Jonathan to any wrongdoing in the case of the Malabu incident to waste no time in publishing such evidence or forever remain silent”.

The former President clarified that the Malabu oil block was not given out during his administration, stating that it was a deal that was sealed during the time of the late military Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha.

Stating that it’s not only the Nigerian government that is investigating the Malabu deal, stressing that the investigation has an international dimension to it.

“If that is the case, he (Lamido) should also have known that there are at least three other countries outside Africa that are investigating the matter. Assuming without conceding that the former President Jonathan is culpable as Lamido alleged, would a trade off deal with the Nigerian Government also free him from blame in other countries like Italy, United Kingdom and the United States?

“Mr. Lamido’s awkward intervention in this matter was deliberately designed as a form of blackmail. Having tried many other ways to discredit the former President to no avail, Mr. Lamido is now scheming to project Malabo as Jonathan’s Achilles heel. Here again he has failed because the true story of Malabo is already very well known to Nigerians.

“Mr Lamido, we believe, is too smart not to realise that when the pot conveniently calls the kettle black, it is a grand design to confuse, deceive and cover up the truth.

“Lamido served as Governor of Jigawa State for two terms under the platform of the PDP after which the ruling APC took over his state. Is he then telling Nigerians that he cut a deal with APC, helped the ruling party to procure victory at the polls and take over his state?

“The fact is that it is not only in Bayelsa State that the country had experienced such a situation where PDP or even APC had lost elections to another party. Holding Jonathan responsible for PDP’s loss in Bayelsa without first investigating the issues that determined the fate suffered by the party in the state is not only disingenuous but also detrimental to the image and aspirations of the party”, Jonathan added.

Stating his position on the Malabu oil deal, Jonathan said he did not ask for or collect any bribes over the Malabu deal, neither has he been charged for asking or collecting bribes, and that neither will he ever be charged with asking for or collecting bribes, because such never happened.

Continuing, Jonathan said, “Rather than cast aspersions and throw shades because of pre-existing animosities and prejudices against the former president, what is expected of party leaders like Mr. Lamido is to seek to interrogate whatever went wrong in Bayelsa, to avert a repeat in another state.

“We believe that further interrogation of Lamido’s other weird claims is not necessary in this space, lest it gives the unfortunate interview more attention than it deserves.

“However, we feel that it is important to reiterate, as we have always done, that former President Jonathan did nothing wrong as far as the Malabu deal is concerned. He therefore doesn’t need to cut a deal with anybody within or outside Nigeria.

“The fact remains that as recent national events continue to vindicate former President Jonathan, and as the world continues to celebrate him, those who are insecure will feed such propaganda to their media agents to serve their narrow interests.

“We have always made it clear that beyond this wave of conjecture, former President Jonathan was not linked, indicted or charged for collecting any monies as kickbacks or bribes by any law enforcement body the world over”.

https://thenationonlineng.net/jonathan-to-lamido-publish-evidence-of-my-involvement-in-malabu-scam-or/amp/

The news itself is so confusing. The write up is not consistent.

mimimile93:
Let's go by giving PMB third term. This man needs more term to clean up the mess done by PDP

We can as well give him life president for a job well done

Such an insolence. There is nothing as barbaric as this. There is no insult that is bigger than this. God is watching you Bello

Don't mind them, independent body that can't finance itself. Like NFA, when it comes to finance, you will hear we are not well funded by govt.

KingSatan:
ASUU! DO THE RIGHT THING.

SENTIMENTS ASIDE, IPPIS IS WORTH IT.

IF YOU HAVE NO SKELETONS IN YOUR CUPBOARDS, THEN STOP WAILING.

ASUU IS AN INDEPENDENT BODY MY FOOT.

MOST NIGERIAN LECTURERS ARE THIEVES!

nellyzkid:
The olds keep ruling us. Give the younger ones the space to lead... Let a new face lead us we are all tired of all this oold belles

I use to fall for this but the few young ones we have tried has helped us change the narrative. Yahaya Bello and Ikpeasu, to mention just a few.
Whoever is capable should rule

You are entitle to your opinion and I am also entitle to mine. I have just stated mine, without insult. Even though your statement is contradictory I refuse to join issues With you.

Reference:
Jonathan is embracing democracy. He sees democracy as a vehicle for purpose not like you folks do. He doesn't and has never been a 'me and them', zero sum individual. So heads or tails he will not lose. That is what democracy should be. You are lost in the woods young man.

I think Reno must have seeing that GEJ is finally embracing APC, hence the capitulation.
What happened in Bayelsa is an eye opener for Reno.
I wish him luck in his choosing path

donbachi:
As if u no fvck anoda wen una break up...confess ur own make we see if d relationship no go borrow legs.

I can't help but laugh. You are something else.

[quote author=djdutchbrah post=84128000]Who vocal ep?His constituency is a massive shithole and we all know the only project he embarked upon.[/quote
For me Dino is not doing himself any good by constantly displaying affluence among a poverty strinking constituent.
In a sane society, that is a sure way to loose. Let him go and buy more for display with his severance allowance

THE All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate David Lyon was, early this morning, declared Bayelsa State governor-elect by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Lyon, 49, will succeed outgoing Governor Seriake Dickson, who has ruled the state since 2012



The APC thus ended the 20-year political dominance of the oil-rich Bayelsa State by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Returning Officer Prof. Faraday Orumwense, vice-chancellor of the University of Benin, declared Lyon winner with 352,552 votes in Saturday’s election. He won six of the eight local government areas

PDP’s candidate Senator Duoye Diri, who came a distant second, polled 143,172 votes. He won in two local government areas.

There was jubilation in Yenagoa as soon as the Returning officer declared Lyon winner at the Prof. Mahmood Yakubu Media Centre, INEC Office, in Yenagoa.

Many people trooped to the streets of the state capital in celebration



Communities and riverine areas in distant parts of the state also rolled out drums to rejoice in anticipation of the beginning of a new era.

Most bars in Yenagoa declared free drinks in excitement that a ‘creek boy’ had become their governor.

Diri defeated Lyon in Sagbama, Governor Dickson’s home local government where he scored 60,339 votes to Lyon’s 7,831 votes

He also won in his Kolokuma-Opokuma Local Government scoring 15,360 votes to beat Lyon, who polled 8,934 votes.

Lyon won in the remaining six local government areas.

Read Also: BREAKING: INEC declares Lyon winner in Bayelsa
In Nembe , he won by a landslide scoring 83,041 votes to trounce his PDP’s counterpart who got only 874 votes.

Minister of State Petroleum and former Governor Timipre Sylva, delivered his Brass Local Government Area to Lyon. The APC candidate polled 23,831 votes to defeat Diri, who scored 10, 410 votes.

The APC candidate also won in State capital Yenagoa Local Government, scoring 24,607 to Diri’s 19,184 votes.

The APC and Lyon won Ogbia, the Local Government home of former President Goodluck Jonathan with a wide margin.

Lyon trounced Diri with 58,016 votes to 13,763 votes.

In his home Southern Ijaw Local Government , the APC candidate floored his opponent with a massive 124,803 votes to 4,898 votes.

In Ekeremor, Lyon polled 21,489 while Diri gathered 18,344 votes.

Diri, at a briefing on Sunday, rejected the result.

https://thenationonlineng.net/its-landslide-win-as-inec-names-lyon-governor-elect/

domopps:
Something in me telling me that Jonathan voted for David Lyon



Cheers

I thought as much. I pray those who always consider themselves lord will learn. It is better to make friends than creating enemies.

I can't draw any conclusion base on this judgement nor base on Busola's revelation.
Judgement can be bought, and confessions can be manipulated.which ever way, God is watching.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Tuesday opened its case against Abdullahi Babalele, son-in-law of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, accused of laundering $140,000 in the build-up to the 2019 general elections.

The trial began before Justice C.J. Aneke at the Federal High Court in Lagos with the testimony of one Bashir Mohammed, who described himself as a close friend of Babalele.

Mohammed, who was led in evidence by the EFCC prosecutor, Rotimi Oyedepo, narrated to the court how he delivered the naira equivalent of $140,000 to former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Babalele’s instructions.


Obasanjo endorsed Atiku, who was the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party ahead of the February 23 presidential election.

But Atiku lost the election to incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress.

Mohammed said he received a phone call from Babalele sometime in February, requesting him to deliver a message to “an elder statesman”.

He said on Babalele’s request he supplied two bank accounts, which were credited.


The witness said he took the money to Obasanjo’s residence in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

“When I got to the gate, somebody came and took me inside where I met former President Olusegun Obasanjo and delivered the message.

“I called the defendant in the presence of former President Obasanjo and informed him that I had delivered the message. He said that was good and thanked me,” Mohammed said.

Under cross-examination by the defence counsel, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), Mohammed affirmed that he wrote a statement at the EFCC office during investigation.

Ozekhome’s bid to tender the statement as an exhibited was, however, opposed by the prosecutor.

Justice Aneke adjourned till Wednesday to rule on the admissibility of the statement.

The EFCC arraigned Babalele on two counts of money laundering in August.


He was accused of “procuring Bashir Mohammed to make a cash payment of $140,000 without going through any financial institution”.

Oyedepo said the money exceeded the threshold stipulated by the money laundering law.

He said Babalele made the transaction on February 20, 2019 in contravention of Section 18 (c) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 and was liable to be punished under Section 16(2)(b) of the same Act.


But Babalele pleaded not guilty to the two counts levelled against him.

Copyright PUNCH.

Is this kind of rejoinder befitting a corporate blog. This is going too low for me.

Where is individual and family shame

God will surely locate you for good

So many reasons can be deduce from Mr President action.
1. Many people are of the opinion that the VP always out perform his boss whenever he is given opportunity.
2. The race to 2023
3. The sack of Daura
etc.
Last Las what will be, will be.

Head knowledge at work. You cannot understand God by relying on the flesh

mrvitalis:
Name 3 zones outside south west where u think tinubu can get 50% vote no matter what

What matter most is your political structure as represented by your party.
Atiku had contested severally on weaker political parties and failed woefully, this last election was his best outing because of political structure

While Megan Rapinoe is the leading candidate for the second ever women’s Ballon D’Or, the holder of the men’s award, Luka Modric, and the world’s most expensive player Neymar missed out as France Football unveiled nominees in four categories on Monday.

Modric, fresh from guiding Croatia to a World Cup final, broke the 11-year Cristiano Ronaldo-Lionel Messi, who are both included, stranglehold on the men’s award last year.

Paris Saint-Germain’s Neymar, who cost the French club 222 million euros ($247 million) in 2017, failed to make the 30-man shortlist after a year overshadowed by injury, suspension and controversy for both club and country.

Messi has just collected the FIFA Best award, as did Rapinoe, which split from the Ballon D’Or in 2016.

Rapinoe dominated the Women’s World Cup, on and off the field, in the summer.

She was joint top scorer and was voted player of the tournament as she led the United States to victory in France in July.

The 34-year-old Reign FC playmaker, already a campaigner for LGBT rights and gender equality, made headlines during the tournament by publicly taking on US President Donald Trump.

Last year, Norwegian Ada Hegerberg was the first women’s winner.

The Lyon forward did not play in the World Cup but is among the 20 nominees as are stars who were present at the competition, such as Australia striker Sam Kerr, England’s Lucy Bronze and France captain Amandine Henry.

Virgil Van Dijk, 28, who has had an impressive six months with Liverpool lifting the Champions League, could become a rare defensive winner of the men’s award.

Fabio Cannavaro was the last defender to win in 2006, and only the fourth since the award began in 1956.

Another nominee, Kylian Mbappe, the top goal scorer in Ligue 1 last season, would represent a genuine change of the guard.

The Paris Saint-Germain striker is inelgible to defend his Kopa trophy for the best player under 21 last year as he celebrates his 21st birthday on December 20.

This year also sees the introduction of the Yashin trophy, named after the only goalkeeper to win the Ballon D’Or, Lev Yashin of the Soviet Union, to give that ignored minority a chance to get their hands on a prize of their own.

The award winners will be unveiled on December 2 during a ceremony in Paris after a voting process including journalists from 180 different countries

Now we are beginning to understand how enormous the courage that vice president, yemi osinbanjo exhibited in sacking this untouchable man.
God bless you Mr vice president.

budaatum:
Whenever he wants to redeem it.
As you can see, I've informed him.

Great. He indeed deserve every encouragement he can get. Way to go for my country

budaatum:
This is the sort of journalism we the people should pay for. It's little but I owe 5k.

When will it be redeemed.
It is a front page material but what did I know.

jom28gy:
How sure are you

I didn't frame it up. I included his Twitter handle but have been unable to successfully copy the link.
It is real and not fictitious.

pcagbaji:
This is not a personal experience it is compiled from the testimony of different people in different events

It was his personal experience. He faked the crime to get all these info

Unfortunately for the cabals, Aisha Buhari has paid her dues in the eyes of the public. No amount of blackmail will turn the society against her.
Aisha Buhari does not support all their evil plots and they are not happy

A Twitter user @fisayosoyombo penned down the following discoveries.

Investigative journalist ‘FISAYO SOYOMBO spent two weeks in detention — five days in a Police cell and eight as an inmate in Ikoyi Prison — to track corruption in Nigeria’s criminal justice system, beginning from the moment of arrest by the Police to the point of release from prison. To experience the workings of the system in its raw state, Soyombo — adopting the pseudonym Ojo Olajumoke — feigned an offence for which he was arrested and detained in police custody, arraigned in court and eventually remanded in Prison. In the first of this three-part series, he uncovers how the Police pervert the course of justice in their quest for ill-gotten money.

It cost only N500 for a policeman to arrest me, and N1,000 for another to hurl me into a cell. Of course they didn’t know I was a journalist; I had assumed a pseudonym and grown my hair long enough — for 10 months — to blend with artificial dreads. My locks were tinted in gold and almost all my facial hair removed. I cut the profile of the kind of youth the Police indiscriminately railroad into their notoriously ramshackle vans for no reason, for onward transfer to their cells. One look at me and the typical policeman would have mistaken me for a compulsive hemp smoker, an incorrigible internet fraudster or a serial drug abuser.

The Police in Nigeria have a history of illegitimate arrests and extrajudicial killings. In July, Chinedu Obi, a musician better known as Zinquest, was accosted for spotting tattoos and shot in Sango, Ogun State. Only two months ago, policemen in Lagos shot two unarmed civilians — they died instantly — suspected of phone theft. In April, anti-cultism policemen killed Kolade Johnson, a civilian, at a football viewing centre in the Onipetesi, Mangoro area of Lagos. One bus driver in Ayobo, Lagos, was even shot dead by a policeman in May for refusing to part with his money. In Ifo, Ogun State, in April, a policeman shot a motorcycle rider during an argument over N100 bribe. All five incidents happened within the last six months; all six victims died in the end.

Therefore, it didn’t take too long after my arrest for me to begin to see the Police in their true elements. My supposed offence was that someone had sold me a car worth N2.8million in November 2018; however, after paying N300,000 cash, I began to avoid him — until I was eventually apprehended on Monday July 8. Once I was arrested and whisked into an innocuously passing danfo, I imagined I would be immediately taken to the cell of Pedro Police Station, Shomolu, Lagos. But it wasn’t that straightforward. I was first shoved behind the counter; and after half-an-hour, the Crime Officer (CO), Inspector Badmus, fetched me into a back office where I was grilled for close to two hours, culminating in a written statement from me that represented his thoughts more than mine. He asked me questions but only allowed me to write the answers that suited him; if the answers didn’t, he cut me short halfway. Afterwards, I was led to the expansive office of the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), a tall, dark, rotund, middle-aged man who pronounced me guilty in a matter of minutes. “This is one of the many criminals destroying this city,” he yelled after a long, menacing glance all over me. “Please hold him well!”

Armed with this new order, the CO, who had been relatively civil all along, groped for my trousers then grabbed me by the waist as we made the short return trip to the counter. It was a walk of no more than 50 metres, but by the way he held me, anyone would have thought we were walking over a thousand kilometres and there was the potential for escape.

The complainant was already registering the case with a policewoman by the time we returned, and soon after they were haggling over the fees. Chigozie Odo, the policewoman, had rejected his offer of N500. After some five minutes of talking, he handed her a N1,000 note. Immediately the money touched her hand, Odo turned on me: “Look at you. Fine boy like you; just look at yourself. Instead make you go find better work, you dey defraud people. Oya, come here!”

The suspects in the cell had gathered by the iron barricade, hungering for an entrant, clinging to the bars and chillingly rolling their eyes from the policewoman to me and then to the complainant. My heart began to pound: Are they going to pummel me? Would they accept it if I offered some cash in exchange for beating?

Odo stripped me of my shirt, singlet, belt, wristwatch, shoes and cash. “Look at his hair; na you gangan be Ruggedy Baba,” she said as she unlocked the cell and bundled me in.

A MINOR IN THE CELL

The gate of the main cell

As I take my first steps into the cell gate, I immediately attempt to ingratiate myself with my ‘new friends’ by asking what they want — food or drink? It endears me to them, and the policewoman immediately proclaims me the new “leader”. It didn’t take quite long for the food to arrive; it was around 3pm or thereabouts and they apparently hadn’t been fed that day yet. As they guzzle their food — rice for some, bread for others — I embark on a quick, surreptitious survey of the cell.

To the right is a small opening housing a bathroom and a latrine oozing with thick fecal stench, one I very quickly resolved my buttocks would never near. To achieve this, I would eat only once daily — bread with a bottle of water or soft drink — throughout my stay. Opposite it is the smallest of the inner cells. Lying awkwardly on the floor is a mat too small to contain even one person; but every night, five or six cross-breathing inmates share it. Being the warmest inner cell, it proved the popular cell of choice — particularly at nighttime. Further ahead are two bigger cells, dingy and often damp, each measuring roughly 16 by 16 metres, with fading, defaced blue walls. Holding my head in my hands, I slump into one of the cells, enveloping myself with thoughts of the hardship to come.

“Do not disturb; the leader is in a very bad mood,” a faint voice arrests my thoughts. “Let’s come back to see him later,” adds another — that of a boy who, by his mien and slender build, couldn’t possibly be more than 15. What‘s a minor doing in detention? I motion them over.

“Wetin happen?” asks Austin, the fair-skinned, slim-figured, natural dreads-donning leader I inadvertently deposed minutes earlier. In the prison and in police cells, “wetin happen” is the lingo for asking an inmate or prisoner how they landed in prison or detention. I give them my prepared line and hand them the baton.

Austin, a gate keeper at a small company in Lagos, was accused of illegal gun possession by his boss after an unlicensed pistol was reportedly found inside the gate house. He vehemently denied knowledge of the act, but his claims of innocence had been ruined by his previous backdoor sale of the company’s 50 litres of diesel for N8,000. Determined to let him rot in the police cell, the accuser left with Austin’s phone, obliterating any chance of phoning a friend or family to process his bail.


With Austin is Loris, the minor whose arrest and detention was masterminded by her sister. Loris had electronically withdrawn the sum of N23,500 from his sister’s account, without her knowledge, to pay for the General Certificate Examination (GCE) of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC). Since the exam actually costs N13,950, it is either Loris stole more than he needed or he registered at a special centre. The boy claims his sister declined his initial requests for the funds when he asked. Asked how he pulled off the funds transfer, unnoticed, he replies: “I know where she keeps her ATM; I also know the password.”

Also in the cell is Buchi, a young man accused — and he didn’t deny it — of stealing a phone. Small matter it may have been; but after the Police tracked him to his house with the same phone he allegedly stole, his accuser claimed N100,000 had also gone missing from the car where the phone was ‘moved’. Like Buchi, the fourth suspect is also accused of stealing a phone worth N17,000; too bad for him because the Police then went on to set his bail at N50,000.

The Police have always insisted bail is free, but this has got to be the most barefaced lie of the century! In 2015, and again in 2017, the Police embarked on a nationwide bail-is-free campaign; apparently, it has been a futile experiment. Coincidentally, while I was in that cell, Zubairu Muazu, the Lagos State Police Commissioner, was busy saying “any policeman who collects money for bail is not different from a kidnapper; the only difference is that everyone knows where you keep the suspects”.

AN INNOCENT MAN IN POLICE CELL

An inner cell

We continue our chit-chat without the knowledge that two young men, one imminently, are primed to join us. The first, Uchenna, was accused of attempting to dispossess a motorcycle rider of his property. But he fiercely denies, insisting a quarrel only broke out between the duo because the rider could not provide the balance of his fare for the ride. “How can anyone say I tried to snatch a motorcycle in broad daylight yet no weapon was found on me?” he argues, to the bemusement of all. “I had no knife, no gun, no spade. No cutlass or machete. Do you rob in daylight without any weapon?”

Much later, sometime between 8pm and 9pm, another young man joins us. The accusation against him was that he stole a phone from a barbing salon. By his own admission, the CCTV had reportedly identified him as the culprit. Yet he denies any wrongdoing. “I swear I didn’t steal the phone,” he murmurs. “I swear!” Who’s this one fooling? The CCTV fingered you as the thief yet you say no? You think everyone here is a criminal? There’s a journalist here, you know?

“Wait a minute,” I ask. “Didn’t they show you the CCTV footage? Didn’t the Police watch it before arresting you?”

“I didn’t watch it, neither did the Police,” he answers. “The Police arrested me because the phone owner said I was the thief. They didn’t watch any CCTV footage.”

I still do not believe him until the rest of us rouse from sleep the following morning to find out he was gone. The CCTV footage had finally been watched, and it turned out the wrong man had been arrested! An innocent man had spent a night in jail over a crime he knew nothing about.

N50,000 BAIL FOR FIVE HEMP SMOKERS

A second inner cell

Five for the worth of one; that was the scenario on Tuesday when the phone-theft suspect was freed. Shortly before midday, five new suspects — one male, the others female — join us. The quintet — two of them are sisters — had been arrested at a hemp-smoking joint in Gbagada. On arrival, they all look subdued, their faces sunken, their hairs dishevelled. Off they are marched to the female cell, situated adjacent the male cell but close enough for communication and exchange of items with their man, Maxwell. Unlike the male’s, the female cell is less punishing — just one room, bare but cemented, dry and generally habitable.

Maxwell makes no claim at sanctimony. “They caught the girls in the act, but me, they should never have arrested me,” he laments. “I f**ked up big time.”


Tall, fair and stunningly handsome, Maxwell had learnt of the arrest of his girls, and had sped to the scene only for residents to clandestinely signal the Police that he was one of them, in fact their ring leader. Maxwell was bullish in maintaining innocence as the Police tried to arrest him, but he would earn himself a succession of slaps after a strand of hemp was found in his wallet. “I no know say I get one tiny claro for my wallet,” he says. “I f**ked up, mehn.”

When observed at close quarters, Maxwell cuts the picture of a man of two extremes. One minute he is mouthing obscenities, the next he is speaking with impeccable courtesy. Asked which of the girls is his girlfriend, he mutters: “None of them is my girlfriend but I f**k them all.” However, when any of the girls calls for his attention, his answers range from “yes, please” to “yes, darling” or “one minute, love.” And, usually, when he asks anything of anyone in the cell, it is hardly for himself but for one of his girls.

From time to time, Maxwell would dip his right hand into his crotch, and scratch away the poor thing with mind-blowing absentmindedness. Then he would run the same hand over his tinted hair, down through the thin threads of his hairy chest and back to his crotch. He was impulsive, too, once declaring, without prompting, “It’s been a long time I had measles like right now”, and abruptly informing us another time: “The Police have set our bail at N10,000 each.”

The father of the two girls shows up much later, upset, disappointed and threatening to let them rot in detention. He didn’t mean half of those things, though; the following day, he returns to settle the Police, and all five regain their freedom. It is unclear exactly how much he paid, but the Police had demanded N50,000 for all five.

HOW THE POLICE COOK UP CRIMES AGAINST SUSPECTS

The Police say no bath for me because I “stole” and “hijacked” a car. Meanwhile, the documented offence was that I didn’t complete payment for the car.

On Wednesday, I discover, in the crudest of ways, how the Police often exaggerate the allegations against suspects — to drive up their bail. It is evening and I have not had a bath all day, so I politely ask a policewoman, fresh from assuming duties, to open the cell so I can draw water from the tap servicing the cells.

“What is your name?” she first asks me, before shifting her gaze to a whiteboard detailing the offences of each suspect in the cell. “Ojo Olajumoke? Your offence doesn’t warrant you having a bath. Cell no be for enjoyment, abeg.”

Crestfallen and unable to read the board from afar, I beckon a cellmate over for help. “Your offence reads ‘stealing and hijacking of car,’” he tells me. “Did you actually hijack a car?”

I hadn’t. The original complaint against me was that I’d bought a car worth N2.8million, paid only N300,000 and defaulted on the balance. Car hijacking? Stealing? By framing me, the Police violated Section 340 (f) of the Police Act 2004, which compels them to exhibit “strict truthfulness in the handling of investigations, and in the giving of evidence”.

Maxwell and the girls were framed up, too. On the whiteboard, they were designated as “cultists”, but their real offence was that they smoked hemp. They were picked up smoking hemp, not while engaging in cultism-related activities. Are all hemp smokers cultists?

“It’s the Police’s well-known way of bargaining for hefty bail sums from suspects,” Oto Omena, a lawyer with long-standing experience of dealing with policemen, would later tell me in late August. “They typically make suspected crimes bigger than they originally are; you know, the bigger the crime, the bigger the bail sum.”

INNOCENT DESTITUTE, DRUNKARD ARRESTED ON TRUMPED-UP CHARGES

In the evening of Wednesday, Haruna joins us. He tells no lies about his offence: he and his brother were involved in a nasty fight during which he slashed his opponent’s neck with a knife. Brother landed in the hospital, Haruna ended up in the cell. Deserved maybe, but not for the next two suspects.

In the wee small hours of Thursday, Japheth and Sunday arrive, both having been picked up while sleeping at unauthorised locations in Gbagada. The Police accused them of lurking around to break into shops. It’s a robbery-prone location, they insisted. But we all know it’s a false claim.

It turns out Sunday is very known to many officers at the station. A chronic, foul-smelling, gibberish-spilling drunkard, this isn’t his first arrest and probably won’t be the last. Spirits and dry gins are his specialisation. His wife would show up at the break of dawn, cursing her luck at ending up with a man contributing no more than his manhood to the marriage, always disappearing for days on a drinking spree and reappearing, bearing no cash for her or the children.

Japheth, meanwhile, is a destitute. He had naively relocated from Benue to Lagos weeks back in search of greener pasture, with no real plans for feeding, housing and accommodation. In daytime, he roamed the streets hunting for odd jobs; at night, he slept wherever the call of nature found him. The Police knew he was harmless. Not one weapon was found on him, much like his co-suspect. With neither Japheth nor Sunday able to afford the N10,000 bail set by the Police, night falls on them in the cell.

Sunday’s innocence would become clear in the morning when a new batch of police officers takes over duty. “Mr. Sunday, they’ve picked you again!” one of them exclaims on sighting him. “What was your offence this time?”

Apparently, the Police know Sunday as someone who lives in the neighbourhood; they know him as a harmless but indiscriminate drunkard; not the robber they had lebelled him as. His arrest and detention was nothing more than a fundraising expedition.

POLICEWOMAN DEFRAUDS HER BOSS

Policewoman Angelina Abubakar… collected N1,000 bribe but declared only N500 to her boss.

In a matter of days, it becomes clear that all policewomen on duty at the counter are perpetually on the lookout for brisk business. Every visit to a suspect, even if it lasts no more than two minutes, is impossible without the payment of a N500 bribe. Charging one’s phones also costs N500 per time. Since roughly two people visit me daily, the policewomen can sometimes make a minimum of N1,500 off me in a day.

On Thursday morning, something interesting happens. Policewoman Angelina Abubakar’s voice rouses me from sleep. “Jumokeeeeeeeeee,” she bellows. “Do you have N500? I want to use it.”

Does she really think I have an option? I let her have it: a deduction from the sum of money seized from me at point of detention and deposited at the counter. Few hours later, with my phone out of battery charge, I request her attention, expecting her to for once grant me a free favour. “You’ll have to drop something,” she affirms. I decline, which means no phone for the rest of the night. How can I give you N500 in the morning and you can’t charge my phone for me in the afternoon for free?

Less than half-an-hour later, her greed returns to haunt her. When Senami Kojah and Zainab Sodiq, my two visitors, brought breakfast in the morning, Angelina had collected N1,000 bribe from them. Apparently, she had lied to her boss she got only N500. Somehow suspicious that her boss doubted her and could ask my friends next morning, she begs me to appeal to them to insist they received N500 balance after parting with N1,000......

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I respect your courage and discipline.

NIGERIA’S northern neighbour, Niger Republic, has blown the lid off $1.7m cash found in an apartment in its capital Niamey.

The Nigerien authorities tipped off Abuja about the cash found in the apartment believed to be owned by a former Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina.

At N359 to $1, the 41.7m is about N610.3m.



There is suspicion that the cash is part of the money allegedly stolen by Maina who is currently in security custody following his arrest recently by the Department of Security Services (DSS) in an Abuja hotel along with his son, Faisal.

He had allegedly sneaked into the country from Dubai apparently to avoid arrest.

Maina is under investigation for alleged mismanagement of over N24billion pension funds while in office.

Twenty-nine assets worth N1billion also suspected to be owned by him have already been seized.

The Nation gathered authoritatively that the security agencies may also probe Maina on why one of his nephews, Sadiq Abdullahi Ismaila, was almost tortured to death over how $1.7million got missing from a safe house.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is on the trail of Sadiq Abdullahi Ismaila, who released a video clip detailing his alleged travail over the missing cash.

Sources said relatives are mounting pressure on Sadiq to go underground to save Maina.

Investigation by our correspondent revealed that about $1.7million cash belonging to a Nigerian was traced found in an apartment in Niamey by security agents.

The Nigerien Government alerted Nigeria’s Federal Government of the strange discovery of the cash, following which Abuja directed the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) to investigate.

Preliminary investigation by the NIA and the EFCC suggests that Maina knows about it because the apartment in question used to serve as one of his hideouts in Niger Republic.

The discovery of the cash in Niamey coincided with the alleged disappearance of $1.7million cash from Maina’s safe house.

Investigators suspect that the pain of losing the $1.7million may have forced Maina to sneak into the country to look for the cash before the law caught up with him.

An authoritative source said: “The $1.7m was stashed in an apartment in Niger Republic which was being occupied by a Nigerian.

“So far, a trail of the cash by security agencies has linked Maina to the cash because the apartment was alleged to be his hideout.

“Detectives are working round the clock to uncover where the suspected pension cash was sourced and how it was ferried to Niger Republic.

“One of the clues being probed was the allegation that Faisal Maina (the son of the ex-pension reform task force chairman) moved the cash from Nigeria to the Republic of Niger.”

Responding to a question, the source added: “Investigators have also discovered that Maina allegedly influenced the arrest and torture of one of his nephews, Sadiq Abdullahi Ismaila over a missing $1.7m.

“Sadiq , who later released a video clip on his ordeal, asked Maina to turn his searchlight on his son, Faisal and wife.”

In the clip, which was exclusively obtained by THE NATION, Sadiq said: “I am a nephew to the ex-pension boss, Abdulrasheed Maina. Well, a lot has been happening lately. For those of you that know me very well, a lot has been happening. I know some of you know everything that has been going on and I haven’t come out to say a word about it yet.

Read Also: N2b ‘fraud’: EFCC grills Maina
“But I figure it is high time I come out to speak about it . Why? It is because I felt for the safety of the people around me, especially my family and others like that.

“Well, I was abducted by Abdulrasheed Maina (my uncle) for three days and I was tortured for something I didn’t do. He accused me of taking $1.7million of his which his son took from his house. His son and his wife too,

“I have been paying for $1.7million that is not with me. The funny thing is that this man has been sending people after me, my family and friends. And for me, I don’t really care because I have seen it all. There is nothing more he can do to me because I have already endured three good days of torture from somebody I look up to.

“He is somebody I point out to be a father figure to me; somebody who is the immediate brother to my mum. Let me make this video short. Abdulrasheed Maina, if you think your money is with me, I told you, go and meet your wife and your son.

“The $1.7million, you said you got it while you were washing toilets. I don’t know where they pay in dollars for washing toilets. I don’t know where you got the money from.

“But I know for sure the way you launder money and you know I know that. That is why you wanted me dead. I just survived because it was not my time when you asked those hoodlums, claiming to be DSS operatives to torture me for good three days. I almost died but it was not my time.

“For you now to be sending people because I have been quiet about it. I have been quiet about it because your mum (our grandmother) begged me to keep the issue as a family issue.”

Already, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has traced additional 29 assets in the country, worth N1, 054,000, 000 to Maina.

Some foreign assets have been located in the United Arab Emirates and other jurisdictions.

The anti-graft commission has filed an application before a High Court to place all the 29 assets under forfeiture.

The agency wants to invoke Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) to seize Maina’s choice properties in the UAE and other countries.

Other items retrieved from Maina and his son, Faisal, include 31 SIM Cards of UAE, MTN, 9Mobile and Airtel; 19 handsets; one iPad and two laptops; 13 flash drives and Kentucky US ID card; UAE Certificate of Naturalization; and UAE ID card.

On December 9, 2017, the EFCC Acting Chairman Mr. Ibrahim Magu said seven properties had been seized from Maina.

https://thenationonlineng.net/niger-republic-alerts-fg-of-1-7m-cash-in-mainas-niamey-home/amp/

I am of the opinion that the trip is not necessary.