As
the controversy over FG's looters' list continues to boil, a former
aide to President Goodluck Jonathan has released what he believes is the
real looters' list.
Reno Omokri
It was with great amusement that I received news that the minister
for propaganda, the rightly and prophetically named Lai Mohammed, was
planning on releasing a new looters list.
The nation was witness to the flop of the pathetic looters lists he
had earlier drawn up which read more like a list of noise makers drawn
up by a primary school class captain who wanted to implicate his
enemies.
After having been shamed at home and abroad for its one sided and
fallacious list, the Buhari administration wants to redeem itself by
releasing a third list, which from the look of things, will go into
infamy like its two elder brothers.
The funniest thing is that both Lai Mohammed and President Buhari’s
spokesman, Garba Shehu, had condemned the release of a looters list by
the pioneer Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Chairman, Nuhu
Ribadu in 2007.
It is very obvious that they have no moral compass. Their loyalties
are only to there bellies. If not, why condemn a looters list released
by Nuhu Ribadu and commend a looters list released by the Buhari
administration?
In any case, Nigerians and the international community may find the
list below to be a more credible list and I call on the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices
Commission to investigate, interrogate and prosecute those contained
therein, especially as I have produced details and named names, dates
and amounts involved which stand at over $30 billion.
Please note that this is not an exhaustive list. There are many
others, including a South South ex Governor who is close to President
Buhari, whose security vote was incredibly substantial, but unless I
have hard documentary evidence or eyewitness testimony, I have avoided
listing such persons.
Muhammadu Buhari and His Cronies: On several occasions during the
2015 election campaign, then candidate Muhammadu Buhari said he did not
know what fuel subsidy is and accused the Jonathan administration of
scamming Nigerians through the scheme.
Again on December 28, 2015, President Buhari said he was ending
fuel subsidy. On May 12, 2016 the minister of state for petroleum, Ibe
Kachikwu, said subsidy had been removed. The price of petrol was
increased on that basis to ₦145. Then on December 15, 2016, Vice
President Osinbajo said there was no more fuel subsidy in Nigeria.
In the 2016 and 2017 budgets, the National Assembly made no provision for appropriations for fuel subsidy.
On Friday, December 22, 2017, the Group Managing Director of the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Maikanti Baru, said that
President Buhari had authorized him to make fuel subsidy payments which
he tried to hide by using the ingenious term ‘under recovery’.
On April 6, 2018, the minister of state for petroleum resources,
Mr. Ibe Kachikwu revealed that ₦1.4 trillion was being spent annually
on fuel subsidy payments by the Buhari administration.
Section 162 (1) of the Constitution provides that:
“(1) The Federation shall maintain a special account to be
called “the Federation Account” into which shall be paid all revenues
collected by the Government of the Federation, except the proceeds from
the personal income tax of the personnel of the armed forces of the
Federation, the Nigeria Police Force, the Ministry or department of
government charged with responsibility for Foreign Affairs and the
residents of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.”
Moreover, there is a Treasury Single Account policy in operation.
If all funds belonging to the federation are remitted into the
Federation Account, if all Ministries, Departments and Agencies are
bound by the TSA, how is it possible for President Buhari to
unconstitutionally instruct the GMD of the NNPC to use funds which were
not appropriated by the National Assembly to pay for a scheme that was
scrapped?
This amount is more than twice what was spent by the Jonathan
administration on fuel subsidy annually, yet under that government, fuel
sold for ₦87 per liter which is half the price it is being sold for
today at ₦145 per liter.
Not only should fuel subsidy not be paid, because the minister of
petroleum, who also happens to be the President, said he had ended that
policy, but even if it is being paid, it should not be at a higher
amount than was paid under Jonathan.
Did the population of Nigeria double overnight? Did Nigerians
become so rich in a depressed economy that they started consuming twice
the amount of subsidy that they consumed a mere 3 years ago even when
they are paying more for the product?
The inescapable conclusion is that the ₦1.4 trillion now being
paid annually for fuel subsidy, according to Ibe Kachikwu, is money that
is going largely to private pockets.
Rochas Okorocha: In a secret memo from a top diplomat and found on
Wikileaks with the Canonical ID:06ABUJA483_a, Rochas Okorocha was
identified as an embezzler of government funds. To quote the memo word
for word, the top diplomat said “The head of the National Airport
Management Authority (NAMA), Rochas Okorocha, was caught and dismissed
for embezzling about $1 million through an inflated contract.”
Malam Nasir El-Rufai: In a secret memo from a top diplomat and
found on Wikileaks with the Canonical ID:06ABUJA483_a, an American
diplomat gave eyewitness testimony of how Nasir El-Rufai had gone from
extreme poverty to extreme wealth almost overnight. To quote the memo
word for word, the top US diplomat said “El-Rufai is at the CENTER of
the corruption allegations. Well-known to PolCouns eight year ago, when
he was homeless and seeking a loan to import a taxi from the UK,
El-Rufai is said to have recently purchased seven upscale properties in a
posh Abuja neighborhood.”
On June 20, 2017, saharareporters. com, a website that Malam Nasir
El-Rufai himself had previously praised for its credibility, published
government documents stating that Malam El-Rufai had awarded heavily
over invoiced contracts to his wives, children and family members to the
tune of ₦3 billion.
NNPC/Maikanti Baru: On August 30, 2017, the minister of State for
Petroleum Resources, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, revealed in a memo to President
Buhari, which ended up getting leaked, that despite the legal
requirement for all contracts above $20 million to be approved by the
board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, the Group Managing
Director of the NNPC, Maikanti Baru, has unilaterally awarded sundry
contracts without due process to the tune of $24.5 billion.
No independent inquiry was conducted into these allegations. The
NNPC, instead, issued a statement claiming that the contracts were
approved by President Buhari.
However, the dates the contracts were approved coincided with the
dates the President was in London and had officially handed over to Vice
President Osinbajo.
When the media pointed this out, the NNPC contradicted itself and said that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo approved the contracts.
However, Vice President Osinbajo released a statement on October 13, 2017, denying that he approved the contracts.
The truth about what happened to the almost $25 billion will not come to light now while Buhari is still in power.
Alhaji Abba Kyari: On September 20, 2016, saharareporters. com,
published a report that Malam Abba Kyari, the Chief of Staff to the
President, had received a bribe of ₦500 million from the South African
telecom giant, MTN, to help influence the reduction of the $5.2 billion
fine imposed on them.
Given that the $5.2 billion fine was eventually and significantly
reduced on December 3, 2016, just two months after the reports of the
alleged bribe surfaced, a lot of credence has been given to those
reports.
This is especially so as the former acting Director General of the
National Intelligence Agency, ambassador Mohammed Dauda, in a sworn
testimony to the House of Representatives Committee on National Security
and Intelligence, revealed that President Buhari’s kitchen cabinet
comprising of Abba Kyari and former Secretary to the Government of the
Federation, Babagana Kingibe, had pressured him to share the $44 million
Ikoyi millions.
After giving his sworn evidence, ambassador Dauda was dismissed and has now gone underground.
Abubakar Malami: Currently the Attorney General of the Federation
and Minister for Justice. On April 8, 2018, investigative journalism
website, The Cable, alleged that they have documents proving that AGF
Malami “spuriously” hired lawyers at a cost to the Federal Government of
₦6 billion, to handle the repatriation of looted Abacha funds of $321
million (it would seem that contrary to President Buhari’s publicly
stated position, Abacha did loot).
It was discovered that the immediate past Attorney-General of the
Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke, had finished up the matter and there
was no need for the engagement of the lawyers in the first place.
Incidentally, the lawyers alleged by The Cable to have been hired
by Malami (Oladipo Okpeseyi, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and
Temitope Adebayo) had both worked for President Muhammadu Buhari’s
party, Congress for Progressive Change, and also worked for the All
Progressive Congress. Interestingly, the current AGF, Abubakar Malami,
was the legal adviser of CPC.
Adebayo Shittu: Current minister of communications. On March 12,
2018, Mr. Shittu’s Special Assistant on media, Victor Oluwadamilare,
revealed in a letter leaked to the media, that whereas Mr. Shittu was
struggling financially prior to joining President Buhari’s cabinet,
according to the said aide, he has almost overnight become fabulously
wealthy to the point where he has, according to his own aide, “investments that run into hundreds of millions of naira in your less than three years in the office.”
Mr. Shittu was revealed by his aide to have suddenly come into
possession of 12 luxury houses in Abuja, Lagos, and Ibadan and recently
bought a brand new ₦93 million printing press. This is in addition to
25 luxury vehicles.
The total value of these largesses the minister has suddenly
accrued, according to his aide, is conservatively estimated at ₦2
billion.
Babatunde Raji Fashola: Current minister of power, works and
housing. It was established and even admitted by Fashola himself that he
spent ₦78 million on his personal website.
Now, government funds should not be spent on a personal website.
But even at that, the amount is grossly over bloated. ₦78 million was
equivalent to half a million dollars at the time of the transaction.
Moreover, Info Access Plus, the company that got the said contract,
released a statement stating that it received only ₦10 million from
the Lagos state government for the website contract. The company further
revealed that the website, www.fashola. com, already existed and the
contract was only for ‘upgrading’ the site.
Also, substantiated allegations were made against Mr. Fashola with
documented evidence indicating that he awarded a ₦139 million naira
contract for the drilling of two boreholes at the government
secretariat. This amount was equivalent to $900,000 at the time the
contract was awarded. It goes without saying that two bore holes can be
sunk for less than 5% of the amount expended by Fashola.
Rauf Aregbesola: It was reported in several investigating journals
that the contract to provide schools in Osun state with the tablet nick
named ‘Opon Imo’ was awarded to a firm linked to Governor Rauf
Aregbesola‘s son at an inflated price of ₦8.6 billion. This allegation
was also made in a petition by the Civil Societies Coalition for the
Emancipation of Osun state (CSCEOS).
The introduction of the so called knowledge tablet was meant to
boost education in Osun State. The curious thing however is that in the
latest rankings from WAEC, only 46.77 per cent of Osun State students
got five credits and above in the 2017 West African Senior School
Certificate Examination. In fact, Osun State, which used to be one of
the top performing states in education was outperformed by five northern
states, including Borno, to emerge 24th position nationwide out of 36
states.
In 2016, the state fared even worse, ranking 29th among the 36
states and the FCT in 2016’s West African Senior School Certificate
Examination results released by WAEC.
Usman Yusuf: Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance
Scheme. Suspended by the minister of health for allegedly
misappropriating approximately ₦1 billion. A probe panel was set up by
the minister of health, Isaac Adewole. Mr. Adewole found the evidence
against Mr: Yusuf compelling enough to warrant his suspension.
According to the investigative journalism website, premiumtimesng.
com, their editors had cited the documents presented as evidence against
Mr. Yusuf and their conclusion is that “cases of misconduct was clearly
established against Mr. Yusuf.”
Again, Premium Times report that their investigations revealed that
Mr. Yusuf used his closeness to President Buhari to countermand the
minister of health’s decision and was reinstated to his position.
According to Punch Newspapers “When our correspondent reached
out to him to respond to the allegations levelled against him last
December, Yusuf had said, “F*ck you, and f*ck the minister”-This is
the type of character that has been reinstated by President Buhari to
Head the NHIS after being suspended for a ₦1 billion scam.
Lai Mohammed: Currently serving as minister of information, Mr. Lai
Mohammed used his office to intimidate a parastatal under his ministry
to engage in unethical practices.
Documentary evidence reveal that Mr. Mohammed was alleged to have
begged his subordinates at the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC)
for a 'loan' of ₦13 million to enable him travel to China, an act
which is against civil service rules and against the rules of public
decency.
A civil society organization, Human Rights Writers Association of
Nigeria (HURIWA) describes Mr. Lai Mohammed’s action as “a subtle
attempt at blackmail and a sinister plot to seek to extort N13 million
from one of the agencies under his ministerial supervision. The action
is absolutely against President Muhammadu Buhari’s current anti-graft
disposition which is signposted in the bringing into being of the
Treasury Single Account (TSA).”
How many other parastatals, departments and agencies has Lai
Mohammed gone a-begging and for which he has not been exposed. Yet this
is the same man that goes about parroting lies, half truths and innuendo
against others.
EFCC: The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is currently
headed by Ibrahim Magu, a man whose confirmation as Chairman of the EFCC
was denied down by the Senate after a negative report on him by the
Department of State Security.
Under his tenure, Nigeria made her worst ever retrogression in the
Transparency International annual Corruption Perception Index, moving 12
places backward from 136 to 148.
Also, the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units, which is
the officially recognized global body that fosters cooperation in the
fight against money laundering and financing of terrorism, has suspended
Nigeria because Mr. Magu’s EFCC has, in their opinion, continued to
leak financial information passed on to them to the media. This
information they leak is overwhelmingly information related to opponents
of the Buhari administration.
When they suspended Nigeria, the Egmont Group gave as reason the “repeated failures on the part of the FIU, (Nigeria) to address concerns regarding the protection of confidential information.”
At various occasions between 2017 and 2018, Mr. Magu publicly
declared that the EFCC had recovered looted funds totaling ₦739
billion.
However, in a leaked memo to Mr. Magu by the minister for finance,
Kemi Adeosun, the minister asserted that contrary to the public claims
by Mr. Magu that ₦739 billion has been recovered by the EFCC, only
₦91.3 billion had been deposited by the commission into the treasury.
She then demanded to know the whereabouts of the balance of the monies.
Between what Mr. Magu claims to have recovered and what the EFCC paid in, there is a difference of ₦647.7 billion.
Shehu Sani, a Senator elected under the banner of the ruling APC
has alleged that the looted funds recovered by this administration has
been ‘relooted’.
Conclusion
Unfortunately, rather than accept the truth that there is an
unprecedented corruption, ineptitude and nepotism in their government,
the Buhari administration continues to promote the propaganda that our
current economic malaise is as a result of the mismanagement of
Nigeria’s economy by the Jonathan administration.
However, even members of President Buhari’s cabinet have testified
publicly to the fact that the President, his vice and their fallacious
minister of information have falsely accused the previous government.
Speaking on February 1, 2018 at a civil society engagement workshop
on the Power Sector Recovery Programme in Abuja, the minister of works,
power and housing, Babatunde Fashola, in trying to defend himself from
allegations of ineptitude as regards the epileptic power supply in the
country, ended up vindicating both Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP,
albeit unintentionally.
At that event, Mr. Fashola said:
“We hear all our so-called experts who say (non-availability
of) power is why the economy of Nigeria is not growing. That is not
factual and it is not correct. At the time when we had less power in
2013 and 2014, THE ECONOMY OF THIS COUNTRY WAS GROWING AT SEVEN PER CENT
PER ANNUM. We had less power then than we have now, but the economy was
growing.”
Nigerians can now see that Mr. Fashola, in a Freudian slip, was
made by God, to expose the truth that his boss, his party and his
colleagues have been trying to suppress for the past three years, namely
that former President Jonathan developed and grew Nigeria’s economy at
an unprecedented and consistent growth rate of over 6% per annum and
handed over a thriving economy that was projected by CNNMoney to be the
third fastest growing economy in the world when Dr. Jonathan handed over
power to President Buhari.
Unfortunately, due to the ineptitude of the Buhari administration, a
booming economy became an economy in recession in just one year under
the All Progressive Congress.
In less than three years, President Buhari has borrowed more money
than the PDP borrowed in the last sixteen years. Yet the economy has
gotten worse! Buhari is 75 years old. Who do you think will pay for
these loans he is taking?
And to those who think Buhari's APC is better than the PDP should
consider this fact. The Southwest states were the top states in
education until the APC took over there. The Southeast/South-south
states were educationally disadvantaged until PDP took over. Now they
are on top. Do not take my word for it. Google WAEC state by state
rankings for the last 5 years yourself.
The corruption by the APC government is so pervasive that it has
not only affected the economy, but it has affected knowledge
acquisition.
Reno Omokri
Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years: Chibok, 2015 and Other Conspiracies
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