CBN Suspend Officials Over Fraudulent Activities

The Acting Director, Corporate Communications, CBN, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, stated on Thursday night that it had uncovered and aborted a highly sophisticated plot to defraud it by some criminally-minded elements.

The Central Bank of Nigeria said also it placed all key personnel involved in the transaction on suspension in order to ensure a full and unfettered investigation although it noted that preliminary investigations so far had not revealed any accomplices within the CBN.
 “This incidence has been reported to relevant authorities. The CBN wishes to assure the general public that the security of the bank remains intact.”

Lekki Gardens MD Arrested over Collapse Building

The Managing Director of Lekki Gardens, Mr. Richard Nyong, have been arrested by the Lagos State Police Command for the collapse of a five-storeyed building under construction on Kushenla Road, Ikate Elegushi, Lagos State. The collapse was said to have killed no fewer than 35 persons.

It was learnt that 34-year-old Nyong was apprehended on Thursday.

One of the contractors handling the project, Odofin Taiwo, was arrested on Wednesday.

The building had crumbled around 3am on Tuesday with several workers trapped in the rubble.

It was reported that the state government had sealed the building, which was originally designed to be a three-storeyed structure.

“In a brazen act of defiance and impunity, the owners of the building, Messrs Lekki Worldwide Estate Limited, the promoters of Lekki Gardens, criminally unsealed the property and continued building beyond the approved floors until the unfortunate incident of Tuesday which has led to loss of lives,” a statement by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde had read.

The Lagos State Police spokesperson, Dolapo Badmos, confirmed the arrest.

She said, “The MD, Lekki Gardens, Mr. Richard Nyong, has been arrested. He is in custody and will soon be charged to court.”

Strive Masiyiwa says James Ibori demanded $4.5m bribe from him to set-up Econet in Nigeria

In a series of post on corruption which Mr Strive Masiyiwa, who double as also one of my mentors shared on his Facebook wall recently, the Chairman of telecommunications company, Econet and Zimbabwe's richest man, Strive Maiyiwa, described how former Delta state governor James Ibori, who is serving jail term in the UK, allegedly demanded a $4.5 million bribe from him to set up and successful operate his business in Nigeria, promising to send him and his company parking from Nigeria if he failed to give the bribe. 

Masiyiwa in his post said Lagos and Delta state governments were co-investors when he brought the company into Nigeria. He said after he and other investors succeeded in bringing in the company into Nigeria, he was asked to pay a bribe totaling $9 million to top politicians. He also accused top politicians from Kenya, Zimbabwe, Liberia of being extremely corrupt and also demanding for bribe. He made so many accusations, your head will literally spin. Read his expository post after the cut..

Part 1

I had the privilege of making Nigeria’s first GSM phone call back in 2001 when I called the regulator to say, “We’re live!” Who would’ve believed then that Nigeria today would have more than 167 million mobile phones?!

It all started out as a very exciting new chapter for enterprise in Africa. Shortly after President Obasanjo was elected, the new government announced an incredibly transparent international auction process for three national mobile phone licenses.

To participate in the bid, you not only had to raise money, but there had to be a member of the bidding consortium who was an experienced GSM operator. Econet Wireless met the requirements because of its experience in Zimbabwe and Botswana. Our Nigerian partners, which included state governments, local banks and high net worth individuals, were financial investors. The largest shareholder had only 10%. That was the written agreement.

I managed to assemble a consortium of 22 investors to put up the money needed to bid. Our shareholders were all Nigerian, mostly institutional investors including leading banks and two state governments, Lagos State and Delta State. The license cost us $285m and was the most expensive license ever issued in Africa at the time. This was 2001.

We considered the investment not only about putting together a network, but also about building a nation. We knew it had the potential to transform Nigeria’s entire business and social architecture.

Most of our investors had between 1-10% shareholding. Econet Wireless Nigeria had only 5% of the shares, but that was fine because it was 5% ownership of a very big pie.

As the "technical partner and operator," Econet was the company with the expertise to build and operate such a business. Our financial investors recognised this, and also allowed us to receive 3% of the turnover as our fees. This was standard practice in the industry.

We were one of the winning bidders and they gave us just six months to set up business and get our network operating. We were under a lot of pressure but our network was live two days before the others! Customers were pouring in. We were number one in the market with an estimated 57% market share.

___Then came the fateful day when I was told that our company must pay a total of $9m in bribes to senior politicians (in state government) who had facilitated the raising of the money to pay for the license.

I refused to authorise the illegal payments. Meeting after meeting was held to try to get me to agree, but I would not. The money would not be paid as long as Econet was the operator and I had signing authority.

James Ibori, the Governor of Delta State, was demanding $4,5m be paid to him in his personal capacity. He was one of the most powerful men in the country and had a reputation for violence. When he heard that I was refusing to approve payment he issued an ultimatum:

___"Pay or I will chase you and your people out of the country."

I refused.

The shareholders met and voted Econet Wireless Nigeria out of management. They cancelled our management contract. James Ibori and his colleagues personally attended the meeting to remove us. After the meeting one of them (a prominent local businessman even today) came up to me and said: "Unfortunately for you, God does not have a vote."

I had to withdraw all my staff and their families: 200 people in all. We left Nigeria.

Most of our people had to be retrenched. The loss of the contract almost drove us to bankruptcy as a group.

They invited a big international operator to replace us as technical partner and operator. They changed the name of the company from Econet to V-Mobile.

Within days of their arrival, the managers of the new operator signed off the payments demanded as bribes.

Then what happened?

A few noble Nigerians had both the integrity and courage to carefully collect all the documentation on the movement of the money, and pass it all on to me.

___There’s a saying worth remembering in uncovering the trail of destruction that is corruption: “Follow the money”…

I bided my time... then I wrote a letter to the United States Department of Justice!

It was 2003.

Part 2

Nigeria has an agency known as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). After we had to leave the country, a few noble people at the company tipped off not only me but the EFCC about the payment of the bribes, which had by this time risen from $9m to $13,5m.

I had never actually heard about this agency myself until I got a call from the Nigerian Embassy in South Africa to say they wanted to come and see me to interview me as a witness.

A team of very senior EFCC officers came to see us in South Africa. They were solid and professional in their enquiry. It was clear they wanted to do something about it.

However, when these officers returned home to Nigeria, they got into very serious trouble. Their investigations into the irregular payments had been brought to the attention of James Ibori (Governor of Delta State)…

Soon thereafter, the most senior officer leading the investigation was demoted and sent to a remote part of the country as an ordinary policeman!

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.

___We should not only support official efforts to stop corruption but also help these agencies and organisations in their investigations. If you have relevant information about illegal activities, passing it on could make all the difference between impunity and imprisonment.

In my letter to the US Justice Department, I detailed the full history of the demands for a bribe. I had dates, times, records. I then reminded them that since the big international operator had a listing on the New York Stock Exchange, they were duty-bound to launch an enquiry. Why did I go to them?

The United States government has a law called the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The United Kingdom has a similar one called the British Anti-Bribery Act. Whatever you do, make sure you never fall foul of those laws because, if they ever use them to come after you, you’re a "gonner" my friends.

A few weeks later, US officials wrote back advising me that an enquiry had been launched. They contacted the big international company seeking answers to my allegations. My contacts at the company called to tell me, "All hell has broken loose at the company."

The parent company of the South African-based multinational sent external auditors and lawyers from London to Nigeria. They immediately dismissed all the senior executives sent to Nigeria to run the company, and they left in a hurry!

Although they fled the scene of the crime and returned to their country -- after admitting even to both the US Justice Department and the EFCC that the money had been paid out – the stolen funds were never returned to the Nigerian people, even to this day.

Meanwhile, the departure of the other mobile operator did not mean we could return to Nigeria. The shareholders found another operator, this time from the Middle East.

They sold this new operator the control of the company even though Econet Wireless Nigeria had the "right of first refusal" over any sale. They simply ignored that provision in our agreement. This was illegal, both according to our shareholders agreement and Nigerian Company Law. It was left for us to take up the fight in another forum, the Nigerian courts.

Part 3

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.

Enough Of The Theatrics, Go To Court Amaechi Advises Wike

In a statement realeased by the Amaechi Media on Saturday, Amaechi berate the action of the Rivers state governor for been a comedian

Wike’s regular childish tantrums, theatrics, comedy and drama of screaming huge bogus and phantom figures of missing or stolen or misappropriated billions of naira by the Amaechi administration have become a silly and sickening distraction. Mr. Wike, since you do not know and none of your coterie of court-jesters is bold enough to tell you, we will tell you; you sound like a broken record. Our polity can certainly do without this madness.

 As we expected, the Commission of Inquiry set up by Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike to supposedly probe the immediate past Governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi did not disappoint. The panel lived up to expectations as a shambolic inquisition panel set up to indict Amaechi.
Crudely, without any sense of finesse or attempt to disguise its mission to ‘hack down Amaechi’, the panel lead by Justice Omereji did the bidding of its paymaster. As we earlier warned it turned out to be a comedy, a circus show to grab media headlines with bogus, phantom, and fabricated claims of corrupt practices by former Governor Amaechi and officials of his administration. It achieved nothing beyond political excitements, entertainment, and theatrics.
At every point during the public hearing, Justice Omereji clearly showed his bias and his determination to indict Amaechi and officials of his administration. Most times, the panel chairman simply concluded that they are corrupt, even before all the facts are made known to the panel, even before all sides have been heard. On one occasion, Omereji said he wished the panel had the powers of a court so he could lock up, perhaps for life, these so called corrupt officials.
Witnesses invited by the panel were coerced, directed, ordered and told in clear terms, sometimes with written notes from the commission staff, what not to say and what to say. The chairman of the panel prevented counsels to those invited, from asking relevant questions that are likely to deviate and detract from their pre-determined agenda and conclusion. Lawyers and witnesses invited by the panel were constantly intimidated, harassed and bullied. Witnesses were constantly bullied to toe the line of the commission pre-determined agenda and conclusion. The panel chairman was ordering witnesses not to answer questions that would expose the commission’s bias to indict Amaechi.
Indeed, the Wike panel was an inquisition against Amaechi. Wike should go to court if he has any case of alleged corrupt activities against Amaechi. His panel is not and can never be a law court.
Wike’s regular childish tantrums, theatrics, comedy and drama of screaming huge bogus and phantom figures of missing or stolen or misappropriated billions of naira by the Amaechi administration have become a silly and sickening distraction. Mr. Wike, since you do not know and none of your coterie of court-jesters is bold enough to tell you, we will tell you; you sound like a broken record. Our polity can certainly do without this madness.

CHIBUIKE ROTIMI AMAECHI MEDIA OFFICE
October 10, 2015

Former Bayelsa Governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha is Dead

The first executive Governor of Bayelsa State,Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha is dead.

Alameiseigha reportedly died after he was rushed to the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) in Rivers State.
Family sources claimed that the former governor  suddenly fell ill in his hometown in Ammassoma township of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa and was rushed to Port Harcourt.
D.S.P Alameisegha, who was popularly known as "Governor-General of Ijaw Nation is aged 62.
Alameiseigha,who was pardoned by the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan for his conviction on corrupt practices as Governor of Bayelsa, was recently thrown into a panic state by the strange request by the Government of the United Kingdom for his extradition.

Audit queries answer must be available within 24hrs, Buhari orders civil servants

In the bid to tackle corruption in the civil service, President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered that all audit queries must henceforth be answered within 24 hours.

The President has also directed the Auditor General of the Federation to resolve all outstanding audit queries within the next 30 days.

The order was contained in a statement made available to journalists on Sunday by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu.

He said the orders followed the President’s displeasure in hearing that audit queries remained unanswered for long periods, sometimes running into years, under previous administrations.

He said Buhari was committed to tackling administrative and bureaucratic corruption.

The statement read, “The era of impunity is gone. The President is taking the war on corruption to the civil service.

“He is not happy that standard operating procedures and financial regulations are no longer being observed as they should.

“President Buhari will ensure that public officials and civil servants in the service of the Federal Government pay a heavy price from now on for violating financial regulations or disregarding audit queries.

“On his watch, President Buhari wants to see firm action against those who violate extant financial regulations, not the prevarication and shenanigans that went on in the past in the form of endless probes and public inquiries.”

Shehu added that the President was determined to put an end to the present situation in which, rather than respond to legitimate audit queries, violators of financial regulations in the Federal Government resort to threatening, bribing or mounting other forms of social pressure on auditors.

PDP workers to party leaders: ‘Stop blaming governing party (APC) for your misery’

Workers at the national secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday  insisted that the party’s leaders were the architects of its current misery, and should therefore stop blaming the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for their woes.
The workers are currently at war with members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) over a planned 50 percent slash in their salaries and allowances.
The NWC had, through a circular by PDP’s National Secretary, Prof. Wale Oladipo, also given notice of a 50 percent reduction in secretariat staff strength.
But the workers responded to the NWC’s move by dismissing the officials as corrupt, insensitive and reckless.
They also staged a protest at the party’s secretariat on Friday, and threatened to drag the NWC members to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) for investigation.
But the   National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, did not take kindly to the workers’ action.
He accused them of acting the script of the APC with a view to destabilising the PDP.
However, the workers, under the aegis of the PDP Staff Welfare Association, dismissed Metuh’s accusation as “absolute bunkum, clumsy, and blundering blackmail.”
The association’s Chairman, Ngozi Nze and the Secretary, Dan Ochu-Baiye vowed, in a statement, to expose more of the party leaders’ corrupt practices.
Describing Metuh’s stand point as “a weak shot from a mortally crippled arsenal of witch hunt”, the workers said such blackmail would not break their resolve to see the NWC members investigated and prosecuted.
Their words: “Metuh’s allegation is a wide window into the impressionable character of the man who has been in the saddle as the party’s image-maker and an ominous signpost into the shallow manner the publicity of the party has been run.
“We wish to state that this is a man whose conduct, demeanour and media outings have been a repulse to professionalism and a source of embarrassment to party members.
“We therefore place it on record that the majority of the establishment staff of the PDP are not just unrepentant members of the party who have spent over sixteen years in service; who have assimilated the PDP ethos as a way of political life, but are also the repository of the party’s institutional memory whose spirit can hardly succumb to the ephemeralty of power loss.
“Who plays anti-party? you may ask. Staff members who are genuinely resisting the morally repugnant and obsessively corrupt NWC so that the PDP will survive, or the likes of Olisa Metuh who have a track record of anti-party given his open endorsement of APGA candidate in the 2013 Anambra governorship election.
“What with Metuh’s subsequent denigration of the PDP candidate and his chances on live television programme less than 24 hours after the election, even as the result was being awaited?
“Earlier in January 2010 Anambra governorship election, Metuh as National Vice Chairman, South East, abandoned Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, the PDP candidate while openly galvanizing support for Hope Democratic Party candidate, his friend and benefactor.
“The PDP did not only woefully lose in Otolo Nnewi Ward 1 of the Party’s zonal vice chairman, but came a distant third in his polling booth! What a faithful party officer!”
They queried Metuh’s support for former President Goodluck Jonathan in the run up to the last election and wondered what happened to “a whopping sum of N450 million media fund earlier approved for the office of PDP Publicity Secretary by President Jonathan.”
They also cited the recent congresses in Anambra as “another signpost to the destructive trajectory which the likes of Olisa Metuh is driving the PDP to.”
They added:”as we write, the party is still waiting for the result of the congresses a week after it was held, pending when Metuh is done with his conclave of distortion and extortion.
“This is the same man who we reliably gathered, is surreptitiously scheming to emerge as the Organizing Secretary of the party next year. To do what? Turn the party organization into Idumota Market and institutionalize extortion, graft and impunity.
“This is a man who started in 1999 as a zonal youth leader, then National Ex-officio, Acting National Auditor, Zonal Vice Chairman and now publicity secretary. It is either his umbilical cord was buried at Wadata Plaza or that he can’t survive on any other thing except the PDP.
“We make bold to add that the worst form of anti-party is the mindless plunder of the party resources by the NWC which Olisa Metuh is an integral part. He is, in fact, the leader of the body’s extortion gang.
“Recall that the same man was the Chairman of Kogi State congresses which held last week and match it with the fact that the widely rumoured request for one billion Naira from the state governor emanated the same week.
“Indeed, labelling the staff of the PDP could be a veiled attempt to justify the huge sum of N70 million which Metuh collected in July in the name of fighting the APC in the media.
“We wish to therefore advise him and the NWC to respond to gritty issues raised in our press briefing without which the fortunes of the party will continue to dwindle.”
The workers had, among others, accused the party leaders of squandering N12 billion realised from the sale of nomination forms during the last general election.
They also alleged that the party leaders had compelled delegates to pay N10,000 each into a private account of a company called Morufi Nigeria Limited only to squander the over N1 billion realised from the transaction.
Metuh in his reply to the workers volunteered to be investigated by the security agencies over the allegations of corruption against him.
In a statement by his Personal Assistant, Mr. Richard Ihediwa, Metuh said the workers’ actions were meant to bring to public odium and to distract him from his duties.
He said he was being persecuted by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) through the workers, for his relentless criticism of the policies and programmes of the administration.
According to him, “This is not unexpected given the role of the National Publicity Secretary in the rebuilding of our great party and how uncomfortable the ruling APC has been for his outspokenness.
“We are aware that the anti-PDP forces have easily found a handful of disgruntled PDP staff as willing tools to attack Chief Metuh with a view to bringing him to public odium, distract him and deny our party a credible voice to propagate its positions.
“These forces had even gone to the extent of engineering some discontented PDP members to portray statements by the National Publicity Secretary as his personal opinions in the attempt to discredit and intimidate him.
“For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state categorically that the National Publicity Secretary will not be deterred or detracted by such threats and cheap blackmails as he remains committed to his role in the rebuilding of the PDP and in providing firm, credible and issue based opposition to the ruling party.
“This office would not join issues with these elements, however we make bold to state that Chief Olisa Metuh, being aware of the challenges that come with his new role has offered himself, his office as well as all his private companies for probe by the Department of State Services (DSS) or any other government agency for that matter.
“We also find it laughable that anybody would criticise the recent PDP congresses in Anambra and Kogi that have been widely applauded to be transparent and credible as established by the peace and harmony that characterised the processes.
“One also wonders how the issue of congresses helps the case of welfare matters being pushed by the staff, if not for the ulterior motive of destroying the PDP publicity”.
Metuh said his accusers have deliberately refused to appreciate his immense contributions to the party and the fact that he became the longest serving member of the National Executive Committee due to hard work and the confidence members of the party reposed in him as an individual.
He expressed relief that his accusers are now calling for his investigation instead of resorting to plots to assassinate him.
“However, we restate that the National Publicity Secretary will not in any way be cowed or intimidated by the threats, blackmails and attacks by anti-PDP forces to abandon his mandate as spokesperson of our great party”, the statement