Tag Archives: MODU SHERIFF

Court Sacks Modu Sheriff As PDP Chairman

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A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja on Wednesday sacked Ali Modu Sheriff as Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party.

Justice Valentine Ashi ?held that Sheriff’s ascension to office was unlawful as it was based on amended provision of the PDP ?Constitution said to be illegally introduced in December 2014.

?Though the court did not specifically mention Sheriff’s name, it made an order restraining all persons who became national officers of the party by virtue of the amended Article 47, Rule 6 of the party’s constitution, from further parading themselves in the said capacities.

The judge nullified the amendment of the said provision which he ruled was done in violation of mandatory provisions of Article 66 (2) and (3) of the party’s constitution.

Credit: Punch

‘I’m Not Interested In Becoming PDP Chairman’ — Bode George

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A former Deputy National Chairman of   the   Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief   Bode George says he has no ambition of becoming the next chairman of the party. Bode George He, however, advocated the need for the PDP to zone the chairmanship position to the South West saying the region remains the only one that has not got the position since 1999. George said this when he addressed newsmen shortly after his return from an overseas trip. He also called on the interim national chairman of the party, Senator Ali Modu Sherrif to honour his word to handover to an elected chairman at the National   Convention on May 21 this year.

The PDP leader, in his address entitled: ‘Our Party at crossroads’, argued that the national chairmanship of the party should be zoned to South West now. Faulting speculations of his interest in the chairmanship position, George said “I have no plan, no ambition, slide or straightforward looking for it” He however said that a lot of his friends, elders of the party have been saying that if the position is zoned to the South West they will push him for it. He said they are saying this because “you know we are in opposition, there is no Villa any more, no president from our party. Therefore management of the party must be different, it has to be serious strategic thinking, intellectually bias to reasoning and discourse and network with the people for you to take decision.”

George said: “On the issue of national chairmanship, based on the spirit of equity and fairness which is the foundation and principle upon which our party was build by our founding fathers, the South West deserves the national chairmanship now. This is the right and proper thing which must be done. The South West is a significant zone for the Nigeria federation which cannot and must not be treated with levity.” Frowning at the delegation that went to the party’s National Executive Committee, NEC, that the South West was not interested in the chairmanship position, George said he was sad of the development.

While he faulted the delegation for not consulting with the elders of the party in the South West before making the remarks, he said “My reaction is that when we started the journey to rebuild the PDP in the South West, none of those people was a member of the party. None of them. Some of them along the line, they jumped on board the ship.”   ‘, the constitution, the foundation , the wherewithal which attracted them to join the party, they had no understanding. How can anybody in a family be washing his dirty linen in the market? It is like one is bringing curse home. Let them come and tell Yoruba people that they don’t want something good for them   and see what would happen.” They were even saying that the chairmanship should remain in the north. Are they really Oodua sons?

Olalekan Waheed Adigun: Who Stole PDP’s Thinking Cap?

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When many thought the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is ticking the right boxes for 2019, the party leadership came up with something unique. There appear to be a drama series which never in want of Acts and Scenes with its peculiar dramatis personae as professional politicians or “garrison commanders”. When one is left to think that one event is at anti-climax, another event within same plot is in ‘raising action’. The question on the minds of the audience is: When will this film come to an end?

Since its shock defeat in the presidential election in March, 2015 the party is still licking its wounds. Will the party ever be able to play the role of the opposition? Will it just self-destruct or seek a merger with other political parties to challenge its bitter rival, the All Progressives Congress (APC)? Should it change its name to a more acceptable name that Nigerians will easily identify with? All these are the questions bothering the post-Presidency PDP.

Sometimes in January, a former political adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, Ali Gulak stormed the Wadata Plaza (also known as PDP secretariat) and openly declared himself as the chairman of the party. Many thought things can only get messier as a court declared that any politician from the North East geo-political zone could take over the office of national chairman meaning that that Uche Secondus was occupying the position illegally. No one then needed to tell Mr. Secondus that his romance with the title “acting national chairman” is over and a substantive national chairman will soon be appointed!

On Tuesday 17th February, we received the much-awaited news of whom to occupy the exalted position. It was not to be Mallam Nuhu Ribadu neither was it to be Gulak. But to our greatest surprise it was to be the ex-Borno Governor, Ali Modu Sheriff. I had to run multiple tests just to be sure of the authenticity of the news!

On the same day, the blogosphere was filled with information of a man “accused of sponsoring Boko Haram” as being “unanimously nominated as the substantive national chairman” of Nigeria’s largest opposition party. I came across a post on Twitter by a known PDP supporter who maintains that Modu’s appointment is a “Good strategic decision”. My first instinct on reading his tweet was to know if this man knows what constitutes a “Good strategic decision” at all in relation to Sheriff’s appointment.

My best guess about the “Good strategic decision” PDP made about Modu Sheriff is probably based on the assumption of his political and financial prowess. Some of Modu’s supporters recall his experience as two term Borno state Governor and his understanding of the politics of the North East as an important advantage the party may capitalize on in 2019. These people also maintain that considering the financial challenges the party may be facing, Modu appears to be the “game changer”.

While on the surface, these two positions may look potent, let us be quick to register our reservations. First, the PDP looks to be making the same mistake again. The case of Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, a former Governor of Kano in 2014 should be instructive in this regard. With the way the party leadership celebrated (including President Jonathan’s famous “Azonto” dance) when he defected from APC one will think the state was already in the bag. Second, one also recalls how the party overestimated the political prowess of people like Musiliu Obanikoro, who promised to “deliver Lagos” and groups like Afenifere which promised to deliver Yoruba votes in 2015 to the party. If the result of the recent Borno elections are anything to go by, we may not too far from correct to think the party is still overrating some politicians. The rest, as they say, is history!

For the records, the situation the party found itself today is not new. The party will not be the first to lose its “priced possession”; neither will it be the last. So no one should continue weeping for, or lose sleep over that for the party. The party has to be able to weather the storms, so it must work extra hard, if not harder; fight tooth and nail; and go the extra mile to maintain its only one thing left – its brand.

For the purpose of this piece, we will look at a brand as an image or feature that suddenly comes to mind when a product, service or idea is mentioned. We may also try to see it – in the traditional sense – as a name, design, symbol or distinguishing feature that sets a product or service apart. Giving these two definitions, can we say the PDP needs a brand?

If the party’s brand must be worked on, then whatever the party strategists were thinking about before appointing Modu Sheriff as national chairman needs some thorough analyses.

It was Mr. Olisa Metuh, incidentally the same man who accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2014 of housing sponsors of Boko Haram, was the man who reportedly made the much-awaited announcement. Metuh said. “However, the peculiar trend of the Nigerian version… summarizes a well-considered agenda of national destabilization for a purely selfish political cause. We pointedly finger the opposition.” And the evidence for that pointed fingering is: “we recall statements by some politicians, vowing to make the country ungovernable for President Jonathan on the eve of the 2011 general election.” At the time he made this statement, Modu Sheriff was still in APC. The question Metuh will struggle hard to answer is, “What has suddenly changed?”

For those who do not know, Modu Sheriff has been at several times been linked with the notorious insurgent group in the North East- the Boko Haram. In fact, some sources claim he was the principal financier of the group since its inception before his fallout with Muhammed Yusuf, the group’s leader who was murdered in 2009. Associating the party’s brand with this man-bad enough as it is- cannot be regarded as a “Good strategic decision” as my friend will want us to believe.

Now, I will not like to act like a deaf man who only sings the last song he heard before becoming deaf. Rather, I believe the politician should be made to come out and clear his own name. I recently ran into a transcript of his interview with BBC Hausa Service in a frantic attempt to clear his name. He said, “Therefore, I am more concerned than anybody in this country, because what Borno State did for me has not been done to any other indigene. You know, in Borno State, a governor has never been re-elected apart from me; in Borno State, no senator has ever been elected thrice apart from me. So, Borno people have done everything for me, and there is no one in this world that I know other than Chad, which I think could help Borno,”(Leadership 21 December, 2014). The truth is that Modu may be innocent of all the allegations about his sponsoring book Haram, but another thing is whether anyone believes him!

Let us be quick to admit that all political parties in Nigeria presently, without exceptions, suffer from the “brandlessness”, but the PDP’s case looks peculiar. When one talks about “small governments and big businesses”, we are either thinking about the United States’ Republicans or the British Conservatives. When the issue is about the “welfare state”, we need not look further than the Democrats or the Fabians. What image does the party portray to Nigerians and the world with the face of Sheriff as its national chair?

Let us equally think with the PDP’s think-tank in assuming Modu Sheriff knows and can ‘deliver” the votes come 2019. Since every serious political party have the primary objectives of winning elections, the party’s strategists may be right in this regard. (I do not know of any party, if not properly so-called that is formed for the purpose of being in opposition.) Having said that it is my considered opinion that Sheriff as national chairman may not achieve optimal results for the party in the next election. This is because, the fact that APC presented a certain General Buhari who won 12 million votes in the North, and ultimately won the presidential election, does not automatically translate into “victory” for PDP if they present say, a Sambo Dasuki even though he is a Sokoto prince or make billionaire Sheriff its chairman!

There’s only one reason why people vote an incumbent out of office: when they find someone better. You have to present the voters with a better alternative to your opponent. Show them why your candidate is clearly different, and why that difference makes him a superior choice. The party will have a difficult task convincing the typical Northern voter, considering the terrible reputation the PDP has with Northern politicians, especially the insults its members hurled at the APC on African Independent Television (AIT), making it look like being a Northerner was evil during the 2015 electoral campaigns. We keep our fingers crossed to see how the party rebrands its image in the strategic Northern region, the worst hit since the inception of Boko Haram insurgency. Let us keep fingers crossed how Modu salvages this situation for the party!

If PDP strategists do a proper diagnosis of its post-presidency era, they should realize the fact that even with a block vote from the South-East, their ambition of staging a comeback into Aso Rock in 2019 remains a pipe dream. This is because the only base the party can boast having real political presence is in that zone. This is why there is a school of thought that the party the action(s) of Gulak and his supporters the other time in the party’s secretariat is to prevent the party from degenerating into a south east party. Justifying this position will be that the perhaps most visible leaders in the party (Secondus, Metuh and Ekweremadu) are Igbos. Though many party supporters may not like to admit this, most PDP supporters I know today on social media appear to come from that region!

If, by chance, (I am just engaging in speculation) the party’s strategists are only interested in considerably reducing APC’s and Buhari’s strong showing in the North east by Modu’s appointment, it may consider drawing to its side the North-Central geopolitical zone where Buhari has not historically had it so good. In this case, maybe, the party could consider presenting Bukola Saraki, a party protégé in APC. But Saraki will need to first survive the onslaughts of the hard-fighting APC on his position as Senate President.

Whatever the PDP strategists were thinking before appointing Sheriff, I may not know since I am not a member of the party. But something is sure- the party will do a hard job reconciling their earlier views that APC sponsors Boko Haram. Another job will be how they explain to us who stole their thinking cap when taking the “Good strategic decision”?

 

Olalekan Waheed Adigun is a political risk analyst and an independent political strategist for wide range of individuals, organisations and campaigns. Email: olalekan@olalekanadigun.com, adgorwell@gmail.com. Follow me on twitter: @adgorwell

Views expressed are solely that of author and does not represent views of www.omojuwa.com nor its associates

Fani-Kayode: Modu Sheriff; Who Has Bewitched The PDP?

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On 16th of February, 2016, the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) adopted Senator Ali Modu Sheriff (aka SAS), a two-time ANPP Governor of Borno state, a former ANPP senator, the former Chairman of the All Peoples Congress (APC) Board of Trustees and the indisputable founder of Boko Haram as its Acting National Chairman.Modu-Sheriff is also the erstwhile godfather and sponsor of Governor Shettima Ali, the present APC Governor of Borno State (until they fell out), he is a man that has a very deep and profound relationship and association with Idris Deby, the President of Chad and he is a man whose son is married to the daughter of President Muhammadu Buhari. Many have argued that his allegiance is more to the Republic of Chad than it is to Nigeria, that he is an agent of the Chadian intelligence agencies and that he is a Chadian citizen who often flaunts his Chadian passport.

I cannot confirm the veracity of these assertions but one thing that I know is that most of Modu Sheriff’s funding and stupendous wealth emanates primarily from the Republic of Chad and that that country is as much a home to him as is Nigeria. Yet it is not his connection with Chad that give me cause for concern. Rather it is his role in the establishment of Boko Haram. The truth is that appointing him as our National Chairman is like appointing Jack the Ripper as the leader of the Conservative party in Victorian England. Kudos must go to the elders in the PDP Board of Trustees, a number of State Party Chairmen and a number of key individuals in the PDP Ministers Forum for taking a courageous and noble stand by rejecting and resisting the imposition of this abominable monstrosity. What Ali Modu Sheriff stands for and represents is utterly repugnant to every fiber of my being. Yet I have no objection to his being a member of the PDP simply because politics is a game of numbers. It is a game in which everyone, no matter how big or small, counts. If you want your party to grow and make progress you must accept the good, the bad and the ugly.

To this end when he left the APC and joined the PDP sometime back, I was one of those that gladly welcomed him into our ranks and defended him in the public realm. This was at a time when others criticized the party for accepting him. There is however a world of difference between accepting him as one of the many leaders of the PDP and appointing him as the National Chairman. Others may seek to justify such a course of action but I cannot, in good conscience, do so. To me it is a matter of principle. If we accept this then on what moral grounds did we condemn or oppose the APC or the APC-led Federal Government during the course of the last Presidential election? If we are comfortable with the likes of Ali Modu Sheriff leading us then on what basis did we criticize and oppose President Muhammadu Buhari for appearing to support Boko Haram when he said ”an attack on Boko Haram is an attack on the north”?

If we insist on Ali Modu Sheriff being our National Chairman then we may as well go and apologize to the APC for all our past criticisms and condemnations and join them. On what basis can we accept as our National Chairman a man who established, encouraged, supported and nurtured an organisation that later metamorphosised into Boko Haram? This is a terrorist organisation whose ultimate objective is to turn Nigeria into an Islamic fundamentalist state by the use of terror and the force of arms? On what basis can we accept a man to lead us whose Commissioner of Religious Affairs when he was Governor of Borno state, one Alhaji Buji Foi, was the de facto operational commander of Boko Haram. The man was later murdered by those closest to him after investigations into who and how Boko Haram was founded commenced. On what basis can we accept as our National Chairman a man who helped to create an organisation that wishes to establish sharia as the norm in our country, repeal all our criminal and civil laws, ban all our civil liberties and human rights, proscribe the teaching of western education in our schools, turn our women into 6th century sex slaves and abrogate the secularity of our state.

On what basis can we accept as our leader a man who supported a group that wishes to suspend our constitution, wipe out the Christian faith and the practice of moderate Islam in our country and create an evil ISIL-type empire in our nation? I really do wonder whether those that made this decision have lost all sense of rationality? I wonder whether they have lost their ability to see reason properly and to exercise their discretion in a logical, responsible and lucid manner? I wonder whether they have lost their fear of God? I wonder whether they have forgotten the evil that was visited on our people, and is still being visited on them, over the last seven years by Boko Haram? I wonder whether they know at whose instance it was that Mohammed Yusuf, the erstwhile leader of Boko Haram, was killed by our security forces whilst in police custody in 2009 just so that he wouldn’t live to tell the whole world who gave him the funds to set up his murderous cult? I wonder whether they have forgotten the terrible havoc that Boko Haram unleashed on our citizens? I wonder whether they have forgotten the tears, wailing and suffering of the bereaved. I wonder whether they have forgotten the slaughter of the innocents. I wonder whether they have forgotten those that were beheaded, those that were chopped to pieces and thrown down wells like dog meat and those that were burnt alive? I wonder whether they have forgotten the savage and bestial rape, murder and abduction of the Chibok girls and all the other little girls that suffered a similar fate in recent times? I wonder whether they have forgotten that our nation is still at war with the bloodthirsty barbarians that committed these atrocities? Since when did we, as a political party, lose our memories and jettison our moral compass in this way?

Since when did we become so callous, shameless and insensitive? Since when did greed and the lust for power and money determine and motivate our every course of action? Since when did we throw away caution, decency and principle? Since when did we become so barbarous and uncivilized? Since when did so few make a decision that will affect the lives and fortunes of so many in a profoundly negative way? Have we forgotten about the priests and servants of the Living God that were crucified by Boko Haram at their own church alters? Have we forgotten those that had their homes, schools, churches, mosques and properties pillaged, robbed and burnt to the ground by this group of godless Phillistines? Have we forgotten that the international community, through the International Terror Index, has rightly described Boko Haram as the ”most deadly terrorist organization in the world”? Have we forgotten those gallant young military officers that were killed at the war front whilst fighting this evil plague, all in their quest to keep us safe, to secure our borders and to protect our property and people? Does all that count for nothing? Is this the way to pay them back for their great sacrifice and their noble courage? Are we prepared to throw away all decency and morality just to seek favor with a handful of misguided mortals and in a futile attempt to win political power?

Simply put has the leadership of the PDP gone completely mad or are they working for elements outside the PDP? Are they suggesting that you need a godless Haramite to run the affairs of the party before we can ever win power at the center again? Where is the patience and fortitude that is required from true leaders? Where is their faith in God? Where is their sincerity of purpose? Does the leadership of the PDP really believe that it has kept faith with the founding fathers of the party, those that trusted them with power and those that bestowed them with leadership? There were so many other people that they could have chosen to lead our party from the north-east. There were people like Mohammed Wakil, Nuhu Ribadu, Bala Mohammed, Wilberforce Juta, Aliyu Modibbo, Ahmed Gulak and so many others that could have been appointed. These are all committed people with impeccable records of public service, high moral standing and good character. Instead of doing so the leadership of the party chose to impose the most controversial, intellectually-challenged, morally-depraved and despicable character that they possibly could to lead us and when asked why they did so we were told that it was because ”he has plenty of money to spend on the party” and no less than ”5 private jets” to lend out to those who needed a free plane ride. Evidently we have sold our birthright and heritage, not just for a mess of pottage like Esau, but rather for a free ride on a private jet. This is what a party that was once led by successive groups of seasoned and formidable intellectuals and great men of power, vision, courage and good character has been reduced to.

This is what the party that was founded and once led by giants like President Olusegun Obasanjo, Chief Tony Anenih, General Ibrahim Babangida, General Aliyu Gusau, Alhaji Adamu Ciroma, General T.Y. Danjuma, Vice President Abubakar Atiku, President Umaru Yar’adua, President Goodluck Jonathan, Chief Bode George, Col. Ahmadu Alli, Chief E.K. Clark, Professor Jerry Gana, Dr. Chuba Okadigbo, Chief Ken Nnamani and so many others has degenerated to? What a pity! What a monumental tragedy! This is a party that once boasted of having in its ranks many promising and dynamic bright young stars that were collectively capable of shaking the very foundation of the civilized world and creating new frontiers and greater hope for the future of our people and our beleaguered nation. How are the mighty fallen. What on earth has happened to us? As the Book of Galatians in the Holy Bible asks, ”who has bewitched us”?

Over the the course of the last 17 years, in terms of the quality of party leadership, the PDP has gradually descended into the unceremonious cesspit of mediocrity. Worst still, with the recent appointment of Ali Modu Sheriff as our National Chairman, we have chosen to spit in the wind, sleep with the dogs, dance on the graves of our fallen heroes, piss on the blood and bones of the slaughtered innocents and wallow in the filthy pool of compromise, deceit, doublespeak and shame. As a consequence of this calamitous decision we have, literally overnight, become a shell, nay a shadow, of what we used to be. Unfolding events will prove my assertion true. I have no doubt that time will eventually prove me right and vindicate me. The bitter truth is that this arrangement is an affront against the Living God and it cannot stand. Yet if it does stand the party will pay a heavy price for it because it will inevitably lead to the end of the PDP as we know it.

Imposing Ali Modu-Sheriff is an insult to all those that have fought for, led, served, defended, supported and risked everything for the party, at every level, over the last 17 years. Only the deeply malevolent can be comfortable with such an arrangement. It is evil. It is godless. It is indefensible. It is shameful and as long as it stands the PDP does not have the moral standing or authority to criticize or condemn others. Those that made this decision behind closed doors and without proper or wide consultations have murdered sleep. They have not only betrayed the confidence that the rest of us bestowed upon them but they have also prepared the coffin for our great party and dug its grave. It is a tragedy of monumental proportions and I have little doubt that God will judge them for what they have done. Ali Modu-Sheriffs long-term plan to hijack the leadership of the party for as long as possible, remain as National Chairman indefinitely and emerge as the Party’s presidential candidate in 2019 will fail because it does not have the blessing of God. Time will prove me right.

 

Credit: Vanguard

‘Ali Modu Sheriff Is A Wrong Choice As PDP Chairman’ – Doyin Okupe

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Former Spokesperson of former President Jonathan, Doyin Okupe, says the appointment of Ali Modu Sheriff as PDP Chairman is wrong and also coming at a wrong time. He shared his thoughts on his Facebook wall yesterday. What he wrote below …

“The capability of our party, the pdp and its leadership to make grave errors of judgement is legendary. What is intriguing is that even out of power that tendency seems unabating. Alhadji Ali Sheriff is a longstanding political associate of mine and a very adroit and astute politician of perhaps a sublime class.
But for the post of the National chairman of the Pdp, He is a wrong candidate and also coming in at a wrong time. According to many of his proponents, his strong point is that being a man of great financial resources he will be favourably disposed to funding the activities of the party easily. But the antagonists believe that he is bringing along with his wealth a crushing weight of burden capable of fatally destroying the few strands of moral fibers on which a rejuvenation will depend on. For a morosed and severely prostrate political party,thanks to the overwhelming and effective propaganda machinery of the (opposition) party in power, this may yet be the mortal wound that may cause the eventual heamorrage of its long perplexed followership. The present crop of leadership of the pdp have not faired well. Impunity, presumptive reasoning, highly stratified and restrictive consultative processes, absolute lack of inclusiveness, mercantilism, group conceit with a resultant total disconnect with the main stake holders and the followership are some of the florrid signs and symptoms of the terminal disease that is killing this erstwhile great party. Some of us have vowed not to leave the party. We still will not leave the party. Better still in spite of the present situation of things we will continue to engage all who care to listen and deepen consultation across the country seeking help from everyone ready to help to revive this severely challenged sickened giant. But if it is the divine will of God that our present masters must kill PDP, then by the Grace of God we shall yet tarry at the graveside to bid it farewell.”

Ex- Borno Governor, Modu Sheriff, Hands Himself In To EFCC

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has detained a former Governor of Borno State, Modu Sheriff, over allegations of corruption. Mr. Sheriff is said to have voluntarily handed himself in Wednesday afternoon.

The spokesperson for the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, confirmed that Mr. Sheriff was currently being held by the commission. PREMIUM TIMES reported how the anti-graft agency had on April 23, moved to declare Mr. Sheriff wanted when he failed to honour its invitations for questioning. The former governor, was who summoned by the commission to appear, damned the invitation and stayed away.

Although the specific allegations against the former governor are? unclear at this time, sources said the investigation is related to allegations that parts of the N300billion his administration received from the Federation Account between 2003 and 2011 were not judiciously spent.

The investigation began in 2012 and had been ongoing ever since, a source said. Mr. Sheriff governed Borno State on the platform of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party.

Before then, he was a senator between 1999 and 2003 on the ticket of the same party. He was a founding member of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, before he defected to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Credit: premiumtimesng

We’re Set To Declare Modu Sheriff Wanted – EFCC

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Following his failure to honour the invitation of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the anti-graft agency has disclosed that it will, any moment from now, declare former Borno State governor Ali Modu Sheriff wanted over alleged misappropriation, embezzlement of funds and abuse of office while he was governor of the state between 2003 and 2011.

The Commission’s spokesman, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, disclosed this yesterday during a press conference in Abuja.

According to the anti-graft agency, Modu Sheriff had been summoned to appear before the Commission on Thursday, April 23, at 10am for questioning but he was yet to honour the invitation, hence the Commission is set to exercise one of its options, which is declaring him wanted.

LEADERSHIP recalls that Sheriff was the governor of Borno State on the platform of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). It was alleged that part of the N300 billion his administration received from the Federation Account between during the period may not have been judiciously spent.efcc-logo-4_11

Uwujaren spoke while reacting to allegations made by one of its dismissed former officials, Juliet Ibekaku, that the Commission had not convicted any big name or ex-governor in the past eight years.

Pushes for conviction of Turaki, Nnamani, others

* Accuses former staff of campaign of calumny

The EFCC yesterday affirmed that the prosecution of Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, and eight former governors over their alleged looting of their states’ funds to the tune of billions of naira had been ongoing before various courts across the country.

The formers governors are Saminu Turaki (Jigawa), Joshua Dariye (Plateau), Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia), Chimaroke Nnamani (Enugu), Abubakar Audu (Kogi), Danjuma Goje (Gombe), Akwe Doma (Nasarawa), and Rev. Jolly Nyame (Taraba).

According to the commission, the case against Ayodele Fayose has only been temporarily halted because of his re-election as Ekiti State governor.

This was contained in a statement issued yesterday by EFCC’s spokesman Mr Wilson Uwujaren, entitled ‘EFCC Warns Dismissed Staff Against Misinformation.’

The Commission was reacting to what it described as the campaign of calumny launched against it by two of its former employees, Ms Juliet Ibekaku and Mr Michael Nzekwe.

The anti-graft agency noted that “Ibekaku, a failed deputy governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Enugu State, has been using her participation in APC policy events to fire broadsides at the EFCC.

According to the Commission, she had last week, at an APC Policy Dialogue in Lagos, accused the EFCC of neither convicting former governors being prosecuted in courts nor recovering the public’s assets in their possession .

“In the past seven or eight years since EFCC started, we’ve been hearing about governors who have been in the courts for the past eight years, no conviction, nothing! No assets recovered. And we are still (sic) back to square one. So, something has to change. And in my mind, what needs to change is the leadership. The second thing that needs to change is the staffing,” Ibekaku had stated.

But faulting her claims, the EFCC said she was rather “galvanized by a burning, selfish desire to run down the EFCC because she was dismissed from the Commission for gross indiscipline.”

The Commission also cited former state governors, DSP Alamieyeseigha of Bayelsa, Lucky Igbenedion of Edo and James Ibori of Delta, as examples of former governors who had been convicted and their assets confiscated by the courts.

It noted that the case involving former governor of Enugu State, Chimaroke Nnamani, alongside his then aide Sunday Anyaogu and six firms linked to them, which has been in court since he was first arraigned in 2007, was ongoing.

“EFCC in 2014 sought a separate trial of the companies and on May 19, 2015, the companies pleaded guilty to an amended 10-count charge. We await the court’s pronouncement on the fate of the assets,”Uwugaren noted.

The EFCC also explained that the case of the former Abia State Governor Orji Uzo Kalu was “currently at the Supreme Court where he is challenging the competence of the charge after the Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s ruling that he has a case to answer.”

It listed about 10 properties and 13 bank accounts belonging to the former Abia State governor it had seized and frozen.

As for Turaki, former governor of Jigawa State, EFCC said it also froze the accounts of companies linked to him.

For former Governor Dariye, he “was recently ordered to proceed to trial after the Supreme Court rejected his appeal against the Appeal Court affirmation of the competence of the Commission’s charges against him.” He listed nine properties recovered from the former Plateau governor.

“The cases involving former Kogi State governor Abubakar Audu; former Gombe State governor Danjuma Goje; former Nasarawa State governor, Akwe Doma, former Taraba State governor, Rev. Jolly Nyame are progressing in courts; several witnesses have been called by the prosecution,” the commission stated.

The Commission observed that, while the records apply to cases involving ex-governors only, they do not tell the whole story regarding the prosecution and conviction record of the commission, adding that it had recovered several billions of naira.

“Between 2012 and 2014, the Commission recovered N65,320,669,350.35 (over N65.3bn). Also, the sum of $245, 952,030.13, and £693, 399 and 62,600 Euros were also recovered during the period,” it stated.

Uwujaren expressed regret that Ibekaku was applauded by her audience, who mistook her intervention for altruism without knowing that what drove her was neither party nor national interest.

He said, “Indeed, were her comments from someone who had no relationship with the Commission, one might have excused it for ignorance. But Ibekaku, who is also a lawyer, knows the achievements and efforts of the EFCC in the prosecution of Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) and the quantum of assets that have been recovered by the EFCC but has chosen to play the ostrich.

“But, these facts mean nothing to Ibekaku who, in the pursuit of her latter-day ambition, is willing to publicly repudiate the achievements of an organization which she was a prominent part of, and one on whose pedestal she stood to attain all the “glowing” personal achievements she has been parading in the media.

“The obvious goal of Ibekaku is to hoodwink unsuspecting Nigerians by her posturing as an anti-corruption czar, what with her curriculum vitae that advertises her as a top official of the EFCC, where she spent about seven years of her recent adult working life.

“Ibekaku has declared a media misinformation war on the Commission for simply telling Nigerians she was no longer in the service of the Commission, contrary to her posturing.

“Let it be emphasized once again that in apportioning sanctions to Ms Ibekaku, along with her co-traveller, Michael Nzekwe, and nine others who were dismissed from the Commission, EFCC was guided by its Staff Regulations and extant Public Service Rules.

“Ms Ibekaku is challenging her dismissal at the National Industrial Court and we call on her to allow the court rule on her application and not to engage in acts tantamount to self-help, which only highlights, among others, acts unbecoming of a public officer, the reason she was dismissed from EFCC in the first place: gross indiscipline.”

Adamawa drags Fintiri to commission

Former acting governor of Adamawa State, Umaru Fintiri, may soon be facing charges over allegations that he looted the state’s treasury to the tune of billions of naira in the short time he acted as governor.

That follows a petition against the governor by the Adamawa State government which was lodged at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The state government is asking the anti-graft agency to assist it in recovering funds allegedly looted by the former acting governor of the state.

Fintiri, a former speaker of the state House of Assembly, who acted as the state governor between July and October, 2014, following the impeachment of the then governor, Alhaji Murtala Nyako, and his deputy, Barr. Bala James Nggilari, was said to have spearheaded their removal to pave the way for himself to emerge as governor.

According to the petition now before the EFCC, filed by the state government, Fintiri’s financial misdeeds and questionable expenditures are of monumental proportion.

The petition, dated May 11, 2015 and signed by the secretary to the state government (SSG), Mr Ibrahim A. Welye, is entitled, ‘Petition Against Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri , Erstwhile Acting Governor Adamawa State for Embezzlement, Misappropriation and Diversion of Public Funds.’

Specifically, the Adamawa State government has accused the former acting governor of purchasing a tea plantation in neighbouring Taraba State from the Bank of Agriculture at the whopping sum of N650 million.

Besides, it said it was in doubt as to how Fintiri could have spent over N20 billion within 86 days of his stint as the acting governor, as he had stated at a press conference.

The state government wrote, “On October 8, 2014, Barrister Bala James Nggilari assumed office as the governor of the state and has since discovered massive acts of embezzlement, diversion and misappropriation of state funds perpetrated by Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri.

“Faced with the fight against insurgency, the state government did not take action at that time. It is now expedient to do so.”

It also accused Fintiri of appropriating money for contracts not executed, including projects purportedly executed in areas of the state that were then under the control of Boko Haram.

“Fintiri, then acting governor of Adamawa State, claimed to have constructed bridges at Marraraba Garta and Kamale in Michika local government when the said local government was completely under the control of Boko Haram insurgents. He also claimed to have executed the Malamre-Yola road altogether valued at N2.8 billion.”

The North East state currently recovering from the devastating effect of the Boko Haram sect has also accused Fintiri of fraudulently approved N75 million for the electrification of Kirchinga in Madagali local government which was then also in the hands of the insurgents.

It further accused of the former acting governor of paying the sum of N257 million on September 26, 2014 purportedly for the renovation of the House of Assembly complex, an amount the state government said “was not only outrageous but phantom.”

The state government also requested the anti-corruption agency to investigate the Speaker’s purchase of the multimillion naira farm using his company, Mayim Construction and Property Ltd.

It further accused Fintiri of diverting the sum of N497 million earmarked for the construction of the Faculty of Law of the Adamawa State University (ADSU), after the foundation stone was laid.

EFCC Goes After Ex-Gov. Modu Sheriff Over N300 billion Borno Funds, Set To Detain Him Thursday

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A former governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff, is expected to appear before anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, today Thursday.

PREMIUM TIMES learnt Tuesday that he has been summoned by the Commission and is expected to report at the agency’s Abuja head office to respond to questions bordering on allegations of “misappropriation, embezzlement of funds and abuse of office while he was governor”.

Multiple sources at the anti-graft agency told the newspaper that should Mr. Sheriff fail to show up as
directed, he would be declared wanted and then arrested. Detectives are already on his trail and watching his movement to prevent him from fleeing, sources said.

Although the specific allegations against the former governor is unclear at this time, the newspaper
gathered that the investigation is related with allegations that parts of the N300billion his administration received from the Federation Account between 2003 and 2011 may not have been judiciously spent. The investigation began in 2012 and had been ongoing ever since.

Mr. Sheriff ruled Borno State on the platform of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party [ANPP].
Before then, he was senator between 1999 and 2003 on the ticket of the same party.

It remains unclear why Mr. Sheriff is being invited by the anti-graft agency at the tail end of an administration formed by his own party, the Peoples Democratic Party, which he joined only last year.

The spokesperson for the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, could not be reached to comment for this story. He did not answer or return calls. He also did not respond to a text message seeking comment.
Mr. Sheriff too could not be reached. His known mobile telephone was switched off for most of Tuesday and Wednesday, PremiumTimes adds.  Multiple calls to his spokesperson, Inuwa Bwala, failed to connect.

The former governor, who has since fallen out with his successor, Kashim Shetttima, dumped the All Progressives Congress, which he helped form in 2013.