Before Buhari’s Administration, Nigeria’s Economy Had been Diagnosed HIV Positive- Ohakim

Chief Ikedi Ohakim, the immediate former Governor of Imo State, has said that the nation’s economy was HIV positive before the advent of the Muhammadu Buhari administration. He said this at the 2016 Diocesan Synod of Ikeduru Anglican Diocese, while delivering a 52-page lecture, “Leadership in times of adversity: Navigating Nigeria’s turbulent economy” He said:

 

“There is no doubt that before the Muhammadu Buhari administration, Nigeria’s economy had been diagnosed HIV positive, but it was being professionally managed with anti-retroviral drugs”.

 

EFCC To Arraign Ohakim, Lamido Tomorrow, As Metuh’s Trial Continues Today

An interesting week may be in the offing as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) continues several pending high-profile cases, starting with Olisa Metuh’s appearance at the Federal High Court 10 in Abuja today.

 
The case by Justice O.E. Abang was last heard on Tuesday January 19 when he was granted N400 million bail, which he is yet to meet, was on allegation that the spokesman of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) received N400 million from former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki.

 
The said amount was alleged to be part of the $2.1 billion arms procurement fund under former President Goodluck Jonathan.

 
Former governors of Imo and Jigawa states, Ikedi Ohakim and Sule Lamido respectively are expected to appear in court on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday January 26, 27 and 28 for further hearing on their corruption cases with the EFCC.

 
While Ohakim would appear at Federal High Court 6 before Justice Ademola Adeniyi on Tuesday and Wednesday January 26 and 27, Sule Lamido will appear before the same judge on Wednesday and Thursday January 27 and 28.

 
Ohakim was arrested for N270 million fraud allegedly committed while he was governor of Imo state.
The said amount was reported to have been used to acquire a property in Abuja.

 
Ohakim, according to an EFCC witness, has paid the sum in hard currency of $2.29 million to acquire a piece of land at Plot No. 1098 Cadastral Zone A04, Asokoro District, otherwise known as No.60, Kwame Nkurumah Street, Asokoro, Abuja.

 

He was admitted to bail by Justice Ademola on Thursday, July 9, 2015 after his arraignment on three count charge of money laundering by the EFCC.

 
Sule Lamido, alongside his sons, Aminu and Mustapha with Aminu Wada Abubakar and Batholomew Darlington Agoha, are standing trial before Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on a 27-count amended charge bordering on corruption and money laundering.

 
He had allegedly received N1.3 billion as kickback from a contractor, Dantata and Sawoe Construction company.

 
The companies arraigned along with them were Bamaina Holdings Limited, Bamaina Company Nigeria Limited, Bamaina Aluminium Limited and Speeds International Limited, through which they allegedly carried out the fraud. Lamido and his co-accused had been arraigned before Justice Evelyn Anyadike of the Federal High Court, Kano State, on July 9, 2015 for allegedly misappropriating funds belonging to Jigawa State.

 
Their case was later transferred to the Federal High Court, Abuja.

 
Other personalities billed to face the courts in February are former Head of Service, Stephen Oronsaye, former governor of Zamfara state, Ahmed Yerima former governor of Nasarawa state, Akwe Doma, former Benue governor Gabriel Suswam, media mogul, Raymond Dokpesi, a suspect in the police pension probe, Essai Dangaba, and former Defence Minister, Haliru Mohammed.

 

 

Credit : Today.ng

Ex-Imo Gov Ohakim Gave Me $2.29m Cash To Buy Mansion – Witness

A prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of a former Imo State governor, Ikedi Ohakim, has told Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja how the former governor allegedly gave him the sum of $2, 290,000.00(Two Million, Two Hundred and Ninety Thousand Dollars) to purchase a piece of land at Plot No. 1098 Cadastral Zone A04, Asokoro District, otherwise known as No.60, Kwame Nkurumah Street, Asokoro, Abuja.

 
In his testimony on Monday, December 7, 2015, Abu Sule, told the court that he met the accused person in Lagos State sometime in the mid-nineties while he worked as a consultant on a project to which the accused person was a contractor.

 
Led in evidence by prosecution counsel, Festus Keyamo, Sule, Managing Director, Tweenex Consociate H.D. Limited, further told the court that the accused person, whom he described a ‘‘senior friend and benefactor’’, did not sever his relationship with him, after he had become governor.
In his testimony, he said: ‘‘Before 2008, Chief Ohakim had requested that I find him a house that he could buy in Asokoro. I later found a house at Plot No. 1098 Cadastral Zone A04, Asokoro District, otherwise known as No.60, Kwame Nkurumah Street, Asokoro, Abuja. Immediately, I informed him about the property and he trusted my judgment on it.

 
“I told him the price, which was N270m and he provided the money in cash. It was $2.290m then and he paid in one tranche. I received the money from him at the Imo State Governor’s Lodge, Asokoro, at night.”

 
Sule further told the court that he called one Alhaji Isah Muntair Maidabino the following day and arranged to meet him at the Unity Bank, Maitama Branch, Abuja.

 
According to him, Maidabino, upon receipt of the money, decided to off-set some loans he had obtained from the bank immediately.

 
He added: “When I collected the original documents of the property from Maidabino, I informed Chief Ohakim and also asked for the name to use on the Deeds of Assignment and Power of Attorney. After some delay, he said I should use my Company’s name. I agreed to do it because he had been my benefactor.”

 
When asked if the house was given to him as a gift, Sule told the court that the property had never been his.

 
Speaking further, he said: “I gave the original documents of the property to Chief Ohakim, but I only have photocopies.”

 
Both the Sales Agreement and Deeds of Assignment documents were tendered by the prosecution counsel and admitted in evidence as Exhibit EFCC 14 A and B by the court.
Testifying further, Sule also stated that the accused person instructed him to carry out the renovation of the house, which was done over a period of one and a half years before he allegedly handed over the house to him.

 
According to him, “in 2012, Chief Ohakim made me do a tenancy agreement, after mounting a lot of pressure on me. We gave him an offer letter and he wrote an acceptance letter to us. It was accompanied with three cheques for N20 million. We issued him a receipt and tenancy agreement.”
The prosecution counsel also tendered copies of the various correspondences between PW2 and the accused person, which were all admitted as Exhibits EFCC 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 A and B.

 
When asked if he had ever written a letter demanding renewal of the rent by the accused person given that the receipt he earlier issued to him (the accused person) would have expired in April 2014, he answered in the negative.
He also told the court that the accused person had not contacted him about his tenancy since the supposed tenancy expired in April 2014.

 
While explaining what he spent the N20 million he collected from the accused person for, he said, “Chief Ohakim gave me the money to renovate his property on 8, Halie Sallassie Street, Asokoro. We later handed the property to him, after the renovation.”

 
The defence counsel led by Awa Kalu, SAN, raised no objection to the testimonies by PW 2.

 
However, counsel to the defence prayed the court for the release of the accused person’s international passport, which was submitted to the court in fulfillment of the bail conditions, granted him on Thursday, July 9, 2015, to enable him travel for medical check abroad.

 
Justice Ademola granted interim release of the accused person’s international passport to enable him travel for four weeks to undergo medical check; but ordered that the accused person must surrender his international passport to the Court Deputy Registrar within 72 hours of returning from his medical trip abroad.

 
The defendant’s surety must also give a written undertaking to guarantee the appearance of the accused person in court, failing which he would be held in place of the accused person.

 
The case has been adjourned to January 26 and 27, 2016 for continuation of trial.

 

Credit : Vanguard

Court Grants Ohakim N270m Bail For N270m Fraud

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday granted a former Governor of Imo State, Ikedi Ohakim, bail in the sum of N270m.

Ohakim, who is being prosecuted for N270m fraud allegedly perpetrated in 2008, is to produce a surety resident in Abuja to guarantee the bail.
Justice Adeniyi Ademola, in his ruling on the bail application, filed by Ohakim, also ordered the prosecuting agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, ?to submit the passport and other travel documents seized from the former governor to the Deputy Chief Registrar of the court.

The judge was silent on where the accused person should remain pending when he would meet the bail conditions. But Justice Ademola had, on Wednesday, ordered the accused person to remain in EFCC custody pending the hearing of his bail application on Thursday.

At the hearing of the bail application on Thursday, the defence counsel, Chief Chris Uche (SAN), urged the court to grant his client’s prayer. He said his client, whose passport had been seized by the EFCC, had remained faithful to the bail conditions granted him by the anti-graft agency. But the prosecutor, Mr. Festus Keyamo, opposed the bail.

He argued that rather than granting bail to the accused person?, the court should grant an accelerated hearing. But the judge in his ruling held that the accused person had placed sufficient materials before the court to warrant granting him bail.

Read More: punchng

PDP’s Defeat Is A Normal Hiccup, Says Ohakim

Former Governor of Imo State, Chief Ikedi Ohakim, has stated that the defeat suffered by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the last general elections, was “a normal political hiccup.”

The former governor stated this when he played host to the six PDP members-elect of the State House of Assembly and scores of other loyalists in his Okohia, Isiala Mbano local council area country home.

According to him, “The misfortune of the PDP in the last general election was a normal hiccup in politics engineering. The situation offers us the opportunity to go back tote drawing board and put things right”, Ohakim said.

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