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| Donald Trump |
Throughout his tenure as the 45th president of the United States of America, Donald Trump made no secret of his resentment and repudiation of the role of international policeman of the world – Afghanistan; Syria; Iraq; etc which was being foisted on America.
Consequently, it was a huge surprise when Trump’s Secretary of State (and former Director of the CIA) in an unguarded moment succumbed to candour:
“When I was the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency [C I A] under President Donald Trump, we lied; we cheated; and we stole. Being the greatest country on Earth is not just about our incredible economy and our strong military. It’s about the values we project out into the world. I believe in America and American goodness.”
This quotation is from Michael Pembroke’s book:
“America In Retreat: The Decline Of US Leadership From WW2 to
COVID-19”.
Ironically, Professor Joan Robinson of Cambridge University seemed to suggest (when she appeared on CNN) that the police are not our problem. Rather, it is economists:
“The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economics questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists.”
However, Albert Einstein (1879 to 1955) insists:
“The value of a man (or woman) should be seen in what he (or she) gives and not what he (or she) is able to receive.”
Regardless, The “Nigerian Tribune” newspaper of January 4, 2021 on its front page invited Interpol to wade into the following scandal:
“PROBE MISSING N3.8 BILLION IN HEALTH MINISTRY, NAFDAC, OTHERS, SERAP TELLS BUHARI”
“The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to probe allegations that ₦3,836,685,213.13 of public funds meant for the Federal Ministry of Health, teaching hospitals, medical centres, and National Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) are missing, mismanaged, diverted or stolen.”
SERAP in a statement issued yesterday by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, called on President Buhari to direct the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to commence an investigation into the alleged stolen funds.
According to the organisation, the allegations are documented in Part 1 of the 2018 audited report released last week by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation.
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| JK Randle |
It said corruption in the health sector can cause serious harm to individuals and society, especially the most vulnerable sectors of the population, adding that these missing funds could have been used to provide access to quality healthcare for Nigerians and meet the requirements of the National Health Act, especially at a time of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The letter, also copied to Malami, Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire and the Chairman Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Professor Bolaji Owasanoye, read in part: “The Federal Ministry of Health, Abuja spent without approval ₦13,910,000.00 to organise a two-day training and bilateral discussion with Chief Medical Directors and Chairmen Medical Advisory Council and the Ministry of Budget and National Planning to prepare 2019 Personnel Budget. ₦4,860,000.00 was originally budgeted for the programme.
“The National Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) paid ₦48,885,845.00 for services not rendered and goods not supplied. According to the Auditor-General, NAFDAC used fake and fictitious receipts for these payments. NAFDAC also paid ₦25,734,018.49 to companies/firms who were never awarded any contracts and never executed them.”
As for “Nigerian Tribune” newspaper, December 1, 2020 on its front page it recommended yet another candidate for investigation by Interpol.
Headline: “FIFA’S HAMMER ON AHMAD AHMAD”
“Wracked by perennial maladministration and thrown out of sync by the Covid-19 pandemic, last week’s guilty verdict on Confederation of African Football (CAF) President Ahmad Ahmad by the adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee of FIFA, football’s international governing body, is exactly the kind of news that a beleaguered African football could do without. Concluding a saga which began in June 2019 when the Madagascar-born Ahmad was arrested and questioned in Paris by French authorities in connection with his involvement in CAF’s dealings with the sports equipment company Tactical Steel, the Committee found Mr. Ahmad in breach of articles 15, 20, 25, and 28 of the FIFA Code of Ethics. The articles deal with “Duty of loyalty,” “Offering and accepting gifts or other benefits,” “Abuse of position,” and “Misappropriation of funds” respectively.
The guilty verdict means that Mr. Ahmad, who is also a Vice-President of FIFA and onetime ally of its president Gianni Infantino, is banned from all football-related activities at both national and international levels for five years, which effectively rules him out of contention for CAF’s next presidential elections in March 2021. In addition, Mr. Ahmad is expected to pay a fine of $200, 000. Mr. Ahmad, through his lawyers, has rejected the guilty verdict and filed an appeal with the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Mr. Ahmad is claiming, among other things, that the verdict “was not rendered in a fair and impartial manner,” that he, Mr. Ahmad, was “notably refused the right to examine some of his witnesses during a hearing conducted at the prosecution’s double pace,” that the hearing “was not held according to the expected and usual standards,” and finally, that information “which is supposed to be strictly confidential” was leaked to the press, thus “preventing, in fact, a serene investigation from taking place.”
Mr. Ahmad is well within his rights to appeal the Ethics Committee’s decision and request a stay of execution. In particular, his legal team’s allegation that FIFA “hastened to issue an urgent and immediately enforceable decision, without providing the grounds of the sentence, despite its seriousness,” should be carefully considered. That said, the evidentiary weight appears to tilt against Mr. Ahmad, and as a matter of fact,if the full report of the Ethics Committee confirms anything, it is that he is not a lone wolf in CAF. Disturbingly, the report hints at “potential elements of mismanagement and possible abuse of power… in key areas of finance and operations,” and as we speak, CAF’s senior vice president, Congolese Constant Omari, is facing his own ethics investigation in connection with a television deal apparently constructed to favour the confederation’s broadcast partners.
For football lovers in Africa and worldwide, the real agony from Mr. Ahmad’s saga is that it confirms fears that the heart of the beautiful game is being increasingly ripped out by greed and venality. For example, since 2015, five of FIFA’s six global confederations have had to replace leaders accused of ethical violations. The irony here is that, worldwide, and particularly in Africa, many in fact turn to football and other sports as an escape from the corruption that they see everywhere else. Part of the beauty of football is its inherent meritocracy and democratic transparency. CAF and national football authorities have a duty to keep it that way.”
As for “Daily Trust” newspaper, its candidate for the attention of Interpol was there for all to see on its front page on December 1, 2020.
Headline: “MY HUSBAND IS TOO VIOLENT, MIGHT KILL ME, WOMAN TELLS
COURT.”
“A businesswoman, Nafisat Olajire, on Monday, petitioned a Mapo Customary Court in Ibadan to dissolve her 18-year marriage to her husband, Sarafa Olajire, because he often attempts to strangle her.
The mother of two who lives at Olunkemi-Olomi in Ibadan testified before Chief Ademola Odunade, the president of the court, that her husband had held her neck to the state of unconsciousness before and that it took special medical intervention before she was revived.
“My lord, I have not had peace of mind for the past 18 years of my marriage to Sarafa due to his cruelty to me through constant battery and humiliation in public places.
In fact, he is usually aiming at taking my life no matter who is watching him.
The last one he did that led to the filing of this suit was when he squeezed my neck and I fainted.
That was not Sarafa’s first time of attempting to kill me; he often boasts even in front of my parents that he would one day terminate my life.
“In addition, he does not dignify me because he frequently strips me naked.
Sarafa also hunts me about in town, threatening that he would slaughter me,” Nafisat said.
However, the respondent who earns his livelihood as a vulcaniser opposed the suit, but could not deny most of the allegations levelled against him.
Sarafa, who resides at Olomi-Academy area of Ibadan, submitted that his wife was highly disobedient and unwilling to abide by his instructions.
Odunade consequently dissolved the marriage, citing threat to life as the reason.
He granted custody of the two children produced by the union to the petitioner.
The arbitrator ordered Sarafa to pay N10,000 as the children’s monthly feeding allowance in addition to being responsible for their education among other things.”
For Interpol, “Daily Trust” newspaper has become compulsory reading on account of its succession of front page headlines devoted to reports which should be thoroughly investigated.
(i) Headline: (November 22, 2020) “TEACHER “RAPES” MINOR TO
DEATH IN BAYELSA”
“A 13-year-old girl was allegedly raped to death by Mr. Promise Sylvanus Ogun. a teacher in one of the government secondary schools in Bayelsa State, Mr. Promise Sylvanus Ogun.
The 30-year-old teacher, in the school located in Toroegbeni, Sagbama Local Government Area of the state, was said to have waylaid and molested the girl twice in March 2020 near the community stream where she had gone to take her bath.
The father of the girl, Mr. Pinaowei Gana, said the girl did not initially report the abuse until she took ill.
“She kept it to herself and was bleeding little by little until two months later, when we noticed some strange smell while she was sick. We took her to a local massage therapist and he told us that the child had been defiled and infected.
We took her back to tell my landlord and some elders who questioned her, and she confirmed it was the teacher. The teacher pleaded that I should not go to the police but that he will pay for her treatment and settle with the family. He took her to a private hospital in Opolo where she was admitted for over a week. But he came back and discharged the child without doctor’s advice and dumped her with me. Two days later, the girl died,” he explained.
The deceased’s father also confirmed that after he raised alarm over the death of his child, “the accused and his entire family packed out of the area.”
The father to the accused however offered to deposite the corpse of the girl at a mortuary along Amassoma Road pending the resolution of the matter.”
In a twist of events, the alleged rapist, after owning up before family and compound chiefs that he raped the deceased and paid her hospital bill, made a U-turn by filing a report at the police area command in Sagbama over alleged threat to his life by the deceased’s father.
Already, some civil society groups including the Girl Response Initiative Team set up by the wife of the state governor, Mrs. Gloria Diri, and the DOF Foundation led by Barr. Dise Ogbise-Erhisere have vowed to take over the matter.
Commenting on the development, the Founder of the DOF Foundation, Barr. Dise Ogbise-Erhisere, confirmed that the deceased died from complications arising from rape.
“A crime has been committed and the culprit has admitted to the crime. The police need to ensure he is arrested and prosecuted.
“We urge the police authorities to transfer the case from Area Command in Sagbama to the state police headquarters in Yenagoa for proper investigation,” she said.
When contacted, the police spokesman, SP Asinim Butswat, said the rape case has not been officially reported to the police.”
(ii) Headline: (November 29, 2020: “DAUGHTER BUTCHERS OWN MOTHER IN AKWA IBOM”
“The police in Akwa Ibom State have confirmed the arrest of a young woman identified as Mary Imewe for allegedly killing and butchering her own mother in Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area of the State.
Police Public Relations Officer in the state, SP Odiko Macdon who confirmed the incident to our correspondent following an inquiry on a trending video of the incident on Twitter, said the suspect is currently in custody and investigations were ongoing in the matter.
He stated that it was unnerving for a daughter to butcher her mother to death, noting that the police would have to get medical personnel to certify her state of mind before she is charged to court.
“That story is true. She butchered her mom. We are suspecting that she is not of sound mind but we do not have any medical capacity to say so. A medical personnel will have to determine if she is of sound mind or not. If not, which right minded, thinking individual will kill her own mom by butchering her?
As I speak, we have her in custody. We have gathered the corpse of the mom and deposited it in the mortuary. By the time we ascertain her state of mind, we will charge her accordingly.
“We have conducted preliminary investigations and more discreet investigations are on the way and she will be charged to court immediately after that,” he said.
“Daily Trust on Sunday” reports that an eyewitness, who reported the incidence on Twitter, showed videos of the suspect carrying the butchered parts of her mother, known as Eka Ime, in a basin.
The witness said, “This girl that butchered her mother in Ikot Ekpene still has the mouth (guts) to tell the police to take her anywhere they want.
She said it herself that she doesn’t care. Elders of the community made sure she carried her dead mother’s body on her head which she butchered into pieces. She has been arrested by the police.”
(iii) Headline: (November 29, 2020)
“BOKO HARAM “SLAUGHTERS” 43 RICE FARMERS IN BORNO”
“No fewer than 43 farmers were murdered when suspected Boko Haram insurgents attacked some locals in Jere Local Government Area of Borno State, residents told Daily Trust.
It was gathered that the victims, who were rice farmers, were attacked on their farms in Koshebe area of Zabarmari village, and murdered in cold blood.
People in Zabarmari, located few kilometres from Maiduguri, the state capital, are famous for cultivating rice and other crops.
One of the local hunters, who participated in a search and rescue operation, said most of the farmers found dead in the rice field had their throats slit.
“We have recovered 43 corpses. The attackers slaughtered all of them,” he said.
As we speak, there is great disquiet and mourning in our communities,” the hunter said.
The Chairman Rice Farmers Association in Zabarmari, Malam Hassan, who corroborated the sad incident, expressed dismay over the senseless and vicious killing of innocent farmers, including children.
“It is very sad, for us, that these people went to their farms to work, only to be attacked and killed in this manner. So far, we have recovered 43 corpses, including children.”
When contacted, Borno Police Command Public Relations Officer, DSP Edet Okon, said he has not been briefed on the incident.
“I am not aware but if there is anything, I will get back to you. Honestly, I am not aware.”
An attempt to get the reaction of the member representing Jere Constituency in the House of Representatives, Engr. Ahmad Satomi, proved abortive as he did not pick his calls.
Our correspondent reports that the farmers were killed while harvesting their farm produce. Unlike their colleagues in far flung locations, people in communities near Maiduguri have had the opportunity of cultivating their farms.
There was no immediate statement from the Borno State government at the time of filing this report.
Millions of people, including farmers and fishermen had deserted their homes because of the over 11-year-old Boko Haram insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives.
Governor Babagana Zulum had since September commenced the relocation of IDPs from the state capital and other local government headquarters to their respective ancestral homes.
They were among the over 2.7 million people displaced by the intractable violence.
Until recently, Borno had 32 official IDP camps with an unknown number of unofficial camps hosting a larger number of the IDPs.”
Even the battle-hardened cops at Interpol were moved to tears by the front page headline of “The Punch” newspaper of December 7, 2020:
“AFTER BEHEADING 78 YOUTHS, BOKO HARAM GOT TIRED AND TOLD OTHERS TO GO AND SPREAD NEWS ABOUT KILLING”
- Bukar, Zabarmari Village Head
(Borno State, Nigeria)
In a spirited effort to sustain its leadership position with regard to sending complaints to Interpol, “Daily Trust” newspaper went to town on January 18, 2021 with the following front page headline:
“STATES ‘SQUANDER’ BILLIONS AS RULING PARTIES CLEAR LOCAL GOVERNMENT POLLS.”
· Kano spends N2.3 billion; Rivers N2 billiion, Kaduna N1 billion;
Plateau N1 billion.
· Jigawa, Gombe, Ondo, others mum on expenditure
· It’s a fraud, CSO’s say, calls for SIEC’s (State Independent Electoral
Commission) Scrap.
“The Nation” newspaper of January 18, 2021 delivered two front page complaints directly to Interpol.
(i) Headline: “N855 MILLION FRAUD: EFCC REJECTS ALLEGED
PARDON OF INDIAN, BANKERS”
“The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has urged the Court of Appeal in Lagos to set aside a purported pardon granted an Indian businessman, Ashok Israni, and two Keystone Bank officials, Anayo Nwosu and Olajide Oshodi.
Justice Kudirat Jose of the Lagos State High Court in Igbosere had, last December, jailed Israni, Nwosu and Oshodi for five years on an amended 15-count charge bordering on conspiracy and obtaining by false pretence the sum of N855 million.
Justice Jose had also convicted NULEC Industries Limited, belonging to Israni, and Keystone Bank Limited, ordering them to pay N20 million to the Federal Government as restitution for the N395 million to the fraud victim.
Four months after their conviction, the convicts were released from custody by officials of the Kirikiri Correctional Centre, allegedly on the directive of the Lagos State government, despite the pendency of their separate appeals before the Court of Appeal.
The EFCC, in the application by its counsel, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), insisted that in the eye of the law, pardon cannot be granted to convicts whose rights of appeal had not been exhausted.
The anti-graft agency is also praying the appellate court to declare the purported pardon illegal, since the appellants’ appeals had been filed and entered since February 13, 2020, but could not be heard due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.
The EFCC also maintained that it had prepared its respondent’s brief of argument, but was unable to file it because the pandemic paralysed judicial activities.
It alleged that the Correctional Services authority only sent a letter confirming the appellants’ release but had not provided a copy of the instrument of pardon.
The EFCC also claimed that immediately Nwosu was released, he allegedly made so many publications on social media platforms to the effect that he was wrongly convicted, jailed and maltreated by the whims and caprices of the nominal complainant.
The appellants, in their separate appeals, argued that the Lagos State High Court lacks the jurisdiction to entertain the charge filed against them because it borders on the purchase of shares by an investor.
They also argued that Section 251 (1) (e) of the 1999 Constitution gives the Federal High Court exclusive jurisdiction on matters arising from the operation of companies pursuant to the Companies and Allied Matters Act.
The EFCC had alleged that the appellants fraudulently converted N855 million, being the property of Dozzy Oil and Gas Limited, to their use between 14 July and 31, 2008, in Lagos.”
(ii) EX-ACCOUNTANT-GENERAL, EX-CUSTOMS BOSS REFUND N8 BILLION
INTO GOVERNMENT COFFER”
· You can’t prosecute us, Otunla, Dikko tell EFCC, ICPC
“Details have emerged on how two former senior public officers returned about N8billion to the coffers of the Federal Government to avoid being prosecuted.
A former Accountant-General of the Federation (AG-F), Jonah Ogunniyi Otunla, and an ex-Comptroller-General of Customs, Abdullahi Inde Dikko, refunded N6.3 billion and N1.9 billion respectively.
Otunla was the AG-F between 2011 and 2015 while Dikko was the Customs’ Comptroller General between 2009 and 2015.
While Otunla returned N6,392,000,000.00; Dikko returned N1,596,000,000.00 (naira equivalent of $8million, computed at N197 to a United States dollar the prevailing exchange rate at the time).
Details of the deals leading to the refunds are contained in documents Otunla and Dikko filed in court to back up the suits they instituted against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC).
In the suits, they queried the decision of the anti-graft agencies to insist on prosecuting them on corruption charges after they were told to make refunds in lieu of prosecution.
Otunla claimed that the now suspended acting Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, promised him that he would not be prosecuted, should he return funds traced to him, companies linked to him, and his associates.
He stated that sometime in 2015, he was invited by a team of EFCC investigators, probing alleged diversion of funds from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) pension funds.
Otunla said he met with Magu in the course of the investigation, when the then acting EFCC chair told him to “refund the monies linked to your companies and nobody will prosecute you.”
He said based on Magu’s promise, he had a reconciliatory meeting with the investigator, where he immediately undertook to make available some funds as refunds.
In line with the agreement, Otunla said one of the companies linked to him – Stellar Vera Development Ltd – refunded N750m; another company – Damaris Mode Coolture Ltd – refunded N550m, while the two firms later made additional joint refund of N2,150,000,000.00.
He added that, at a point, he raised several bank cheques for N10m in favour of the EFCC which he handed to its Economic Governance Section.
Otunla said in all he made a refund of N6,392,000,000.00 to the Federation Account through the EFCC.
He is praying the court, in the suit he filed against the EFCC, to, among others, hold that in view of the assurance given to him by Magu, which informed his refund of the money, he could no longer be prosecuted for his actions while in office.
Dikko, said he entered an agreement with the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami “to return $8m or its equivalent in naira atN197 to a dollar.”
Dikko explained, in one of the court documents, that shortly after he retired, he entered in an agreement on May 25, 2016 with the AGF and the Director General of the State Security Service.
The ex-Customs boss said he met with the two Federal Government’s representatives at the International Hotel, Park Lane, Mayfair, London, during which Malami directed him “to return $8m or its equivalent in naira, at N197 to a dollar so as to prevent the Federal Government of Nigeria from prosecuting me.”
Dikko said he fully complied with the directive of the AGF by paying the money in its naira equivalent.
In a recent judgment, Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court in Abuja, agreed with Dikko that he could no longer be prosecuted by the ICPC in view of the agreement with the AGF.
Justice Mohammed cited an earlier decision by Justice Nnamdi Dimgba (also of the Federal High Court, Abuja) in the suit, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/587/2018 in which Justice Dimgba had found that in view of the agreement with the AGF, Dikko could no longer be prosecuted by the EFCC and any other federal prosecuting agency in relation to his activities while in office.”
- Bashorun J.K. Randle is a former President of the Institute of the Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and former Chairman of KPMG Nigeria and Africa Region. He is currently the Chairman, JK Randle Professional Services
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