Thursday, October 22, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Abuja house of horror: Police torture chambers.
Abuja house of horror: Police torture chambers where mermaid is ‘First Lady’
From MURPHY GANAGANA, Abuja
Monday, October 19, 2009
From MURPHY GANAGANA, Abuja
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But all that impression momentarily evaporates as you step into the expansive structures tucked within a rocky landscape at Old Abattoir in the Garki 2 district of Abuja.Atop a hill, within the serene vicinity, is a long stretch of building with a massive steel door which hitherto served as the slaughter slab for animals. But while the cattle dealers have since relocated to another area to continue their business, the slaughter slabs which they left behind are allegedly still not in short supply of patronage.
The difference, however, is that the victims are no longer cows, sheep and goats, but human beings who though, are not slaughtered in the true sense of it, but are made to pass through the valley of death.
Welcome to the torture chambers for operatives of the dreaded Special Anti-Robbery Squad [SARS] of the Federal Capital Territory Police Command, where extra-ordinary and weird practices allegedly reign supreme. Here, President Umaru Yar’Adua’s rule of law is alien and consumed by rule of the jackboot, and the operatives, menacingly dangling sophisticated firearms almost round the clock, are the kings of the jungle. Reports indicated that in this kingdom, there is a queen in the form of a female statute before whom suspects brought in must pay homage and give a deep kiss as a first step in the process of baptism into the “kingdom of hell”.
Expectedly, it’s a frightening tale of pains, agony and sorrow as several residents of the FCT who have the misfortune of being guests at the SARS operational base in Abuja , recounted their experiences. As suspects, each had been taken into custody at separate intervals and days over alleged criminal and sundry offences. But at the end of the energy and blood sapping grilling sessions in the interrogation process, those who are lucky to come out alive from the alleged torture chambers are united in their experiences: A miraculous escape from “Abuja House of Horror”.
Among the latest victims is Mr. James Onu Chukwudi, 28, an indigene of Ebonyi State, who returned to Nigeria about two months ago, after a sojourn in China . A 2005 Political Science graduate of the University of Lagos , Chudi, as he is fondly called, was a guest of the SARS men about two weeks ago for just a period of eight hours. But like a scar which had defied all remedies to smoothen, he says images of his experience in the hands of his “captors” would remain indelible in his mind for ever:
JOURNEY TO THE GULAG
“I came back to Nigeria from China on August 2, 2009. This Eco Solar Gem in China , they are into solar energy. So I have been going from one conference to another to tell them the advantage of solar energy. On getting to Lamonde Hotel at Area 11 in Garki two weeks ago, but I don’t really know the exact date. I went there to submit a proposal about the solar energy. I met and discussed with the man I saw there, one of the receptionists. I asked him if they would be interested in solar. He said I should come back later, that I should just drop the proposal.
Thereafter, I went into their supermarket in the hotel and bought a recharge card of N1,500. I gave him N2000, and he gave me N500 as balance. Then, I left the hotel. After about two hours, he called me and said I should come back to the hotel, that the woman in charge of the hotel has accepted my proposal and that I should come and negotiate with her. On getting there, the chief security officer and other guys surrounded me. They said out of the N2000 I used in paying the recharge card, N1000 note is fake. I said how? I was really embarrassed because I went there with my friend who is a PA to a member of the House of Assembly, Darlington Okereke. I told them I don’t know anything about it. God knows that I don’t know. I told them I don’t know anything about the N1000 note that is not genuine. Before you know it, they took me to their security room and then called the guys from SARS who came with their Hillux van and took me to their base at former abattoir, near Area One.
MERMAID AS FIRST LADY
I was kind of scared when we got there. Those guys, young boys, were well armed. And the most difficult people to deal with are people that are not reasonable. I tried to explain to them that I don’t know anything about the fake money. If I had known about it, if it was intentional, I wouldn’t have come back when called upon after leaving the hotel. I had submitted a proposal that contained my name, address, phone number, e-mail, and website. But despite all my explanation, they said I should put it down in writing. So I did.
One remarkable thing is that immediately I arrived at the SARS office, the place was scary. There is this statute that looked like a mermaid. They tied a red cloth on the head like a scarf, and they painted her lips. When you are walking into the office, it is just at the corridor, close to the doorpost to their torture room. The place it seemed was an abattoir where they slaughtered cow. And there is this big iron door through which you enter the torture room. This scarystatute is hung by the door. I can’t remember the exact date, but I think it was the day Nigeria played Venezuala and we lost 1-0, because there is a TV there and they were showing the Venezuala match.
Immediately we arrived at the office and I walked through that place to the interrogation room, one of them just slapped me. He said “are you stupid, don’t you see our first lady there? That is how they describe that statute. They said I should go back and salute her, so I had to go back and salute her. They said I should kiss her. I had to kiss her before I was ushered in. And because I had not been to a police station before in my life, the picture they painted was scary. So they were threatening me. One of them, one arrogant guy who can barely speak English Language, the guy slapped me and said I should tell them Ok, that we’ve been minting money and all that. I said I don’t know anything about it and God knows I don’t know.
Being outside the country is not a big deal, because I should know our currency. But this thing they are talking about, I don’t know. The guy said I should pull off my shoe. I pulled my shoe. Then he said I should pull my shirt. I pulled my shirt. He now pointed at my tummy and said this big belly, you’ve been stealing money and all sorts of assault. But then, I had to call my wife on phone and asked her to bring some money. One of them actually sold the idea to me. He said ah, these people will kill you o; you have to give them something. And because they seized my two phones, I said Ok, I actually used his phone to call my wife and asked her to bring some money. When she came, I gave them N5,000, for them not to put me inside the cell. That N5,000 was just for me to stay at the counter. I stayed there and after putting down my statement, those guys who brought me left.
HORROR
One thing that surprised me was that after sometime, they brought about 10 young guys. They said whether they were fighting or something else. Maybe, they had respected me a bit because I was putting on suit. But the way they handled those guys, I have never seen that type of maltreatment. Even if they were confirmed armed robbers, I haven’t seen that kind of maltreatment. They stripped them; they were beating them. There is this place that probably served as drainage when they were using that SARS office as abattoir. Water constantly flows there. These boys were asked to lie down there, and they were telling them “fuck the water, fuck the water”. Again, they said “if you can’t fuck the water, show him how to fuck”. And while they were doing that, they were beating them. I said, oh my God, what is going on here.
I was shocked because I used to see Abuja as a decent and lawful place unlike Lagos which I usually call madness. I used to think that Abuja is more serene and the police are civil. I never knew things like that also happen in this kind of place. One of the SARS guys [name withheld by us], this guy is a good guy. He is not among the guys that brought me, but he works there. He is a good guy. He didn’t like what was going on there. There was this other suspect who was brought in there because he sold goods on credit or something like that and his employer brought him there.
So, this guy was not happy with what was happening. He was saying this kind of cases, you don’t bring them here [SARS]. He said this is madness. He was one of the officers at the counter that night. And I was also kept at the counter. That was how I had the opportunity to interact with him. It’s like this guy was on a special duty there, because if he was part of the system, he would have been used to it. But it was apparent he wasn’t because he didn’t like the whole thing happening there. I told him the only way this thing can stop is to reach out to probably The Sun newspapers because of the detailed investigative stories. He said yes and even promised to be of assistance. And that was how I contacted The Sun.
I REGAINED FREEDOM AFTER PARTING WITH N20,000
I was arrested from Lamonde Hotel at about 6.30pm on that fateful day and was detained at SARS till well over midnight before I was released. We had to wait for those that took me there with their Hilux van. When my wife came, we waited until when they returned, they said I should give them N15,000. I gave them the N15,000 because I didn’t want to sleep there. But then, there was a guy I was using his phone apart from the first officer [name withheld] and I had promised I was going to buy him recharge card to replenish the one I used with his phone.
When those guys returned, I had given this guy N1000 for the recharge card and gave them the balance of N14,000. But after counting the money, they said it was not up to N15,000, that it was N14,000. I pleaded with them to allow me go home, that even if it meant depositing my two GSM handsets, I would do so and come back to collect it the next day with the balance of N1000. One of them just shouted at me that I wasn’t serious and slammed the door at me. So, I had to beg this other guy whom I had given N1000 for recharge card, to give the money back to me. He agreed and I had to send my wife to go and get the N1000 from him. That was how I regained my freedom.
At the Lamonde Hotel, while I was being held at the security post before they invited the police, I was begging the chief security officer, pleading that I am innocent of the allegation. That I knew nothing about the fake money. Since they said N1000 out of the N2000 I used to pay for the recharge card I bought is fake, I even gave additional N2000 to the guy who sold the card to me. Yet, the CSO still called in the SARS people. Last Saturday, I was in a taxi on my way to Gwarimpa and the driver was telling me something that further aroused my curiosity. The taxi man said he had just dropped off a lawyer at that SARS office and that the lawyer was complaining about the way they are handling his client. And what is the offence of his client? It is because he did a contract and he owed somebody N2million. He has paid N1.7million out of the amount and it is just remaining N300,000. The lawyer was wandering how somebody could be taken to SARS because of a mere debt which is civil. I told the taxi driver that same place, I’ve been there and it wasn’t pleasant. It’s not just me, people are talking about that place and something has to be done. It is a House of Horror”.
Is the Abuja SARS office really a satanic den where the absurd holds sway as being alleged? Jimoh Moshood, a Deputy Superintendent of Police [DSP] and spokesman of the FCT police command would not be drawn into such a conclusion. But he simply pleaded for any of the victims to come forward to his office and share their experiences with him to enable the police to investigate and fish out those involved.
“I cannot comment on those allegations without investigations. Please tell the man from whom N15,000 was allegedly taken as bribe and all others with complaints to come to my office so that we can investigate and find out those involved. Tell him to come to the PPRO’s office to see me. I would be waiting to see him”, he assured in a telephone chat with Daily Sun, when contacted for comments on Chudi’s horrible tale.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
LOC - Owes contractors N2bn - Spends N400m on biscuits, brooms, drinks.
THE Local Organising Committee for the Under-17 World Cup in Nigeria may have run into a financial hitch as the committee is currently contending with debts totalling N2 billion owed to contractors, Nigerian Tribune can report.
Already, the sum of N4.8 billion was said to have been spent on the purchase of materials said not to be of immediate necessity for the hosting of the competition, while the most pressing materials, including security and communication gadgets, are being given secondary attention.
The committee was alleged to have spent the N400 million earmarked for test-running the facilities put in place on the procurement of assorted biscuits, soft drinks and lorry loads of brooms.
According to an impeccable source, “the LOC is supposed to test-run the facilities put up for the U-17 World Cup. “It pains when (Jack) Warner said that we were not ready to host the world and even suggested that we should learn from Egypt. The man would not have slammed us, if those at the LOC had done what they ought to have done well.
“Imagine that the N400 million earmarked for the test-run has been spent to buy brooms, biscuits and soft drinks which they said would be used during the championship.”
However, while reacting to the allegations, the LOC General Manager (Media), Emeka Odikpo, confirmed to the Nigerian Tribune that they bought biscuits and soft drinks, but denied that N400 million was spent on the items, though he refused to disclose the amount spent to buy the items.
The situation, coming less than two weeks to the kick off of the FIFA-organised soccer competition, according to findings, was due to the alleged mismanagement of funds approved by the Federal Government for the hosting of the competition.
This is coming amid a reported face-off between the National Sports Commission (NSC) and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on contract awards in which the NFF is said to have been sidelined.
The development, according to investigations, got to a head this week with contractors handling various contracts resolving to stage a protest against the NSC and the LOC, to press for the payment of the money owed them.
Checks revealed that the contractors were angered when they were told not to expect full payment for the jobs they were handling until after the soccer competition, as the NSC was said to be rationing the available funds.
There was the allegation also that some Toyota Camry cars purchased to ease transportation during the competition were not brand new, even as some top officials of the NSC were accused of distributing the cars among themselves while leaving out those officially meant to put the cars to use.
Some vehicles said to have been hijacked by the commission’s officials include two buses, one Camry car, two Hilux pick up van, one Prado Jeep, one Range Rover and a Toyota Corolla car.
Those directly involved in awarding contracts were also accused of inflating the costs, as mention was made of the case of portakabin whose cost was jacked up from N1.2 million to N5 million.
It was reported also that auditors had been kept out of the contract deals, while none of them had been allowed to inspect any of the vehicles so far purchased.
The preparations for the soccer competition are said to have been affecting registered sponsors, including Globacom Telecommunications and Coca-Cola, given their noticeable reluctance towards the competition.
The sum of N400 million was reported to have been earmarked for re-grassing of 20 training pitches across the federation, even as the officials, according to inside sources, at a time, contemplated importing grown grasses from Spain.
The condition of the training pitches, most especially in Abuja, is nothing to write home about, according to investigations. There may be a last-minute recourse to the Julius Berger training pitches, in the event that the pitches do not meet the deadline.
What was considered as most worrying was that the media guide is being stalled on the grounds that FIFA had demanded the telephone numbers of the entire workforce and the subsets.
Moreover, the luxury buses that would be used by the visiting teams were yet to arrive and also the 78 vehicles said to be coming from FIFA, through its sponsors, few days to the arrival of contingents. Participating countries are expected in Nigeria from different countries beginning from next Monday.
http://www.tribune.com.ng/15102009/news/news1.htmlTuesday, October 13, 2009
Protesters clash at the Ibori NIIA lecture.
October 14, 2009 01:09AMT
Protesters from the Coalition Against Corrupt leaders, led by Debo Adeniran stormed the gate of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs Tuesday as the former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, was about to commence his lecture at the institution on Victoria Island, Lagos.
The gang of protesters was, however, denied entry into the complex by security officials of the NIIA and the private security officers of the former governor.
The protesters then moved to the frontage of the nearby Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to chant songs. Mr. Adeniran told NEXT his group was at the venue to make their views known.
“When we arrived here in the morning, we saw lots of armed security men and we told them that we are on a peaceful demonstration, not here to cause violence and we also told them that nobody has a monopoly of violence because if we do a peaceful procession and they are wielding lethal weapons against us, then we may be forced to adopt whatever means possible to seek justice in our quest,” he said.
“We want to tell Nigerians that the dignified forum which the Business Hallmark (the lecture organisers) provided Mr. Ibori to launder the image he battered himself is not appropriate. We do not have to give honour to those who plundered the honour of this country, which is why we are protesting.” A mild clash then occurred between anti-corruption protesters and supporters of Mr. Ibori, who said they had come all the way from Delta State to honour their patron.
As the Adeniran-led group held their demonstration in front of the SON office, the Ibori faction, made up of heavily built men dressed in suits, walked over to the protesters and threatened to attack them. They also threatened journalists who were recording the protest and demanded that all recordings should stop.
This led to a fracas, as bottles were smashed and wielded as weapons. A member of the anti-corruption group with a head cut alleged that “the Ibori supporters smashed a bottle of alcohol on my head.” The leader of the Ibori supporters group, one Emmanuel , then placed a call to popular musician, Daddy Showkey to placate the protesters. Shortly afterwards, a number of placards emerged amongst the Ibori supporters, who now called on journalist to photograph them.
The placards contained words such as: “Ibori is our man, pride of Deltans.”
Different takes on the Ibori legacy
One of them, who identified himself as Sylvester Okoloko, said the former governor was their father and that they loved him very much.
“We respect his political ideology, we respect the landmark achievement he made in our state and the burgeoning role he played in the development of the Deltans, that is why we are here to hail him,” Mr Okoloko said.
When NEXT asked him why they opposed the anti-Ibori protesters, Mr. Okoloko said: “these are sponsored touts, what is their business, are they from Delta State? Our governor is just giving a lecture, is there a problem in that?” When asked him if he wasn’t sponsored all the way from Delta State, he said: “we are indigenes of Delta State, we love and appreciate our governor; that is why we are here.”
Mr. Adeniran, however said the lecture was a poor platform for Mr Ibori to advise the nation.
“The court is the right place for anybody standing trial on criminal charges to defend himself. We do not believe that people who have been convicted once, twice and still awaiting other convictions have the right to continue to pontificate on how to better the lot of those who have never been found wanting in their areas of operation,” he said. “We believe that Mr. Ibori is one of those that caused the problems that is plaguing the southern zone of Nigeria and because of this, we want him to go to court in London and Asaba to clean himself before he now begins to tell Nigerians on the best way to arrange their socio-economic activities or the best way to associate. So we are protesting to say that we no longer believe somebody like James Ibori can be a responsible leader because he has socio- moral questions hanging on his neck.”
http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/National/5469923-146/story.csp
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Nigeria Suffers Another Deadly Blow. Illegal directive on renewal of passports of Messrs Nuhu Ribadu and Nasiru El-rufai.
In a desperate but primitive display of executive lawlessness the Federal Government has instructed its missions abroad not to renew the passports of Messrs Nuhu Ribadu and Nasiru El-Rufai or grant any consular services to them.
The decision is a tragic reminder of the dark days of brutal military dictatorship when the confiscation of the passports of political opponents, human rights activists and pro-democracy campaigners was the order of the day. Even then, none of the military dictators ever directed Nigerian missions not to renew passports of their opponents.
Since the Federal Government is not exposed to sound legal advice it is pertinent to draw its attention to the case of Director, SSS v. Olisa Agbakoba (1999) 6 NWLR (PT 595) 314 where the Supreme Court held inter alia:
“It is not in dispute that the Constitution gives to the Nigerian citizen the right to move freely throughout Nigeria and to reside in any part thereof. It also guarantees to the citizen the right not to be expelled from Nigeria nor be refused entry thereto or exit therefrom. Section 38(1) of the Constitution provides:
‘38(1). Every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigerian and to reside in any part thereof, and no citizen of Nigeria shall be expelled from Nigeria or refused entry thereto or exit therefrom’
It is matter of common knowledge that for a Nigeria to travel out of Nigeria to another country he must first hold or possess a valid passport issued by the Government of Nigeria. See: Section 4(1) of the Immigration Act, Cap 171 LFN 1990 and the definition of the word ‘passport’ in Section 51 thereof. Without this document, he cannot leave Nigeria or be admitted to another country. It follows, therefore, that without a passport a citizen of Nigeria cannot exercise the right guaranteed him by the Constitution, of egress from Nigeria. Can it, then, be said that the right to hold a passport is not one guaranteed by the Constitution? That is a question that calls for determination in this appeal.
If the view is correct - and I subscribe to it – that possession of a passport makes exit out of Nigeria possible, it follows that without it a citizen of Nigeria cannot enjoy the right of egress from Nigeria given him by section 38(1) of the Constitution. In my respectful view, therefore, to hold or possess a passport is ancillary to the right of egress from Nigeria given in Section 38(1). It is, as rightly held by the Court below, per Ayoola JCA (as he then was), concomitant to the right of egress from Nigeria. It is a concomitant right without which the right of egress from Nigeria becomes hollow or empty”.
Having regard to the fact that President Yar’adua is the current Chair of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) the denying of passports and their renewal is a clear violation of Article 3 of the ECOWAS Protocol on Community Citizens which has been ratified by Nigeria.
In the circumstances, the Federal Government should reverse the illegal and unconstitutional directive without any further delay. Otherwise the decision will be challenged as it may soon be extended to the growing army of political opponents of the Yar’adua administration.
http://www.saharareporters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3929:illegal-directive-on-renewal-of-passports-of-messrs-nuhu-ribadu-and-nasiru-el-rufai&catid=81:external-contrib&Itemid=300
Friday, October 9, 2009
What Weapons?? The Doctor And Incompetent Nigerian Customs
The Nigerian Customs, still embroiled in allegations of certificate fraud by its comptroller general, may have blundered into a more embarrassing forgery following the agency’s arrest of a US-based Nigerian medical doctor and his 40-ft container. 
The officer, who told Saharareporters that he was familiar with the so-called arms intercept, said the Customs hierarchy rushed to make a statement before it had done any serious investigation. “The result will be embarrassing,” said the officer.
Saharareporters has also obtained a letter written by Dr. John Mabayoje, the victim of the Customs arrest. Dr. Mabayoje’s letter, sent to his family and the media, paints a picture of sheer incompetence on the part of the Customs.
Our contact in the Customs told Saharareporters that Dr. Mabayoje's continued detention after he voluntarily left the US for Nigeria to explain the contents of the container is “simply because the Customs investigators have found out that they did a reckless job.” The source said the investigators, led by an officer he identified as Mr. Akinwunmi, had failed to differentiate between ammunitions and giant water sprinklers. The Customs investigators termed the sprinklers a “gun assembling plant.” They also wrongly described a sandbag as a “bag full of gunpowder.”
Dr. Mabayoje’s travail underline the frustrations facing Nigerian professionals who decide to return to their country of birth to offer their services. A physician and world acclaimed hunter, Dr. Mabayoye was in the process of setting up a hospital in Oyo State after his friends convinced him not to set it up elsewhere. He decided to move back home after he obtained acres of land, obtained firearms licenses for his hunting guns, bought a gigantic safe and a 10-ft boat to fish in the stream behind his hospital.
One of his relatives told Saharareporters that the Customs officials who interrogated Dr. Mabayoye confessed that they had never seen water sprinklers before and thought that his 40-ft boat was a quasi-military boat that he intended to give to militants in the Niger Delta. The relative, who forwarded a letter written by Dr. Mabayoye, said the physician is currently detained in Apapa, Lagos.
Below is a text of Dr. Mabayoye’s letter written just before he traveled to Nigeria:
I am a Nigerian physician practicing in the United States of America over the past 20 years. I am an Emergency Room specialist as well as having specialization training in Internal Medicine and Family Medicine. I have never been convicted of a crime in the US, Nigeria or any other country or jurisdiction.
Since November 2005, I have made my intention to return to Africa known. I have had a burning desire to contribute to medical care on the continent by setting up what I had designed as an ideal hospital for an African context. I wanted to build a hospital that would function as a diagnostic center, provide care for 40 inpatients and be equipped with an 8-bed ICU and Emergency Room.
My original intention was to set up this hospital in South Africa since the government there had expressed interest in having American-style hospitals built there to complement the Cuban-style hospitals they have been dependent on for health care services. There was also a personal reason for my choice of South Africa or one of the countries in that region: my passion for hunting.
But once my Nigerian friends and relatives got wind of my plans to set up a medical facility in South Africa, they asked why I would not set up in Nigeria. These Nigerians, some of them top professionals or occupants of political posts, argued that by setting my hospital in Nigeria, I would be taking a great step in encouraging other Nigerian physicians to return home and also establish hospitals that would be totally independent as well as provide services to the standard of a rural hospital in the US.
I explained to these people that I have a passion for hunting, having achieved the status of a prominent international big game hunter with several hunting awards including a world record hunting shot to my credit. I attended meetings with some of these prominent Nigerians in London in December 2005 and 2006 and I was asked what it would take for me to come and set up this pilot hospital in Nigeria. In response, I made it clear that I would return to set up the hospital in Nigeria if my hunting rifles were licensed in Nigeria. The licensing would enable me to continue to go hunting in Southern Africa regularly during my free time. My request was eventually fulfilled, and the new licenses for my hunting guns paved the way for me to start construction of my hospital.
In March 2008 I came home to Nigeria with my wife, an operating room nurse, and started to look for a suitable site. We found one in a rural area of Oyo town and then acquired an appropriate site.
From March 2008, we made numerous trips to Nigeria and finally in April 2009 we broke ground at the site and started moving medical equipment home. In July 2009 I packed and shipped half of my belongings together with the equipment for the clinic. Included in the shipment were maintenance equipment as well as building items for my residence-in-progress and the first part of the hospital. I engaged the services of Soft Touch Moving and Storage Company in the US to pack and prepare my container for shipment to Lagos, Nigeria.
The goods reached Lagos port on the 28th of August. Since then I have made three trips to get my goods released, but I was told by Customs that I would have to wait for them to finish their paperwork in Tin Can Island container terminal. After much frustration, I authorized a release to my host, Mr. Olufemi Ajanaku, and returned to my duties as a physician in the United States of America.
However, on Friday the 2nd of October, I received a message from Mr. Ajanaku to the effect that the Customs had arrested the clearing agent’s clerk on the grounds that they found empty bullet cases and reloading dies as well as a few unloaded bullets/spent bullets recovered from game I had shot. These items were in a shoebox among my personal effects. The Customs officials emphasized that I had no LIVE AMMUNITION or guns in the container. I told Mr. Ajanaku to inform the Customs that I would be on the next flight down to Lagos. I also emailed him the copy of the firearm licenses for my wife and me to forward to the Customs and the Police. I included a letter asking the agencies to patiently await my arrival early this week.
I booked the next available flight to Lagos and I am scheduled to leave this afternoon. At about 8.00 a.m., I spoke to Mr. Ajanaku and told him to assure the Customs and police that I would be in Nigeria tomorrow afternoon and would present myself to the authorities immediately upon my arrival. I later received a call from Mrs. Ajanaku informing me that some officers of the Customs and Excise had arrested her husband soon after I spoke to him.
I leave for Nigeria this evening 10/6/2009 and will arrive by tomorrow afternoon not knowing the fate awaiting me. I am going with all the relevant documents, including firearm licenses and hunting awards and testimonies on various opinions I have written on bullets for manufacturers in the USA and Australia.
I am a life member of the Safari Club International (membership #05867) and I have been featured in the trophy room section of a website: www.dakotaarms.com
Yours Sincerely
Dr. John Mabayoje
Dr. Mabayoje was arrested upon arrival in Nigeria on Monday. He remains detained with three Customs clearing agents and Mr. Femi Ajanaku. Our source in the Customs said the detainees are being held under horrible conditions by Customs officials.
A BBC news bulletin monitored two days ago reported that Nigerian Customs officials claimed that they intercepted a container filled with arms and ammunition and have made some arrests. The story went further to claim that those arrested were helping with further investigations.
But investigations by Saharareporters have revealed that the Customs, in the words of one officer who sought anonymity, “has made a lot of international noise for nothing.”
Dr John with Hippo game
Saharareporters has also obtained a letter written by Dr. John Mabayoje, the victim of the Customs arrest. Dr. Mabayoje’s letter, sent to his family and the media, paints a picture of sheer incompetence on the part of the Customs.
Our contact in the Customs told Saharareporters that Dr. Mabayoje's continued detention after he voluntarily left the US for Nigeria to explain the contents of the container is “simply because the Customs investigators have found out that they did a reckless job.” The source said the investigators, led by an officer he identified as Mr. Akinwunmi, had failed to differentiate between ammunitions and giant water sprinklers. The Customs investigators termed the sprinklers a “gun assembling plant.” They also wrongly described a sandbag as a “bag full of gunpowder.”
Dr. Mabayoje’s travail underline the frustrations facing Nigerian professionals who decide to return to their country of birth to offer their services. A physician and world acclaimed hunter, Dr. Mabayoye was in the process of setting up a hospital in Oyo State after his friends convinced him not to set it up elsewhere. He decided to move back home after he obtained acres of land, obtained firearms licenses for his hunting guns, bought a gigantic safe and a 10-ft boat to fish in the stream behind his hospital.
One of his relatives told Saharareporters that the Customs officials who interrogated Dr. Mabayoye confessed that they had never seen water sprinklers before and thought that his 40-ft boat was a quasi-military boat that he intended to give to militants in the Niger Delta. The relative, who forwarded a letter written by Dr. Mabayoye, said the physician is currently detained in Apapa, Lagos.
I am a Nigerian physician practicing in the United States of America over the past 20 years. I am an Emergency Room specialist as well as having specialization training in Internal Medicine and Family Medicine. I have never been convicted of a crime in the US, Nigeria or any other country or jurisdiction.
Since November 2005, I have made my intention to return to Africa known. I have had a burning desire to contribute to medical care on the continent by setting up what I had designed as an ideal hospital for an African context. I wanted to build a hospital that would function as a diagnostic center, provide care for 40 inpatients and be equipped with an 8-bed ICU and Emergency Room.
My original intention was to set up this hospital in South Africa since the government there had expressed interest in having American-style hospitals built there to complement the Cuban-style hospitals they have been dependent on for health care services. There was also a personal reason for my choice of South Africa or one of the countries in that region: my passion for hunting.
But once my Nigerian friends and relatives got wind of my plans to set up a medical facility in South Africa, they asked why I would not set up in Nigeria. These Nigerians, some of them top professionals or occupants of political posts, argued that by setting my hospital in Nigeria, I would be taking a great step in encouraging other Nigerian physicians to return home and also establish hospitals that would be totally independent as well as provide services to the standard of a rural hospital in the US.
I explained to these people that I have a passion for hunting, having achieved the status of a prominent international big game hunter with several hunting awards including a world record hunting shot to my credit. I attended meetings with some of these prominent Nigerians in London in December 2005 and 2006 and I was asked what it would take for me to come and set up this pilot hospital in Nigeria. In response, I made it clear that I would return to set up the hospital in Nigeria if my hunting rifles were licensed in Nigeria. The licensing would enable me to continue to go hunting in Southern Africa regularly during my free time. My request was eventually fulfilled, and the new licenses for my hunting guns paved the way for me to start construction of my hospital.
In March 2008 I came home to Nigeria with my wife, an operating room nurse, and started to look for a suitable site. We found one in a rural area of Oyo town and then acquired an appropriate site.
From March 2008, we made numerous trips to Nigeria and finally in April 2009 we broke ground at the site and started moving medical equipment home. In July 2009 I packed and shipped half of my belongings together with the equipment for the clinic. Included in the shipment were maintenance equipment as well as building items for my residence-in-progress and the first part of the hospital. I engaged the services of Soft Touch Moving and Storage Company in the US to pack and prepare my container for shipment to Lagos, Nigeria.
The goods reached Lagos port on the 28th of August. Since then I have made three trips to get my goods released, but I was told by Customs that I would have to wait for them to finish their paperwork in Tin Can Island container terminal. After much frustration, I authorized a release to my host, Mr. Olufemi Ajanaku, and returned to my duties as a physician in the United States of America.
However, on Friday the 2nd of October, I received a message from Mr. Ajanaku to the effect that the Customs had arrested the clearing agent’s clerk on the grounds that they found empty bullet cases and reloading dies as well as a few unloaded bullets/spent bullets recovered from game I had shot. These items were in a shoebox among my personal effects. The Customs officials emphasized that I had no LIVE AMMUNITION or guns in the container. I told Mr. Ajanaku to inform the Customs that I would be on the next flight down to Lagos. I also emailed him the copy of the firearm licenses for my wife and me to forward to the Customs and the Police. I included a letter asking the agencies to patiently await my arrival early this week.
I booked the next available flight to Lagos and I am scheduled to leave this afternoon. At about 8.00 a.m., I spoke to Mr. Ajanaku and told him to assure the Customs and police that I would be in Nigeria tomorrow afternoon and would present myself to the authorities immediately upon my arrival. I later received a call from Mrs. Ajanaku informing me that some officers of the Customs and Excise had arrested her husband soon after I spoke to him.
I leave for Nigeria this evening 10/6/2009 and will arrive by tomorrow afternoon not knowing the fate awaiting me. I am going with all the relevant documents, including firearm licenses and hunting awards and testimonies on various opinions I have written on bullets for manufacturers in the USA and Australia.
I am a life member of the Safari Club International (membership #05867) and I have been featured in the trophy room section of a website: www.dakotaarms.com
Yours Sincerely
Dr. John Mabayoje
Dr. Mabayoje was arrested upon arrival in Nigeria on Monday. He remains detained with three Customs clearing agents and Mr. Femi Ajanaku. Our source in the Customs said the detainees are being held under horrible conditions by Customs officials.
Hospital site in Oyo
The notice about the safe said to contain
Nigeria Imported 12 Million Vehicles In 10 Years, - Collects Duties On 1.5 Million Vehicles
THE automobile market in Nigeria has witnessed a mega boom in the past 10 years, having absorbed not less than 12 million imported vehicles including trucks within the period under review.
Ironically, however, the revenue generating agencies for the Federal Government, including the Nigerian Customs and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), have failed to track the boom for financial gains for the government of Nigeria.
According to a statistics said to have been generated by the House of Representatives, out of the huge number of cars imported into the country in the past 10 years, the agencies have only been able to collect duties from 1.5 million cars.
Statistics, according to the House of Representatives, shows that the number plates issued out by the FRSC in Nigeria is not up to six million.
It was learnt also that while about 700 trucks were imported into Nigeria within the past two years, the government agencies could only register 300.
The House of Representatives Committee on Industry has, however, set machinery in motion to raise the revenue generating drive of the Customs and the FRSC in tracking every vehicle imported into Nigeria either legally or otherwise, with a view to compelling users of illegally imported vehicles to pay appropriate duties which they had hitherto evaded.
The committee chairman, Honourable Solomon Agidiani, told Saturday Tribune that the oversight performed by members on government revenue generating agencies revealed discrepancies in the amount generated on imported vehicles in Nigeria and the total number imported into the country in the past 10 years.
Immunity Protection. Charles Soludo handpicked as PDP governorship candidate in contentious move .
The People's Democratic Party (PDP) has picked controversial former Central Bank governor, Charles Soludo, as the party's candidate in upcoming Anambra state gubernatorial elections scheduled for February 6, 2010. Our sources said the choice of Soludo materialized after much behind-the-scenes intrigues and maneuvers carried out by PDP operatives with ties to Umaru Yar’adua and his wife, Turai Yar'adua.
The PDP congress was moved to Abuja in what a PDP official told Saharareporters was “a strategic move to avoid the impact of a court injunction granted against the party by an Anambra State high court.” Then the congress was moved from the party’s secretariat in Abuja to the Shehu Yar'adua Center when word reached Turai Yar'adua that some PDP party officials had received large sums of money from Chris Uba to make his brother-in-law the candidate of the party.
Uche Ekwunife
Soludo reportedly demanded and received bribes from the firm before steering contracts to the company to mass-produce polymer currency. A source familiar with the case also told Saharareporters that Mrs. Yar'adua was implicated in the bribe-for-polymer scandal. But while Soludo’s candidacy excites Mrs. Yar'adua, a source in Abuja told us that a political shocker might await Turai. The source of the shocker is in the candidacy of Mrs. Uche Ekwunife, a member of the House of Representatives who trounced Mr. Emeka Etiaba in the primaries yesterday to become the candidate of PPA. Our sources said Mrs. Ekwunife might be the joker from the Chris Uba camp.
Said the source: “Since Chris Uba has failed to put in his brother-in-law, his group may work for the victory of Mrs. Ekwunife – who will then return to the fold of the ruling party the same way Imo State governor, Ikedi Ohakim, was brought into office under another party and then decamped to the PDP as soon as he stabilized.” Uche Ekwunife, a former youth corps member in 2000, notoriously dated former Governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju of Anambra. She made an incredible fortune as a front for the former governor. She was found to be in possession of N2 billion in her private account, and later resigned from Standard Trust Bank to join politics, with all her loot intact.Torture of Journalists and Voters
This video was obtained by Saharareporters showing Governor Segun Oni's torture chambers located right inside Government House in Ado Ekit. The video shows how journalists duly accredited by Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to observe the controversial rerun of Ekiti State gubernatorial election were assaulted, beaten, bitten and maltreated by Ekiti state officials. The journalists had discovered paid agents who engaged in multiple thumb-printing of ballot papers on the eve of the rerun elections on April 24th, 2009. The victims shown in this video are Itobo Ofem of the Verite Newspapers based in Rivers State); Gospel Oziri of the National Guide Newspapers based in Ebonyi State). The perpetrators and torturers in video are; (1) Sanya Adesua alias Pero-Commissioner I of Ekiti State Civil Service Commission (ESCSC); (2) Bolanle Bruce (female) Snr. Special Assistant to Gov. Segun Oni on "Ekiti in Diaspora". She is also a member of Ekitipanupo online forum, Bruce is shown in the video interrogating the journalists and taking their pictures while addressing them as "fake journalists". (3) 'Pastor' Yemi Olayinka- A PDP Chairmanship aspirant 4 Ado-Ekiti Local Govt in d Local Govt Elections of 2008. He was defeated in d primaries by Mrs Tosin Aluko. He appeared in d video in a multi-coloured Ankara fabric and also wearing glasses.
He was laughing heartily while the journalists were being beaten mercilessly. Yemi Olayinka is also a member of Ekitipanupo online forum. (4) Olu Ojo--A strong member of d PDP from Ifaki shown in the video wearing a hat. He slapped one of the journalists towards the end of this video when they were asked to carry their shoes on their heads. Olu Ojo is the fat pig with a robust cheek .
(5) Femi Ijakoko- He is Gov Segun Oni’s thug and until recently, was second in Command to Erinmoje. He's since taken over as no 1. He was wearing a flowing buba & sokoto (Milk colour). He bites one of the journalists as a lion would tear through the flesh of its prey. (6) Femi aka Akilapa- A PDP thug of no fixed address. He was shown in d video wearing a multi coloured 'buba' and 'sokoto' adire fabric. He was the most vicious in this video as he played the role of a professional "slapper". He was kept shouting on the journalists, "kneel down! Kneel down!"
http://www.saharareporters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3849:2009-10-05-13-42-43&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=18
The Crook And Corrupt Presidency::James Ibori as Yar'adua's Godfather-TheNEWS.
James Ibori, the former governor of Delta State accused of a series of financial crimes at home and abroad, is President Umaru Yar’Adua’s most visible friend, a situation which has insulated him from the government’s zero-tolerance for corruption
He is Nigeria’s most powerful politician–apart from the President. Or its most corrupt, who should be made to pay for his alleged sins. Or both. Or neither. Of the four options, only the last seems wholly unlikely in the case of James Onanefe Ibori, former governor of Delta State.
Since leaving office in 2007, after his two terms as governor, Ibori has found another career as a powerbroker. And in his new calling, Ibori has done well, perhaps better than he did as governor. In Aso Rock Villa, seat of the Presidency, and within the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the former governor looms large. He is one of the closest persons to President Umaru Yar’Adua.
To the army of favour and fortune seekers around Yar’Adua, Ibori is the power grid to which they must be connected. Aside the fact that Yar’Adua and Ibori were governors at the same time, the former Delta State governor is reputed to have been the biggest financier of Yar’Adua’s election in 2007.
It is an investment that has yielded a smorgasbord of dividends: influence, protection, patronage and power. Many of the key appointments made by Yar’Adua were not without Ibori’s approval. Mr. Mike Okiro, the recently retired Inspector-General of Police, and his successor, Ogbonnaya Onovo, required the former Delta State governor’s assent to get the job. Mrs. Farida Waziri, Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, also owes her appointment to Ibori and his former governor friends. So does Mr. Michael Aondoakaa, Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF.
David Edebvie, Principal Private Secretary to the President, was Ibori’s commissioner of finance between 1999 and 2004. Edebvie’s name has crept up in the ongoing London trial of three of Ibori’s aides for the sale of the shares of Econet Wireless Nigeria, EWN, a telecoms company now known as Zain Networks. Edebvie also worked in the Yar’Adua/Jonathan Campaign Organisation.
Another beneficiary of Ibori’s political muscle is Tokunbo Enaboifo, who was appointed Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Nigeria-São Tomé and Principe Joint Development Authority, JDA. Unlike the others, Enaboifo did not last long in office, quitting for “personal reasons” after the news of his conviction, for attempted bank fraud in the US, hit the streets last March.
Enaboifo, who was first indicted, fled the US for Nigeria, where he started hanging around Ibori, with whom he had been friends. Whatever regrets Enaboifo may have over his forced exit from the JDA is tempered by the continued relevance of Ibori in Aso Rock. That relevance has remained unaffected by the fact that he is alleged to have been twice convicted in London, where he remains a subject of investigation by the London Metropolitan Police as well as facing a raft of corruption charges before a federal high court in Asaba. Ibori’s prosecution began at the Federal High Court, Kaduna, in 2007. That, however, did not discourage the government from putting him on the country’s official delegation to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China.
For an administration that claims to abhor corruption, the choice of Ibori as a member of delegation to the games drew criticisms. That, however, did not bother the government, which has continued to treat Ibori like royalty. There are suspicions, with sufficient foundation, that the Yar’Adua administration is determined to shield Ibori from prosecution. On 10 September, Aondoakaa, the AGF, told reporters in Abuja that the EFCC had cleared Ibori and two other former governors, Arc.Victor Attah and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, of Akwa Ibom and Lagos states respectively, over the sale of their states’ shares in EWN. In 2007, a petition alleging corruption in the sale of the states’ shares was sent to the EFCC for investigation. Though the agency has not concluded its investigations, Aondoakaa claimed the former governors had been cleared of alleged stealing of $38million from the investments of the three states. He explained that he was informed of their clearance of any wrongdoing by the EFCC after he received a request from British authorities to provide information on the transaction. The AGF explained that the EFCC investigated alleged money laundering in the shares sale and ordered Access Bank, bankers to African Development Funds Incorporated, ADFI, brokers of the transaction, to halt it pending the conclusion of investigations. “Later, the EFCC wrote the bank that the issue had been cleared,” Aondoakaa claimed.
He also alleged that it was Nuhu Ribadu, former EFCC Chairman, that rekindled the interest of the British authorities in the matter in a bid to embarrass Nigeria. Ribadu replied that Aondoakaa lied against him to remain in the good books of the government and that he only responded to the questions of the British authorities, which interviewed him as the EFCC Chairman when the alleged crime took place. Ribadu added that the British Police, which have requested that Ibori be released for prosecution, raided the office of Ibori’s lawyers and found documents hinting at money laundering.
However, the day after Aondoakaa made his claims, the EFCC stung him with a denial of such. In a statement signed by Femi Babafemi, the agency’s spokesman, the EFCC said: “The commission wishes to state emphatically that it has not at any time or in any correspondence with the persons referred to in the media reports or any other person, cleared them of complicity in all matters relating to them which are in court or still under investigations.”
The denial forced the AGF to claim that he was quoted out of context. Tinubu also denied benefitting personally from the transaction. In an advertorial published in major dailies, the former Lagos State governor said: “The Econet investment was to act as a catalyst for economic growth and to provide employment for Nigerians, particularly when the new company would encourage more direct foreign investment. It was a straightforward institutional investment, with neither myself nor any of my officials directly involved except, of course, the commisioner for finance who, by virtue of his office, sat on the board of Econet to represent Lagos State.” He challenged anybody with evidence to come forward with such.
Observers reckon that the inclusion of Tinubu’s name by the AGF was a clever way of deflecting suspicion from his main goal: protection of Ibori. Aondoakaa, however, insisted that the government is not protecting Ibori. Speaking with journalists in Benin, the AGF said those alleging that the former governor and others accused of corruption are being shielded from prosecution are blackmailing the government.
Last Monday in Abuja, Aondoakaa said the Federal Government would not accede to the request of the London Metropolitan Police to hand Ibori over for trial in Britain because doing so would amount to conceding the nation’s sovereignity to foreign powers. “The extradition of James Ibori to stand trial in Britain, as requested by the London Metropolitan Police, will not be granted automatic approval…If Ibori is handed over to the UK Police, based on the request we received, then all Nigerians stand the risk of being whisked away by foreign forces at will,” Aondoakaa said.
Four days before Aondoakaa announced Nigeria’s decision to snub Britain’s request for Ibori’s extradition, the former Delta State governor came out to defend himself against the allegations that are swirling around him. At a press conference in Lagos, Ibori alleged that his problems were caused by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who used Ribadu to “package me as the face of corruption and brand me as the greatest obstacle to Nigeria’s development”. Ibori traced his problem to teaming up with other governors to oppose Obasanjo’s re-election bid in 2003. “When I met him soon after the convention, he told me that he learned that I had put forward the view that he was unsaleable, unmarketable and unelectable. He then vowed that he was going to make sure that I was unsaleable, unmarketable and unelectable,” Ibori said of Obasanjo. He also alleged that the former president was angered by the campaign for greater resource control, in which he (Ibori) featured prominently while he was governor.
The former governor accused Ribadu of moving against him because he turned down his request for assistance in his bid become the Inspector-General of Police. “He vowed to deal with me and he started by politicising and personalising everything about me,” Ibori said of Ribadu. The former governor added that Ribadu’s claim that he offered him $15million bribe was false. The former EFCC boss, however, described Ibori’s claims as concocted. In a statement issued from his base in London, Ribadu said: “First, he lied that I solicited his assistance to become the Inspector-General of Police. I had it on record, while in office as the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) that James Ibori was a double convict. First, as a police officer and also as an anti-corruption campaigner, who was committed to doing his part to rid Nigeria of rogues. How could I have been seeking the assistance of a convicted felon for the highest police position in the country? If I wanted to be IG, he would be the last person I will consider to help me.” Ribadu said Ibori is desperate to escape justice, a reason for lying that he was “framed”.
“As he told the lie, and as I write this, the $15 million remains as an exhibit deposited with the Central Bank of Nigeria,” Ribadu added. Two days after the former EFCC boss fired his riposte, Ibori launched another fulminating attack on Ribadu.He alleged that Ribadu approached him and some other people to unseat President Yar’Adua through the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal. Ibori also alleged that Ribadu worked for Obasanjo’s aborted third term bid by distributing funds to National Assembly members to support the bid. Again, Ibori claimed that Ribadu sought financial assistance from suspects, for the purpose of establishing a football club for the EFCC. The monies raised from such sources, added Ibori, were never used for the purpose for which they were obtained.
Ibori’s claims have attracted a little more than derision from the elders of the Niger Delta region, who spoke through First Republic Information Minister, Chief Edwin Clark. The elders said Ibori had lied.“Ibori has no reason to accuse anybody for his travail. If he did not commit a crime, will Obasanjo manufacture offences against him?” Clark asked, saying there was nothing to suggest that Ibori’s agitation for increased derivation and opposition to the former president’s third term was responsible for his anger against the former governor. “There is nothing to show that Ibori was against Obasanjo for the third term. After the third term, he and Obasanjo were hobnobbing; they were meeting together from time to time,” Clark declared.
He then insisted that the demand for a 13 per cent derivation was a collective agitation by the elders and all governors of Niger Delta states at the time. “All the houses he bought in London, was it Obasanjo who told him to buy the Total Oil company in Benin; and the purchase of five million Naira worth of diesel every month from Total, which came to about N300 million; and the shares he bought from Afribank, the five billion naira spent in Afribank, was it Obasanjo who was responsible for that?” he asked rhetorically. Clark also blamed the smooth relationship between Obasanjo and Ibori, which the former is denying, for the emergence of Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, Ibori’s cousin, as governor of Delta State. “There was romance between the former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, and Ibori. Ibori was frequenting Aso Rock almost every day and it was Obasanjo who imposed Ibori’s first cousin, Emmanuel Uduaghan, as governor of Delta State. We said that Uduaghan was going to be made to cover up the misdeeds of Ibori; Obasanjo said no. So I was surprised to hear that Obasanjo was the one who caused his present travail,” he said.
Clark demanded that the former governor should explain his signing of a supplementary budget of N120 billion into law on 14 June, 2004, without taking it through the state legislature. He also alleged that between 2001 to 2004, every supplementary budget never got to the House of Assembly, but was signed into law. The former Information Minister challenged Ibori to account for state’s fund to the tune of $37 million and the state’s shares in Oceanic Bank, whose value he clamed slid from N30 to N3, thereby amounting to a loss of about $15 billion. Clark accused Ibori of an attempt to buy Wilbros, an oil servicing company, with the state’s shares as collateral, and that he bought the National Fertiliser Company of Nigeria, NAFCON, with money from state funds as well as an aircraft.
Until he addressed a press conference in Lagos, Ibori’s assault on Ribadu had been through proxies he planted in government. Leading the pack is Aondoakaa, who began his offensive just after he got into office. The AGF began with an announcement that he was stripping the EFCC and its cousin, the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC, of prosecutorial powers. Weeks later, he announced that all prosecutorial powers were derivable from his office. The announcement was widely considered to mean that the Yar’Adua administration was planning to interfere with the workings of the agency. Aondoakaa followed it up with an announcement that the President had approved it as the direction for the new dispensation. The decision to wrest prosecutorial powers from the EFCC drew widespread criticisms, which forced the government to announce that it did not approve of it.
That, however, marked the beginning of a toxic relationship between Ribadu and Aondoakaa, something that degenerated a few weeks later during the hearing of EFCC’s case against Dr. Orji Kalu, former governor of Abia State, who was being tried for money laundering at the Federal High Court, Abuja. When the case was called, lawyers from both the EFCC and the AGF’s office appeared as prosecutors. Salihu Aliyu, Director of Public Prosecution in the Ministry of Justice, represented the AGF, while Adebisi Adeniyi represented the EFCC. The surprised EFCC lawyer said: “I am at loss at the representation of the DPP in this matter because we are counsel on record in this case. This matter was initiated by the EFCC. If the AGF is taking over the case, this is not tidy enough.”
Aliyu, however, denied that the AGF was taking over the case, but said he appeared to clear some “grey areas” reported to the AGF’s office. The DPP said Kalu’s lawyers complained in writing to the AGF that their client was arrested in breach of court order restraining the commission from doing so. He argued that Kalu’s petition was written because of government’s assurance that it would abide by the rule of law and due process and that the arrest had caused it embarrassment. Aondoakaa would later add that he risked being penalised for contempt of court, a claim that appeared suspicious given that the AGF was not a party to the suit and could not have been liable. The incident cast the AGF’s office as the prosecutor and the defendant, puncturing the government’s claim of non-interference. Aondoakaa demanded an apology from Ribadu for the court incident, but the former EFCC boss declined to offer any.The AGF was red-eyed. Ribadu was triumphant and earned plaudits for standing up to the AGF, who was perceived to be working on behalf of those facing charges for graft.
But that was as good as it got. On 11 December 2007, Ribadu’s EFCC arrested Ibori. Two days later, the former governor was arraigned before the Federal High Court in Kaduna, where he and his aides, Ms. Uduamaka Okoronkwo and one Chiedu Ebie were slammed with an arm-long list of alleged corruption offences. On his second appearance before the court, presided over by Justice Mohammed Lawal Shuaibu, Ibori requested that the case be transfered from the court and reassigned. Ibori contended that EFCC’s decision to take him to Kaduna suggested that the agency was looking for a favourable forum to prosecute him and that the court may be susceptible to bias during the trial. The court dismissed the application, saying: “Considering the absence of any justifiable reason or reasons that the trial judge in this matter should rescue himself from further participation in this case, the application is hereby dismissed.” The court also rejected Ibori’s argument that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter as well as his contention that EFCC’s filing of the case was not proper.
“It is pertinent to state at this juncture that the subject matter of the 129-count charge against the accused applicants relate to money laundering as contained in the Money Laundering Prohibition Act of 2003 and 2004. Money laundering, which is specie of economic and financial crime, is exclusively within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court and it is within the jurisdiction of this court to hear and determine the matter of the 129 count of charge. “Section 19 (1) of the Federal High Court Act specifically states that the court shall have and exercise jurisdiction throughout the federation. It is also the position of Section 249 of the 1999 Constitution establishing one Federal High Court. The provision of Section 152 (2) of the Constitution also confers additional jurisdiction and power on the court.
“The applicant did not refer to the provision of any law on how a charge should be filed before the Federal High Court. By virtue of section 33 off the Federal High Court Act, all criminal cases before the court shall be tried summarily,” Justice Shuaibu said. However, through some legal hoop-jumping attributed to Aondoakaa, Ibori’s case was eventually transferred to Asaba, Delta State, and assigned to a handpicked judge. Before Ibori’s arrest, Aondoakaa had fought Ribadu over the former, who had been investigated in London for money laundering by the London Metropolitan Police. The dispute between the two arose from Ribadu’s decision to hand over documents on Ibori’s investigation by the EFCC to the London Metropolitan Police. Two separate teams from London had visited Nigeria for assistance on the case. After their visit, a prosecutor in the UK Fraud Prosecution Service, David Williams, wrote to the AGF’s office to request supplementary information.
The request, unsurprisingly, did not sit well with Aondoakaa, who replied that it was disrespectful for a lower officer of the British prosecution agency to request such information, which had not been obtained from his office in the first place. Aondoakaa took the matter to a meeting of the Federal Executive Council. That, for Ribadu, was lights out. It was at the meeting that the seeds of his removal from the EFCC, demotion from the Police and eventual dismissal were sown. The next phase of the onslaught was left in the hands of Okiro, the immediate past Inspector-General of Police. In January 2008, newspapers published reports which hinted that Okiro had been directed to issue a memo to Ribadu asking him to proceed to National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, NIPSS, for a course. It was reported that the proposed course was a way of getting Ribadu out of the EFCC on the prompting of some powerful interests. Okiro told the press that Ribadu must go the NIPSS, but denied that the government wanted to ease him out of his job on account of any prompting.
“He is not being sent on a course for any ulterior motive other than the reasons which he satisfies. He is not being sent to the NIPSS on the prompting of any external body. I am not a politician; I am not succumbing to whims and caprices of politicians as being speculated,” Okiro said. Under Police rules cited by Okiro, Ribadu, then an Assistant Inspector-General of Police, though on secondment to the EFCC, was still subject to police internal administrative rules.
But under Section 11 of the EFCC Act, only the agency can send its officers on course. Okiro’s reliance on police rules was eventually given away as a smokescreen by Aondoakaa, who said: “The IG must have sought and obtained the approval of the President. I do not know the IG to be a frivolous officer. The IG sent seven names for training and it is the President that gave approval for them to go on course.” There could hardly have been prizes for guessing who had nudged the President. Ribadu headed to Kuru, where he was arrested on graduation day for wearing mufti to the ceremony because he had been demoted to an Assistant Commissioner of Police. He explained that he was not sure of which uniform to wear since he had been demoted and the case was in court.
Ribadu had been on Ibori’s case for some time. EFCC investigations into his governorship showed that that in 2001, Henry Imasekha, an Ibori acolyte, took a N2.2 billion loan from the defunct New Nigerian Bank to buy 10 per cent shares in EWN. The loan was secured, according to investigators, without evidence of prior relationship with the bank. Shortly after, the Delta State government under Ibori bought half of Imasekha’s shares for N2.5 billion. EFCC discovered that Imasekha had used the amount to offset the loan, netting a hefty profit of N300 million and retaining 5 per cent of EWN shares. Edevbie, who was commissioner for finance under Ibori between 1999 and 2004 when the transaction took place, has offered to resign his appointment as Yar’Adua’s private secretary and head to London to clear his name.
Ibori, Edebvie’s benefactor, is also in the spotlight over an allegation that he used Delta State’s shares in Oceanic International Bank, one of the five banks whose chief executives were recently removed, as collateral for a private loan. The Central Bank Governor, Mr. Lamido Sanusi, recently said he may recommend Ibori for prosecution.
One major reason Ibori has a firm grip on the President is his closeness to Turai, Yar’Adua’s wife. Thus, whatever Ibori wants, as long as he convinces Turai, she puts pressure on her husband to ensure that it gets done.
The allegation of using shares for collateral is different from the others that have to do with corrupt enrichment through the shares purchase saga. On 20 September, the trial of Ibori’s accomplices resumed at Southwark Crown Court in London. Judge Christopher Hardy rejected the defence lawyer’s request to prevent representatives of the Nigerian media and the public from covering the case. Counsel to Bimpe Pogoson attempted to prevail on the court to ban coverage, but Judge Hardy said he had no authority over the Internet, bloggers and Nigerian newspapers. “No need to exclude Nigerians, this case is about them and their country,” the judge said.
The court also turned down the application to have the case, billed to run for six weeks, sent to Nigeria for trial. The trial involves Mrs Udoamaka Onuigbo Okoronkwo, Mrs Adebimpe Foleyinmi Pogoson and Christine Ibori-Ibie, all charged with conspiracy to defraud Delta State of Nigeria, as well as related money-laundering charges regarding James Ibori’s alleged theft of $140 million from Delta State. Mr. Nsugbe, counsel to Mrs Pogoson, was desperate to have the case against his client dismissed or transfered to Nigeria. His client is accused of laundering illicit funds through her UK bank accounts, as well as with mortgage fraud committed on her apartment at Abbey Road in London. Nsugbe requested that in view of the ongoing legal proceedings against James Ibori in Nigeria, the London trial be dismissed because it would make fair trial impossible for his client. But Andrew Trollope, counsel to Christine Ibie-Ibori, read out the papers received from EFCC, one of which stated that James Ibori defrauded Delta State along with his close associates and relatives via bloated contracts, including the supply of 271 vehicles to the state government and that virtually all the contracts awarded during Ibori’s tenure as governor were to steal huge amounts of money from the state. He also said that Mrs. Pogoson established a company with the intention of siphoning money from Nigeria on behalf of Ibori and lodging such in foreign accounts. Trollope stated that the EFCC had alleged that Pogoson’s company assisted Ibori to buy choice properties in UK and the United States. The lawyer also claimed that prior to being elected governor in 1999, Ibori was poor. Nsugbe, however urged that Udoamaka, with over 107 count charges against her, be returned to Nigeria to stand trial alongside Ibori. Trollope ended his submission, saying in the event of Ibori being discharged and acquitted by Nigerian courts, it would not be proper to continue his trial and those of his accomplices in another country and requested that the proceedings be adjourned and suspended, pending the final verdict of the trials in Nigeria.
The Judge dismissed the appeal for suspension pending the outcome of the trial in Nigeria unless fresh circumstantial evidence, which may negatively affect the trial, is unearthed. Lady Sasha Wass, counsel to Chief Prosecuting Service, CPS, insisted that the trial must continue in London because none of the UK evidence against Udoamaka Onuigbo Okoronkwo is with the Nigerian authorities and that there is no guarantee of fair trial if they are all extradited to Nigeria. Lady Wass also reminded the court that Ibori and Udoamaka had been convivted over stolen credit cards and and theft committed at Wickes Store in London 20 years ago. She also said Ibori and Udoamaka are experienced in criminal activities and that multiple purchase of posh properties, with or without mortgage, is one of the tricks employed to launder money stolen from Nigeria. When asked by the court to specify her demands, she appealed for a continuation of the trial in the UK and described Udoamaka and others as liars for claiming ignorance of the source of Ibori’s wealth. Ibori’s aides are on conditional bail, which demands that they surrender their passports, not to travel within 300 metres of airports and seaports, report at the nearest police station every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday and not apply for fresh passports or any international travel documents pending the completion of the trials.
However, Lady Wass’ claim that Ibori was poor before he became governor in 1999 is inaccurate. While he was not the Croesus he now is, Ibori was not exactly a scrounger. His source of money was not the sort to be proud of. In 1996, Ibori established Diet,a newspaper funded by the discredited regime of the late General Sani Abacha, who was then plotting to transmute into a civilian president. Ibori, as reported by TheNEWS in its edition of 22 November 1999, was matey with Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, Abacha’s Chief Security Officer and coordinator of many of the regime’s atrocities. Diet was established to propagate the transistion of Abacha to a civilian president.
Born 4 August 1958 in Oghara, Ethiope-West Local Government Area of Delta State, Ibori attended Baptist High School (now Ogharehi Grammar School) and the University of Benin, UNIBEN, from where he graduated with a third class degree in Economics.
Ibori worked with Mobil Oil Nigeria Limited and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. But some claimed he was sacked. In his resume, Ibori claimed to have served as “consultant to the Federal Government in the area of public policy”.
http://www.saharareporters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3903:ibori-as-yaraduas-godfather-thenews&catid=42:exclusive&Itemid=160
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
James Onanefe Ibori.
Ibori's stealing and dishonesty per AMEX Card
One of Ibori’s main themes is also to smear the name of Saharareporters, as if that will make him appear to be innocent. Ibori told a TV Continental interviewer in Lagos last Saturday, for instance, that his multiple convictions for stealing and dishonesty in London are only from the imagination of Saharareporters.
This is proof that the Ibori is also a serial liar. But by choosing this approach, he gives us an opportunity to remind Nigerians of how early his life of crime began, and remind Ibori himself that the court of public opinion is based not on conjecture, but on facts. If Ibori has become a symbol of greed and corruption in Nigeria, it is from the work of his own heart and his own hands.
Ibori's American Express Card stealing Conviction
Was Ibori ever convicted in London, England? Yes, and Yes! The documents here are proof of his crimes and convictions. He was convicted, first for theft in 1990, charged before the Uxbridge Magistrates on August 28 1990, Ibori and his current wife first wife, Theresa Nkoyo were convicted for the offence in January 1991 at the Isleworth Crown Court and again in 1991, he stole an American Express Gold Card belonging to Sean Burns. The Clerkenwell Magistrates Court in London convicted Ibori in 1992
Was he convicted in Nigeria? Yes, He Was! Following his graduation from his criminal activities in the UK and arrival into the embrace of the murderous Abacha regime, he was also convicted in Nigeria by the Bwari Upper Area Court in Abuja, according to the judge who tried and convicted Ibori for stealing building materials from a construction site in Abuja.
Register of conviction per James Ibori
We publish these records because he is working very hard to sell his own propaganda to the people he robbed, cheated and lied to, in the first place. Suddenly finding his voice in recent weeks, he has embarked on a whirlwind media tour arranged by his aides and Mayor Akinpelu, a Lagos-based tabloid journalist and “glamour boy.”
Saharareporters did warn Nigerians that Ibori was embarking a disinformation campaign to twist facts and logic regarding his criminal history and the story of his unprecedented looting of the treasury of Delta State while he was governor between 1999-2007.
Ibori’s new grand plan is meant to divert attention from the trial of his associates in London and the trial of his wife which begins soon. It is also a strategy aimed at avoiding answering the EFCC's invitation to him and his former Commissioner for Finance-turned-Yar'Adua's Principal Private Secretary, David Edevbie, to explain how they used Delta State shares as collateral for the loan with which they bought Wilbros Nigeria Limited, using a front comapny, Ascot Offshores Limited.
In preparation for the propaganda blitz, his media aide, Tony Eluemunor, had been working hard to manipulate the local media, principally ThisDay and Vanguard newspapers. Those papers seemed so cozy with their private understanding they often lifted Eluemunor’s press releases and published them as news with or without bylines or attribution.
By last week, however, that fragile coalition seemed to be on the rocks. ThisDay editors told Saharareporters that they regretted the unprofessional acts by “one” of their reporters, Francis Ugwoke, whom they claimed had been “punished” in house. Curiously, the newspaper did not apologize to its readers as promised, at least in their online edition.
Vanguard also ran into troubled waters when it found that a section of Nigerians had began a boycott campaign against the paper, leading its editors to issue a press release to complain that they were being “targeted.”
If there was any doubt in the past, our publication of these reports again restates the truth: Ibori is a repeat ex-convict. We have made up no reports about him. Whatever his “friendly” newspapers and other Nigerian mainstream journals now say, it would be interesting to see if they put these documents before Ibori and ask him to deny them. We also encourage Nigerians to print or photocopy them, as they are useful in rule-of-law and reign-of-corruption arguments with Umaru Yar’Adua or Michael Aondoakaa; ‘Rebrand Nigeria’ encounters with Minister Dora Akunyili, or even for new T-shirt designs.
That sham confidence applies to his so-called trial which comes up at the Federal High Court in Asaba on 26 October. Ibori and the Nigeria’s notorious Attorney General, acting on the directive of Umaru Yar’Adua, have given Ibori’s handpicked Federal High Court judge Justice Marcel Awokulehin two weeks from that date to discard of the Ibori case under a term known as “Operation Zuma”. It is not clear why it is called “Operation Zuma,” but it would be recalled that in South Africa, Jacob Zuma triumphed over corruption charges to emerge President. There have been reports in recent months that Yar’Adua intends to make Ibori his vice-presidency candidate when he runs for the 2011 elections. Ibori confided in journalists during his Lagos media tour that he got clearance from Yar’adua to embark on the media tour.
Nonetheless, and regardless of what the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) tells Nigerians, they are deeply involved in “Operation Zuma,” which is at the minimum a plot to grant Ibori another free ride away from his crimes of stealing, abuse of office, corruption and dishonesty.
What is important by way of the documents attached here is where Ibori’s name and legacy will go. These documents are evidence that James Ibori was never qualified, in the first place, to be governor of Delta State in 1999 and thereafter. By Nigerian law, his tenure as governor of Delta State, obtained fraudulently by perjury, did not happen, and is therefore null and void.
James Ibori Conviction Records
http://www.saharareporters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3893:as-ibori-launders-and-lies-saharareporters-again-provides-some-of-his-criminal-certificates&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=18
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