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| EFCC Boss Ibrahim Magu and SGF Babachir Lawal |
President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the attorney General
of the Nigeria to investigation the alleged acts of corruption leveled against
the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Engr. Lawal Babachir
and Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr.
Ibrahim Magu.
Apparently, this was in a bid to wash his hands off any
complicity in the allegation of corruption against both men appointed by him.
For Babachir, who is touted as a member of the cabal controlling the government
of the day, his woes came loud on Wednesday last week when the Senate unraveled
his alleged complicity in the diversion of billions of Naira for the welfare of
the Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs in the North east through a report of an
Adhoc Committee. The Senate subsequently demanded for his summary dismissal
from office as SGF. But in a swift response, Babachir said that the Senate was
talking nonsense. Similarly on Thursday, the same Senate rejected the
nomination of EFCC chairman, Magu and further declined to confirm his
nomination as a substantive head. The Senate relied on a security report by the
Department of State Service, DSS which also indicted Magu on acts of
corruption.
The two issues had caused a virulent division among
Nigerians with many asking President Buhari to sack them while many are also
asking the president to ignore the sack calls. Expectedly, the matter had
placed the presidency on tenterhooks as it became momentarily unsure of any
possible option to take in the imbroglio. This is so much so in the light of
the anti-corruption drive of the federal government which the two appointees
especially, Magu are very central to. A source told Vanguard that Magu was in
the Villa on Friday to meet with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. Though the
source stated that the meeting had no connotation of privacy but the usual
meetings on the appraisals of the anti-corruption war, not a few persons still,
were inclined to believe that.
Speculations had been rife that since the day of
his rejection, Magu had made several attempts to meet with President Buhari but
was blocked. But in a statement last night, the presidency through the Senior
Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu
stated that President had directed the Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF
to commence investigation into the matter, saying that they would be prosecuted
if found culpable.
“The attention of the presidency has been drawn to a number
of reports in the media, in which various accusations of corruption have been levelled
against some top officials in the administration.
“In that regard, President
Buhari has instructed the Attorney General of the Federation to investigate the
involvement of any top government officials accused of any wrong-doing. If any
of them are liable they will not escape prosecution”, Shehu said in a tacit
statement. However some documents emerged last night to prove that the security
agency lied in many respect against Magu. Documents obtained by Vanguard show
that contrary to the DSS report that a businessman, Umar Mohammed, a retired
air force officer, paid and furnished Magu’s mansion, the acting EFCC chairman,
actually lives in a rented apartment officially paid and furnished by the
Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, which is statutorily mandated
to do so for all senior government officials, including those of the Senate and
the House of Representatives.
Vanguard was told by top officials last night
that most top government functionaries, including the NASS, had also been given
similar accommodation by the agency while others who are staying in their
personal houses, had demanded and collected cash in respect of rent and
furniture. Findings by our correspondent shows that the Abuja Metropolitan
management Council, AMMC, awarded the contract for the two-year rent and
furnishing of the house to an Abuja-based company, Valcour SA Nigeria Limited
on March 30, 2016 at the total cost of N43.8 million with a six-week period to
complete the job. Out of the amount, N28 million was meant for two years’ rent
(N14 m per annum) while the balance of N15.8 was meant for furnishing. The
offer letter with ref. No. AMMC/Adm/907 and dated march 30, 2016, was signed by
Ibrahim Ibrahim Gusau, the Secretary of the Tenders Board with the caption
“Provisional Award of contract for rent of residential accommodation and
furnishing for security operatives”. It was addressed to M/S Valcour SA Ltd, 8,
Kainji Street, Maitama, Abuja.
The AMMC said in the offer letter, “I am
directed to inform you that provisional approval has been given for an
emergency award of contract to your company in line with PPA Section 42 (1b
and1f) for rent of residential accommodation for security operatives (EFCC) for
two years and furnishing of same at the total contract sum of N43,800,000 with
a completion period of six weeks for furnishing.
“Your are to proceed with the
service and note that the notification of the provisional award is subject to
ratification by the FCTA Tenders Board. “Accordingly, I am directed to inform
you also that the contract or any part thereof shall not be transferred, sublet
or assigned to any person/body in any way.
“You are requested to indicate in
writing your acceptance or otherwise of the award and thereafter report to the
Coordinator of the AMMC for further instructions. The Legal department of AMMC
is similarly informed by a copy of this letter for their information and
record. “Accept my congratulations, please,” AMMC wrote. Based on the award
letter, the management of Valcour SA Ltd, on March 31, 2016, wrote back to the
AMMC, accepting the offer of the award, saying, “With great pleasure, we accept
your award of contract for rent of residential accommodation and furnishing for
security operatives dated March 30, 2016.” The acceptance letter was signed by
Allen Kezie, the Director of Finance and Admin of Valcour SA Ltd. Documents
with Vanguard also show that it was based on the award, the FCTA released a
mandate to the Central Bank of Nigeria dated March 31, 2016 to credit Valcour
with the sum of N39.6 million. The payment was made from FCTA account with No.
3000054355 domiciled with Zenith Bank while the mandate was jointly signed by
Isiyaku Ismaila and Zanna A. Hamza who are the authorised signatories to the
account. This development is in sharp contrast to the DSS memo that claimed
that the cost of the rented apartment was N40 million at N20 million per annum.
The documents further debunked the DSS memo that the furnishing of the
residence was awarded to a firm owned by the ex -Air Chief, Africa Energy – at
the cost N43 million as it was only M/S Valcour SA Nigeria Ltd that handled the
property.
The Senate had last week Thursday declined Magu’s confirmation on the
grounds of what it called security report from the DSS, about six months after
President Muhammadu Buhari forwarded his name to the upper chamber for
confirmation. The Senate did not screen Magu on the basis of alleged failure to
pass what it called “integrity test” arising from the said ‘security report’.
Vanguard gathered that the property located in the Maitama District, where
senior government officials and diplomats reside because of its urbane nature,
is an official quarters and not a gift as stated in the leaked DSS memo and is
known in FCTA’s parlance as ‘Safe House’ because of the security nature of
Magu’s job. According to an official of the FCTA, who sought anonymity because
of the sensitive nature of the matter, such property is usually secured for
very important personalities like the Senate President, Speaker of the House of
Representatives, service chiefs, ministers and other top government officials.
He said, “Some of us were surprised about the controversy over the property. It
is an official residence. The FCTA offers secured property to certain
categories of public officials. We will direct an agent to search and inform us
when he has secured an acceptable one and we will inform the concerned official
accordingly. “I can tell you that two top elected public officials in the NASS
rejected these Safe Houses accommodation and collected N150 million each in
lieu of the property”. “So the residence in which Mr. Magu is staying is a
federal government property and does not belong to any individual.” It was
learnt that the DSS in a bid to shop for justification to nail Magu, who is
considered to be too rigid in the fight against corruption, spread its dragnet
across the country to establish whether he owns property in any part of the
country but could not locate any after combing major cities of Nigeria and
finding none. Efforts to speak with the embattled Acting EFCC Chairman, Magu
have proved abortive as he would neither pick his calls nor respond to sms sent
to his phones. Similarly, the Spokesman for the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, said
he could not speak on any matter that his boss had not cleared him to comment
on. “What do you want me to say?” Wilson queried one of our reporters, who
wanted his reaction to the rejection of Magu’s confirmation by the Senate.
Vanguard learnt that the rejection of Magu has sparked serious tension in the Presidency,
with major camps defending their actions that caused Buhari such a public
embarrassment before the world and putting a big question mark on his
anti-corruption war.
Source: Vanguard
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