Then the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested and detained the founder of Daar Communications Plc, owner of Raypower FM and the African Independent Television (AIT), Chief Raymond Dokpesi, and a former governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, for the same alleged offence.
¨A senior operative of the anti-graft agency told THISDAY yesterday that $2.1 billion meant for arm purchase was traced to Dokpesi and he could not explain how the amount was lodged into his private account. The EFCC source said Dokpesi was picked up at his Abuja residence at about noon and was still being interrogated by the EFCC at press time. The source said EFCC investigators suspected that the money was passed to him for the pro-Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) documentaries and campaigns his station ran before the 2015 elections.
“The funds were budgeted for arms procurement but were diverted to Chief Dokpesi so that he could air pro-PDP campaigns and damaging campaigns against the APC and its candidate,” the source explained. Similarly, Bafarawa was arrested yesterday by EFCC for the same alleged offence. His son, Sagir, was arrested on Monday by the commission and may have acted as a front for his father.
The elder Bafarawa is also explaining to the EFCC all he knows about how sums meant for arms procurement were diverted to his son’s account. The source said they might all be detained by the EFCC until their arraignment if a case is established against them. THISDAY gathered that the EFCC has obtained court order to detain all the suspects linked to the arms deals before they are charged to court. A former Minister of State for Finance, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda, and the Director of Finance and Admin in the Office of the NSA, Mr. Shauibu Salisu, were arrested on Monday over the alleged diversion of the $2.2 billion being investigated by the federal government. The director was alleged to have operated a joint bank account with former NSA Dasuki. Yuguda’s arrest was prompted by the purported payment of large sums of money relating to the purchase of arms by the office of the NSA to his private account, which the former minister could not account for.
Also in custody over the arms procurement deals is the son of Haliru Bello Mohamed, former Minister of Defence and ex-National Chairman of PDP. The ex-PDP chairman’s son, Abbah Mohammed, on his part got N600 million in the name of Bam Properties Limited. A manhunt for former military chiefs and other suspects has also been launched by the Nigerian security agencies over the suspected arms deals. The suspects might have their movements restricted to the country, pending further interrogation and arraignment in court. Before his arrest yesterday, Dasuki maintained his innocence and denied ever receiving any formal or informal invitation to appear before the presidential investigative panel on the procurement of hardware and munition in the armed forces from 2007 to date. While responding to an interim report of the panel, he said he was never invited formally or informally to appear before the panel. He said: “For the record, I am proud to have served my nation with the best of intentions and ensured the recovery of more than 22 local government councils from Boko Haram terrorists.
“Because of the pride on how we tackled terrorism and defeated Boko Haram terrorists through our gallant troops and partners in the twilight of the previous administration, that is the reason I have insisted on an open and public trial of my stewardship rather than secret trial in the court as being canvassed by my prosecutors. “I wish Nigerians will go back and reflect on what we did with even little or no supports from some countries, we performed miracles before the emergence of this administration. "I even thought the committee was to investigate procurement from 2007 to 2015.
Yet only my name is always being mentioned even when some of the issues were before I came into the government. I leave Nigerians to judge.” In its reaction to Dokpesi’s arrest, PDP yesterday condemned in its entirety the arrest of the media mogul and other opposition elements by the APC-led federal government. The party also revealed that it had been made aware that more notable PDP leaders had similarly been listed for arrest over unproven allegations pursuant to the plot by the APC to cow and silence the opposition in the country.
The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, in a statement yesterday, said the military style of pronouncement of guilt on Dokpesi before any fair hearing, betrayed the fact that he was a victim of political persecution and mob trial by the APC government because of his association with the PDP. “While the PDP is not against the war against corruption, we insist that the crusade must be carried out within the limits of the law and not as a guise to persecute and torture opposition elements in the country.
“Our fear is that with the pronouncement of guilt even without being given the opportunity within his rights as a citizen to state his own side of the story, the President Buhari-led government is sidestepping the laws to ensure that Chief Dokpesi does not get justice in the court, a plot which they want to extend to other PDP leaders. “The PDP therefore demands an open and public trial of all those arrested so that all issues and charges against them as well as their defence therein would also be in the public domain.
“We demand a proper investigation and lawful prosecution instead of the reprehensible resort to outright political persecution, which can only have a place in a military regime. “We also note that this development may not be unconnected with the planned onslaught against the media, following its commitment in holding this dictatorial regime accountable since it took office. “Finally, we call on the international community and rights bodies worldwide to note the growing impunity and gross violation of human rights by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government tailored to decimate the opposition and cow the media in Nigeria,” the party said. Meanwhile, following the arrest of the former NSA, the Governor of Edo State, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, yesterday tackled Dasuki and former Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Speaking at the sixth National Delegates Conference of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), Oshiomhole lambasted those calling on the Buhari administration to follow the law and obey court orders in the prosecution of Dasuki and others accused of corruption in the last administration. While lampooning the PDP’s 16 years in power, he also argued that there was no connection between the current economic crisis and the national minimum wage, which his colleagues said they could no longer sustain.
He told the gathering that he was ready to “join the protest against” any attempt to reduce the minimum wage.
Taking a swipe at the alleged involvement of Dasuki in the $2 billion arms deal saga, Oshiomhole said the National Assembly ought to have appropriated such funds, arguing: “That is why you are spending billions of naira to maintain a bi-cameral legislature. “Just last week, the big man was accused of spending about $2 billion when they say they can’t pay minimum wage. If they divide (sic) $2 billion by N200 to the dollar and divide it among all Nigerian workers, you will not have issues paying wages for the next one year. “Now the man says, yes, we spent this money, we bought arms, how? These are several questions which labour must ask because if that money was transferred today to the Accountant General of the Federation, they (government) will pay more than the minimum wage.
“You bought arms, but what does democracy (the law/constitution) say, that before money is spent, it must first be appropriated by parliament; that money which they claimed to have used to buy arms was it appropriated by the National Assembly? Was it in the Appropriation Act? “Did the then president have the power to spend money that has not been appropriated? Was he a military head of state? Does he have the powers that he purported to have used?” Also turning his attack on Okonjo-Iweala, a favourite subject of his, the Edo governor said: “The Minister of Finance released the money; under the constitution does the minister have the powers to release monies from the national treasury that have not been captured in the national appropriation law? “If she did, is that not part of a conspiracy? What do they call conspiracy? When a crime is committed by a number of persons helping one another as the cooperative societies operate.
“Government does not just spend money, government must discuss what it wants to spend and parliament must interrogate the proposal of the executive in an open parliament. “So to borrow is always debated in every budget of the federal government, of the state government and local governments over the past 16 years – those budget have always been debated. “And in the end, the amount that is borrowed is clearly stated.
That is why in the NLC, you have a research department, you have economists within the labour movement to look at those the budget." The governor explained that “over the past 10 years, particularly the past seven years, and you will see the amount of borrowing that was built into the budget, what they call deficit financing – the gap between the revenue of the government and the total expenditure they want to incur”. He added: “There are lots of issues, I didn’t listen to the address of the comrade president of NASU but I flipped through it and saw that she captured some of the critical issues of the moment. “One of them is the issue of corruption and she went on to talk about due process in the prosecution of corrupt cases, and I asked myself should that really be your burden? “Was the process of corruption due? That is not the burden of the worker whether the process of fighting corruption is due or not.
However the snake is killed, kill the snake, because if you don’t, the snake will kill you. “So if you are worried about how you make the firewood or whether you cut the snake by the neck or tail, while you are debating the snake will bite you and you won’t survive. “So I think when the big fish finishes eating the smaller fish, by the laws of the jungle, the big fish will then go for one another’s throat and when they do, it will not be the business of the smaller fish to worry about how the fight takes off. “I say so because part of the problem in our society is that when the big man does something wrong, all the senior advocates are ready to go to work; medical doctors are also available when a big man is facing treason charges or huge corruption charges; and judges grant permission for them to travel overseas.
“But when a NASU worker is accused by a local policeman for driving without a driver’s licence, he is grabbed and dumped in a cell and from there to prison if he has nobody to stand for him.
“You go to Ikoyi prisons, go to Gwagwalada prisons and Oko prisons, you will see those whose only offence is that they stole about N100, but do they have permission to go overseas for treatment, are we not all supposed to be equal before the law? “Now when a big man commits an offence and he is arraigned, suddenly he has to fly out, but criminal charges are not like Christmas packages, people must be made to pay for their crime. “In this democracy, which we said we are supporting unconditionally, it says clearly that there will be separation of powers between the executive, legislature and the judiciary.
It says the executive can have the initiative to propose what it wants to spend but only the parliament has the powers to appropriate what it will spend. “If the executive spends what has not been appropriated, it’s a criminal offence and why is that stated. So that one man does not run the country as a sole administrator.” In her address, NASU President, Mrs. Ladi Iliya, cautioned the Buhari administration to carry out the anti-graft crusade within the ambit of the law.
Iliya stated that it was incumbent on the administration to ensure that “due process must be followed in the anti-corruption war so that culprits will not escape due to procedural errors. “We call on the president to ensure that there are no sacred cows in the fight against corrupt officials”. The NASU national delegates' conference ends tomorrow with the election of new executives
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