Ex-Governor Bafarawa’s son, ex-PDP chairman’s aide, 18 others also held
SOME OF THE ALLEGATIONS
- Ex-Minister Bashir Yuguda collected N1.5b from NSA’s office
- Yuguda obtained N1.275b from Stallion Group for 2015 campaign
- Ex-Minister got N775m from the Office of the Accountant-General
- Finance chief Shaibu Salisu allegedly furnished a kitchen with N28m
- Sagir Bafarawa got $4.6billion from the NSA’s office
- Abbah Mohammed and Haliru Mohammed got N600million
- Ex-Sokoto State Governor Attahiru Bafarawa and ex-PDP National
Chairman Haliru Mohammed under EFCC’s watch
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) detectives yesterday arrested former Minister of State (Finance) Bashir Yuguda for allegedly receiving N1.5billion from the National Security Adviser’s (NSA’s) office for unclear reasons.
Yuguda is also being interrogated for allegedly collecting N1.275billion from the Stallion Group during the campaign for the last general election and N775million from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.
Also arrested yesterday were Shaibu Salisu, a former Director of Finance and Administration in the NSA’s office during the tenure of Mr. Sambo Dasuki, Sagir Bafarawa, Abbah Mohammed and Haliru Mohammed who are both the sons of ex-Governor Attahiru Bafarawa and ex-National Chairman of PDP, Mohammed Bello Haliru.
Their fathers had been put on EFCC radar as at press time yesterday.
Sagir Bafarawa, allegedly acting as front for his father, was said to have received $4.6b from the NSA’s office. Abbah Mohammed reportedly got N600m in the name of Bam Properties.
About 18 others were also under investigation last night, but the EFCC gave no details.
It was learnt that among the 18 suspects were top military chiefs connected with the “armsgate”.
A sources, who pleaded not to be named because of the “sensitivity” of the matter, said: “The EFCC stepped up its investigation into the controversial arms deal by Dasuki, with the arrest of a former Minister of State for Finance, Bashir Yuguda. He was arrested in Abuja and brought to the Head Office of the commission at about 4pm.
“He is being grilled for his alleged complicity in the armsgate. He allegedly received N1.5billion from the NSA’s office through an unnamed company for unclear reasons.
“The ex-minister is alleged to have received N1.275billion from the Stallion Group during the campaign for the last general election. He also allegedly received N775million from the Office of Accountant-General of the Federation. All monies were paid to him between December 2014 and May 2015.
“Also, a former National Chairman of PDP, Mohammed Bello Haliru and former Sokoto State Governor Attahiru Bafarawa are on the radar of the EFCC for alleged complicity in the dubious arms deals.
“Their sons, Sagir Bafarawa and Abbah Mohammed Haliru Mohammed, have been arrested by the EFCC.
“Another prime player in the arms deal , who is currently bring detained on court order by the EFCC is Shaibu Salisu.
“Salisu, former Director of Finance and Admin in the NSA’s office and a member of the staff of the National Intelligence Agency(NIA) was joint signatory to the NSA’s account alongside Sambo Dasuki. He is believed to be a major figure in the questionable disbursement of funds from the office.”
EFCC spokesman Wilson Uwujaren said: “The ex-minister, the former Director of Finance, and other suspects are with us.
“We have arrested them and investigation is ongoing.”
There were indications that some suspects had volunteered to refund some of the money paid to them for equipment, which were undelivered.
The EFCC was last night awaiting a decision of the Federal High Court in Abuja on December 3 before arresting Dasuki, who has been under house arrest in the past few weeks.
Another source in the anti-graft commission said:”Some of the suspects have indicated interest in refunding the illicit funds.
”We are awaiting the decision of a Federal High Court on December 3, 2015 before arresting Dasuki for interrogation. We have tried as much as possible to be civil and respect the judiciary.
“We have invited Dasuki for interaction, we are still waiting for him – in line with our determination to employ international best practices and the rule of law. But there is a limit to which a suspect under investigation can take this commission for granted.”
The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Mr. Femi Adesina, on November 17, 2015 said the interim report uncovered fraudulent financial transactions.
Adesina said in part: “”Further findings revealed that between March 2012 and March 2015, the erstwhile NSA, Lt.-Col. MS Dasuki (rtd) awarded fictitious and phantom contracts to the tune of N2,219,188,609.50, $1,671,742,613.58 and €9,905,477.00.
“The contracts, which were said to be for the purchase of four Alpha Jets, 12 helicopters, bombs and ammunition, which were not executed and the equipment were never supplied to the Nigerian Air Force, neither are they in its inventory.
“Even more disturbing was the discovery that out of these figures, two companies were awarded contracts to the tune of N350,000,000.00, $1,661,670,469.71 and €9,905,477.00 alone. This was without prejudice to the consistent non-performance of the companies in the previous contracts awarded.
“Additionally, it was discovered that the former NSA directed the Central Bank of Nigeria to transfer the sum of $132,050,486.97 and €9,905,473.55 to the accounts of Societe D’equipmente Internationaux in West Africa, United Kingdom and United States of America for un-ascertained purposes, without any contract documents to explain the transactions.
“As part of the findings, the committee has analysed interventions from some organisations that provided funds to the Office of the National Security Adviser, Defence Headquarters, Army Headquarters, Navy Headquarters and Nigerian Air Force Headquarters, both in local and foreign currencies.
“So far, the total extra budgetary interventions articulated by the committee is N643,817,955,885.18 while the foreign currency component is to the tune of $2,193,815,000.83.
“It was observed that in spite of this huge financial intervention, very little was expended to support defence procurement.
“The committee also observed that of 513 contracts awarded at $8,356,525,184.32, N2,189,265,724,404.55 and €54,000.00, 53 were failed contracts amounting to $2,378,939,066.27 and N13,729,342,329.87 respectively.
He said the committee said the amount of foreign currency spent on failed contracts was more than double the $1 billion loan that the National Assembly approved to buy equipment to curtail insurgency in the North-East,
“The committee also discovered that payments to the tune of N3,850,000,000.00 were made to a single company by the former NSA without documented evidence of contractual agreements or fulfillment of tax obligations to the Federal Government of Nigeria” , Adesina added.
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