The people invited were also
asked to come with some relevant documents, which would be submitted to the
panel. A probe panel, headed by
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo,
constituted to investigate the suspended
director-general of the National Intelligence Agency, Ayo Oke, and the
secretary to the government of the federation, Babachir Lawal, has dispatched
letters of invitation to some NIA officials demanding they appear before it
today, April 24.
The newspapers for Monday,
April 24 focus on the moves by the presidential panel probing the suspended DG
of NIA, Ayo Oke, and the SGF, Babachir Lawal, to commence investigations.
Oke is under probe for the
NIA’s role in the seized $43.4m, N23m and £27,000 (N13bn) in the Osborne
Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos. Lawal, on his part, was suspended in connection with a
contract scandal in the Internally Displaced Persons camp in the north-east as
alleged by a Senate ad hoc committee. The Osinbajo led panel also has the
attorney general of the federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), and the national
security adviser, Babagana Moguno, as members. Part of the tasks of the
committee is to investigate why the NIA kept $43.4m, N23m and £27,000 (N13bn)
in the Ikoyi house.
The newspaper stated that
the panel has also summoned the CBN to explain its role in the cash haul found
in a building in Ikoyi. A source told the newspaper that the National Security
Adviser (NSA) and chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
were aware of issues relating to the money recovered at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi,
Lagos.
“The NSA and Magu were
aware of these activities. Why they (EFCC) did what they did only God knows. He
(Magu) submitted what he had earlier submitted to NSA in 2015. You know Magu
said he had earlier investigated NIA staff and that some of them were living
above their means,” the source said. The presidential committee has also
summoned some commercial banks over the N220 million for grass-cutting contract
in Yobe state. The newspaper learnt, the committee is interested in
understanding the rationale behind the rapid transfer of over N200 million
within a couple of weeks from the contractor to a firm, Rholavision
Technologies.
The record of transactions, now before the
Osinbajo’s panel raises a lot of questions, which the panel is determined to
unravel. According to a source, a commercial bank manager is expected to
provide answers on why the sums were rapidly moved from the contractor’s
account to another company. Meanwhile in a related news report, former Edo
state governor, Adams Oshiomhole, or former deputy Senate minority leader,
Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, will replace suspended SGF Babachir David Lawal,
depending on the findings of the panel probing the allegations of financial
impropriety him.
This Day reports that
Oshiomhole and Mamora are said to be on a shortlist that is currently before
President Muhammadu Buhari, as the Osinbajo panel kicks off the investigation
into the management of funds meant for humanitarian assistance in the
North-east. Speaking on the development, a reliable presidency source said:
“The general belief is that Babachir Lawal may not survive the findings of the
probe panel, so a shortlist has been drawn up. “Two names featured prominently
on the list. They are Adams Oshiomhole and Olorunnimbe Mamora.” The source
recalled that Buhari had on the expiration of the tenure of Oshiomhole in
November last year, told the former labour leader that he deserved a federal
appointment, having in his estimation done well as a two-term governor of Edo
state.
Although, no one knew what
the president actually had in mind when he made the remark, it was later
believed that Oshiomhole might have been pencilled down as a possible
replacement for the incumbent National Chairman of the All Progressives
Congress (APC), since the office had been zoned to the south-south, the source
mentioned. Mamora on his part was recently dropped as a non-career
ambassadorial nominee. Those pushing for Mamora, it was learnt, were said to
have held the position that the former speaker of the Lagos state House of
Assembly and two-term senator, was the most marginalised among those who worked
assiduously for Buhari’s victory at the 2015 polls.
A source said the wife of
the president, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, is one of those who have been unhappy that
Mamora, who was the deputy director-general of the Buhari campaign organisation
during the electioneering, has been left out in the cold since Buhari assumed
office almost two years ago. In another development, detectives of the EFCC are
probing the whereabouts of $15.8billion Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG)
Limited dividends.
The Nation reports that
under investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) are
former petroleum resources minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke and some former
officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the
Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), the upstream arm of NNPC in
charge of oil exploration and production.
Also being investigated are
some ex-managing directors of NNPC, former NPDC bosses and past executive
directors. The newspaper leant that the audit report of the Nigeria Extractive
Industries Transparency Initiatives (NEITI) prompted the EFCC to step into the
“missing” cash. The March 2017 Policy Brief of NEITI claimed that its audit
report indicated that “it is doubtful if the entire $15.8 billion due from 2000
to 2014 is still intact”. According to some official documents, the
$15,822,713,000.00 dividends came from the NLNG between 2000 and 2014.
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