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Okorocha In Another N726 Million Scandal

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Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has been exposed by Chairman of the Imo State governorship primaries, Ahmed Gulak.

Gulak said; “I will say without any iota of doubt that the NWC vindicated my stand. One, I did not appoint myself and other members of the panel. The NWC approved our appointment, myself as the chairman and returning officer and six other members including the secretary making us seven as enshrined in the guideline.”
“We went to Imo, we stood our ground, elections held, results collated and the winner announced. We came back, in fact after the collation few others and myself escaped from where we would have been conscripted. The governor himself came to take everybody in the hotel but before he arrived, about four of us escaped and he moved other members including the secretary.”

“He took them to government House and they read a prepared speech declaring his son in-law the winner of that exercise. But I had already left Owerri for Abuja where I submitted my result. As I speak today, there is no single petition against our report and against the result. Let us not forget, Rochas in-law was not the only aspirant, Hope Uzodinma was not the only aspirant.”

“They were other seven aspirants including the Deputy Governor of Imo state. All the other aspirants, nine of them, there is no single petition against the conduct of the election. And if there were grievances against the conduct of that election, the party has an appeal panel that petition ought to have been lodged. The Appeal Panel would recommend whether or not a fresh primary will be conducted, that did not happen.”

“As we speak, in accordance with the constitution and the guidelines, the result submitted by my committee, signed by me is the authentic unchallenged report and the NWC had no option but to uphold that report.”
“I feel vindicated, the members of my committee feel vindicated. The issue of Governor Rochas going round threatening the party is not the best for a governor. He is supposed to be a statesman. This is his party, I understand very well that he is the senatorial candidate of his party in Orlu, so he should not weaken the party from within.”

“He should call everybody; all hands must be on deck to ensure that the party retains the state. With his influence in the party and power as state governor his candidate didn’t get the ticket… (cuts in) Well, I don’t know Imo people very well. But I know that whoever governor Rochas wants to push forward, decency demands that he should do so in consultation with the stakeholders of that state.”

“Even if he wants to put his son in-law, his daughter or his wife, he ought to have consulted the stakeholders. No one man can do this game of politics. Everybody must be carried along. I feel, may be, because he did not consult the stakeholders before pushing his son in-law as the person to succeed him. And naturally, people will revolt and if he has his way to impose his son in-law on the party, what of the general election?”

“Can he impose the candidate on the people? At the end of the day the people of Imo state will decide who they will vote as governor and don’t forget it is not a one party system, we have more than 85 political parties with candidates. And in Imo state I have on good authority that we have about eleven or ten political parties fielding candidates as governors.
“I know that if you impose your son in-law as party candidate don’t forget that that it is the Imo people who will decide who the governor will be. And I also have on good authority that immediately they learnt that the NWC has upheld the result of the Imo primaries the other candidates subsumed their ambition in the interest of Imo state to support Hope Uzodinma.”

“As party men we should all be happy about that too. That is politics without selfishness. Rochas has spent eight years as governor of Imo state, you want your son in-law to succeed you, you want to come to the senate as a senator, you want your wife to be a House of Reps member, you want a running mate who is fiance of your daughter that is another son in-law to be deputy governor, that itself is indecent, it is immoral and the people of Imo state may not take it likely.”

“They are not slaves; you cannot enslave them by making it a personal family dynasty. This is a state with well-educated people, well enlightened state where we have professors in almost every family. we have business men, industrialists, these people have stake in Imo state. So I know they will not lie low when Rochas attempts to enslave them.”

“He has gone on air every day to abuse me, maligning me but I have decided to keep calm because it is an internal family matter. However, I urge him to be a better party man. Abusing me every day on television and newspapers will not help him, he should go and work for the victory of his party and leave me alone.”
“Naturally, even before I went to Imo State, I was offered a private jet to take me to Imo state but I refused because I didn’t want to be compromised. I refused the private jet and even the tempting offer made to me, very tempting, we are talking about two million dollars here, which I refused. Although, I tried to persuade them that I was going to do what is needful, free and fair primaries. Every stakeholder must be involved.”

“Immediately we landed at the airport, that was where the problem started. They wanted to kidnap every member and only God knows where they wanted to take us to, which I refused. And to say the least, I pity the Imo people but they have to take their destiny in their own hands and elect who they feel will represent them well. I am not from Imo state but I am a Nigerian. There is equality and there is equity. Some of our governors, I am sorry to say this, they take state resources as their personal resources and we know that power is transient.”

“After four or eight years you are out of power and the system will get you. But haven said that, I am happy that the party has vindicated me and I know it is the best decision for the people of Imo state.”

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EFCC indicts Sirika, brother in new N19bn fraud

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has charged former Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, his brother, Ahmad Sirika; and his company – Enginos Nigeria Limited, with over N19.4bn fraud.

The sum is said to be for several aviation ministry contracts from the former minister to Enginos Nigeria Limited, owned by Sirika’s younger brother, Abubakar.

The Sirika brothers and Enginos Nigeria Limited will be arraigned before Justice Belgore of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Garki, Abuja today (Tuesday).

It is the second criminal charge the EFCC will be filing against the ex-aviation minister.

He was last Thursday arraigned for N2.7bn fraud before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja.

Sirika was arraigned on six counts alongside his daughter, Fatimah; brother-in-law, Jalal Hamma, and Al-Buraq Investment Ltd.

The defendants pleaded not guilty while Justice Sylvanus Oriji granted them N100m bail each, with the condition that they must not travel out of the country until the end of the criminal case.

On Monday, EFCC insiders informed The PUNCH that the anti-graft agency had filed a second charge against the ex-minister, bordering on N19.4bn fraud.

In the copy of the fresh charges sighted by our correspondent on Monday, the EFCC alleged that Sirika, “while being the Minister of Aviation, on or about 18th August 2022, in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, did use your position to confer an unfair advantage upon Enginos Nigeria Limited, whose alter ego, Ahmad Abubakar Sirika, is your biological brother, by using your position to influence the award to him, the contract for the construction of a terminal building at Katsina Airport for the sum of N1,345,586,500.00.”

According to the EFCC, Sirika’s alleged action was a violation of Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000 and punishable under the same section.

In another count, the EFCC alleged that “on or about 3rd of November, 2022, in Abuja,” Sirika used his position “to confer unfair advantage upon Enginos Nigeria Limited, whose alter ego, Ahmad Abubakar Sirika, is your biological brother, by using your position to influence the award to him, the contract for the establishment of Fire Truck Maintenance and Refurbishment Centre at Katsina Airport for the sum of N3,811,497,685.00.”

In another count, he was accused of corruptly awarding a N615,195,275.00 contract to his brother for the procurement and installation of lift and air conditioners and power generators for the Aviation House in Abuja.

Furthermore, the EFCC alleged that Sirika, between August 2022 and May 2023 in Abuja, “had possession of an aggregate sum of N2,337, 840,674.16, which sum you knew indirectly represented the proceeds of criminal conducts of Hadi Abubakar Sirika, who was the Minister of Aviation at the time.”

It was revealed that the ex-minister’s younger brother, Abubakar, was earlier arrested and detained by the EFCC in connection with N3,212,258,930.18 paid to his company, Enginos Nigerian Limited’s bank account by the former minister.

 

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Nigerian Bank chiefs obtain N549bn insider loans in five years

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Directors and key management personnel of Deposit Money Banks borrowed about N549bn from their financial institutions in five years.

This is according to The PUNCH analysis of the banks’ annual reports filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited between 2019 and 2023.

However, the banks’ loans and advances to some directors and key management personnel as well as related party transactions dropped significantly in 2023.

These transactions dropped to N52.40bn for eight financial institutions compared to N111.31bn in 2022, indicating a 52.92 per cent decline in one year.

Financial institutions reviewed in the 2023 review include Access Holdings, Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa, Fidelity Bank, Wema Bank, Stanbic IBTC Holding Plc and the FCMB Group.

This decline came amid the release of new corporate governance guidelines by the Central Bank of Nigeria which went into effect August 1, 2023.

In the circular dated July 13, 2023, and signed by Director, Financial Policy and Regulation Department, Chibuzo Efobi, the guidelines which imposed responsibilities on the bank board and the executive compliance officers, supersede other previous codes, circulars and related directives, according to the apex bank.

The CBN guidelines on related party transactions said, “Banks shall establish a policy concerning insider trading and related party transactions by directors, senior executives, and employees, as well as publish the policy or a summary of that policy on their website. 22.2 The policy shall contain appropriate standards and procedures to ensure it is effectively implemented. 22.3 In addition to the requirements in Section 22.2, there shall be an internal review mechanism carried out by the internal audit function of the bank, to assess the compliance and effectiveness of the policy.

“22.4 Any director whose facility or that of his/her related interests remains nonperforming in any financial institution for more than one year shall cease to be on the board of the bank and shall be blacklisted from sitting on the board of such bank and that of any other financial institution under the purview of the CBN. 22.5 No director-related loans and/or interest thereon shall be written off without the CBN’s prior approval.”

Leading the pack in terms of major decline in loans to related parties and entities controlled by key management personnel was Fidelity Bank Plc, which went from N92.31bn at the end of December 2022 to N2.09bn at the end of last year.

In footnotes, the bank however said that some of the related parties like A-Z Petroleum Limited, Dangote Group and Genesis Group as of 31 December 2022, had “exited the related party relationship post 2022 financial year in line with CBN requirement.”

In 2022, the total value of insider loans for 10 banks including Access Holdings, Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa, Fidelity Bank, Wema Bank, Stanbic IBTC Holding Plc, FCMB Group, Unity Bank and Sterling Bank amounted to N131.04bn.

Fidelity Bank led the highest for the year, followed by Unity Bank at N17.32bn and UBA at N13.74bn.

In 2021, the loans to related parties of these financial institutions rose to N139.16bn with Fidelity Bank and UBA leading at N97.73bn and N15.28bn, respectively. GTCO trailed in third position with N6.859bn.

Between 2019 and 2020, a total of N226.6bn was disbursed as loans. In 2019, eleven banks borrowed its key management personnel a total sum of N29.65bn. The figure also includes loans to companies related to the directors.

An analysis showed that GTCO lent N155m, Zenith Bank (N1.76bn), UBA borrowed its directors N297m, Wema Bank (N5.2bn), Stanbic IBTC (N95m), FCMB (N4.8bn), Unity Bank(N7.14bn), Sterling Bank (N10.12bn) to related parties.

In 2020, the figure increased by 564 per cent or N167.32bn to N196.97bn.

Checks showed that Access Bank lent the highest with a total of N174bn to its directors and companies related to them. This was followed by Unity Bank with N7.55bn. Third on the list was Sterling Bank with N6.01bn.

Other banks including Fidelity borrowed its directors N986.2m, GTBank (N67.9m), Zenith Bank (N1.797bn), UBA (N206m), Wema Bank (N2.82bn), Stanbic IBTC (N332m), FCMB (N3.2bn), Unity Bank (N7.55bn), Sterling Bank (N6.01bn).

Commenting on the trend, the Chief Research Officer at InvestData Consulting, Ambrose Omordion said “In my language, they say, it is the yam that you know that you use to make pounded yam. If an organisation feels that the insider or director can pay the loans given to them, then there is no issue. It is when they do not pay that is where there would be issues.

“Like what is happening now in the economy, banks are not giving loans to ordinary companies unless those with names because of economic headwinds. If they give loans to the public and they are unable to repay, Non-Performing Loans will rise. If the banks offer to insiders that would pay, it is better for them.”

 

The Punch

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Court Orders Arrest of Ex-Naval Chief, Usman Jibrin Over Alleged N1.5billion Money Laundering Charges

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Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has ordered the arrest of a former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin, and two other officers over N1.5 billion money laundering charge.

 

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) dragged the trio before the court over fraud N1.5bn allegations.

 

The court issued the arrest warrant after hearing a motion exparte marked FHC/ABJ/CR/158/2023 and filed by ICPC counsel, Osuobeni Ekoi Akponimisingha.

 

In the motion, the lawyer submitted that Usman Jibrin Oyibe, Adam Imam Yusuf, Brigadier General Ishaya Gangum Bauka (first to third defendants), were investigated for allegations of money laundering and making false statements regarding diversion of funds in their respective military and paramilitary institutions, into companies in which they allegedly had stake.

 

According to him, at the commencement of the investigation into the allegations, the defendants were released on administrative bail on self-recognition because of their status as serving and former public figures and has since then refused to show up for possible arraignment in court.

 

The Lawyer prayed the court for a bench warrant against the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Respondents (Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin Oyibe, Adam Imam Yusuf, and Brigadier General Ishaya Gamgum Bauka) in charge No. FHC/ABJ/CR/158/2023 which is pending before the court for the purpose of arresting and bringing them to court for their arraignment and trial.

 

Listed as first to sixth defendants in the 17-count charge are Usman Jibrin Oyibe, Adam Imam Yusuf, Brigadier General Ishaya Gangum Bauka, Lahab integrated & Multi Services Limited, Gate Coast Properties International Limited and Ummays Hummayd Energy Ltd

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