Headline

Blow by Blow Account of Ozekhome’s Appearance Before Salami Panel on Magu

Published

4 years ago

July 30, 2020

Eric

STARTLING REVELATIONS AT THE PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE PRESIDENTIAL TASK FORCE ON EFCC HEADED BY JUSTICE AYO SALAMI, JCA (RTD), WITH INVITED GUEST, CHIEF MIKE OZEKHOME, SAN, ON TUESDAY, 28TH JULY, 2020.

Credible sources available to us told us that the Justice Ayo Salami panel met with Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, on Tuesday, 28th July, 2020, over its investigation of the EFCC in the last five years. Mr Ibrahim Magu was said to have been physically present at the session with his lawyer, Mr Wahab Shittu. Ozekhome was said to have kickstarted his presentation by introducing himself as a Nigerian patriot, a human rights activist, and a pro-democracy campaigner, who has practised law for over 39 years; and took the silk 11 years ago as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). He said he had participated in the last 3 major National Conferences in Nigeria to help re-engineer the weak structure of the Nigerian nation. These, he said, were the 2005 National Political Reform Conference, midwifed by the President Olusegun Obansanjo government; the Vision 2020, convoked by late President Umaru Yar’Adua; and, the 2014 National Conference, convened by President Goodluck Ebele Johnathan. He said he had appeared before the Salami panel, upon its invitation in a letter, dated 22nd July, 2020, as he would not have come at all, if he did not have an official invitation in writing, and if he did not have trust in the transparency and pan-Nigerianism of the Chairman of the panel, Justice Ayo Salami.

Ozekhome said his appearance before the panel was not necessarily for damage assessment, or to pull people down; but, to share his vision and views with the panel on how to re-build the EFCC and other security agencies, to become strong national institutions, instead of throwing up strong men and strong women as we have so far seen. To this end, Ozekhome stated that he had brought along with him, several files and concrete video evidence, to show how he had, over the years, advised on how to kill the corruption monster. He said the evidence also includes the urgency of re-structuring the EFFC, with over 30 recommendations as to how the EFCC could be better reformed and restructured to meet the expectations of Nigerians who are suffering under the terrible yoke of corruption.

Ozekhome testified that the EFCC of today, just as it has been since it was set up by the EFCC (Establishment) Act, 2004, has been about strong men and strong women, with each successive Chairman or Acting Chairman trying to outdo himself and others before him, in carrying out the bidding of the government in power, no matter how detestable, and thus play to the gallery.

He therefore craved the panel’s indulgence to allow him mention Ibrahim Magu time and time again, because Magu fully epitomised the EFCC; and thus, you cannot differentiate Magu from the EFCC and the EFCC from Magu. He said this is because EFCC did not represent a strong institution, independent of Magu, its Acting Chairman. Consequently, serial breaches by the EFCC under Magu are equally that of Magu himself. Ozekhome said whenever you ask the EFCC prosecutors or operatives why they were doing the wrong thing, they would tell you emphatically that “our Oga, Magu, told us to do so”.

Chief Ozekhome emphasised that he does not believe in corruption; and that he was perhaps the first Nigerian, who in January, 2015, when he met with the current president, Muhammadu Buhari (at that time, he was still campaigning as APC candidate) and Professor Sagay, SAN, the Chairman of PACAC, at a Police workshop, who made the famous statement (which should have been patented), “we must kill corruption before corruption kills us, because corruption has become the 37th state of Nigeria and the wealthiest and most powerful”.

Ozekhome testified that he has, however, always added a caveat: “We must fight corruption within the parameters and legal regime of our constitutional democracy, by respecting citizens’ fundamental rights, observing the rule of law and obeying court orders, even if unpalatable to the EFCC”. Ozekhome stated that he had personally interacted with Mr Ibrahim Magu, both in his old office in June, 2016 (or 2017), when he went to ask for the administrative bail of his client, one Alhaji Abdulhamid Zari, who had been in their detention and custody for over one week; and also publicly in August, 2017. He said he made this friendly rapprochement rather than going to court to seek bail as he could easily have done and had always done, so as to show that we could fight corruption without enlisting enmity and rancour. He said Mr Magu promised him that he should tell his client (Zari) to report to EFCC and that no one would further detain him, since he (Ozekhome) had personally come himself to ask for Zari’s administrative bail. Rather than this promise being fulfilled, Ozekhome said his client, with his junior lawyer, reported to the EFCC as promised, and his client was promptly clamped into detention again, where he spent the next 8 days in their custody or dungeon (as people call it); until Ozekhome went to court to seek bail and secure his client’s release. Upon serving them the EFCC the court processes (bail application), the EFCC hurriedly released him the next day. Meanwhile, the EFCC had also gone to the house and factory of this same client, to mark it with their normal red label and paint (“EFCC Zone: Keep off”). Therefore, the client, his wife, his family and his workers were all wrongfully thrown out of the premises. Ozekhome said he again went to the Federal High Court to ask that these paintings be removed and the properties released from further damage in order to let his client, his family and his workers resume possession. The court granted this order, but EFCC refused to obey the court order, as it was their passtime, until much later when it became convenient for them, in a most arbitrary manner.

Ozekhome testified that the second time he interacted with Mr Magu, this time publicly, was in August, 2017, when Mr Magu himself, most kindly invited him to the EFCC’s Training Centre at Karu, Abuja, where he said he spoke directly to Magu and the audience, saying that corruption should not be fought selectively, by allowing perceived corrupt people in government to go scot-free. He said he asked Magu what he was doing about perceived corruption within the EFCC itself, which Magu himself had admitted existed during his first confirmation appearance before the Senate. Ozekhome testified he had asked Magu specifically what he was doing about recovered loots, monies and properties, which Nigerians are saying were being relooted. Ozekhome testified that he had earlier written a letter to the Vice President, who was then the Acting President of Nigeria, on 31st May, 2017, where he asked him 12 questions concerning recovered loots. He said the letter was delivered at Aso Villa on 1st June, 2017. He said he then challenged Magu that he should just put one person in government in the dock, so that Nigerians would believe he is genuinely fighting corruption. Ozekhome said this was because what was happening was that when a member of the opposition party decamped to the ruling APC party, all the sins of that member are forgiven, like Namaan the leper, who dipped himself into River Jordan 7 times and was cleansed of his leprosy. He said the anti-corruption war should not be a battle of “we” versus “them”, as it is almost a norm that all the members of the ruling party were deemed to be uncorrupt and incorruptible, while all the members of the opposition parties, rights activists, critics, lawyers defending accused persons, were all deemed corrupt.

Ozekhome further went ahead to speak to the letter he wrote to Yemi Osibanjo, with a view to making the contents known to the public, by including it in a series of his writes-up. He tendered to the panel the CDs of the very meeting (workshop) containing his advice to Magu. Ozekhome said from Magu’s demeanour, he did not appear angry with him. He said in all fairness to Magu, some overzealous EFCC operatives did not want him (Ozekhome) to speak on that occasion, believing that he would simply abuse Magu, the EFCC and the government; but Magu pushed for Ozekhome to speak, stating that Ozekhome had come to help the EFCC. The EFCC originally wanted him to speak for 2 minutes only, but upon seeing his wonderful performance, the audience cheered him on and asked him to continue, thereby rendering his speech to last for around 7-10 minutes, instead of the initial 2 minutes. He testified that Comrade Adams Oshiomole was the Chairman at the occasion.

Ozekhome also testified that before this incident, and as far back as June, 2016, during the M. K. O. Abiola and Kudirat Abiola’s remeberance day at Chief Abiola house in Ikeja, Lagos (when the government was barely 1 year in office), he had peered into the future, like Nostradamus (the man who saw tomorrow), to tell the government why many Nigerians were not buying into the anti-corruption fight. He tendered a CD containing his advice to the government and also tendered another CD titled “Why DSS, EFCC and Buhari’s anti-corruption war is failing”. He said he made it clear in these exhibits, how to fight and win the anti-corruption fight. Ozekhome said he had also encountered Magu in December, 2017, during Justice Auta’s valedictory service as Chief Judge of the Federal High Court.

Ozekhome also spoke against the EFCC’s acts and passtime of leaking sensitive and private information concerning suspects still undergoing interrogation and investigation, to their preferred media outlets, The Nation Newspaper and Sahara Reporters. These media outlets would immediately publish a blow-by-blow account of the encounter between the FECC operatives and that suspect, who for now is still; presumed innocent. The panel was adjourned for the Sallah break, to give Ozekhome more and adequate time to make further presentations at a date to be communicated to all parties involved.

Headline

How FG Spent N19bn on Presidential Planes in 15 Months – Report

Published

5 days ago

November 12, 2024

Eric

At least N19.43 billion has reportedly been spent on the maintenance and operations of the Presidential Air Fleet from July 2023 to September 2024.

According to GovSpend, a civic tech platform that tracks and analyses the Federal government’s spending, showed that for 2024, the payouts amounted to N13.55billion, representing 66 per cent of the allocations for the fleet in the 2024 fiscal year.

Most disbursements were labeled ‘Forex Transit Funds,’ typically funds allocated for foreign exchange requirements to facilitate international transactions and engagements.

In the context of the Presidential Air Fleet, such funds are used to cover expenses related to operations outside the country, including fuel purchases, maintenance or services in foreign currencies.

“When aircraft on the fleet are abroad, payments are often made in U.S. dollars or another foreign currency to ensure uninterrupted operations,” a government official explained.

In July 2023, N1.52bn was disbursed in two tranches of N846m and N675m for ‘Presidential air fleet forex transit funds.’

The following month, N3.1bn was disbursed in three tranches of N388m, N2bn, and N713m for the same item.

In November of that year, N1.26bn was released to the Presidential Air Fleet Naira transit account.

The first overhead for 2024 came in March, where N1.27bn were disbursed twice, amounting to N2.54bn. The transit account received N6.35bn in April, N4.97bn in May and N210m in July.

August saw the highest frequency of transactions, with N5.60bn released in six separate disbursements.

Although these transactions were not clearly labeled, the monies were paid into the Presidential Air Fleet naira transit account, including the N35m transfer made in September.

In late April, the transit account received N5.08bn; this came around the same time the President was on a two-nation tour to the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia.

Although Tinubu arrived in the Netherlands in a state-owned Gulfstream AeroSpace 550 Jet, the aircraft could not proceed to Saudi Arabia due to unspecified technical problems. He reportedly continued his journey on a chartered private plane.

At the time, the President’s Boeing 737 business jet was undergoing maintenance. It was later replaced with an Airbus A330 purchased for $100m in August through service-wide votes.

The nearly 15-year-old plane, an ACJ330-200, VP-CAC (MSN 1053), is “spacious and furnished with state-of-the-art avionics, customised interior and communications system,” Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga said, adding that it “will save Nigeria huge maintenance and fuel costs, running into millions of dollars yearly.”

The new Airbus A330 is just one of several aircraft currently on the Presidential Air Fleet, arguably one of Africa’s largest, with around 11 aircraft of various makes and models. Until August, it comprised the 19-year-old B737-700 and a 13-year-old Gulfstream Aerospace G550.

The BBJ was acquired during the tenure of former President Olusegun Obasanjo at $43m but became a money guzzler as it aged.

Onanuga, defending the purchase of Airbus A330, argued that the new Airbus 330 aircraft and the costs of maintaining the air fleet were not for the president but in the interest of Nigerians.

“It’s not President Tinubu’s plane; it belongs to the people of Nigeria, it is our property…the President did not buy a new jet; what he has is a refurbished jet – it has been used by somebody else before he got it, but it is a much newer model than the one President Buhari used.

“The one President Buhari used was bought by President Obasanjo some 20 years ago. There was a time when the President went to Saudi Arabia, and the plane developed some problems. The President had to leave the Netherlands with a chartered jet.

“Nigerians should try to prioritise the safety of the President. I’m not sure anybody wishes our president to go and crash in the air. We want his safety so that he can hand it over to whoever wants to take over from him,” Onanuga said.

The presidential aide said he discussed with the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, on the faulty plane [Boeing 737 jet] and he said the maintenance costs were excessive because of the age of the aircraft, hence the need for another plane.

The presidential fixed-wing fleet includes a Gulfstream G500, two Falcon 7Xs, a Hawker 4000, and a Challenger 605.

Three of the seven fixed-wings are reportedly unserviceable. Meanwhile, the rotor-wing fleet includes two Agusta 139s and two Agusta 101s, all operated by the Nigerian Air Force but supervised by the Office of the National Security Adviser.

Former President Buhari promised to reduce the number of aircraft in the PAF to the absolute necessary.

In April 2023, three jets were put up for sale, but there were no specifics on which.

However, efforts to sell one of the Dassault Falcon 7x and the Hawker 4000 in October 2016 stalled when a potential buyer reduced their initial offer from $24m to $11m.

Since 2017, budgetary allocations for the fleet have shown a growing trend, with one exception in 2020.

The allocation for the fleet increased from N4.37bn in 2017 to N20.52bn in 2024, showing a 370 per cent rise in running costs.

In 2018, the fleet’s budget rose significantly by 66.13 per cent to N7.26bn, driven by a substantial increase in capital project allocations while maintaining similar levels for recurrent costs. This upward trajectory continued into 2019, slightly increasing the total allocation to N7.30bn.

The exception came in 2020, when the budget dropped by nearly seven per cent to N6.79bn, primarily due to decreased overhead costs, a reflection of the global economic impacts of lockdowns and disruptions in operations.

By 2021, however, the budget surged dramatically to N12.55bn—a record increase of 84.83 per cent from the previous year.

In 2022, maintenance expenses for each aircraft ranged from $1.5m to $4.5m annually.

The 2022, 2023 and 2024 appropriation acts earmarked N12.48bn, N13.07bn and N20.52bn respectively.

On his way to the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit in Samoa, a foreign object damaged the cockpit windscreen of Vice President Kashim Shettima’s GulfStream aircraft during a stopover at JFK Airport in New York.

According to Lee Aerospace, manufacturers of the Gulfstream, jet windshields consist of thick multilayered structures of varying layers of glass and transparent acrylic built to withstand collision with a 2kg object.

However, damage to the windshield must have affected its inner layers. While specific prices for replacement can vary based on supplier, labour rates and regional costs, estimates suggest that a single windshield replacement for a G550 can range from $50,000 to $70,000 for part and labour costs.

In an interview with our correspondent, the General Secretary of the Aviation Round Table, Olumide Ohunayo, blamed the meteoric rise in the allocations for the PAF on the age of some of the aircraft in the fleet and declining value of the naira as well as the “commercial use” of aircraft by the Nigerian Air Force.

Ohunayo said, “The cost will definitely increase over the years because for one, this issue of the naira against the dollar. As the naira keeps falling to the dollar, we will see a rise in cost because most of the costs of training crew and engineers and replacing aircraft parts are all in dollars.

“Also, some of these aircraft are not new. The older the aircraft, the higher the cost of maintenance and operation.

“Lastly, during these past years, terrorism and insecurity have increased in Nigeria, which has also affected the cost of insuring the aircraft.”

For his part, the Executive Chairman of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, Debo Adeniran, argued that the administration’s spending habits were opposite to Nigerians’ expectations of frugality.

“What we are getting from this administration is opposite to our expectation. We thought we would have an administration that would be frugal in spending and very meticulous at implementing its budget.

“But what we are getting is an administration that has fallen in love with profligacy; that doesn’t see anything wrong in living big amid a poverty-stricken nation.

“It is a reenactment of the Shagari administration, whereby they bought the biggest Mercedes Benz and made themselves as comfortable as possible without considering how much the masses are suffering.

“So when you look at a Vice President saying he’s not travelling [to Samoa] again because there was a splinter on the windscreen of his private aircraft. Why should that be the case?

“First and foremost, we need to be represented at such an international meeting, where we should be well represented by the first two citizens of this country.

“He abandoned that, which means we would have lost certain representation that we deserve at that forum. Two, money will have been spent on advance parties that went ahead of the Vice President. But he abandoned the journey altogether.”

Headline

Pastor Tunde Bakare: Celebrating a Visionary Preacher @70

Published

7 days ago

November 10, 2024

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

He is visionary, blunt, articulate, passionate, fiery, evangelical, fearless, controversial and the newest septugenarian. He is the Founder and Presidng Pastor of the Citadel Global Community Church (CGCC), formally known as the Latter Rain Assembly. He is Pastor Tunde Bakare.

A thought provoking preacher, social commentator, legal expert and politician, Tunde Bakare has come of age in the business called Nigeria.

Born on November 11, 1954, Pastor Bakare is regarded as not only a prophetic-apostolic pastor, but a social and economic image maker, whose contributions to the originality, truth and oneness of the nation cannot be overemphasized.

Originally a Muslim, who embraced the Christian faith in 1974 at the age of 20, Bakare has contributed his quota as a nation builder, seeking both the Vice president and president positions of the nation on two different occasions.

Pastor Bakare started his educational life at All Saints Primary School, Kemta, Abeokuta, and subsequently Lisabi Grammar School, Abeokuta, where he obtained both the School Leaving Certificate and the West Africa Examination Council certificate

After his secondary education, he was admitted into the University of Lagos where he studied Law between 1977 and 1980 before attending Law School in 1981, and was subsequently called to the Bar and following his time in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

Bakare kickstarted his career when he started practicing law at the Gani Fawehinmi Chambers. His dexterity on the job propelled him to Rotimi Williams & Co., and later to Burke & Co., Solicitors.

In October 1984, he went solo, and established his own law firm, Tunde Bakare & Co. (El-Shaddai Chambers). Within the preceeding periods, he combined his legal duties with pastoral functions working as a legal adviser at the Deeper Life Bible Church, and later moving to the Redeemed Christian Church of God, where he became pastor and founded the Model Parish.

Following his time at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Bakare left to start the Latter Rain Assembly Church in 1989, known today aa CGCC, where he presently serves as the General Overseer. In addition to his time in the church, he zeroed into part time politics, serving as the running-mate to presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari in the 2011 presidential election. Bakare has been critical of Nigeria’s leadership and has sparked controversy with comments considered inflammatory regarding Muslims and other spiritual leaders.

Also in 2019, Bakare announced his intention to run for president of Nigeria following the end of Buhari’s second term with a total conviction that he has a direct mandate to do and will surely become the next president of Nigeria. He joined the All Progressives Congress (APC) but, lost at the primaries conducted at Eagle Square, Abuja, in May 2022. He launched his then political trajectory under the New Nigeria Progressive Movement.

While expressing his intentions to run for the 2023 presidential election towards becoming the next president of Nigeria to church members in 2019 when he was quoted as saying, “I will succeed Buhari as President of Nigeria; nothing can change it. I am number 16, and Buhari is number 15. I never said it to you before. I am saying it now, and nothing can change it. In the name of Jesus, he (Buhari) is number 15. I am number 16. To this end, I was born, and for this purpose, I came into the world. I have prepared you for this for more than 30 years.”

Bakare also presides over the Global Apostolic Impact Network (GAIN), a network of churches, ministries, and kingdom businesses committed to advancing the Kingdom of God on earth as well as the President of Latter Rain Ministries, Inc. (Church Development Center) in Atlanta, GA, USA, a ministry committed to restoring today’s church to the scriptural pattern. He was given a Doctor of Ministry degree by Indiana Christian University under the leadership of his mentor, Dr. Lester Sumrall, in 1996.

Bakare has been instrumental to some uprisings in the country that challenge unhealthy administrations. It would be recalled that his Occupied Nigeria Movement led the protest against the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan in January 2012 after minor increase in fuel price. The protest was a total success, and led to reduction in fuel pump price.

Also a social critic, Bakare is critical of Miyetti Allah, labeling the Fulani herdsmen as a group of terrorists who rape, murder, and kidnap innocent civilians. Several Fulani Islamic scholars criticized Bakare’s comments about Fulani herdsmen as Islamophobic. Bakare had said that Fulani herdsmen were driving Nigeria towards a civil war.

He also holds a yearly state of the nation address to set the stage for the future and review national issues of the year past.

In his 2019 address, he stated, “We can therefore confidently state that, over the past thirty years, we have faithfully executed our God-given mandate to the nation from this platform. Over the past thirty years, we have deployed appropriate tools for appropriate occasions, from prophetic declarations to confrontational advocacy and from political activism to propositional policy advisory. Over the past thirty years, we have done this consistently, sometimes at the risk of being misunderstood by friends and foes alike.

“We have been motivated not by wavering
opinions of men but by our unshakeable faith in our national destiny and an unalloyed commitment to seeing that destiny fulfilled.”

Reports have it that he was arrested in March 2002 after preaching sermons critical of Nigeria’s then-president, Olusegun Obasanjo.

No matter how it is viewed, and the direction of his controversies, one thing is obvious, Bakare has stood on the side of truth, hope, and justice, and has remained consistent over the years.

The Serving Overseer has been very vocal, his trademark, over the recent hardship in the country, condemning the politicians for preaching what they cannot practice.

He said Nigerian politicians were not living lean or sacrificing like the rest of the citizens whom they asked to sacrifice for the country by enduring economic hardship.

Bakare said this while delivering the keynote address with the theme: “Cultivating a Culture of Dialogue: Nurturing Understanding in a Culturally and Socially Diverse Nation” at Wilson and Yinka Badejo Memorial Lecture 2024.

He is a strong believer in the theory that the pen is mightier than the sword. He write in an essay of same title that:

“The likes of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Kwame Nkrumah, and Chief Obafemi Awolowo, armed with no other weapon, mobilised the Queen’s language in the struggle for independence from the Queen. They fought their battles through such media as West African Pilot, Accra Evening News and The Tribune. Decades after independence, when free, fair and credible elections were annulled, and a tyrannical dictatorship held sway, the Nigerian press took up the baton and contended against the sword of oppression by deploying the armoury of vocabulary. I am so glad that the labours of these pen warriors and all others who fought for the democracy we enjoy today have not been in vain after all.”

For seven decades, Pastor Bakare has remained a voice in Nigeria politics, religion and socio-economic circle, relating with with Nigerians according to where the matter lies.

On this occasion of your 70th Birthday, we celebrate your consistency, focus and leadership acumen that has affected the people positively.

Congratulations sir!

Headline

US Polls: Tinubu, UK PM Starmer Congratulate Trump

Published

2 weeks ago

November 6, 2024

Eric

President Bola Tinubu has extended his heartfelt congratulations to President Donald Trump on his re-election as the 47th President of the United States of America.

A statement by Special Adviser to the President (Information & Strategy), Bayo Onanuga on Wednesday, said President Tinubu looks forward to strengthening the relations between Nigeria and the United States amid the complex challenges and opportunities of the contemporary world.

Donald Trump claimed victory on Wednesday and pledged to “heal” the country as results put him on the verge of beating Kamala Harris in a stunning White House comeback.

President Tinubu said: “Together, we can foster economic cooperation, promote peace, and address global challenges that affect our citizens.”

According to President Tinubu, Trump’s victory reflects the trust and confidence the American people have placed in his leadership. He congratulates them on their commitment to democracy.

President Tinubu believes that, given President Trump’s experience as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021, his return to the White House as the 47th president will usher in an era of earnest, beneficial, and reciprocal economic and development partnerships between Africa and the United States.

Acknowledging the United States’ influence, power, and position in determining the trend and course of global events, the Nigerian leader trusts that President Trump will bring the world closer to peace and prosperity.

Meanwhile, the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, has congratulated Donald Trump on his “historic election victory”, adding that the UK-US special relationship would “continue to prosper”.

“As the closest of allies, we stand shoulder to shoulder in defence of our shared values of freedom, democracy and enterprise. From growth and security to innovation and tech, I know that the UK-US special relationship will continue to prosper on both sides of the Atlantic for years to come,” he said.