07/08/2024
Bunmi Awoyemi Divinewealth
COPIED.
"CHIEF OKOI OBONO-OBLA WAS AN UNSUNG HERO OF THE ANTICORRUPTION WAR BEFORE MONUMENTALLY CORRUPT AGF ABUBAKAR MALAMI GOT HIM SACKED AND DISBANDED THE SPIP WHICH HE LED WITH BOLDNESS JUST LIKE HE IS DOING TO IBRAHIM MAGU.
The special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property was set up by the President in August 2017. The achievements made were numerous, some of which are as enumerated below:
1. Nigeria Export and Import Bank (NEXIM).
During the course of investigation, the Panel recovered five hundred and thirty-three Million, Two Hundred Thousand Naira (N523,200,000.00) cash and land valued (N1.5 Billion recovered from A*o Bank to NEXIM Bank. The panel also recovered Seven Million Dollar ($ 7,000,000.00) illegally placed in Heritage Bank by the previous management of NEXIM.
Before the SPIP was dissolved, more recoveries were being made.
2. National Theatre The sum of Twenty Four Million Naira (N24,000,000) which was misappropriated and diverted by some Directors were recovered. The directors were arraigned before the Federal High Court, Lagos but the charges were subsequently withdrawn by the Attorney General of the Federation.
3. National Council for Arts and Culture
The Panel recovered and handed over two plots of land worth over two Billion Naira(N2,000,000,000) after investigation.
4. Nigeria Ports Authority Investigation and process of recovering a lot of landed
property belonging to the Nigeria Port Authority (NPA) in Calabar, Warri, Koko, Sapele and Lagos ports was in full swing before the SPIP was dissolved. The Special Committee set up
for that purpose had started with Lagos and were scheduled to be in other parts of the Country before the SPIP was disbanded.
5. Public Officers Two brothers namely Mr Ibrahim Tumsa and Tijani Tumsa were
charged and were disvovered to be living a lavish life and acquiring properties inconsistent with their positions as public
officers. The Panel recovered a total number of 86 Luxury vehicles 20 of which were bullet Proof valued at over N700,000,000.
The SPIP led by Chief Okoi Obono-Obla also
recovered some of their properties within Abuja and some States as these properties were also seized by the Panel. These seizures ran into Billions of Naira. They were charged to
court but they went on appeal, challenging the jurisdiction of the court on the matter but the AGF has returned all their recoveries to them and discontinued the cases against them.
6. National Assembly
A. The Panel had filed assets forfeiture proceedings in the Federal High Court against a Serving Senator in respect of:-
• Numerous Landed assets
• Failure to declare assets.
B. The Panel was investigating a former Senate President; former Deputy Senate President Senators, former Speaker of the House of Representatives; former Deputy Speaker who
were Principal Officers of the National Assembly who had unlawfully acquired their residences. The investigation also included a former Chief Justice of Nigeria.
The residences were acquired at give-away prices contrary to the Monetization Policy of Federal Government, the sale was therefore contrary to the provision of the Federal Government of Nigeria Official Gazette No. 82, Vol. 92 of 15th August 2005.
The sale of these residence built with taxpayers money was contrary to the provisions of Paragraphs 1&6 (1) of Part 1 of
the 5th schedule to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) since the purchasers were Public
officers.
C. The Monetization Policy ensured the responsibility for the provision of residential accommodation for the Senate President; Deputy Senate President; the Speaker of the House of Representative and the Chief Justice of Nigeria on shoulders of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
7. The Panel had prepared a list of more than 200 present and past public officers whose assets it had been investigating. The Panel wrote to the Home Secretary in the United Kingdom requesting that the United Kingdom should disallow certain public officers from entering the U.K that had acquired illicit
assets in the United Kingdom; The Panel wrote to the Serious Fraud Office in the United
Kingdom requesting for Investigation and Forfeiture of assets worth Hundreds of millions of Pounds acquired by certain
public officials from Nigeria.
This was after the passage of the unexplained Wealth Order (Regulation) in the U.K in January, 2018, which provides that any property or assets in the United Kingdom acquired worth more than Fifty Thousand Pounds, the owner of such property or assets is required to explain the source of the property or assets otherwise such property or assets shall be subject to forfeiture proceedings.
8. The Special Presidential Investigation Panel (SPIP) investigated Account No 1750027157designated “NNPC Operations Account” hitherto maintained by Skye Bank Ltd
now operated by Polaris Bank Ltd; The Panel had found that the above was to be operated and maintained by Polaris Bank Ltd, and had in it the sum of $223,862,000(Two Hundred and Twenty-Three Million, Eight Hundred and Sixty –Two Thousand Dollars) only.
The Panel had discovered in the course of an investigation, that this account and the sums of monies accrued therein was maintained and operated in violation of the Laws of the
Country. As a result of the intense investigation and findings the bank (Polaris Bank Ltd) agreed to refund the whole sum of money
as follows:
1. The sum of $223,862,000 (Two Hundred and Twenty-Three Million, Eight Hundred and Sixty –Two Thousand Dollars) in Account No. 1750027157 designated “NNPC Operation
Account” (Foreign Currency) be transferred to the Central Bank of Nigeria Treasury Single Account (TSA).
2. The said amount shall be paid into the Central Bank of Nigeria Treasury Single Account in Foreign Currency USD.
3. The Panel had consented that Polaris Bank should commence the payment of the said sum in tranches of $10,000,000 (Ten Million Dollars) monthly until the full amount
is liquidated; and in the Alternative, where convenient and realistic, the Bank undertook to pay the balance enbloc without recourse to instalment payment.
9. The Panel had commenced the process of recovering Seven Billion Dollars funds granted commercial Banks between 2006 and 2009 by the Central Bank of Nigeria. When the SPIP inquired about the status of the Money, the
commercial Banks claimed the money was a gift by the CBN to them with no obligation to repay it back to the FG.
It was discovered that the money belongs to the people of Nigeria and could not be given away to commercial Banks owned by private individuals. The SPIP was on the verge of recovering the $7b before the AGF instigated its disbanding. As a result these banks are still
holding on to the $7b.
10. The Panel was in the process of recovering a large piece of land belonging to a parastatal agency under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The land was encroached upon, and sold by unpatriotic people. The land was in the process of being recovered and all the culprits being prosecuted before Malami instigated the dissolution of
the SPIP.
11. The Panel was investigating some officials of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) concerning the embezzlement of $ 8million granted to NFF by FIFA. The officials involved were charged before the Federal High Court, Abuja but the case was withdrawn by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and they were freed from prosecution.
12. The Panel was investigating the illegal drilling of crude oil in Delta State by Mid-Western Oil and Gas Limited. There was
an ongoing investigation of more than ten oil companies who had not paid oil Royalties. The Panel was investigating the failure of several oil companies to remit fees for purchase of
oil blocks including Hydrocarbon Nigeria Limited , Agip, Seplat etc.
The Panel was also investigating the failure of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited to pay the outstanding balance of. More than
$1, 5 billion concerting the purchase of oil block from the Federal Government of Nigeria. The oil company only paid $600 million. The disbanding of the SPIP compromised these
investigations.
13. The Panel paid an official visit to the Federal Housing Authority in A*okoro Sequel to a letter received from FHA on the re documentation exercise of houses developed by the FHA in Abuja.
According to the FHA, it has in 2015 introduced computerization of its property record in order to strengthen the Agency’s documentation and record keeping. It was discovered that in the FHA Gwarinpa Estate alone there were several record discrepancies such as:
1. Houses without the detail of owners occupants.
2. Houses without Property files
3. Houses with outstanding of various payments due for the
Government e.t.c.
The FHA has in the past involved several Government Agencies in its attempt to sort out those issues without any tangible results. Hence its resort to seeking assistance from the Panel. During the visit, all the issues were discussed and a road map was designed to assist the FHA out of the unfortunate situation.
Full-scale investigations and recoveries
were on before Malami instigated the disbanding of the SPIP.
14. A multinational oil Company based in Egi Kingdom in River State was under investigation for cheating its host community of Thirty-Eight Billion Naira (N38,000,000,000) and Thirty Million Dollars ($30M). This was being investigated before the SPIP was disbanded.
15. The Panel was investigating the failure of a company awarded a contract by Nigeria Port Authority for the dredging of the Calabar Channel which received Twelve Million Dollars
($12M) but left the job undone.
The owner of the Company Mr Hope Uzodimma was on the run and was declared wanted. Unfortunately, he is now the governor of Imo State and will now enjoy immunity from prosecution until 2023. But for the disbanding of the SPIP such a character would not have
become governor.
16. The Panel also investigated EXXONMOBIL seeking the payment of $1.9 Billion Dollar owed the federal Government by Mobil Producing Nigeria due to the renewal of three of its Oil Mining Leases in 2009. Only $600 Million was paid to the Federal Government of Nigeria. Unfortunately, the disbanding
of the SPIP truncated this investigation.
17. The then Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment, was found to have Corruptly enriched himself more than his earnings, his properties and his hotels were ceased and was scheduled to appear before the court for the offence before Malami instigated the disbanding of the SPIP.
18. The Panel was investigating the failure of Airtel to pay taxes to the Federal Government since 2005. Details of this was to be forwarded after the officers attached to the Panel on Secondment from the FIRS finished the investigation and submitted their report for possible prosecution. Unfortunately, the SPIP's disbanding killed the investigation.
19. The panel wrote to Serious Fraud Office in the UnitedKingdom requesting the investigation and forfeiture of assets worth millions of Pounds acquired by certain public officers from Nigeria.
A public officer was alleged to have stashed millions of British Pounds Sterling in his London residence.
• The panel also wrote to the United States Treasury Office of Financial Crimes to investigate properties acquired by serving
public officers worth hundreds of thousands, of Dollars in Florida, United State of America.
• Nigerian law stipulates that any public officer found guilty of an offence under Federal government law and upon conviction shall, apart from any other penalty prescribed by or pursuant to any other provision of the act, forfeit the assets, whether movable or immovable property connected with the
commission of the offence, to Federal Government.
20. RECOVERED 19 VEHICLES BELONGING TO NATIONAL POPULATION COMMISSION NPC)
The special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property recovered 19 Vehicles from some former Commissioners of National Population Commission (NPC) on
Friday 7th September 2018. These vehicles were allegedly taken away by the commissioners after their tenure in office.
Vehicles were handed over to Officials of the commission at a brief ceremony. The recovery was a tip-off by a member of staff of the commission, to the Panel in March 2018.
Commissioners were not supposed to leave with the official property, after having benefitted from the government monetization Policy.
The vehicles were for operations of NPC.
Director of Census in NPC, Mr. Liman Baba, who received the vehicle on behalf of the Chairman, Mr. Eze Duruiheoma, commended the Panel for its good job. He said the vehicles
recovered would ease the challenges of logistics facing the commission.
The recovered vehicles were mostly sport utility vehicles built by the local automaker, Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company. The Panel had also recovered six out of the Nine Jeeps of the Institute for Legislative Studies.
Efforts were underway to recover the remaining three properties stolen before the SPIP was dissolved.
A similar exercise was being done at the National Assembly Service Commission where some corrupt officials left with 13 HILUX vans and 14 Peugeot 508 vehicles, all these were to be recovered and handed over to the National Assembly Service Commission before the SPIP was disbanded. It is also worthy of note that the Federal Housing Authority had approached the Panel to help in the recovery of its properties nationwide.
This was to commence and a road map had been drawn by the Panel. Unfortunately, the disbanding of the SPIP killed it.
21. RECOVERY FOR FEDERAL MORTGAGE BANK OF NIGERIA (FMBN)
The Panel investigated a case of illegally diverted and misappropriated National Housing Contributors Funds by certain Estate developers and primary Mortgage Bank operators. The Panel recovered the sum of Thirty-Five Billion, Fifty-Nine Million, Eight Hundred and Twenty One Thousand,
Nine Hundred and Sixty Three Naira, Forty-Eight Kobo (N35,059,821,963.48), which was in FMBN loss account.
22. PARTNERSHIP WITH FEDERAL INLAND REVENUE SERVICE (FIRS)
The panel shared intelligence with Federal Inland Revenue Service, (FIRS) concerning wealthy Nigerians and public office holders who have assets outside the country but without payment of corresponding tax The Panel provided FIRS with title deeds of properties acquired abroad by some Nigerian P***c Officers worth hundreds of Millions of Dollars/Pounds under the voluntary declaration of assets and income Scheme introduced by FIRS. Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) is a time-limited opportunity for taxpayers to regularize their taxes
status relating to previous tax periods and taxes due.
23. PARTNERSHIP WITH PARADISE AND PANAMA PAPERS:
The Panel was partnering and cooperating with the intelligence community to investigate all Nigerians mentioned in the Paradise and Panama Papers respectively. The Panama Papers disclosed documents showing Financial and Attorney-client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities, bank dating to 1970.
24. Panel was investigating fraudulent land allocation in the Ministry of Federal Capital Territory. It was revealed sequel to intelligence report and petitions received by the Panel from concerned Stakeholders. Out of the over 300 beneficiaries of mass housing and land in the FCT, only 64 developers had completed and signed lease agreements while a whopping 79
per cent failed to comply with statutory requirements and payment. Totals fees collected was N1,086,750,000 billion,
which fell short of what should have been realized by the FCT. The disbanding of the SPIP killed the investigation.
25. The Panel was also investigating the cesspool of corruption in the Petroluem Equalisation Fund. The sum of 2.5 billion and hundreds of thousands of dollars, euros, and
pounds were found in accounts belonging to a director in the PEF. Also the sum of N1.5 billion was found in the accounts of a woman director in the PEF. The Panel was also investigating the failure by a top official in the presidency (who is deceased) and a top security official to account to the federal government of Nigeria the sum of $2 billion and $850m worth of gold bars respectively recovered by security agencies from the house of a former minister in the Jonathan presidency in 2016, as reported by a retired major General of
the Nigerian Army.
All the 86 luxurious vehicles, houses, plots of land and farms recovered by the Panel from the warehouse in Jabi Abuja belonging to two brothers Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Tsumah and
Alhaji Tijjani Tsumah were released to them after the panel was dissolved. Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Tsumah was a director in the Federal ministry of Works while his brother Alhaji Tijjani was Vice Chairman of the defunct presidential Initiative on North East.
All these cases have been compromised after the Panel was dissolved and the Chairman suspended.
All the cases the Panel was investigating were taken over by the office of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation after the panel was dissolved. All the cases have
been compromised.
This is why Obla became a marked man. He was arrested and unjustly detained for 20 days. His passports were seized by ICPC. His laptop and phones have been seized by the ICPC
since 20th March, 2020. Obla is made to be reporting to the ICPC every Wednesday of the week. Obla is a marked man, the ICPC illegally took his blood specimen on the day he was
arrested." Copied.
