It was a rude shock, as the National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bolaji Abdullahi, on Monday, declared that the ruling party is for the “saints and righteous”.
Abdullahi, who dropped this bombshell while speaking with Journalists in Ilorin, Kwara State, stated without mincing words, that the APC is not a safe haven for those facing corruption charges.
At the inception of this administration, President Muhammadu Buhari had affirmed that no individuals who had track records of corruption would form any part of his glorious Cabinet, prompting the belief that the President had a stash of saints hidden somewhere.
However, Post Nigeria upon perusal, came to learn that contrary to Buhari’s claim, and APC’s declaration, a good number of the APC chieftains, especially Ministers, have various financial corruption cases hanging on their necks, amounting to the tune of over N800 billion.
Records have it that they have been allegedly indicted with various degrees of corruption cases, pending before the Economic Financial Crime Commission, EFCC.
1. Babatunde Fashola
The Super Minister and Former Governor Of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola was involved in a scam worth N78.3 million from the State’s treasury for an upgrade of his personal website. The contract for the refurbishment of the website was awarded to Info Access Plus Limited by the office of the Chief of Staff to the former Governor.
Civil society groups called on anti-graft agencies to probe the N1.2 billion spent on the construction of pedestrian bridges along Eti-Osa–Lekki– Epe expressway “which did not specify the number of bridges.”
Other shady deals that had made rounds include the N17 million awarded for the provision of wall signage in three magistrate courts; N3.46 billion spent for the construction of a beach resort in Ilase; and N61 million disbursed for a Range Rover SUV and two Toyota Hilux trucks as the official vehicles for the Chief Judge of the State.
The various petitions came in, following a similar outcry by anti-corruption group, the Coalition against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL.
Debo Adeniran, CACOL’s Executive Director, stated in an interview then that his organisation’s independent investigation showed that the 1.36 kilometer Lekki-Ikoyi link bridge cost N6 billion, and not the N25 billion stated by Fashola’s administration.
Adeniran also stated several petitions written to the EFCC to probe the various projects in the state in the face of the more than N500 billion debts left by Fashola’s administration.
2. Rotimi Amaechi
Christie Amanpour’s Live Report on CNN revealed that Amaechi has been stacking money in different foreign accounts.
According to the statement, Amanpour’s show said “the sum of over 757 million U.S. dollars was stacked by Amaechi in a foreign U.S. Bancorp/Minnesota account.”
The Integrity Group, a Non-Governmental Organization, also sent a petition to EFCC to investigate Amaechi for the over N70bn stolen from the Rivers State Government.
This amount is separate from the N21 billion which the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP claimed Amaechi transferred from the Power Assets proceeds account of Access Bank to the accounts of three private companies with a 25 Trans-Amadi Road, Port Harcourt address.
Current Rivers Governor, Nyesom Wike accused Amaechi of sponsoring Buhari’s presidential campaign organization with billions of naira stolen from the Rivers State coffers.
3. Lai Mohammed
The Information Minister and Bola Tinubu’s former Chief of Staff, Lai Mohammed was accused by the Former National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh of embezzling funds meant for fencing of an airport in APC-led S/West States.
According to Metuh, Mohammed fraudulently refused to supply ambulances after collecting monies from another APC S/West State and also acted as a personal aide to one of the alleged most corrupt politicians to ever bestride the political landscape of the country (Tinubu).
Reliable sources have it that the amount diverted by Mohammed runs into billions of Naira.
4. Kayode Fayemi
The Former Governor of Ekiti and now Minister of Solid Minerals has been accused of diverting N4.1 billion from workers entitlements to his party APC, while he was in office.
The PDP statement that brought this to light, which was signed by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Jackson Adebayo, alleged that Fayemi used ghost workers to perpetrate the fraud.
“Some of the money involved in the fraud amounting to N2.1 billion was withdrawn from the salary accounts of civil servants and moved to the APC secretariat for sharing from time to time in the four years that the APC government led by Fayemi lasted in Ekiti State.
“The missing deductions from workers’ salaries for the months of April, May, June July and August, 2014 running to about N1.8 billion was also traced to the APC secretariat,” PDP alleged.
Recently the Ekiti State House Of Assembly threatened to issue warrant of arrest if Fayemi refused to come and defend high profile corrupt allegation against him.
The APC has tried to shield Fayemi from facing the full wrath of the anti-graft agency.
5. Chris Ngige
The Former Governor of Anambra State and now Minister of Labour and employment in November 2013 was indicted for laundering N46bn Local Government Fund.
The disturbing Police reports said: “The EFCC has stated that it has established how former Anambra Governor and candidate of the APC Dr. Chris Ngige in the November 16th governorship elections in Anambra laundered and misappropriated the N46bn of Local Government Funds between 2003 and 2006 when he held sway as the Governor.’’
The interim report signed by the then Chief Superintendent of Police, CSP, Hayatu Shaafa who led a team to investigate the petition against Ngige confirmed this.
The well-detailed report stated that over a dozen persons, mostly key players in Ngige’s government, were questioned in the course of the investigation.
All that emerged from the questions posed to such an array of former high government officials was the singing of a sorrowful song; “my duty is to obey instructions without asking questions.”
“Once you begin to hear such a refrain, it is certain that something untoward, something indefensible, something odious, has happened,’’ a source stated at the time.
