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The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission has arrested a former Military Administrator of Kaduna State,
Brig.-Gen. Jafaru Isah (retd.), in connection with the ongoing
investigation into the $2.1bn arms procurement scam.
The Head of Media and Publicity of the
EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, confirmed the arrest and detention of the
former military governor to one of our correspondents in Abuja on the
telephone on Thursday.
Isah, a close associate of President
Muhammadu Buhari, was the governorship candidate of the defunct Congress
for Progressive Change in Kano State in 2011.
CPC was founded by Buhari to actualise his bid for the Presidency in the 2011 general elections.
The party asked a son of the late Head
of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, Mohammed, to step down for Isah in the
party’s governorship contest.
Isah is the first chieftain of the
ruling All Progressives Congress to be arrested by the EFCC since the
Buhari administration started investigation into the $2.1bn arms
procurement funds under the former President Goodluck Jonathan’s
administration.
He was a member of the Ahmed Joda-led
transition committee, constituted by Buhari to coordinate the handing
over notes by the immediate past administration before the President was
inaugurated on May 29, 2015.
The retired general is also believed to be close to a former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.).
Confirming the arrest of Isah, the EFCC spokesman said, “It is true that the man is with us. That is the much I can tell you.”
The EFCC spokesman did not give details of the arrest.
It was, however, gathered that Isah was
picked up by operatives of the commission in Abuja on Wednesday night
and detained overnight to respond to issues linking him to the $2.1bn
arms purchase fund.
It was learnt that the former MILAD’s
arrest might not be unconnected with a “$5m gift” he allegedly received
from the former NSA.
A top EFCC source, who confided in The PUNCH, said Isah was invited last week, but failed to honour the invitation of the anti-graft agency.
The source added that the commission had
begun quizzing the former military administrator on the possibility
that the money might have been given to him by Dasuki from the $2.1bn
arms fund.
The source added that nothing had been established, saying Isah’s arrest was to “listen to his own side of the story.”
The source added, “He was invited last
week, but he did not honour the EFCC’s invitation. He is being quizzed
over the $5m he was alleged to have received from the former NSA. The
former military administrator was arrested because he did not honour the
invitation of the commission.”
The Chairman of EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu,
had said, during a meeting with online media managers on Wednesday, that
more influential Nigerians would soon be arrested.
Magu had debunked the insinuations that
the arrests made so far in the ongoing campaign against corruption were
selective, targeting the Peoples Democratic Party leaders and leaving
their counterparts in the ruling All Progressives Congress.
“Such accusations have come up a lot,
but we work with petitions before us. In fact, I am eager and waiting
for something from the other side, but nothing has come so far,” he was
quoted as having said.
In a related development, a Federal High
Court in Abuja on Thursday granted bail to a former Chairman of the
PDP, Haliru Bello, and his son, Abba Bello, in the sum of N300m each
with two sureties in like sum.
Justice Ahmed Mohammed, in a ruling on
the accused persons’ bail applications, also ordered that they should
deposit their passports with the court pending the determination of
their trial.
The EFCC on Tuesday arraigned Bello and
his son, accusing them of collecting about N300m meant for the
procurement of arms and using the funds for political campaigns.
The anti-graft agency alleged that the
money was received from the Office of the National Security Adviser
under Dasuki, under the guise of using it for “safe houses”.
Also charged along with them is their firm, Bam Project Properties.
The judge, in his ruling on Thursday,
ordered Bello to remain under the the close watch of the
Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, at the Abuja Clinics,
Maitama, where his injury, resulting from spinal surgery, was being
treated, pending when he would meet the bail conditions.
But the court directed that Abba, who
also complained of arthritis and asthma, be remanded in Kuje Prison
pending when he would fulfil his own set of bail terms.
The judge also ruled that one of the
sureties that Bello, who is the acting Chairman of the PDP Board of
Trustees, should produce must be a director in the service of the
Federal Government or any of its agencies.
He ruled that the other surety must own property in Abuja worth the N300m bail sum.
With respect to the son’s bail, Justice
Mohammed ruled that one of his sureties must be a federal civil servant
not less that Grade Level 12 and the other must also own property worth
N300m in the Federal Capital Territory.
The judge ruled that the title documents
of the property to be presented by the sureties would be verified by
court officials and surrendered to the court throughout the period the
trial would last.
He also directed that the sureties must
submit their passport photographs to the court and also swear to
separate affidavits of means disclosing their financial wherewithal.
Dismissing EFCC’s opposition to the
accused persons’ bail applications on Thursday, Justice Mohammed said
the commission had not denied that the offences the accused persons were
charged with were bailable.
“In other words, there is nothing that
suggests that the offences the defendants were charged attract capital
punishment,” the judge noted.
He also dismissed the argument by EFCC’s
lawyer, Mr. Aliyu Yusuf, who had contended that the accused persons
could interfere with further investigations into the alleged fraud if
granted bail.
The judge noted that the EFCC, having
deposed to an affidavit of completion of investigation, “there is no
pending investigations the defendants can interfere with”.
He added, “The complainant (EFCC) has not shown that the defendants claim of ill health is false.”
He reasoned that the prosecution’s claim
that the conditions of the accused persons could be treated at the
prisons health facilities could not be grounds for denying them bail.
“In all, I’m satisfied that the defendants are entitled to bail,” the judge ruled.
Abba’s counsel, Mr. O. Osoko, and the
lawyer for Bello, Mr. Abdulaziz Ibrahim, had argued that their clients
were presumed innocent until pronounced guilty by the court.
The lawyers, relying on the provisions
of Section 162 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, had
urged the court to grant bail to their clients, considering their
“special circumstances” of ill health.
The court, after delivering its ruling on Thursday, fixed February 16 for the commencement of trial.
In the charge FHC/ABJ/CR/389/2015, the
accused persons allegedly received the sum of N300m from the office of
the former National Security Adviser on March 17, 2015 for political
campaign under the pretext that it was meant for “Safe Houses”.
The prosecution stated in the first
count that the N300m collected by the accused was part of proceeds of
Dasuki’s unlawful activities.
Dasuki and many others are already being
prosecuted before two judges of the Federal Capital Territory High
Court., Maitama, Abuja, in relation to the diversion of a total sum of
N45bn meant for procurement of arms.
The prosecution alleged in the second
count that the accused persons received the money under the guise that
it was meant for “Safe Houses” but was actually released to them for
political campaign.
Counts one and two are said to be
offences contrary to Section 15 (2) (d) of the Money Laundering
(Prohibition) Act 2011 as amended in 2012 and punishable under Section
15(3) of the same Act.
In count three, the accused persons
allegedly concealed the money in their Sterling Bank Plc account when
they “knew the said Doctor Aliru Bello and Col. Mohammed Sambo Dasuki
(retd.) to be engaged in a criminal conduct”.
The offence is said to be contrary to
Section 17 (a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011 as amended
in 2012 and punishable under Section 17(b) of the same Act.
Meanwhile, the acting Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, on Thursday, visited the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
It was the second time in 24 hours that
Magu would be sighted in the Presidential Villa since he was named as
replacement for Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde in acting capacity.
The EFCC boss, accompanied by his police
orderly, walked straight towards the President’s office and returned
about 10 minutes later.
It was not clear whether he met with
President Muhammadu Buhari as the President was meeting with some
ministers at the time of his short visit.
Magu, who spotted a brown suit, white shirt and a brown bow tie, was armed with an office file during the visit.
He resisted all attempts made by journalists for him to grant interview on his way out of the President’s office.
He kept repeating “not now, not now” as he made his way out.
The Thursday visit came about 24 hours
after Magu disclosed that the commission would arrest more influential
Nigerians by next week.
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