$2bn Arms Deal: Sack Looms Over Emefiele
Mr. Godwin Emefiele
• Soludo, Ezekwesili, Tipped For Job
• I Don’t Deal In Weapons, Says Ayu
ONGOING investigations into how $2.1bn meant for the procurement of arms was squandered may lead to the premature exit of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele.
A source in the presidency told The Guardian that circumstances that surrounded the appointment of Emefiele, including recent revelations about movement of the funds, and his involvement in the unexplained presence of two former heads of commercial banks, when President Buhari hosted members of the international business community in London, are being counted against the governor.
“Already,” the source said, “a small team of legal and financial experts has been directed to weigh the various implications the removal of the CBN chief could trigger, especially to prevent a similar backlash, as when the past government engineered the untimely retirement of former CBN governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.”
The source explained that the team was set up to examine all sides to the issue, adding that the presidency is worried that such enormous amounts of money were carted away from CBN as if “it was in Idi Amin’s era.”
“One thing you should known about Buhari is that before he takes a crucial decision that involves prominent appointees, he sets up a small committee to investigate the issues and report back to him”
The source said the embarrassing presence of the two top bankers at the London meeting infuriated the President to the extent he approached the duo, asking how they were invited, and informing them that he personally handled the selection of who attended.
“Checks revealed the possibility that since the well known bankers added their voices in recommending Emefiele for the CBN job, he (Emefiele) might have hinted the two, convinced their clout would open doors for them.
“There is also information that the current CBN governor is remotely related to the immediate past Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy (CME) in President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.”
Another source disclosed that should the plan to have the CBN governor resign sail through, a replacement might be sought from the South East or South South geopolitical zones to avoid outrage and cries of marginalisation by the present administration.
“We cannot speculate on the possible candidates but former President Olusegun Obasanjo is believed to have dropped some hints to President Buhari about the right calibre of persons, including Professor Chukwuma Soludo and Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili.”
Former Director of Finance in the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), Shuaibu Salisu, recently made shocking revelations about how $47m was removed from the CBN in 11 suitcases, adding that though he signed for the withdrawal, he was, as a civil servant, only obeying the directives of former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki.
Salisu also told investigators at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) how another sum of N10bn was taken from the CBN to support the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidates for governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections.
He said payment of the N10bn was authorised by the former finance minister, pointing out that he did not get any share but instead forwarded the money to Dasuki in the suitcases.
The sources said it was the belief in presidency circles that since the former CME may be invited to shed light on whether the manner of releasing the huge sums followed due process, the need to re-examine the continued stay of Emefiele at the apex bank is also being weighed.
Meanwhile, former Internal Affairs and Education Minister, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, has said he does not deal in arms procurement and could not have collected monies from the federal government to buy military weapons and equipment.
Ayu is alleged to have collected the sum of N345m from the office of Dasuki.
Reacting to the report, in a statement he personally signed, yesterday, in Abuja, he explained that any funds from the office of the NSA, remitted to Starbriid Limited, a company he confirmed he has interest in, were solely for the provision of consultancy services on security and electoral matters.
Charges against Dasuki by the EFCC included approval of the transfer of “an aggregate sum of N345m, being part of the funds in the account of the ONSA with the CBN, to the account of Starbriid Limited.”
Ayu, a Senate President in the short-lived Third Republic, noted that neither Starbriid nor himself deal in satellites and security equipment as alleged by the report, which quoted the EFCC. He said, “To the best of my knowledge, neither the company or I deal in satellites and security equipment.”
“However, when I served on the National Security Council as Minister of Internal Affairs, I got educated that various aspects of security work could be pushed under different classifications. Any funds remitted to the company were for consultancies on security related and electoral matters,” Ayu added.
The former President of the Senate further explained that he was approached at some point by the former NSA to provide requisite advice and consultancy on difficult issues, adding, “When Colonel Sambo Dasuki assumed duty in June 2012, he approached me for assistance, based on my background as a social scientist, and my previous involvement in government.
“Understandably, I provided the requisite advice whenever consulted on difficult issues. It is also public knowledge that I have considerable knowledge of Nigerian politics and skills about competitive political organisation.”
Ayu continued, “This is why in 1999, General Olusegun Obasanjo appointed me as Director-General of his campaign. Similarly, in 2007, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar turned to me to assist him in the same capacity.
“Not surprisingly, I was approached in 2014 if I could coordinate former President Jonathan’s 2015 campaign. I politely declined by offering advisory services.”
Ayu said he is proud of his unblemished service to Nigeria in the various capacities he served, noting, “If I didn’t deem it necessary to abuse such public trust, there is no justification for jettisoning my fundamental beliefs after 10 years in private life.”
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31 Comments
Mr Ayu should shut up,so 345million naira is for consultation on what?you think Nigerians are stupid,Ole.
Thank you jor okonkwo. Shut ur trap Mr Ayu. You think we Nigerians are stupid. That money for consultation that yielded more stealing of public funds. You should rot in jail as a poor mahn if I had my way.
He didn’t even tell us if there was a contract or is he saying that amount is honorarium for the advice he gave?
Little wonder why N345m was paid to the dunce. It is based on his robust back ground as a social scientist who have consistently plotted evil against the people, his wide knowledge in the art of stealing in Nigeria politics, he provided the blue print for the grand thiefery. Good their evil deeds are now exposing them and it will end them all behind bars.
These people are thieves and I don’t know that consultancies are these expensive. What experience does he has as a security experts .
but he has good experience in thieving.
No time for comments yet as this drama/ saga plays on while the world watches nigeria like fishes in a glass barrel
Yeah.
I support the moves to clean up Nigeria because with natural resources abundant in Nigeria we do not deserve to be in any list that categorized us a poor, or even exposed our military to the level of shame witnessed by the brazen attacks and successes achieved by Boko Haram.
On the former senate president case, i do not know why Nigerians prefer to register companies that never employed people. If all the companies owned by Politicians and politically exposed Nigerians are real and employed people Nigerians level of unemployment will be reduced.
Ayuuuuu! N345 MILLIOOOONNNN for security and electoral matters! From the NSA! Chai! God dey o.
This Ayu must be a biafran. Where in this world do they just pay 345 million to a consultant without a detailed time sheet or at the least an invoice per consulting project?
DO NOT FORGET CENTRAL BANK GOVERNOR MR GODWIN EMEFIELE WAS BROUGHT IN BY CLUELESS CORRUPT JONATHAN FOR RAW-LOOTING OF THE CENTRAL BANK BY BILLIONS OF DOLLARS AFTER SACKING MALLAM SANUSI WHO TRIED TO EXPOSE JONATHAN ABOUT THE 21 BILLION DOLLARS NON-REMITTANCE TO THE CENTRAL BANK BY NNPC.
GODWIN EMEFIELE IS NOT AN ECONOMIST BUT A COMMERCIAL BANKER WHO ALWAYS LOOKED WAYS AND MEANS TO DEVALUE NAIRA AND INDEED NAIRA WAS HOPELESSLY DEVALUED FROM 160 TO A DOLLAR TO NAIRA 270 TO A DOLLAR RIGHT NOW.
GODWIN EMEFIELE IS ALSO A LIAR WHO DENIED ALL KNOWLEDGE OF 1% COMMISSION BEING CHARGED BY THE REMITTA AS A FEE FOR THE TRANSFER OF MONEYS TO THE TSA ACCOUNT RUNNING INTO 25 BILLION NAIRA PAID BY HIM WHICH WAS LATER REVERSED DISGRACEFULLY BY GODWIN EMEFIELE WHEN THE WHOLE MATTER BLEW OPEN IN PUBLIC. BUT FOR MR EMEFIELE, ANY OTHER HONOURABLE PERSON IN HIS POSITION WOULD HAVE RESIGNED AND GONE BY NOW.
IN VIEW OF THE ABOVE INCIDENTS, THE CBN GOVERNOR HAS EARNED FOR HIMSELF A SACK FROM HIS JOB TO SAVE NAIRA FROM FURTHER DEPRECIATION. HE HAS LOST ALL HIS CREDIBILITY, HE CAN NO LONGER BE AT THE HELM OF AFFAIRS OF THE CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA.
The man is a rogue. His only work is to allow dolllars and huge sum of naira in cash to be carted away from the apex bank by unintelligent thieves. Instead of remaining at the apex bank causing havoc, his rightful place should be in Kuje.
you are very right, Nche Bikwe, you know very well the likes of cbn governor, godwin emefiele as a first rate thief aiding and abetting fraud and en mass looting of dollars, euros and naira from the central bank of nigeria under his care and in active collaboration and connivance with clueless corrupt jonathan who was the mother of all thieves .
emefiele is long overdue for sacking and he will be sacked.
this cbn canary is now ready to fly to kirikiri prison very soon to spend the rest of its life there.
have a good day. my brother.
vic
Is this man pretending he does not know the procurement process?
The CBN governor cannot claim ignorance of this reckless use of public funds. If there is any honour left in the CBN governor he would tender his resignation. The failures exhibited by the CBN have compromised his position. It is foolish to wait to be dismissed.
Broda,a beg he shouldn’t just resign o,he should get his plea bargain in place and he should also refund the monies he diverted into his own pockets(that of zenith and the central bank)
I even wonder what the guy is still doing in office. Sack whoever has to be sacked to clean up the house. Nobody stole for the people of South East or South-South. If anything, those looters are a disgrace to Ndigbo and other communities that they come from.
If Guardian newspaper is saying this, we better believe it, the sword of Damocles will soon fall on many people involved in the web and network of corruption
I have another take on these monies – these people who collected moneys were actually gun running, the question is gun running for who? Boko Haram? When would we hear of the amount Oritsejafor collected?
Hopefully, soon. More revelations on the way.
PROF SOLUDO AND EZEKWESILI, CANT YOU ENJOY THIS LIFE WITHOUT POLITICAL APPOINTMENTS.
If its for the good of the people
God bless Nigeria
GOOD OF WHO. ITS LIKE YOU ARE UNDER A SPELL
Oby Ezekwesili aka madam no nonsense, in my view she’s the ideal candidate. If confirmed, the looters are in trouble.
HAVE YOU NOTICED THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN OUR CRUDE THIEVES AND DECENT FRAUDSTERS IN CIVILIZED COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD ?WHILE DECENT AND CITIZENS WITH SOME CONSCIENCE IN ENLIGHTENED COUNTRIES READILY ADMIT THEIR GUILT AND SURRENDER TO JUDICIAL PROCESSES,TO PAY FOR THEIR SINS NIGERIAN VERY CRUDE AND CONSCIENCELESS TREASURY LOOTERS WILL PUT UP BOLD FACE AND DENY THE ALLEGATIONS OUT RIGHTLY UNTIL THEY ARE CONFRONTED WITH HARD COLD FACTS ,THEN THEY STILL JUSTIFY THE LOOT THEY SHARED AS IF WE WILL SIMPLY LEAVE THEM OFF THE HOOK. CHECK THE LIKES OF BABANGIDA(THE GRAND FATHER OF THIEVES),THEN BODE GEORGE,SARAKI ,AYU,DASUKI, TONY ANENINH, BAFARAWA AND OF COURSE THE ARTFUL RAYMOND DOKPESI WHO STARTED STEALING FROM THE TIME M K O. ABIOLA IMPORTED HIM TO THE COUNTRY AS ESPERT TO MANAGE HIS SHIPPING BUSINESSS.NOT ONLY DID HE RUN THE BUSINESS AGROUND HE SPIT ON m K O ABIOLA’S FACE .NOW NEMESIS AFTER SEVERAL YEARS OF ENJOYING ABIOLA’S WEALTH ,NOW STARES HIM IN THE FACE. AGAIN ANOTHER DENOMINATOR CMMON TO NIGERIAN RAPISTS OF OUR TREASURY IS THE SOLIDARITY READILY PROVIDED TO ANY ONE CAUGHT AND HE IS PUT ON TRIAL .AGAIN I REFERS TO SARAKI AND THE BAND OF LOOTERS IN THE SENATE THAT ALWAYS ACCOMPANY THE CHIEF ROGUE WHENEVER HIS CASE COMES UP.,THE SAME APPLIES TO BAFARAWA DURING THE FIRST TRIAL OF DASUKI,BAFARAWA WAS EVEN QUOTED THEN AS SAYING HE WILL STAND BY DASUKI AS AFRIEND TILL THE END OF THE CASE NOT KNOWING IT WAS THE CASE OF LET US WARD OFF THIS TRIAL BEFORE IT SPREAD TO US.LET THOSE SENATORS GET READY FOR THEIR ON THAT WILL SOON COME.IT MUST.
Ayu could not categorically say what job he did, yet he got paid nearly half a billion naira. A job of that magnitude would not be a mere guess. He’s not honest.
YES, SACK GODWIN EMEFIELE SOONER THAN LATER, IT WILL BE BETTER FOR THE NIGERIAN ECONOMY.
I HAVE BEEN ASKING FOR HIS SACK FROM THE DAY HE WAS APPOINTED AND THE WAY HE WAS APPOINTED IN ORDER FOR JONATHAN TO LOOT THE CENTRAL BANK WITHOUT HINDRANCE.
1. FOR A LONG TIME, I INSISTED THAT THE ACCOUNTANT GENERAL OF THE FEDERATION SHOULD BE SACKED/RETIRED AND RECENTLY HE WAS RETIRED AND REPLACED BY ALHAJI IDRIS, I HOPE MR IDRIS WILL BE FAIR AND NOT HELP PRESIDENT BUHARI OR HIS COHORTS TO LOOT THE NATIONAL TREASURY THROUGH BOGUS AND FALSE AUTHORISATIONS, FOR EXAMPLE, AS WAS DONE IN THE PAST BY JONATHAN BY DIVERTING PENSION ARREARS ALLOCATION OF PENSIONERS FROM THE 2015 BUDGET FOR FIGHTING PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS FOR JONATHAN. MR IDRIS SHOULD ALSO ENSURE THE TIMELY PAYMENT OF WORKERS MONTHLY SALARIES AND PENSIONS IN TIME BEFORE 25TH OF EACH MONTH WITHOUT SPILLING INTO THE FOLLOWING MONTH AS HAS BEEN THE CASE FOR THE LAST 4 MONTHS.
2. I REPEATEDLY ASKED FOR THE SACK OF THE PREVIOUS DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE BUDGET OFFICE DUE TO THE SAME REASONS AS ABOVE. AFTER A LITTLE POSTURING, THE DIRECTOR GENERAL WAS SACKED BY BUHARI REPLACING HIM WITH THE CURRENT DIRECTOR GENERAL, MALLAM ALIYU YAHAYA-GUSAU. HOPEFULLY THIS MALLAM WILL BEHAVE AND THIS TIME AROUND NOT DIVERT OR POSTPONE PAYMENT OF PENSION ARREARS OF PENSIONERS AND ALSO PAYMENTS OF MONTHLY SALARIES AND PENSIONS WELL IN TIME TO WORKERS EACH MONTH.
3. I HAVE LONG MADE THE POINT THAT THE GOVERNOR OF CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA, MR GODWIN EMEFIELE, WAS APPOINTED THROUGH BACK DOOR BY JONATHAN FOR SELFISH REASONS AFTER HE SACKED EX GOVERNOR MALLAM SANUSI WHO BLEW OPEN 21 BILLION DOLLARS LOOTING SCANDAL IN THE FACE OF JONATHAN. JONATHAN FOUND IT CONVENIENT TO SACK MALLAM SANUSI JUST TO SILENCE HIM IN ORDER TO LOOT HE CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA BY BILLIONS OF DOLLARS AS WE NOW KNOW IT. SO IT IS NOT SURPRISNG THAT GODWIN EMEFIELE IS DUE FOR SACK. IT IS ONLY PRESIDENT BUHARI WHO CAN TAKE THAT LONG TO SACK HIM- HE IS OVERDUE FOR SACKING ESPECIALLY WHEN THE NAIRA HAS NOW DEPRECIATED TO ALMOST 270 NAIRA TO A DOLLAR FROM N160 TO DOLLAR NOT LONG AGO.
I WOULD STRONGLY SUGGEST, IN FUTURE, PRESIDENT BUHARI AND HIS MEDIA AND PUBLICITY TEAM LISTEN VERY CAREFULLY TO ME WHAT I AM SAYING ON THESE COLUMNS TO MOVE NIGERIA FORWARD IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. I WOULD LIKE TO EMPHASIZE I BELONG TO THE POOR AND DOWNTRODDEN MASSES OF NIGERIA AND OLD AGE PENSIONERS AND TO NO POLITICAL PARTY WHATEVER.
What does Ngozi Iweala has to say on all these. Was she not aware of all these or she allowed thses in the interest of Nigerians?
Nigerians cant be sure thses people would be punished for this fraudulent act as the Judiciary is more corrupt than thses criminals
The unfortunate turn of events under the former president Jonathan is that Security became an all-comers-affair. With such an attitude, the secrecy meant to protect the National Interest was abused for the privileged and connected. be that as it may.. One good point is that the revelations have provided an opening to lose the loop holes exploited by the unscrupulous advisers and experts to milk the national coffers. Stating from the CBN which from all indications became irrelevant and connived with the thieving executives right through the security agencies, the military itself anf of course the Civil Service the devised the devious means and ways to circumvent the extant Rules and Regulations. PMB must not spare the rod against anyone found wanting. Nigerians have suffered enough hemorrhage from these leeches as it were.
Oga Ayu. Haba! 350 million for consultancy? Was there any tender? What election matters? Abeg make you return that money and get few years jail term.
We will review and take appropriate action.