Buhari orders probe of Jonathan, Diezani, Obuah, others

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered a probe of former President Goodluck Jonathan; his Chief Security Officer, Gordon Obuah; and immediate past Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison- Madueke, for allegedly spending about $6.9 million oil funds on the purchase of non-existent mobile stages.

Presidency sources yesterday confirmed to Sunday Telegraph that the mobile stages measuring 40 feet were supposed to have been used for addressing mass rallies around the country. Between Jonathan, Obuah and Diezani, they allegedly in just one shot deal spent a whooping $6.9m on three 40-feet mobile stages for use during mass public speaking events, investigations revealed.

Federal Government investigators and security agencies say this is just one of the tons of allegedly corrupt practices frequently engaged and condoned under the presidency of the immediate past president. Besides the fact that the sum for the stages have been incredibly inflated, according to mobile stages industry experts, government investigators say there is no evidence as yet that any stage was purchased at all. While the cost of mobile stages range in size and designs, only outlandish rock star musicians in Europe and the U.S spend hundreds of thousands on their huge stages way bigger than the 40-feet stages.

Even then, those musicians and super stars would not pay over $2m per stage, according to industry sources. The process of procurement of the three mobile stages was neither known to extant Nigerian laws and due process regulations, nor were the offices of the Auditor-General and the Accountant-General in the know, according to the investigators. “There are no records of this purchase which was carried out late 2011,” said an authoritative source.

This purchase was carried out only few months after Jonathan won the 2011 presidential election. A competent source said that at the centre of the scam was Obuah, who allegedly initiated a memo to the former president on October 17, 2011, asking for the purchase of three mobile stages. He said in that memo to the former president that this is regarding “my earlier discussion with Your Excellency on the security implication of your public appearances and your subsequent directive on the need to procure a secured presidential platform.” Presidency spource said that on the same day, without any financial advice or purchase order reviews, Jonathan minuted an approval of the request to buy the three stages to Diezani.

In his memo, the president said “we have discussed this, please deal.” He then initialed the memo. Right after that okay from the president, on the same October 17, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Administrative Matters, Matt Aikhionbere, did another letter on the strength of the president’s approval requesting the Petroluem Minister to take action on the request to purchase the stages for $6.9m.

By the next month, a Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation payment voucher number 3840336 was already in place, revealing that the money was released. NNPC directed that the money be taken from one of its accounts in New York CITIBANK with sort code CITIUS 33, and Routing number 021000089.

It was first routed from the U.S bank to an NNPC account in a new generation bank account number 5000026593, Maitama branch in Abuja, from where the money was sent to a private account. The sum of $6.9m was then credited to another commercial bank account of one J. Marine Logistics Limited, Abuja, a company investigators say was registered by Obuah.

The CSO himself, according to investigators, has not been able to show proof of the purchase and his memo irked his bosses at the department of State Service that he took the initiative to write requesting for the stages, an action which officials say was way above his pay grade. Said an official of one of the security agencies conducting the investigation, “It is not the duty or responsibility of the CSO to make the determination on that purchase. He was meant to have informed the service, which will then review the situation and act accordingly.”

The source said specifically that the $6.9m in question was promptly paid on November 29, 2011 into a private account belonging to the former CSO. “The former president approved the procurement of the mobile platforms without due process and byepassing the Procurement Act neither was there an appropriation in the 2011 budget for such facility,” the investigators said.

The source added that neither the minister of Finance nor the Director-General of the Budget Office was aware of the deal. Investigators say this is just one of the several instances where the Jonathan administration used secret NNPC accounts to fund many questionable projects and for alleged personal financial aggrandizements. Already, the CSO has been questioned over his role and activities in the Jonathan presidency. It would be recalled that he was arrested, detained, questioned and later released.

There has been considerable pressure mounted on the Buhari administration regarding its determination to probe allegations of corruption in the past, including from the National Peace Committee headed by the former Head of State, General Abdusalami Abubakar. At the June 29th meeting of the National Economic Council at the State House, it raised questions over the non-remittance of the finances generated by the NNPC into the Federation Account. But when contacted by PREMIUM TIMES, Obuah denied initiating or engaging in any such transaction.

“The allegation is totally false and baseless,” the former CSO said through his lawyer, Andrew Itsekiri. “There was nothing like that. No such memo was initiated and no such money was released to him.

They are just levying allegations they cannot substantiate against him. “It is one of the allegations he was confronted with by the SSS, and it was found that they were pack of lies. Let NNPC come out with the records that any such funds were released to him.”