There were indications that the Publisher of ThisDay Newspaper,
Mr. Nduka Obaigbena, has returned the sum of N350m to the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission.
A top operative of the commission, who confided in our
correspondent on Wednesday, said Obaigbena returned the money to the commission
on Tuesday.
The operative said Obaigbena was expected to pay an outstanding
N200m next week. The Special Task Force of the EFCC, investigating the issue of
arms procurement under the Goodluck Jonathan administration, had quizzed
Obaigbena on January 29, 2016 for allegedly receiving N670m from the immediate
past National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.).
The commission released him after 24 hours after he had agreed to
sign an undertaking to make a refund of the money in two weeks. The 14-day period of grace, given to the ThisDay Publisher
to repay the money he collected from Dasuki’s office expires on Tuesday next week.
“The Publisher of ThisDay Newspaper, Mr. Nduka
Obaigbena, has returned N350m out of the N670m he received from the ONSA,” the
source in the anti-graft agency told one of our correspondents on Wednesday.
“The Publisher is expected to return the rest N200m next week. You
know that he signed an undertaking to return the money before they released
him. That undertaking expires on Tuesday next week.’’ Obaigbena had admitted receiving N670m from the ONSA in a response
to the EFCC last month.
He explained that N120m of the money was given to the Newspaper
Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria as compensation for losses incurred during
the military clampdown on newspaper houses in 2015. Several media houses, which received the compensation, have
returned the money.
Calls to the mobile of the Head of Media and Publicity of the
EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, to get his confirmation of the fund repayment did
not connect on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, a former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex
Badeh, on Wednesday, appeared before a team of interrogators at the Abuja
Headquarters of the EFCC. His appearance was in connection with his alleged role in the
purchase of arms for the armed forces engaged in the war against Boko Haram
terrorists.
Badeh was said to have honoured the invitation in company with two
of his unnamed associates and some aides at 10am. The ex-CDS could not, however, be interrogated as scheduled as he
was asked to leave and return to the commission on Monday.
It was learnt that the ex-CDS was ushered into a waiting room at
the Tunde Idiagbon House, headquarters building of the commission, where he
interacted briefly with officers of the anti-graft agency before he was
excused.
An EFCC source, who asked not to be named because he was not
authorised to speak to the media, explained that Badeh could not be quizzed
because the commission was still “busy with some senior serving officers of the
Nigerian Air Force, who have been answering questions since last week.”
The source said the former CDS was left to go after “a brief
chat”, which lasted a few minutes. Badeh is expected to make clarifications on allegations bordering
on improper procurement of weapons and sundry other alleged financial
irregularities with respect to the handling of finances in the military during
his tenure as the CDS.
Also, the Acting Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, said on
Wednesday that the agency could not afford to fail in its anti-corruption
duties.
Magu explained that the agency could not fail because there was a
strong political will in the country today to fight corruption.
He added that the commission now enjoyed the backing it needed to
successfully prosecute corrupt persons and was not prepared to fail. Magu spoke in Abuja when the House of Representatives Committee on
Financial Crimes visited the site of the agency’s headquarters project.
Members of the committee were led on the oversight visit by the
Chairman, Mr. Kayode Oladele. Magu was responding to a specific question on how the EFCC was
prosecuting its anti-corruption war.
He said, “What you need is a very strong political will in
fighting corruption and you can see that everybody is supporting us. “So, I tell my boys that you have no reason to fail this time
round. “Even though there are a lot of things outstanding, we will go
ahead and intensify the fight.”
The committee members assured the commission that adequate funding
would be secured for the completion of the project to enhance the work of the
agency. They noted that the commission paid about N200m as rent annually,
which should stop with the completion of the permanent office building.
Oladele stated, “We understand and know what we are going to
expect when the issue of budget defence comes up next week. “Right now, we are discussing the 2016 budget and part of what we
are going to review is the funding of the EFCC.
“We know that in the past few years, the commission has been
bedevilled with paucity of funds. “This has affected the operation and the effectiveness of the
agency.” Oladele also spoke on the amendment to the EFCC Act being carried
out by the House.
He said the aim was to strengthen rather than to weaken the powers
of the commission. The lawmaker added, “For us in the National Assembly, what we are
going to do is to also see how we can help in the fight against corruption.”
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