The ongoing probe by the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration, has indicted former President Goodluck Jonathan alongside two of his aides over a $6.9 million mobile stages deal.
The money which was drawn from an offshore account belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for the purpose of procuring a three 40-feet mobile stages for use during mass public speaking events, was eventually not used for the purpose.
Documents obtained from the presidency showed that the deal was sealed between former President Jonathan, his Petroleum Minister, Dezianni Alison Maduek and his Chief Security Officer, Gordon Obua.
The purchase was supposedly carried out a few months after Jonathan won a general election for a full term after having completed the term of late President Umaru Yar’adua.
The document said that investigations by 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.
The document also said the sum for the stages were 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 US 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” the document read in part.
A Presidency source who further spoke on the issue said “There are no records of this purchase which was carried out late 2011”.
The source further explained to process of the transaction. The centre of the fraudulent financial ring was the former President’s Chief Security Officer (CSO) who 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.”
” And on the same day without any financial advise or purchase order reviews, the former president minuted an approval of the request to buy the three stages to the then Minister for Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Maduekwe. In his minute, the president said “we have discussed this, please deal.” He then initialed the memo” the source said.
Explaining further, the source who would not be named, said right after that approval 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, an NNPC payment voucher number 3840336was 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 US bank to an NNPC account in Zenith 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 a Sterling Bank account of one J. Marine Logistics Limited, Abuja, a company investigators say was registered by Obuah, the source explained further .
The source disclosed that the CSO himself according to investigators have not been able to show proof of the purchase and his memo irked his bosses at the SSS that he took the initiative to write requesting for the stages, an action which officials say was way above his pay grade.
An official of one of the security agencies conducting the investigation said “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 continued: “what has happened here is that the former president and the former minister with the collusion of the CSO decided to dip their hands into the public till and steal public funds for other purposes since no one has found the stages as we speak.”
The source said specifically that the $6.9miilion in question was promptly paid on Nov. 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 bye-passing the Procurement Act neither was there an appropriation in the 2011 budget for such facility,” investigators disclosed over the weekend.
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.
It can be recalled that the CSO had been arrested, detained and questioned over his role and activities in the Jonathan presidency.
Elizabeth Archibong
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