The EFCC is investigating series of dubious payments made to politicians and others by ex-NSA, Sambo Dasuki. Investigators had earlier invited the Chairman/Editor-in-Chief of Thisday Newspapers, Nduka Obaigbena, whom Dasuki reportedly gave N670m.
Compensation for what?
Obaigbena, who has promised to honour the invitation when he returns to the country from the United States of America, has explained the circumstances behind the payments in a letter to the EFCC chairman. He claimed that he collected N550m as compensation for the Boko Haram attacks on Thisday’s offices in Abuja and Kaduna on April 26, 2012.
The Thisday founder, who is also the President of the Newspapers Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria, added that he received an additional N120m as compensation for 12 newspaper houses whose copies were seized by soldiers in June 2014. The soldiers claimed they acted on intelligence that Boko Haram wanted to use newspaper distribution vans to transport explosive materials. The newspapers are Thisday, Vanguard, The Sun, The Nation, New Telegraph, Daily Trust, People’s Daily, Leadership, Daily Independence, Nigerian Tribune, The Guardian and Business Day.
While some of the newspapers listed to have benefitted from the N120m confirmed doing so, others said neither Obaigbena nor NPAN remitted any money to them as claimed by the Thisday Publisher
For example, a statement from the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of the New Telegraph Newspapers, Mrs. Funke Egbemode, denied that N10m was paid to the company by NPAN.
It says, “It is on record that following the decision of NPAN to seek compensation from the Federal Government in the aftermath of the seizure of editions of newspapers by the military, New Telegraphcomputed its losses, which were passed to the association. However, since then, the company has heard nothing from the association on the matter.
“Following a report that NPAN has begun paying N9m (not N10m as contained in the report that has gone viral on the Internet), the management of Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited, publishers of New Telegraph, Saturday Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, has written three letters to NPAN for its share of the compensation; but regrettably, as at this moment, not even a kobo has been received.
“Therefore, it is nothing but sheer falsehood for the NPAN president, who claimed he received the money on behalf of the association, to have included New Telegraph Newspapers as one of the beneficiaries of the funds, which as it has now emerged, was disbursed by the former NSA.”
Tribune, and Peoples Daily also said they did not receive the said compensation. However, Daily Trust, Leadership and Sun confirmed that the sum collected from government was remitted.
Details of the payment and how it was made were contained in court documents filed against Dasuki and a ex-Director of Finance at the NSA office, Shaibu Salisu at a Federal High Court, Abuja on Monday.
The charge reads: “That you Col. Mohammed Sambo Dasuki whilst being National Security Adviser and Shaibu Salisu, whilst being the Director of Finance and Administration in the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) between 12th August 2014 and 23rd March 2015 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, and in such capacities entrusted with dominion over certain properties to wit: the sum of N670m being part of the funds in the account of the ONSA with the CBN committed criminal breach of trust in respect of the said property when you transferred same to the bank account of General Hydrocarbons Limited with the Guaranty Trust Bank controlled by one Nduka Obaigbena purporting the said sum to be payment for “energy consulting” and you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 315 of the Penal Code Act, Cap 532, Vol.4, LFN 2004.”
The ongoing investigation by the EFCC on the alleged stolen funds by the ex-NSA last week had led to the arrest of another media mogul, the ex-Chairman of DAAR Communications, Raymond Dokpesi, for allegedly receiving N2.1bn from Dasuki.
Others arrested are Dasuki, Salisu; a former Minister of State for Finance, Bashiru Yuguda; an ex-governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa; his son, Sagir and a son of a former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dr. Haliru Mohammed, Abba.
In his statement, Obaigbena insisted that the payments were legitimate.
His statement reads, “We have never received any suspicious funds from the Office of the National Security Adviser. All funds received from the Office of the National Security Adviser were payments for compensation to mitigate the following:
“N150,000,000+ N150,000,000 and N250,000,000 respectively received in August, November and February 2014 as compensation to mitigate the dastardly Boko Haram twin bombings of the THISDAYNewspapers offices in Abuja and Kaduna on Thursday, April 26, 2012, during which four innocent Nigerians’ lives were lost, our buildings destroyed and we lost full colour Gross printing towers and three (3) pre-press Computer-To-Plate and auxiliary equipment and other (in)valuable property valued at over N2.5bn.
“This is aside from daily costs to pay 3rd party printers of over N1bn, having lost our printing facility to terrorists due to inadequate protection by the Federal Government of Nigeria. The bombing of THISDAYoffices followed the Abuja United Nations building bombing for which the Federal Government has so far spent N3bn for reconstruction and much more earmarked for furnishing.
“N100, 000,000 and N20, 000,000 received in March 2015 for The Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria and 12 newspapers who demanded compensation for the brutal and unlawful seizure of newspapers and stoppage of circulation by armed soldiers in Abuja and several cities. As President of the NPAN, it was my duty to lead media leaders to hold discussions with President Goodluck Jonathan to avert a class action lawsuit against the Armed Forces and the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“On both occasions, President Jonathan said he did not wish to lay precedence and in our case, he specifically said there were many victims of Boko Haram. I had to confront President Jonathan on the issue when I learnt of approvals for the reconstruction of the Abuja United Nations Building, since we were the second major organisation to be attacked by Boko Haram after the UN attack. He therefore directed me to meet the National Security Adviser, who processed the three payments in question.”
Obaigbena also attached a copy of the letter sent to former President Jonathan as well as correspondence with Dasuki, while stating he would meet with the EFCC on his return to the country.
Reaction...
The advocate of the Bring Back Our Girls Group, Oby Ezekwesili, said if compensation could be paid to the newspapers, then it should have been paid to owners of motor parks, mosques, churches, and schools that were attacked by Boko Haram.
She wrote on Twitter, “For demanding accountability, they called us names – “Enemy of the state,” “Unpatriotic,” “Psychological Terrorists,” while they stole on.
Obaigbena, who has promised to honour the invitation when he returns to the country from the United States of America, has explained the circumstances behind the payments in a letter to the EFCC chairman. He claimed that he collected N550m as compensation for the Boko Haram attacks on Thisday’s offices in Abuja and Kaduna on April 26, 2012.
The Thisday founder, who is also the President of the Newspapers Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria, added that he received an additional N120m as compensation for 12 newspaper houses whose copies were seized by soldiers in June 2014. The soldiers claimed they acted on intelligence that Boko Haram wanted to use newspaper distribution vans to transport explosive materials. The newspapers are Thisday, Vanguard, The Sun, The Nation, New Telegraph, Daily Trust, People’s Daily, Leadership, Daily Independence, Nigerian Tribune, The Guardian and Business Day.
While some of the newspapers listed to have benefitted from the N120m confirmed doing so, others said neither Obaigbena nor NPAN remitted any money to them as claimed by the Thisday Publisher
For example, a statement from the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of the New Telegraph Newspapers, Mrs. Funke Egbemode, denied that N10m was paid to the company by NPAN.
It says, “It is on record that following the decision of NPAN to seek compensation from the Federal Government in the aftermath of the seizure of editions of newspapers by the military, New Telegraphcomputed its losses, which were passed to the association. However, since then, the company has heard nothing from the association on the matter.
“Following a report that NPAN has begun paying N9m (not N10m as contained in the report that has gone viral on the Internet), the management of Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited, publishers of New Telegraph, Saturday Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, has written three letters to NPAN for its share of the compensation; but regrettably, as at this moment, not even a kobo has been received.
“Therefore, it is nothing but sheer falsehood for the NPAN president, who claimed he received the money on behalf of the association, to have included New Telegraph Newspapers as one of the beneficiaries of the funds, which as it has now emerged, was disbursed by the former NSA.”
Tribune, and Peoples Daily also said they did not receive the said compensation. However, Daily Trust, Leadership and Sun confirmed that the sum collected from government was remitted.
Details of the payment and how it was made were contained in court documents filed against Dasuki and a ex-Director of Finance at the NSA office, Shaibu Salisu at a Federal High Court, Abuja on Monday.
The charge reads: “That you Col. Mohammed Sambo Dasuki whilst being National Security Adviser and Shaibu Salisu, whilst being the Director of Finance and Administration in the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) between 12th August 2014 and 23rd March 2015 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, and in such capacities entrusted with dominion over certain properties to wit: the sum of N670m being part of the funds in the account of the ONSA with the CBN committed criminal breach of trust in respect of the said property when you transferred same to the bank account of General Hydrocarbons Limited with the Guaranty Trust Bank controlled by one Nduka Obaigbena purporting the said sum to be payment for “energy consulting” and you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 315 of the Penal Code Act, Cap 532, Vol.4, LFN 2004.”
The ongoing investigation by the EFCC on the alleged stolen funds by the ex-NSA last week had led to the arrest of another media mogul, the ex-Chairman of DAAR Communications, Raymond Dokpesi, for allegedly receiving N2.1bn from Dasuki.
Others arrested are Dasuki, Salisu; a former Minister of State for Finance, Bashiru Yuguda; an ex-governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa; his son, Sagir and a son of a former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dr. Haliru Mohammed, Abba.
In his statement, Obaigbena insisted that the payments were legitimate.
His statement reads, “We have never received any suspicious funds from the Office of the National Security Adviser. All funds received from the Office of the National Security Adviser were payments for compensation to mitigate the following:
“N150,000,000+ N150,000,000 and N250,000,000 respectively received in August, November and February 2014 as compensation to mitigate the dastardly Boko Haram twin bombings of the THISDAYNewspapers offices in Abuja and Kaduna on Thursday, April 26, 2012, during which four innocent Nigerians’ lives were lost, our buildings destroyed and we lost full colour Gross printing towers and three (3) pre-press Computer-To-Plate and auxiliary equipment and other (in)valuable property valued at over N2.5bn.
“This is aside from daily costs to pay 3rd party printers of over N1bn, having lost our printing facility to terrorists due to inadequate protection by the Federal Government of Nigeria. The bombing of THISDAYoffices followed the Abuja United Nations building bombing for which the Federal Government has so far spent N3bn for reconstruction and much more earmarked for furnishing.
“N100, 000,000 and N20, 000,000 received in March 2015 for The Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria and 12 newspapers who demanded compensation for the brutal and unlawful seizure of newspapers and stoppage of circulation by armed soldiers in Abuja and several cities. As President of the NPAN, it was my duty to lead media leaders to hold discussions with President Goodluck Jonathan to avert a class action lawsuit against the Armed Forces and the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“On both occasions, President Jonathan said he did not wish to lay precedence and in our case, he specifically said there were many victims of Boko Haram. I had to confront President Jonathan on the issue when I learnt of approvals for the reconstruction of the Abuja United Nations Building, since we were the second major organisation to be attacked by Boko Haram after the UN attack. He therefore directed me to meet the National Security Adviser, who processed the three payments in question.”
Obaigbena also attached a copy of the letter sent to former President Jonathan as well as correspondence with Dasuki, while stating he would meet with the EFCC on his return to the country.
Reaction...
The advocate of the Bring Back Our Girls Group, Oby Ezekwesili, said if compensation could be paid to the newspapers, then it should have been paid to owners of motor parks, mosques, churches, and schools that were attacked by Boko Haram.
She wrote on Twitter, “For demanding accountability, they called us names – “Enemy of the state,” “Unpatriotic,” “Psychological Terrorists,” while they stole on.
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