Globetrotting Governor Abdulaziz Yari on My Mind

I am traumatised that Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State is still showily parading himself as the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum despite the terrifying sleaze allegations against the leadership of the NGF. This association of governors, which Yari chairs, is under investigation for paying billions of Naira to ghost consultants after the governors collected Paris Club refunds. In sane climes, Yari would have resigned. It is sickening to note that the Zamfara governor was on the Presidential delegation to the recent United Nations General Assembly in the United States. A man that is under probe is perpetually gallivanting with a President who claims to be fighting corruption. What an irony! Many of those who promised us “change” are now enmeshed in corruption allegations. The truth that must be told is that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has spent the last four months trying to retrieve billions of Naira paid to the ghost consultants by the NGF for allegedly facilitating the Paris Club Refunds.

Few months back, the Federal High Court in Abuja ordered an interim forfeiture of N500 million and $500,000, suspected to have been laundered by Yari using the ghost NGF consultant. According to the EFCC, huge sums of money were fraudulently diverted from the bank account of the NGF, allegedly on the instruction of Yari. These were fees due to the ghost consultants engaged by the NGF. The dues were subsequently disbursed to the specialists in a manner not transparent. In an affidavit, the EFCC alleged that the N500 million was diverted to offset Yari’s personal loan obtained from First Generation Mortgage Bank Limited. It also alleged that another firm, Gosh Projects Limited, got $500,000, which was allegedly used for the purchase of building materials for a 100-room hotel project in Lagos, owned by another serving governor. Gosh Projects was also suspected to have used part of the looted funds for the purchase of treasury bills and transfers to offshore accounts of this serving governor from the South-east. The sums had already been recovered from the two firms by the anti-graft agency, before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba gave the interim forfeiture order on June 30. For now, nobody has come forward to challenge the EFCC and Justice Dimgba is set to approve the permanent forfeiture of the money to the federal government.

Armed with fresh evidence of diversion of the London-Paris Club refund, the EFCC is back in court. This time, it applied for the forfeiture of over N1.8 billion paid to another set of ghost consultants by the Yari-led NGF. In fact, one of the consultants allegedly confirmed to EFCC detectives that he did not do any job for the NGF. This particular fictitious consultant (Mountain Crest) had $3 million transferred into his account by the NGF from the loan repayment to states.

I am earnestly waiting for what this Zamfara governor has to say about these sleaze allegations. He has refused to disclose his relationship with all the companies the funds were seized from by the EFCC. The affected firms are not protesting. It is scandalous that all we have been hearing on this issue are humdrum explanations from the spokesman of the NGF, Abdulrazaq Barkindo. When will Yari speak up? This is clearly not the “Change” Nigerians voted for. These squandering governors visibly agreed to pay 5 per cent as consultancy fees because of an obvious game plan to kick back the fees into their pockets. By my calculation, a whopping N38 billion must have been paid to the ghost consultants from the N766.53 billion so far released to the governors.

Sources at the EFCC disclosed that Yari only coordinated the alleged looting of the Paris Club refunds. It was gathered that virtually all the governors nominated ghost consultants for the fees paid out to the specialist by the NGF. This is clearly a money laundering arrangement. I spent most of this week weeping after seeing the list of governors involved in the scam. Even those I thought were fairly decent were on the list. Hapless Nigerians are in a one-chance bus.

The most depressing part of this Paris Club Refund fraud is that after some state governors paid the 5% fees to NGF ghost consultants, five of them allegedly went further to pay between 2.5% and 5% of their refunds to another set of ghost consultants picked by them.

Let’s go back to globetrotting Governor Yari. The NGF scam is just the latest in the series of storm trailing this man. His tenure as Zamfara governor is riddle with controversy. Many will not forget in a hurry how he viciously killed moves by legislators to impeach him last year. He simply got operatives of the Department of State Service to harass the leaders of the lawmakers. This brutal governor got the DSS in Abuja to detain the Speaker, Sanusi Garba Rikiji, his deputy, Muhammad Abubakar Gumi, the Majority Leader, Isah Abdulmumini and the Chief Whip, Abdullahi Dansadau. The remaining 20 members of the Assembly fled to Kaduna to avoid arrest. Prior to this, Yari used miscreants to attack the Speaker. The intimidation worked, with the lawmakers withdrawing their impeachment notice.

Notwithstanding, Zamfara legislators have made their point about Yari’s alleged ineptitude, misappropriating allocations to the state, corrupt usage of local government funds, failing to implement the budgets and non-remittance of pension funds to pension administrators. These are hefty allegations. Rather than addressing the issues, Yari, who is constantly abroad, resorted to political intimidation, arrest and detention of principal officers of the House and other support staff. Again, Yari’s frequent trips abroad are evidently impacting negatively on the day-to-day running of the government, apart from imposing financial burden on the state. That was why elder statesman, Saidu Dansadau, petitioned Buhari last year, asking him to declare a state of emergency in Zamfara State.

Dansadua, a Second Republic Senator, said: “The governor hardly stays in the state as he prefers to travel all over the world at the expense of the state resources and safety of the people. He has spent only about 20 per cent of that whole period (five years) in Zamfara State. He had utilised the other 80 per cent junketing from one part of the country to the other and shuttling around the globe. All matters of state that require action are kept waiting until he returns to the state. Consequently, intelligence and security reports are kept in abeyance. For instance, at a period, out of 60 straight days, the governor spent only two days in Zamfara State.”

While Yari is living big, Zamfara bleeds. This state remains one of the most backward in Nigeria. Public water supply, quality public schools and health institutions are scarce commodity in this state. May Allah save Zamfara State.

Boko Haram Killings in Guzamala, Mashimari, Kurmiri, Rann

 Boko Haram terrorists are still rampaging. We must continue to draw attention to it; perhaps, the Buhari administration will wake up from its slumber and do the needful. About 33 people were killed by the sect in Borno State in this month of September alone. That is 33 human lives lost within 30 days. Just three days ago, the terrorists attacked three villages in Guzamala Local Government Area of Borno. Three people were killed, while scores of homes were burnt. The LG’s Information Officer, Modu Ganamani, confirmed the killings and listed the villages attacked as Goram, Lingis and Ajidari.

Earlier in September, suicide bombing in Mashimari (Konduga) claimed 15 lives with 43 others injured, as confirmed by Head of Rescue Operations, Borno State Emergency Management Agency, Bello Dambatta. Some of the injured are still in medical facilities in Maiduguri. The scene of the Mashimari attack was not far from the Mandarari Internal Displacement Camp that was attacked in August.

Three weeks back, the Chief Imam of Kurmiri village and four others were killed by Boko Haram as confirmed by the Caretaker Committee Chairman of Magumeri Local Government Area, Abubakar Abdulkadir. The terrorists invaded Kurmiri, brandishing AK-47 rifles. The slain Kurmiri Chief Imam, Ustaz Tabare, was the elder brother to a popular Politician in Magumeri, Mallam Goni Kundube. Magumeri has witnessed a series of deadly attacks this year, including the killing of 69 oil explorers.

On September 20, the terrorists invaded some villages in Rann, Kala-Balge Local Government Area, killing nine farmers. The Chief Imam of Rann, Ba’liman Guja confirmed the killings, adding that some of the farmers who survived had fled to Cameroon. Others returned to the IDP camp in Rann with gunshot and dagger wounds. These are Boko Haram killings backed with facts and figures. Many local government areas in Borno State are no-go areas. This is why over 2.1 million IDPs can’t return to their homes. This is also why about 60 per cent of schools in Borno State remain shut. For how long shall this delusion by the Buhari administration continue? This is food for thought for all of us today.

Peter Obi Vs Willy Obiano

The Governor of Anambra State, Willie Obiano and his predecessor, Peter Obi, have been dancing naked in public in the last three weeks. These two men clearly authorised all the tart statements issued by their media aides, because none of them has come out to deny the reports. The bone of contention is Obiano’s bid for a second term. Obi, who installed Obiano four years ago, telling the whole world then that Obiano was the only man qualified for the job, has now ditched him. According to Obi, Oseloka Obaze of the PDP is now the man for the Anambra job. Suddenly, a startled Obiano wants us to believe that Obi ditched him because he refused to provide him N7 billion demanded as gratification for installing him as governor. So, why is he telling the nation this, just few months to the Anambra governorship election? Perhaps, if Obi had supported his bid for 2nd term, Obiano would not have unveiled this side-splitting story.

On his part, former governor Obi has suddenly realised that he left N75 billion in the bank accounts of the Anambra State Government for his successor which Obiano allegedly squandered. When the going was good, he did not tell us this. Obi wants us to believe that he spent eight years saving money for his successor, while Ndi Anambra struggled with basic amenities like public water supply, quality health and educational facilities and roads. How many additional homes had access to public water supply during the eight-year tenure of Obi? In any case, is good governance all about saving money for one’s successor? We have had enough of these repulsive stories by Obi. If this former governor had been able to sort out his dispute with Obiano, he would not be telling us all these funny stories. The truth is that Obiano refused to dance to the tunes of his hitherto godfather called Peter Obi. This former governor should concentrate on his campaign for his new boy, Obaze, and tell us what his PDP man would be doing differently. I suspect that Obi is currently spending part of the money he saved in a special bank for Ndi Anambra on Obaze.