*Maritime varsity threatened
*Ex-NIMASA DG’s International passport, bullet-proof jeep seized
ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – The anti-corruption campaign of the President Muhammadu-led administration appears to have taken a bigger bite as accounts of associates of former President Goodluck Jonathan have been secretly flagged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
A member of the Alhaji Ahmed Joda-led Transition Committee of the All Progressive Congress (APC) who spoke on the condition of anonymity told Sundiata Post in Abuja that the move by the anti-graft agency was aimed at stemming the movement of cash from the multi-billion accounts for other reasons.
The APC chieftain spoke on the heels of the condemnation of Buhari’s on-going probe and recovery of funds from the past administration.
The affected accounts are those belonging to Mieka Divers Limited as well as Global West Vessels Limited reportedly owned by ex-Niger Delta warlord, Chief Government Ekpompolo, otherwise known as Tompolo. Aside that, one of Jonathan’s close allies, Mr Kime Engozi’s accounts have also been flagged. Engozi is the contractor handling the N30 billion Maritime University contract at Okerenkoko in the Gbaramatu area of Delta State.
Besides, funds already approved for the take-off of the Maritime University are stranded in a Yenagoa, Bayelsa State branch of United Bank for Africa Plc. (UBA). The NIMASA Technical College at Okoloba, also in Delta State appears threatened as there are fears that the institution may be scrapped.
Accounts linked to the immediate past Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Patrick Akpobolokemi are equally ‘flagged’ by EFCC.
The top Presidency source said although he could not confirm if Jonathan’s penultimate meeting with President Buhari discussed the issue, the action to ‘flag’ the said accounts might have been for security reasons even as he said the opposition PDP was ignorant of the workings of government, especially security.
“This is not a matter of lobby or any politics that should be shoved aside; what is at stake is the nation’s security and nothing more.
“So when the PDP says the current anti-corruption drive is selective, we continue to laugh at them because they do not seem to know what is at stake at all; if only they know, all the noise they have been making won’t be made at all.
“How many of these PDP elements know that just one individual benefited from a single NIMASA transaction to the tune of N13 billion, not to talk of about $57 million he was said to have benefited from controversial contractual deals?
“Are these the things they ask us to sweep under the carpet? Certainly, we cannot because apart from the angle of the impunity and financial recklessness, does it make any sense if any responsible government allows such individuals who had threatened war in the event that Jonathan did not win, to have such huge sums in bank vaults? Such accounts must be flagged of course,” he said.
Tompolo is not under any investigation by the EFCC, but Kuku has a date to keep with the anti-graft agency in September having gone for a knee surgery in the United States of America in July this year while the former NIMASA boss has been under investigation over month ago.
However, Akpobolokemi’s interaction with the EFCC has been linked to business deals between him while he held sway at NIMASA and the ex-warlord.
EFCC’s seizure of Akpobolokemi’s international passport and a N38 million worth bullet-proof Toyota Landcruiser Jeep are already heightening speculations that he might be prosecuted if findings by the investigators indict him amid spirited efforts by lawyers, especially those of the human and civil rights community to get him off the hook.
At least three close aides and confidants of the former NIMASA boss, including the current executive director in charge of maritime safety and shipping development, Mr Ezekiel Bala Agaba have been guests of the EFCC in the last 10 days.
Among the issues raised in the rigorous EFCC scrutiny are the amount spent on the Maritime Domain Awareness and Surveillance System (MDASS) as well the management of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF).
It will be recalled that the House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee of the last National Assembly in 2013, queried the management of NIMASA, over alleged mouth-watering payments to Global West Vessels Limited.
The House Committee was set up to ascertain how much had accrued into the CVFF, including the interest, as well as how much the Fund disbursed and to whom it gave the money. It also demanded to know why such huge amount of payment was made to Global West.
During the investigation, a member of the committee, Dr Adejare Samuel Babatunde, raised an alarm at the amount of money paid to one single company, and demanded that a detailed bank statement of account of the CVFF be forwarded to the committee.
The committee, it was gathered, was also irked by the payment of 50 percent of NIMASA’s generated revenue to the said company, contrary to laid down financial regulations of government.
The committee also picked holes at the NIMASA CVFF accounts and demanded an explanation on the movement of monies from the Fund to other accounts. The CVFF accounts are domiciled in Skye, Sterling, Diamond and Fidelity Banks.
Beside the unauthorised movements of monies from the Fund, the committee further demanded the disclosure of names and the consultants engaged by NIMASA and how much has been paid to the consultants.