Emma Ujah, Ise-Oluwa Ige & Olasunkanmi Akoni
8 August 2008
OPERATIVES of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the early hours of yesterday, in Abuja, arrested former Chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and chieftain of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George.
He was picked up in his Abuja home after he was trailed for more than 24 hours without his Chief Olabode George knowledge.
Sources said he would have been arrested in Lagos but that he went into hiding after he dared the commission over a reported plan to arrest him.
Spokesman for the EFCC, Mr Femi Babafemi, who confirmed the arrest yesterday was economical with information on the reasons for his arrest.
At press time yesterday, Vanguard gathered that operatives of the Commission were taking turns to engage him on various issues on the running of the Ports Authority during his tenure as chairman.
The issues, Vanguard learnt, ranged from un-procedural award of contract during his tenure as chairman of NPA; inflation of contract prices; deliberate splitting of contract sums in order to circumvent extant government rules and grant of 100 % upfront for awarded contracts contrary to rules among other.
The source which said he had already volunteered useful information to the anti-graft agency said he was also questioned over N85 billion fraud in the Ports Authority during his tenure.
A reliable source at the Commission said he would definitely be arraigned before a high court of jurisdiction before the expiration of the time allowed by the constitution for his detention.
"I can confirm to you that if he is not arraigned tomorrow (Friday), he will definitely be arraigned on Monday.
"This is because the case against him is already ripe for trial long before now," the source added.
Chief George had been away to the US and the UK for some time before he returned, last week.
While he was away, tongues had wagged that he ran away to evade arrest.
But when he arrived the country, last week, he debunked the insinuations making the rounds that he went on exile to evade arrest and possible prosecution.
His words: "Me? Run away? That is rubbish. I'm back now and whoever wrote that article should bring his/her EFCC to come and arrest me. So, there's no need to clear any air.
Is it a crime for one to be on holidays? So, if you work continuously at the highest echelon of the political party for nine years and you decide to have a break from the day-to-day running of your office, what is wrong with that?
You see, people should stop being mischievous. Bode George is back. I've rested enough. My systems are working very well.
"All the checks I didn't do for many years that nearly resulted to ill-health, I've done them now and I feel well. In fact, I feel like an 18-year-old, ready to launch back on the plough. There is no problem at all.
I'm happy to be back and if I'm invited, I'll go. Am I not a Nigerian? What is there to answer in the last six years that they are asking? How can a part-time chairman of the NPA be responsible for anything there? Whoever is making the wuru wuru there, they know," he said.
Although Vanguard was not privy to the statement made by Bode George to the commission yesterday, it however learnt that he was queried on a number of allegations contained in a sworn affidavit by an investigation officer with the EFCC, one Bamanga Bello on the outcome of the probe of the former NPA boss.
EFCC case against George
According to Bello in the affidavit deposed to before an Ikeja High Court since last December, he had said:
"Sometimes in the year 2005, I was called upon by the Chairman of the Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, to represent him in the Committee set up by the Federal Government to review and verify contracts awarded by the Nigerian Ports Authority (hereinafter referred to as 'NPA') from 2001 to 2003
"The name of the committee is Special Committee on Review And Verification of Contracts Awarded by the NPA from 2001 to 2003.
"I represented Mallam Nuhu Ribadu during the Committee sittings.
"Chief Olabode George was the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Nigerian Ports Authority during the period under investigation.
"The Board of NPA under the chairmanship of Chief Olabode George approved various contracts without due process and in clear violations of extant Government rules and regulations, orders and laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria .
"Under the Federal Government Treasury Circulars Ref No: F.15775 dated 27th June 2001 and Ref No. TRY A & B4/2002 dated 5th July 2002, issued by the Federal Ministry of Finance and Office of the Accountant General of the Federation respectively, all contracts above N50 million should be referred to the Federal Executive Council while those between N20 million and N50 million are to be referred to Ministerial Tenders Board, Contracts worth between One Million Naira and N20 million are to be approved by Board of Directors, N1 million contracts by Permanent Secretaries and Contracts worth Seven Hundred Thousand Naira and below are to be approved by Chief Executive of Parastatals.
"Contrary to the above circulars and the relevant laws, the Board of Nigeria Ports Authority under the Chairmanship of Chief Olabode George illegally conferred approval limits of N60 million on the Board, N30 million on the executive management, N10 million on the Managing Directors, N2 million on the Executive Directors, N700,000.00 on the General Managers and N500,000.00 on the Ports Managers.
"The action of the Board in disregarding the extant government rules and regulations on award of contracts contravenes section 203 of the Criminal Code.
"Investigation revealed that the Nigeria Ports Authority during the period under review awarded over 24,252 contracts valued at over N100 billion.
"The Board under the Chairmanship of Chief Olabode George during the period under investigation approved various contracts which only the Ministerial Tenders Board or the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had powers to approve and thereby contravened Section 61 of the Criminal Code.11.
"During the period under investigation, various contracts which ordinarily should have been referred to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) or the Ministerial Tenders Board for approval were fraudulently split into many units by the Board under the Chairmanship of Chief Olabode George with the intention of circumventing extant government rules and regulations so that the contract amount will fall within the boards approval limits for the purpose of gain making by the Board.
"The Act of fraudulent split of contracts is tantamount to abuse of office contrary to Section 104 of the Criminal Code 11.
"It was also revealed during the period under investigation that contracts awarded by the Board were generally inflated as can be seen from the Report of the Committee and annexures II.
"The Act of inflation of contract prices is tantamount to conspiracy and stealing contrary to sections 516 and 390 of the Criminal Code. This action also contravened Section 22(3) of the ICPC Act 2000.
"During the investigation Chief Olabode George was invited, interviewed and interrogated by the Committee.
"It was also discovered that Chief Olabode George left office with about four vehicles belonging to Nigeria Ports Authority which prompted the Committee to write to him as a result of which he returned the vehicles to the Nigeria Ports Authority.
"Contrary to Government Regulation, the Claimant occupied two properties belonging to the NPA at Ikoyi, Lagos and Maitama, Abuja.
"Even after the Claimant had been removed as the Chairman of the NPA he was still occupying the two properties contrary to Government Regulations.
"It was also revealed that numerous contracts were awarded in foreign currencies at highly inflated rates for supply of items that were easily obtainable in Nigeria markets. Items such as umbrella, ball pens, fire services equipment etc.
Read comments. Write your own.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
Two statements made by the jibiti George amused me. These I can easily interpret as follows. First, Bode George, not satisfied with the loots during his military career, had been working hard to steal as much money possible to reach his goal of acquiring a lot. Secondly, a daft like him is not ashamed to tell the press that he went abroad for medical tests, all of which could be done in Nigeria, if people like him and his co-looters, Obasanjo and his family members had not delibrately staffed our health ministry of necessary funds. I wonder if all these… [Read Full Text]