Malachy Uzendu and Erasmus Alaneme
22 August 2008
Abuja — DIRECTOR-General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) Prof. Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, was released by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday after she was quizzed over the N100 million purportedly raised in support of the presidential ambition of Senator Barack Obama.
Also, the commission has returned her international passport.
Prof. Okereke-Onyiuke was arrested Wednesday by EFCC, operatives and detained at the commission's headquarters in Abuja over the money her group raised in a gala night on August 11 in Lagos.
Senator Obama is the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party in the United States (U.S).
However, confirming Mrs. Okereke-Onyiuke's release to Daily Champion, head of media and publicity of the EFCC Mr. Femi Babafemi, also said the Managing Director of the defunct Hallmark Bank, Marc Wabara is still in custody.
Though, he refused to give details of the outcome of the interrogation of Okereke-Onyiuke, the spokesperson said she was released yesterday evening (Thursday).
He also debunked rumours that the Commission withheld her international passport, pointing out that it has already been returned to her.
On the fate of Wabara, the younger brother to the former Senate President of Nigeria , Adolphus Wabara, the EFCC said he is still being quizzed on the allegation of diversion of bonuses.
He was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly diverting signature bonuses accruing from oil block allocations in the Joint Development Zone (JDZ) between Nigeria and Sao Tome& Principe.
It was alleged that former President, Olusegun Obasanjo gave Wabara as the Committee Chairman of his (Obasanjo) 2003 campaign fundraising event where, the sum of $56million realized from the sale of oil blocks in the JDZ.
The money was said to have been given to Wabara by the former president on the premise that he was to deposit same at the JP Morgan account owned by the Nigerian government in New York .
But anti-graft officials who were on the trail of the said money reportedly found out after a recent visit to Sao Tome & Principe that the financial records of Wabara was not straight especially on the issue of the JDZ money.
He was alleged to have diverted the money to First Bank branch in Lagos using his defunct bank where he engaged in the trading of short-term security investment in the stock market.
Wabara was alleged to have sold a dummy to the Nigerian government on the whereabout of the money, telling them that the said money went down with his now defunct Hallmark Bank. But it was alleged that he secretly moved the said money in question to Sa Tome and Principe using it to open a commercial bank.
The commercial bank named Highland Bank is alleged to be one of the areas he diverted the money to as he was said to have bought a piece of Ocean-side land and started the construction of a five-star hotel in Sao-Tome and Principe.
Meanwhile, Conference of Nigerian Political Parties {CNPP}, has commended the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission {EFCC}, for questioning the Director-General of the Nigeria Stock Exchange, Professor Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, over her role in the fund-raising dinner for US presidential candidate, Mr. Barak Obama.
A statement signed by Mr. Osita Okechukwu, CNPP national publicity secretary, also commended Lagos lawyer, Mr. Festus Keyamo for writing the petition which compelled the anti-graft body to invite Okereke-Onyiuke.
CNPP however warned that EFCC should not stop at probing the Obama fund raising dinner, but to get to the root of similar scams plaguing the country's.
Onyiuke was Wednesday invited by the Commission to explain what she knew about the fund raising dinner to which she was said to have denied raising money for the American presidential hopeful.
EFCC spokesman, Femi Babafemi who confirmed the development explained that the invitation was hastened by Keyamo's petition.
CNPP in the statement, said "for the sake of sanitizing our polity, the EFCC should not stop with the Obama scam, but should clear the Augean stable, by prosecuting Professor Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke and her cohorts for corrupting the Nigerian Electoral System, through a nebulous association called Corporate Nigeria".
CNPP claimed in the statement that similar fund raising dinner by her Corporate Nigeria fetched several billions of Naira which in 2003 and 2007 assisted the Peoples Democratic Party {PDP}, bankroll it presidential campaigns, even though such acts were against the letters of the Electoral Act.
"It is our considered view that it is a crime against the nation, which they nearly exported overseas. Nigeria is yet to recover from this heinous crime, that today no electoral ward in the country can boast of electing her councilor.
"The unfortunate outcome is that, for sowing this sordid seed of discord; Professor Okereke-Onyiuke and cohorts were rewarded with---Transcorp, NITEL, Oil Blocs, Hilton Hotel Abuja, Customs Duty Waivers, National Honors, Professorship, among others "EFCC as a matter of urgent national importance must clean the Augean stable," CNPP insisted.
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