Former Gov. Tinubu

Former Lagos State Governor, Mr. Ahmed Bola Tinubu has been linked again with an elaborate scam that led to the creaming off of about $32 Million of the $108 Million council funds recently paid to Lagos State by the Federal Government. 

After four years of legal tussles and negotiations with former President Olusegun Obasanjo, President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua had last year directed the Accountant General of the Federation, Mr. Ibrahim Dankwambo, to immediately release the N10.8 billion belonging to Lagos state local councils. 

Mr. Tinubu, whose finances took an unexpected N50 Billion dip after a negotiated settlement with the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, on account of illegal transfer of Government funds, is said to have demanded a sizeable portion the Local Government funds in order to regain his swagger. 

According to sources, Mr. Tinubu is using his connection through his political surrogate the incumbent Governor Babatunde Fasola to seek the understanding all the Local Government Chairmen in the State to reward him with thirty per cent (30 %), an eye popping $42 Billion. 

Gilbert Chagoury

Sources told Pointblanknews.com that Tinubu predicated his payment on the fact that he was the one that started the battle with the Federal Government under former President Olusegun Obasanjo that illegally frozen Lagos council funds to be released. The former Governor, it was said insisted that since the payment has been effected he ought to be shown appreciation for his efforts.  

Tinubu was alleged to have claimed that he incurred huge debt running into several millions of Naira while lobbying the Federal Government to remove the lean otherwise on the fund. 

But it was revealed that the motive behind the huge settlement actually hinged on what the source described as a dubious solidarity to make sure that Tinubu does not go bankrupt. 

Sources said that Governor Fasola deliberately coordinated the alleged payment to Mr. Tinubu as a life-buoy for a financially sinking god-father. According to the Sources, Fasola needed to continue to service Tinubu in order to assist in the take off of the proposed Lagos Mega City Project, another epic scandal. He helped in brokering award of the project contract to Chagoury and Chagoury whose owner, Gilbert Chagoury had been black listed and expelled by the former President Obasanjo’s Government on account of several unscrupulous deals spanning a period of 25 years. Part of Chagoury’s failed projects in Nigeria was the N18.4 Billion National Identity Card Project that failed to materialize since 1979 until 2001. Chagoury would later act in contempt of Nigeria’s Senate and Nigerians by boasting to before a National Assembly Committee hearing that the ID card project is “a fat cow available to anybody to milk.” 

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Tinubu allegedly enjoys undisclosed protection as an unannounced member of the Board of Director of Chagoury and Chagoury. He was said to have been given the privileged appointment as a “matter of graft.” Sources said that it was Tinubu’s dexterity that brought Chaugaury back to Nigeria and that the company decided to appreciate him by naming him a Director.  

Tinubu is also helping Chagoury Group to reconnect as a major contractor to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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