Considering the level of investigations conducted on the Goodluck
Jonathan administration, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) may arrest the former president before May, 29, 2016, when the
current administration would have clocked one year in office, a top
official of the agency has said.
The EFCC top shot, who spoke with The AUTHORITY at the weekend, disclosed
that the arrest, two weeks ago, of the Managing Director of Kakatar
Engineering and Construction Company Limited, Mr. Azibaola Robert, whom
the official described as “closest kinsman of former president Jonathan
so far,” was a clear indication that “we are inching close to making
former President Jonathan our guest.”
The official dismissed as reckless recent comments by another former
President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, dismissing the anti-graft agency as a
“toothless bulldog.”
The EFCC chief predicted that “unfolding events in the next few weeks will
actually confirm whether the EFCC has indeed become a toothless bulldog.”
Said the official, “We arrested Mr. Azibaola Robert on March 23, 2016
when he came to honour our invitation. We also arrested his wife, but she
has since been granted bail. The following day, we arrested Dakoru
Atukpa, Executive Director of his company. As we speak, both men are in
our custody and are helping with vital information needed to nail the
former president.”
According to the official, Robert and Atukpa were arrested in connection
with what he described as “ongoing investigations” into a $40 million oil
pipeline security contract, which emanated from the Ministry of Petroluem,
but was paid for by the office of the equally detained former National
Security Adviser (NSA), Retired Col. Sambo Dasuki.
The EFCC official said the commission was working on a lead that One-Plus
Nigeria Limited, Kakatar’s sister company which secured the oil
pipeline security contract, may have been a front of former President
Goodluck Jonathan.
He said, “Even though One-Plus appeared to have successfully executed the
contract, we are interested in details of how the company executed the
job, including those who got paid from the $40 million sum.
“Even though we are still investigating, there is sufficient suspicion
that both men used One-Plus as front of the former President. The Managing
Director of One-Plus has constantly maintained that the company was
incorporated well before Jonathan became Vice President, and that it
wasn’t a crime to come from Otuoke,” offered the official.
The EFCC official said the commission was unsettled by former president
Olusegun Obasanjo’s recent description of the agency as a toothless
bulldog, and was committed to taking on persons considered sacred cows
just to prove Obasanjo wrong.
He said, ‘You know former President Obasanjo has his unique way of
passing his message. Before Obasanjo even described our Commission as a
toothless bulldog, several persons accused us of shielding former
President Jonathan. The truth is that we are not shielding anybody. It
will not be good for us to rush to court only to be disgraced, the reason
we took this long to make the arrests.
“However, be assured that a very big fish will land in our net before May
29. We intend to make the arrest of this big fish a Democracy Day gift to
Nigerians,” offered the official.
Tasked to unmask the identity of the “big fish,” the EFCC official
retorted, “you are a journalist and should know better.”
The EFCC official ruled out the possibility of an early arraignment for
Jonathan’s kinsmen, saying, “we will keep them in custody for as long as
possible, and for as long as they cooperate and tell us the whole truth
about what they know about the transactions, and the involvement of the
former president.”
Said the EFCC officer, “Fortunately, we have secured a court order to
keep them (Jonathan’s kinsmen) for another two weeks. If need be, we will
apply for an extension. But be assured that we won’t allow this matter go
the way of others. With this case, we will prove those who accuse us of
being toothless bulldogs wrong.”
Contacted, head of media of Kakatar, Mr. Austin Ekheinde, declined
comments, referring The AUTHORITY to his boss’s lawyer Gordy Uche, SAN,
who confirmed the arrest by EFCC of the MD and ED of Kakatar CE Limited.
Said the senior lawyer, “Yes, EFCC arrested my clients Messrs Azibaola
Robert and Dakoru Atukpa, MD and ED respectively of Kakatar CE and
One-Plus, on March 23 and 24th respectively, when they went to honour
EFCC invitation.”
The lawyer confirmed that both men were being detained in connection with
a $40 million pipeline security contract, and the purchase of a N650
million house, but that the EFCC has refused to arraign them before a
competent court.
According to the SAN. operatives of the Commission conducted several
searches on the offices of the detained men, carting away several
documents . The lawyer said he was reasonably informed that both men were
being made to make statements under duress implicating former President
Goodluck Jonathan ostensibly to serve certain interests.
Aside Obasanjo, who dubbed the EFCC a “toothless bulldog” for not going
after “sacred cows,” top officials of the ruling All Progressives
Congress (APC) have been mounting pressures on President Muhammadu
Buhari to give EFCC the nod to arrest Jonathan, who last year shocked the
world by becoming the first African president to concede defeat in a
presidential election even before the results were officially released.