The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Wednesday continued investigations into the N23 billion ($115 million) bribe disbursed to various states by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke through some banks during the build-up to the 2015 presidential election, The Punch is reporting.
According to the EFCC, a former acting Governor of Taraba State, Senator Sani Abubakar, chaired the committee that supervised the sharing of N450 million in Taraba State and a former Minister of Labour and Productivity, Senator Joel Danlami, benefited from the cash, while Senator Sa’idu Kumo of Gombe State collected N450 million campaign fund for the re-election of former president Goodluck Jonathan.
Chief Joel Madaki, the current Chairman, PDP in Adamawa State, and Ambassador Hassan Adamu were also alleged to have signed and collected N450 million.
The anti-graft agency said the money was disbursed to several local government chairmen in the respective states.
All attempts to speak with the former acting governor proved abortive as his phone line did not connect while a text message sent to his telephone was not responded to as of the time of filing this report on Wednesday.
On the distribution of the fund in Taraba State, sources at the commission explained that each local government received N28 million.
The source said: “A former acting Governor of Taraba State, Senator Danladi Abubakar, who was the Senator representing Taraba North Senatorial District in the National Assembly, was the chair of the sharing committee of the N450 million campaign slush fund.
“Other members were a former Minister of Labour and Productivity, Senator Joel Danlami, and a former Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mark Useni.
“Investigation by the EFCC revealed the role played by the trio in the collection and sharing of the fund.
“It also showed that Ikenya and Useni signed and collected the fund from Fidelity Bank on behalf of the state before proceeding to the Government House to distribute the fund.
“When interrogated, Ikenya and Useni claimed they distributed the money to the 16 local governments in the state.
“They gave N140 million (N28 million each) to five local government areas, while N264 million (N24 million each) went to the remaining local government areas.
“However, Useni admitted he collected Takum Local Government’s fund of N24 million.”
The EFCC source added that Ikenya and Useni confessed to have personally benefited individually from the fund.
He added: “The former minister admitted to have taken N4 million from the fund.
“He presented a Guaranty Trust Bank draft of N2 million and promised another draft for the same amount.
“His co-suspect deposited a draft of Stanbic IBTC for N1 million and the balance to be paid later.”
Explaining how the one in Gombe State was shared, the source explained that Senator Kumo, who is a former National Secretary of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, signed and collected N450 million campaign fund for the re-election of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
“Kumo admitted that out of the said amount, he got only N2 million, which he promised to pay back,” the EFCC source added.
The Punch.