The scandal following the alleged N50b Police Equipment Fund is getting messier as the House of Representatives started its investigations into the misappropriation of the fund last week.

Indications are rife that senior bank officials, top government officials, and business men that got themselves enmeshed in the deal are now jittery over the revelations that came out from the initial hearing of the matter by the Hon CID Maduabam committee.

Before the investigation proceeded, it was gathered that there were so much pressure on the speaker of the House, Hon. Dimeji Bankole to either stop the probe or delay it but following the media being flooded with news of the alleged fraud, there was no way out for the skimmers.

In the eye of the storm is Chief Kenny Martins who assumed the National coordinator of the Presidential Committee on the Police Equipment Fund that later became the Police Equipment Foundation who is being challenged by Dr. Godson Ewulum and Lagos lawyer, Festus Keyamo, to account for the fund which they claimed was in the neighborhood of N50b raised for the project. Martins, rather than tackle the bone of contention, is challenging that the House of Rep has no constitutional right to investigate the foundation.

In the morning of the hearing, the counsel to both parties, Festus Keyamo who represented Dr.Godson Ewulum and Tunji Abayomi who stood in for The Police Equipment Foundation and Kenny Martins had a debate on the African Independent Television (AIT) where Nigerians were entertained with accusations, allegations and counter-accusations between the two lawyers while the former boss of the Police Service Commission looked on.

At the House Committee on Public Petition hearing chaired by Hon. CID Madubam, Festus Keyamo made his presentation, calling on the so-called managers of the fund to account to the Nigerian people on how the funds were spent so far.

The hearing which had its chairman summoned by the Speaker of the house in a deliberate attempt to stall the hearing, started off around 12 noon and had live television coverage.

Keyamo, who appeared in a dual capacity as representing himself and Dr. Godson Ewulum, started his presentation by drawing the attention of the committee to the media campaign embarked upon by those that did not want might be a monumental scandal exposed to blackmail, intimidate, frighten and scare the members of the committee, himself and Ewulum in order to scuttle the probe.

“We have received death threats and even, some of my so called colleagues who have shared in the spoils of the fund in form of fat legal fees have threatened to invoke professional disciplinary measures against me in an attempt to gag me. But let me state clearly that no threat, no blackmail, no intimidation or gratification can deter us and members of this committee from doing what is right,” Keyamo started with.

He then went retrospect to furnish the August assembly of the genesis of the idea that gave birth to the Police Equipment Fund when three friends namely; Evangelist Joseph Agharite, Prince Ibrahim Dumujie and Dr. Godson Ewulum came under the umbrella of a company known as NIGERSTALG to make a proposal seeking the participation of the police and government in a project aimed at equipping the police.

While Dumujie and Ewulum were not directors in the company (NIGERSTALG) which was owned by Agharite, a tripartite agreement was entered into by the three friends that bound them together for the project.

With the agreement signed, the trio approached the then Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun and Mike Okiro, then a DIG as well as the Minister for Police Affairs, Dr. Broadrick Bozimo but made little progress. It was at this junction that a hand of fellowship was extended to Kenny Martins to come in as a facilitator of the project being an in-law to the then president, Olusegun Obasanjo.

Before the approval could be gotten, Agharite died in the Bellview plane crash of October 2005 which made it possible for Martins to come in fully on board.

As was expected of Martins connection to the president, approval was granted to function as a Presidential Committee on Police Equipment Fund with a mandate that the committee will be  private sector driven with key responsibilities given to the Minister of Police Affairs and NIGERSTALG as coordination of the activities of the fund. Harworth Dafinone, a firm of chattered accountants was appointed as the auditors of the fund.

During the inauguration of the committee, the Minister of Police Affairs in his speech, spelt out that the committee will submit annual reports of its activities to Mr. President through the Ministry of Police Affairs while NIGERSTALG, was assigned with the task of raising funds for the committee through public solicitation.

It was clear that at this point that the committee was to be monitored by the presidency contrary to the view held by Martins that it was a private arrangement.

According to Keyamo’s submission, “annual reports were to be submitted to the government but up till today, no single report of how much has been generated, who donated these funds and how much were spent.”

He went on to reveal how Martins, after NIGERSTALG were appointed the official fund raising partner, learnt that two directors from the company might be needed as signatories to the account while the ministry brings the other signatory, quickly rushed to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) with forged documents making himself and Dumujie directors in the company in order to fill the space of being the signatories from NIGERSTALG.

Martins went ahead and make himself the National Coordinator of the fund, a position that was not in the blue print of the organisation, that tackled, the committee went ahead looking for funds which came in droves.

But according to Keyamo’s submission, some of means by which the funds were gotten were fraudulent. Prominent among this category was the N10m directed by the presidency to be deducted from the local government accounts from the 774 local councils across the country. When the plot was being hatched, they encountered a problem Keyamo explained,

“They found a problem withdrawing the money from the Central Bank because the Ministry of Finance insisted on approval by all the local councils through their national body, ALGON. They could not get that approval,” he said.

Keyamo is of the suspicion that the signatures used to withdraw the monies from the local government account were forged as ALGON have declared they did not approve of the funds.

Keyamo prayed that the committee should summon the governor of the Central bank of Nigeria and the Ministry of Finance to produce the documents by which this money was released without due process.

With the funds realized increasing, Martins went ahead to incorporate a new private body known as the Police Equipment Foundation and transferred all the assets of the Presidential Committee to the foundation thereby effectively cutting off all the sub-committee members who played a major role in realizing the funds.

Among those cut off entirely from the project include Dr. Ewulum, Tony Elumelu, Jimoh Ibrahim, Kate Okparaeke, Cecilia Ibru (who later became involved again), Ausbeth Ajagu, Bello Labaran, Ray Ekpu and many others.

Keyamo went on that Martin, in order to cover his tracks and attract credibility to his new pet project, appointed the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammed Sa'ad Abubakar, as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees with an actual motive to use his eminence presence in the foundation as cover up to his illegitimate affairs with the funds so realized.

But indications are rife that the Sultan may drop his resignation as the BOT chairman with the ongoing drama. Sources close to the Sokoto Palace of the Sultan said, “a letter of withdrawal may be dispatched any moment from now to the Presidency on the issue.”

Sources said the decision for such a withdrawal was being hinged on certain parameters among which is the fact that the Palace had lately been inundated with calls condemning the linkage of the Sultanate with the fund.

Similarly, sources said that the wide publicity which the fund had been generating in recent times was being considered as “contrary to the high esteem to which the Northern elite place on the Sultanate.”

Apart from the bad image which the scam is likely to generate for the Sultan in his capacity as the Chairman of the fund's BOT, it was gathered that pressures are already being mounted on the Sultan to “withdraw immediately.”

Keyamo informed that apart from hiding under the guise of credible personalities to perpetuate the alleged mismanagement of public funds, Martins also compromised federal security agencies by donating unauthorized vehicles to them.

The agencies that benefited from the largesse include the State Security Services (SSS) which had the piece of the action delivered to them in May 2007; Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) got theirs in April 2007; Nigeria Navy (Sept 2007); Nigeria Army (August 2007); Directorate for Military Intelligence (DMI) had their share of cars delivered on the 25^th of August 2007 along with the Nigeria Customs and Excise. The Federal Ministry of Interior received theirs in Sept 2007; The Nigeria Intelligence Agency were given choice cars in August 3, 2007 while the Nigeria Police which the fund was meant for in the first place got their share in June 2007. Also purportedly donated to the police were two helicopters alleged to have been brought in from Ukraine but the recent revelation by the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro that the helicopters were missing confirms how messier the Police Equipment saga might go.

During the monthly meeting with police chiefs, the IG confirmed that the two Ukranian helicopters were actually nowhere to be found.

Okiro said, “I do know that sometime in 2006 or thereabout, two helicopters were brought from Ukraine and they were demonstrated to the police from the Eagle Square to the Force Headquaters. After that, I did not see them again so I cannot say anything because the money is not from police allocation.”

With such revelations coming from the police helmsman who also dissociated the police from the plan of the Police Equipment Foundation to buy Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) vans for banks saying that the job of the police is to provide security.

“We don’t buy or sell bullion vans to banks. All we do is to provide security,” Okiro clarified.

Martins and Dumujie rather than address the real issue which dwells on accountability are arguing therough their counsel, Tunji Abayomi and Mike Ozekhome, that the Police Equipment Fund was not set up by the presidency but only got its consent and blessings which makes it constitutionally improper for the House to investigate them.

They argued that under section 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution, the House does not have the power to investigate a company that is limited by guarantee and, according to Abayomi, since the matter is before a Lagos High court, it is unethical for the House to carry on with the investigation.

But Keyamo responded that the case in court was that of libel since Martins sued the national daily that broke the news of the mismanagement of the fund.

A mild drama ensued when the conduct of the defense counsel started becoming over bearing, the chairman threatened to charge Abayomi with contempt when all of a sudden he went theatrical and expressed his rage in an uncontrollable manner. The learned gentleman went as far as removing his jacket before walking out of the hearing in a clear attempt to stall the investigation. The hearing was also attended by the former Minister of Police Affairs, Chief Broderick Bozimo.

The Committee has summoned the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro and the Chief Executive of Oceanic Bank, Dr. Cecilia Ibru to the next hearing.

While the nation awaits to hear about more details that may spill from the probe, sources within the police disclosed that there is a feeling of discontent with the management of the fund meant for the police. Majority of the police commissioners who attended the monthly conference with the IG voiced their dissatisfaction with the scam, describing it as embarrassing to the police force.

Robot  Villager

# 1 The scandal following the alleged N50b Police Equipment Fund is getting messier as the House of ...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 22.02.2008 01:50

Bode_Boluz  Villager

# 2 Just two Questions and one request. When did the Nigeria Police Boss arrive in the UK for a knighthood? I looked through the published list of honours and didn't see his name anywhere. Did he have some private meeting with the Queen or PM Gordon Brown?? Or was it Tony Blair. What do Nigerians think should happen to move Policing into the 21st century so that it can be seen more as a civilian service for protection and not a force for paramilitary operations. I found it distressing and really an aberration that the SSS is still dealt with as a Police issue. My first question is an illustration on how happy folks are at home to enjoy trivia and misdirection. While the second seeks concrete answers on how to improve the deplorable security situation. The request. Will the many brainy folks on the ground in Nigeria please post here their ideas for improving the Nigeria Police and security situation. Break the cycle of blame and get to voicing solutions. You do not really at this time want to hear from us in the diaspora on how to solve this, so you take the lead. Here is an open and impartial forum to get heard. So how many are up to accepting the challenge? Posted by Bode_Boluz| 22.02.2008 10:17

Jucihart  Villager

# 3 Well we are all watching to see the outcome of the messed up stuff. It is really a sad thing that people expecetd to be respectable and responsible will engage in such acts just for MONEY - the root of all evil Posted by Jucihart| 24.02.2008 12:46