Amnesty office: Anxiety as EFCC begins probe of Boroh’s tenure

.HODs jittery as new helmsman Dokubo resumes today

.Ribadu scores EFCC high, wants Nigerians to support anti-graft war

There is an uneasy calm at the headquarters of the Presidential Amnesty Programme following the appointment of Prof Charles Dokubo as the new Presidential Adviser and Coordinator of the programme for former Niger Delta militants.

This is coming on the heels of the tension and ripples generated by the removal of the former Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brig.Gen. Paul Boroh (rtd).

Sources close to the Amnesty office told our correspondent that Head of Departments under probe by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) are now jittery since the sacking of Boroh over alleged corrupt activities.

Some the officials, who expressed uncertainty over what to expect from the new boss, said that they are no longer sure of their jobs security.

The Daily Times also gathered the Presidential Amnesty Programme under Boroh was tantamount to ‘an avenue for political aides and staff of the office to amass wealth at the expense of peace in the region as well as the welfare of staff.’

The National Security Adviser (NSA), Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd), reportedly constituted a panel to investigate the activities of the Amnesty office under Boroh.

The panel was said to have uncovered some fraudulent activities by some of the Heads of Departments who are currently under probe by the EFCC.

Another source also confided in The Daily Times that one of the top ranking official in charge of Education desk and a close confidant of the NSA, was allegedly instrumental to the removal of Boroh.

The source said, “The top ranking official was the one reporting the activities of Boroh to the NSA. In fact, he is his right-hand man.

“He has already been listed as the next person to work closely with Prof Dokubo.”

Several allegations has bedevilled the official at the education desk where he heads.

It was further alleged that he allocated a huge percentage to students admitted into 2016/2017 who were not beneficiaries of the Amnesty programme.

The source also alleged that an NTA official on secondment at the Communications Department of the Amnesty office was alleged to have pocketed huge amount of money through various memos with neither consent nor approval of the Head of Department.

It was alleged that she used her influence to raise the memos signed by herself and approved by Boroh without the consent of the head of her department to collect various sums of money.

When contacted on the allegations, the NTA official said: “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

The Daily Times recalls that President Buhari had last week approved the appointment of Prof Charles Quaker Dokubo as the new Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme for former Niger Delta militants. He replaced Brigadier-General Paul Boroh (rtd).

The President had directed the NSA to carry out a full investigation into the activities of the Amnesty Programme from 2015 to date, especially allegations of financial impropriety and other acts that are allegedly detrimental to the objectives of the Presidential Amnesty Programme.

Boroh had been alleged to be deceiving the people and allegedly amassing wealth from the PAP.

Boroh had informed some elders of the Niger Delta that 70 ex-militants, who, as part of the PAP, had been trained in underwater welding at the CDA Technical Institute of the West Indies in St. Kitts and Nevis, recently graduated and returned to Nigeria.

However, it was revealed that Boroh did not tell the whole truth, as none of the ex-militants have returned from St. Kitts and Nevis. Furthermore, 50, not 70 ex-militants were discovered to have participated in the vocational training programme sponsored by the PAP.

Some of the stranded ex-militants at St. Kitts and Nevis disclosed that for about three months, they have been stranded, saying that they were “all shocked a few days ago when they read an article from media in which the Amnesty Coordinator had told some elders of the region that 70 of them who went for the training had all returned to Nigeria fully equipped”.

According to them, they are not 70, but 50 delegates. And that none of them were provided with equipment, as stated by Boroh. They added that the Amnesty office, the contractor and others who have been conspiring to defraud the country have ripped Nigeria of about $700,000 in school fees from the non-existent 20 delegates.

“We, the 50 ex-militants to the St. Kitts and Nevis, arrived on 26th December, 2015 due to some delays and here in St. Kitts and Nevis we spent over a month before we commenced the training on the 8th of February, 2016 and our programme ended in July. Since then till date, we have been stranded and abandoned here with no food. Since July till date, none of us has gotten a single monthly stipend, even though we were each approved for a $500 stipend.

“Even the certificates issued to us just last week were not completed because our country has not done the needful. Barely a few months after Boroh was appointed, he has amassed wealth, defrauding the Federal Government billions of Naira. Even N3 million for each ex-militant’s kits and equipment for the training were never given to us. Now, Boroh is pocketing a whopping sum of $700,000 in school fees for his ghost 20 ex-militants that he has fraudulently bloated to 70 delegates,” one of the ex-militants said.

A petition against the Amnesty office and the contractor, addressed to the Office of President Muhammadu Buhari, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other relevant authorities and signed by the lawyer to the stranded 50 ex-militants, S. Kelechi Nnadi, called for the immediate evacuation of the trainees and the prosecution of all those involved in the fraudulent and corrupt act.

The petition titled, “Sabotage of the Amnesty Programme of the Federal Government of Nigeria, Fraudulent Conversion of Money earmarked for training of Amnesty Training/Delegates In St. Kitts and Nevis (West Indies) By Allstates Travel And Tours Ltd And Their Cohorts In the Amnesty Office,” noted that the programme was intended to last a year but was fraudulently shortened to six months.

In a related development, the pioneer chairman of the EFCC. Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, has said that the commission under the watch of Mr. Ibrahim Magu has done very well in its fight against corruption.

Ribadu, who decried the high rate of corruption in the country, called on Nigerians to support the commission on its fight against graft in order to rid the country of the menace.

Ribadu, who was speaking during the anti-corruption townhall meeting tagged, “A spanner in the wheel of corruption”, organised by the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Foundation in Abuja, on Monday, said that corrupt “people will do everything possible to make sure you don’t drag them to court”.

He, however, added that for the war to be successful, law enforcement agencies like the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the police must “wake up from their slumber”.

Ribadu said, “The EFCC alone has over 3800 ongoing corruption cases in the courts, not to talk of other cases.

“The EFCC has done fairly well. You need to see what these people go through to get one case to court. It is hell. Because some people will do everything possible to make sure you don’t drag them to court. They do not even sleep.

“Let the ICPC wake up from its slumber and start doing something too. Same with government ministries. There are lots of government agencies that are not doing anything to support the fight against corruption.

“The Nigeria police force should also wake up and do what the EFCC is doing. Same with the law enforcement agencies and the judiciary; why are we not getting the convictions in the corruption cases? They have a role to play as well.”

The former EFCC chairman, however, said the situation of corruption in the country is “not always negative” as the country has been able to record some strides in the anti-graft war.

“Nigeria is the only country that has successfully recovered stolen money taken abroad,” he said, adding that : “Other countries in Africa and other places have tried but they never succeeded.

On his part, the Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Waziri Adio, said that for the problem of corruption to be addressed, there is the need for Nigeria to first tackle “institutional corruption.”

He said, “Wherever monopoly exists, and where there is institutional discretion and without measures of accountability, the institutions will definitely be abused.

“We need to look at issues of sanctions, systems and society. We focus too much on sanctions but as important as they are, they won’t upturn the table.”