A former prosecutor with the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Chief Godwin Obla (SAN), says the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission under the leadership of its suspended
acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, has refused to pay him a joint sum of N763.9m in
legal fees.
He, however, said amid several
demands for his pay, Magu ordered his detention and prosecution on trumped up
charges of bribing a judge.
Obla said this while reading out
an 18-page letter to the Justice Ayo Salami-led Presidential panel titled,
‘Presentation In Respect of Malicious and Reckless Abuse of State Power of
Investigation and Prosecution Resulting in Mismanagement of Forfeited Assets by
Deliberate and Contrived Incompetence and Suspicious Dealing of Forfeited
Assets’.
The senior advocate testified
before the panel in the presence of Magu at the Banquet Hall of the
Presidential Villa on Monday. He also presented 12 questions to the panel which
he said the suspended EFCC chairman must answer and made five recommendations
Obla, who presented over 10
documents to the panel including his bill of charges, said he prosecuted 40
cases for the EFCC including those of former bank chiefs sacked by the Central
Bank of Nigeria under the leadership of Lamido Sanusi and also helped the
commission recover hundreds of billions of naira in cash and assets.
He said, “As of date, the EFCC
owes me an outstanding balance of N685, 389, 928.10 and $202,460.47 (N78.5m) or
its naira equivalent at the prevailing Central Bank of Nigeria exchange rate,
together with interest at prime lending rate, being professional fees for the
prosecution of over 40 high profile cases. See Statement of Claim in Suit No:
FCT/CV/3220/17 BETWEEN Obla v. EFCC.”
The senior advocate said all
subsequent letters sent to the EFCC were ignored but the fee was never
contested. He said rather than pay him his legal fees, Magu decided to level
several allegations against him in order to discredit and deny him his due.
“In effect, Ibrahim Magu
deliberately and maliciously denied me the fruits of my services for EFCC
whilst putting me to great expense to defend a worthless charge,” the lawyer
said.
The senior advocate, who helped
the EFCC to secure the conviction of a former Director-General of Nigerian
Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Temisan Omatseye, in 2016, said he
in the course of the case which lasted for six years, he travelled from his
base in Abuja to Lagos several times and made 46 court appearances but was not
paid a penny.
He said despite securing the
conviction for the EFCC, Magu accused him of bribing Justice Rita
Ofili-Ajumogobia to secure the conviction.
Obla said, “I have never made any
payment of N5m or any other amount to Justice Ajumogobia. To the best of my
recollection, the payment of N5m under reference was a payment I made on May
21, 2015 to a company named Nigel & Colive Nig. Ltd, for the purchase of
building materials for my construction site in Abuja (now my present office
building).
“At that material time of this
commercial transaction and till date, I had no prior knowledge that Justice
Ajumogobia had any interest whatsoever in the company.”
The senior advocate said based on
the allegations, he was informed by EFCC prosecutor, Rotimi Oyedepo, that Magu,
had personally directed that he be detained and he remained in custody for 21
days before he was subsequently arraigned alongside the judge.
The senior advocate called on the
Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), to ensure that the
frivolous criminal charges brought against him were withdrawn.
Obla said after he received a
letter of disengagement from the EFCC, he turned in all files and gave his
professional opinion on how to ensure that the cases continue seamlessly.
He said unfortunately, the
lackadaisical manner in which most of the matters had been handled either
indicate that the matters had been compromised or constructively withdrawn or
abandoned like the N18bn pension fraud case involving the Head of Service.
The senior advocate said Magu
went ahead to unceremoniously redeploy the Head of Legal Department, Chile
Okoroma, who was assigned those cases.
Obla added, “Secondly, material
evidence, which we returned to EFCC custody, were seemingly, withheld from him
as he severally reached out to my office for help. Next, when it seemed that
Mr. Chile was gaining some traction with the pension fraud cases, Ibrahim Magu
conveniently despatched Mr. Chile off to National Institute for Policy and
Strategic Studies, Kuru, thus foisting a constructive abandonment of the
pension fraud cases.
“In 2016, when Ibrahim Magu took
over the files, those pension fraud cases were all part-heard in various courts
of the Federal High Court, Abuja. Today, most of those cases are now in limbo
and constructively abandoned.
“It has been suggested that one
of the reasons why the Pension Fraud prosecutions have been stalled/frustrated
has to do with the interest of one Alhaji Ali Abatcha who is a kinsman of
Ibrahim Magu. The said Alhaji Ali Abatcha was the president of the Nigerian
Union of Pensioners and was undergoing prosecution by myself before Mr. Magu
took over. The status of this case and others should be reviewed.”
When contacted on the telephone,
a lawyer to Magu, Tosin Ojaomo, said it was unfortunate that the panel could
invite someone facing corruption charges to testify against Magu.
Ojaomo admitted that Obla was
being owed funds but said the EFCC had to verify the fee before payment could
be made.
“Really it’s inexplicable,
unexplainable, strange and the height of absurdity for a panel on a serious
matter like this kind of investigation to be inviting suspects standing trial
to testify against their prosecutor.
“The salami panel is offering its
platform to those aggrieved one way or the other against Magu by inviting them
to make presentations. The presentations/ allegations were not made available
to Magu.
“Even elements with pending
corruption cases in court are invited. People being prosecuted by the
prosecuting agency are making wild allegations even when pending allegations
have yet to be cleared in court.”
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