A man that has sent a petition to the Nigerian Senate against the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Thursday listed some alleged figures in a document containing his claims.
Mr George Uboh on Wednesday appeared before the Senate to present the evidence, a meeting that the EFCC was meant to attend but did not show up.
On Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television’s programme, Mr Uboh said he had received the overwhelming evidence he had in 2014 and that the compilation had been ongoing prior to that time.
Mr Uboh is from Delta State, but he had volunteered to help the Bayelsa State government recover an alleged unremitted sum which was part of the funds recovered from a former Governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, by the EFCC.
Giving his reason for choosing to go all out for the alleged Bayelsa State unremitted funds, he said: “My whistle blowing quest is based on real evidence. The EFCC has given me contract, but I love my country more and the love I have for my country is paramount.
“I chose Bayelsa because the former President, Goodluck Jonathan, is from Bayelsa State.
“Ninety-five per cent of offshore Seizures that the EFCC make never make it to Nigeria.
“In 2009, Nuhu Ribadu (a former EFCC boss), in US, stated that houses were seized from Alamieyeseigha valued over 10 million pounds in US, Cyprus, Denmark… £1 million cash was found, £2 million in Royal Bank, house in Cape Town.
“All they reported in Nigeria is 1.5 billion Naira and $250 million in Nigeria and $1.3 million dollars.
“The EFCC traded with these funds and the funds ballooned and they refunded 3.1 billion Naira to Bayelsa State,” he claimed.
Alleged Intimidation
According to him, the Governor of the State had at that time asked him to withdraw the issue from court after he was earlier given a mandate to help the state recover the alleged unremitted fund.
“At the time I waded into the matter, EFCC had a balance of 1.4 billion Naira and 1.3 million dollars in 2013.
“I met with the Governor of the State, at the time I had written EFCC.
“They replied and gave me a date of December 2013.
“They said they will refund the money by the beginning of 2014. The EFCC was dragged to court, which the Governor later denied.
“The Governor made it clear that he did not want to take the matter to court, asking me to withdraw the case,” the petitioner explained.
Mr Uboh claimed that the Governor must have asked for the withdrawal of the case because of an alleged intimidation by the EFCC
“The EFCC has intimidated sitting governors. The EFCC is a country within a country. When I refused to withdraw the case, the state sent me a letter terminating my mandate and discontinued the case I have in court.
“When I got to court, someone in that courtroom congratulated me for my efforts to fight corruption, saying there is a corruption going on in the court of 3.1 billion dollars.
“The EFCC has intimidated anybody and everybody that has had the platform to speak against them
“The reason I mentioned over two trillion Naira recovered is because I know that Nigerians want to hear the figure,” he said.
Boxes Of Evidence
The petitioner claimed that he had huge evidence against the anti-grant agency which he would disseminate.
“I have three boxes of evidence and I am going to disseminate all of them and if I die today, I have disciples that will disseminate them.
“In a letter dated December 2, 2011 sent to the Chairman, Senate Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes, from EFCC, the anti-draft agencies gave a summary of recoveries for eight financial year the aggregate Naira recovery was 1.3 trillion Naira.
“In 2013 the EFCC came out with another report covering 2003 to 2013 that is 11 financial years. The aggregate Naira recovery became 497 billion Naira. Why would eight financial year recovery be over eight hundred billion Naira more than 11 years financial record?
The EFCC has, however, denied the allegations, claiming that Mr Uboh was an ex-convict trying to derail the anti-grant agency from its war on corruption that is ongoing.
But Mr Udoh dismissed the claims of the EFCC, explaining that he won the case against him in the US which the EFCC had mentioned.
Explaining his trial and the allegation levelled against him in the US, Mr Udoh said: “I was arrested on February 14 1992 and was charged with conspiracy to import 250 kg of heroin and anyone conversant with the law of the United States should know that that is a life sentence. I was charged with conspiracy to distribute 10kg of cocaine and was charged with conspiracy for credit card fraud.
“The prosecution got conviction for credit card fraud and dismissed the drug cases.
Responding to the allegations against the EFCC on Thursday, the spokesman for the agency, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, said that the EFCC’s boss did not show up at the Senate for the hearing of the petition because the agency had written to the Senate that he would not come and that a new date should be given to the commission.
“In spite of the fact that we sent a letter to the Senate that we will come on a later date, the Senate went ahead with the hearing.
“The issue is one that Nigerians with conscience should take critical look at.
“It is a plight to derail the anti-corruption fight of the new administration. When a suspect that is under trail by a law enforcement agency takes a matter to the National Assembly, it amounts to us as a distraction,” he insisted.
