The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has detained a former Minister of Finance, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda, over his alleged involvement in the $115m (N23bn) bribe which was distributed by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke.
The EFCC said in a statement that the ex-minister who is a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, allegedly diverted N450m out of the money.
The money, which was distributed through Fidelity Bank Plc, was said to have been used to bribe officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission during the 2015 presidential election.
The statement read in part, “The EFCC has detained the former Minister finance, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda, over his involvement in 23bn bribery poll. Ambassador Yuguda in his statement admitted collecting a total of N450m in his capacity as a senior executive of the PDP in his state.”
Yuguda had been arrested by the EFCC last year after he allegedly received suspicious payments from a former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), who has been embroiled in the arms deal scam.
Yuguda allegedly received N1.5bn from the former NSA’s office through an unnamed company, for unstated purpose.
He also allegedly received N1.275bn from Stallion Group during the campaign for the last general election.
Another N775m was also allegedly paid to him from the office of the Accountant General of the Federation for unstated purpose.
All the monies were allegedly paid to him between December 2014 and May, 2015.
Meanwhile, the EFCC on Wednesday re-arraigned a former Interior Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, before a Federal High Court, Abuja for alleged his alleged fraudulent role in the botched 2014 Nigerian Immigration Service recruitment in 2014.
Moro was re-arraigned along with his co-accused – a former Permanent Secretary in the Interior Ministry, Mrs. Anastasia Daniel-Nwobia, an ex-director in the ministry, Felix Alayebami and a firm, Drexel Tech Nigeria Limited.
They were earlier arraigned on 11 counts before Justice Anwuri Chikere of the Federal High Court in Abuja on February 29.
Trial was to commence before Justice Chikere on April 27, when she announced that she was withdrawing from the case, citing “personal reasons.”
They were subsequently re-arraigned before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba on Wednesday.
In the 11 counts filed by the EFCC, the defendants were accused of defrauding 675, 675 graduate applicants of about N675,675,000 who were made to pay N1,000 each as processing fees for 5,000 job openings.
The four defendants were also accused of breaching the Public Procurement Act, No. 65 of 2007 in the award of the contract for the organisation of the recruitment test to Drexel Tech Nigeria Ltd.Justice Dimgba adjourned till June 8 for commencement of trial.
Meanwhile, the EFCC says two ex-ministers who served under former President Goodluck Jonathan have confessed to receiving over N1.1bn from the $115m (N23bn) bribe which was allegedly disbursed by another of Jonathan’s ex-ministers, Diezani Alison-Madueke.
The Diezani fund, which was distributed through Fidelity Bank Plc, was allegedly meant to compromise officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission ahead of the 2015 presidential election.
The EFCC said this in a statement on its official Facebook page on Wednesday.
The commission said a former Minister of Mines and Steel, Musa Sada, confessed to receiving N700m on behalf of the Governor of Katsina State, Alhaji Ibrahim Shema, in 2015.
The anti-graft agency said the second minister, Mrs. Asabe Ahmed, who served as the Minister of State for Agriculture, revealed how she personally signed and collected the sum of N450m.
The EFCC added that Ahmed also stated that she kept the sum of N105m for herself.
The statement read in part, “A former Minister of Mines and Steel, Musa Sada, has told the EFCC of his involvement in the alleged N23.29bn poll bribery scandal. Sada is one of the former ministers in the administration of former President Jonathan being investigated by the anti-graft agency.”
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