How ex-Perm Sec cornered N1.5bn to buy SUVs for Jonathan’s campaign

A former permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Power, Amb Godknows Igali is presently the guest of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Igali a kinsman of the former President, Goodluck Jonathan, was alleged to have cornered about N1.5 billion from the N27 billion insurance premium of deceased workers of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).

Sources at the EFCC however stated that the former diplomat from Eniwari town in Southern Ijaw LGA of Bayelsa State, was smart by not putting the funds in his accounts.

Instead, to cover is tracks, Igali allegedly laundered the funds through Baseworth Insurance Brokers, from which he ordered for about 40 Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) and over a hundred motor bikes.

There were also Toyota Coaster buses, Toyota Hilux trucks and 16-seater buses said to have been purchased for the Jonathan’s reelection bid of 2015. The vehicles were said to have been parked at different highly secured highbrow areas in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Igali’s bubble reportedly got burst when an artisan who was called to fix a fault in one of the vehicles got suspicious over the array of the vehicles, and subsequently contacted the EFCC to have a look.

The EFCC source noted that its detectives conducted discreet investigations, and discovered that all the vehicles were allegedly supplied at the instance of Igali by Dilly Motors, using Baseworth Insurance which was itself being investigated in another case, as a front.

He said, “It was initially difficult to determine the source of the funds with which the vehicles were purchased as it did not come directly from Igali’s account but a breakthrough came as the commission stumbled on evidence of a curious payment To Dilly Motors from the account of Baseworth Insurance Brokers Limited, a company that was under investigation in another case of alleged diversion of N27bn insurance premium of deceased staff of the PHCN.

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“In one of the transfers, N300m was paid to Dilly Motors from the account of Baseworth Insurance Brokers. Operatives of the commission were curious to determine the service which Dilly Motors rendered to Baseworth Insurance Brokers to warrant payment. Dilly Motors on interrogation allegedly admitted that the N300million was part of the N1.5billion paid by Igali for the purchase of vehicles for the Goodluck/Sambo Campaign organisation to prosecute the 2015 general election.”

The source further revealed, that the permanent secretary who had been released on administrative bail earlier may soon be charged to court, as there is “overwhelming evidence” against him.

Igali, had in September 2015, told the nation that N2.74 trillion had been spent in the electricity sector since 1999 without anything to show for it, leading the Senate to initiate a probe on some alleged scams in the sector.

The probe was spurred by a petition to the lawmakers accusing Igali of diverting N3.5 billion meant for payment of beneficiaries of the National Power Sector Apprenticeship Scheme (NAPSAS).

In a petition submitted to the Chairman of Senate Adhoc Committee on Power, Abubakar Kyari, NAPSAS alleged that the ministry recruited 7,200 youths for the apprenticeship scheme which was expected to last for six months, but stopped abruptly.

According to the petition, each participant in the scheme was expected to be paid N20, 000 stipend monthly for six months, after which they may be absorbed into the power sector.

The petition signed by‎ Onyemelikeya Chukwuma and Balogun Tirimisiyu leaders of the participants in the training scheme, alleged that this did not happen due to alleged failure of the perm sec to implement the programme to the fullest, even after N3.5 billion had been budgeted for it.

 

 

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