Skip to main content

Condemnation Trails Appointment Of Bashir Magashi As Defence Minister Despite 2006 Involvement In $550, 000 Theft

 

Nigerians have condemned the appointment of Bashir Magashi as Minister of Defence despite his involvement in the stealing of $550, 000 public funds in 2006, according to a report by Premium Times.

Magashi, 74, a close friend of former military dictator, Sani Abacha, served as a military governor of Sokoto State from 1990–1992.

He was also appointed Commandant of the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna in 1998.

Magashi’s improprieties was exposed in 1999 after then President, Olusegun Obasanjo, hired a Swiss lawyer, Enrico Monfrini, to track and repatriate funds stolen from Nigerian coffers.

Monfrini discovered Magashi had stashed away stolen funds at the Jessey, United Kingdom, branch of Bank PNP Paribus. The account had $550,000 (about N200m at N362 to a dollar).

On October 26, 2006, the National Security Adviser via memo NSA/A/225/I/C, updated Obasanjo on the cases of Magashi and four others.

The account (held for Magashi) has a total deposit of $550,000 and it remained intact until it was frozen in 2001.

The NSA confronted Magashi, who admitted wrongdoing, saying the money was a proceed of illegal crude oil allocation Abacha made to members of the Provisional Ruling Council under his government.

The officer was not a registered oil trader at the time and being a public servant, it was illegal for him to directly engage in private businesses.

Reacting to the development on Wednesday, some Nigerians on Twitter condemned the President Muhammadu Buhari administration for selecting Magashi as minister.

According to @Dann_10, “When those in public offices have alleged criminal records or hidden secrets home and abroad, expect the international community to view your country as one being led by unworthy people that can't be trusted.

“The image of the country is dented not only by fraudsters, also by these fellas."

Aminu Bello tweeting @AbBaminu32, said, “I'm beginning to lose confidence in this is govt.

“Why is it that any criminal is giving a portion to continue the deadliest act of looting?

“Eighty per cent of the present cabinet members are thieves. Some are quashed off their trials as they join the party. This is bad!”

@EkpedemeUkpong said, “I never expected anything different from this from a so called corruption fighting government.

“Yet, some people will continue support this government of thieves. We deserve what we got because we have refused to learn from our mistakes.”

Abba Umar Madaki tweeting @Abbamadaki said, “It's not just one man, a handful of them stole from Nigeria and now they are in the corruption fighting cabinet of Buhari.”

Military Politics News AddThis :  Original Author :  SaharaReporters, New York Disable advertisements : 


via IFTTT

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nigerian Academy Of Science Inducts First Female President

The Nigerian Academy of Science has inducted a professor of Parasitology/Epidemiology, Ekanem Ikpi Braide, as its 19th President on Thursday. In a statement issued by Oladoyin Odubanjo, the Executive Secretary of the Academy, Braide is the Academy’s first female President in 44 years of existence. It read, “Braide was a member of the national committee that achieved the laudable feat of guinea worm eradication in Nigeria. “She has a rich professional experience as a researcher and an administrator. In July 2010, Professor Braide was honoured by the President of Nigeria with the award of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) for her contribution to disease control in Nigeria. “She was nominated by the Honourable Minister of Health to serve in the Ministerial Expert Advisory Committee on COVID-19 Health Sector Response (MEACoC-HSR). “Professor Braide served as Vice-Chancellor, Cross River University of Technology (CRUTECH) Calabar, Nigeria (2004 to 2009) and as P...
Post a Comment
Read more

NLNG Signs Letter Of Intent On Delayed Gas Expansion Project

The Nigerian Natural Liquefied Gas LTD has signed a letter of intent for the engineering, procurement and construction of its long held up Train Seven project. In a statement released by the company on Wednesday, it said that the $10bn project will be executed by a consortium of Italian firm Saipem, Japan’s Chiyoda and South Korea’s Daewoo. The statement reads, “The project will form part of the investment of over $10bn including the upstream scope of the LNG value chain, thereby boosting the much needed Foreign Direct Investment profile of Nigeria.” Managing Director of NLNG, Tony Atta, said in 2018 that the Final Investment Decision would be made in the fourth quarter of that year. This did not however, materialize. According to the release, the project will have a four to five-year execution time after the signing of the FID. The project is expected to add an extra 8 million tons per annum of gas to the 22 mtpa currently exported by the company. Oil News AddThis :...
Post a Comment
Read more

Former Maritime Agency Boss, Buba Galadima, Accuses AMCON Of Witch-hunt After Property Takeover

  A former Director-General of the Nigeria Maritime Agency, Buba Galadima, has accused the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria of witch-hunt after the agency took possession of his business and assets on Tuesday in Abuja. Galadima, an ardent critic of President Muhammadu Buhari, claimed that he did not borrow money or have unpaid debt with Unity Bank, which lodged a complaint against him and occasioned AMCON’s move on Tuesday. The properties taken over include House No. 15, Addis Ababa Crescent, Wuse Zone 4, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and House No. 4, Bangui Street, Wuse 2, also in Abuja.  Reacting to the situation, Galadima said, “This is an attempt to disgrace and break me down. This is injustice and an attempt to humiliate me. "But I am unbreakable and they can never silence me. They sacked me and over 50 people that sleep in the apartment. "We don’t know where to go. We will remain on the streets. We will remain on the streets until God provi...
Post a Comment
Read more