Former CBN Bankers Accuse EFCC Of Collecting Bribe To Release Them From Custody

Former staffers of the Central Bank of Nigeria, who were allegedly involved in the N8 billion mutilated naira notes scam, have claimed that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) took over their houses and rented them out after they initially paid bribes to secure their first release but failed to pay more bribes.

The ex-bankers, who spent over four years in prison, said their wives and children were sent out of their houses immediately they were sent to jail for crimes they did not commit.

They urged the EFCC and the federal government to investigate all allegations against Hamnadama Bello, an investigator in EFCC, who was assigned to investigate the case in 2014.

“We want the EFCC, police, the presidency and the national assembly and other relevant agencies to investigate activities of Hammadama Bello, an EFCC investigator. He is victimising us because he discovered that we have some property and he wanted to take over the property,” said Ayodele Festus Adeyemo, who is one of the alleged offenders and spoke on behalf of the other five at a press briefing this weekend in Ibadan, Oyo State.

The other accused persons who had been facing trials, include Isiaka Akano, Sunday Ajiwe, Oyebanji Akeem, Ayodeji Alese and Demola Oni.

They said that the EFCC investigator Bello had caused them so much hardship because they refused to give him further bribe, adding that they were innocent of the crime they were charged with.

“We don’t know anything about the money,” Adeyemi said. “The money was deposited four years before we were arrested. Bello arrested us and demanded money from us. About a week ago, we swore an affidavit at the court that the EFCC investigator is persecuting us for our failure to pay a bribe to him for the closing of the case.

“Bello had in December 2014 collected five hundred thousand naira each from six of us making N3 million. He collected the money through a lawyer, Nathaniel Oni. We gave him the money because he said that he could not release us for Christmas. And we paid the money because of the condition of the cell in Abuja. Bello also said we should pay N12 million each for him to close our case.”

Adeyemi urged relevant authorities to investigate wide-spread corruption in EFCC.

“I want the EFCC to investigate his activities. I was told that the EFCC investigators have been collecting money. I could not believe it until Bello asked us to pay money for our release and our case to be closed. I want the EFCC, NBA and other relevant agencies to investigate his activities.

“We are not mentioned in the CBN report. The people that were mentioned are not being prosecuted because they had paid money to him. The only problem he has is that he will victimise anyone he found to have property. Eighty-seven of us were taken to Abuja, and only 24 of us are being prosecuted because we did not pay money.”

Isiaka Akano, one of the persons being prosecuted by EFCC, said that EFCC officials took over his house.

“Bello used Oke to collect the money from us,” Akano said. “He invited him to Abuja and I am the one that gathered the money. I collected the money from the five of us and each paid N500,000. He collected the N3 million through Oke before we were released in December 2014.

“We were later re-arrested in 2015. We spent almost five years at Agodi prison before we were released in 2019. We are not fabricating the story,” Akano added.

Corruption

News

AddThis

Original Author

SaharaReporters, New York

Disable advertisements

from 24HRSNEWS
via 24HRSNEWS

from EDUPEDIA247https://ift.tt/2LzSUDZ
via EDUPEDIA

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...

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 :...

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...

EDUPEDIA247

Search This Blog