EFCC Press Release: N976 Subsidy Scam: COURT ISSUES BENCH WARRANT ON OGUNBAMBO, ABILA THECK

A Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja on Tuesday, June 25, 2013 issued a warrant of arrest against Mr. Oluwaseun Ogunbambo and Abila Theck for their absence in court. The duo are standing trial, together with Fargo Petroleum and Gas Limited,  on a 10-count amended charge bordering on  falsely obtaining the sum of N976, 653,110.28 (Nine Hundred and Seventy Six Million, Six Hundred and Fifty Three Thousand, One Hundred and Ten Naira, Twenty Eight kobo), as subsidy claims from the government. At the resumed hearing of the case on Tuesday, counsel to Ogunbambo, Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, was represented by a junior counsel who informed the court that Ogumbambo was indisposed and was not sure he would attend the court session. Abila Theck was not represented in court by any counsel. EFCC’s counsel, Francis Usani, objected to the excuses proffered by Ogunbambo for his absence in court saying that the excuses were not backed up by any medical proof of ill-health. He also frowned against the non-representation of Theck in court and the absence of any information about his whereabouts. “The two defendants are on bail. They have a responsibility to present themselves in court as part of the conditions attached to their bail. My, Lord, the court must ensure that the defendants present themselves for trial at the next adjourned date”, he said. In his ruling, Justice Adeniyi Ogumbambo, issued a warrant of arrest on the two defendants to compel them to attend trial on the next adjourned date.  He thereafter adjourned the case to September 16, 2013 for continuation of trial.   Wilson Uwujaren Ag. Head, Media & Publicity 25th June, 2013

EFCC Press Release EFCC Docks Abubakar Musa for N9m Visa Scam

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, on Monday June 24, 2013 arraigned one Abubakar Sadiq Musa before Justice Adebunkola Banjoko of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory sitting in Gudu, Abuja on a 5-count charge bordering on criminal breach of trust, forgery and falsely obtaining over nine million from intending pilgrims.

The arraignment followed the re-arrest of the accused who had jumped an administrative bailed earlier granted him by the EFCC.

 The accused and his accomplices, Mr Tijani Iliyasu and Hajiya Hadiza, allegedly used forged documents to dishonestly collect the sum of N9, 883,000.00 from one Murtala Abdullahi and his partners in order to secure visas for intending pilgrims to the 2012 Hajj.

One of the counts in the charge read; "That you Abubakar Sadiq Musa, on or about 9^th October, 2012 in Abuja in the Abuja Judicial Division of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory with intent to defraud did obtain the sum of N4,500.000 ( Four Million Five Hundred Thousand Naira Only) from one Hadiza Tanko Mohammed of Okomoko Street, D/Line Port Harcourt, Rivers State, being part payment of a total sum of N11,500,00.00 ( Eleven Million Five Hundred Thousand Naira Only) which you claimed to use for procuring visas and other travelling documents for 23 intending pilgrims for Hajj Pilgrimage, a fact which you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 1(1)(a) and punishable under section 1 (3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act 2006”.

The accused pleaded not guilty to the charge when it was read to him, prompting his counsel, Alozie Merengwa to seek leave to file an oral application for bail claiming that he was recently briefed and didn’t have enough time to make a written application.

 The prosecution counsel, Gift Odibo however objected. She told the court that the accused had jumped an administrative bail earlier granted him, and that he could not be arraigned at the last adjourned date until he was re-arrested in Kano.

Justice Banjoko thereafter ordered that the accused be remanded in Prison custody while fixing June 28, 2013 for ruling on the bail application.

Wilson Uwujaren

Ag. Head, Media & Publicity

24^th June, 2013

$1.69Bn Fraud: EFCC Faults Ajudua’s Bid to Quash Charges

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission , EFCC, on Monday, June 24, 2013, opposed an application filed before a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja by counsel to Mr. Fred Ajudua praying the court to quash the charges against his client in the $1.69billion scam trial. The defence counsel, Mr. Allens Agbaka told the court that the EFCC would not be able to produce its star witness, Mr. Remi Cime, a Dutch National who is the victim of scam.

EFCC’s counsel, Oluwemimo Ogunde, SAN, told the court presided over by Justice Olubunmi Oyewole, to discountenance Agbaka’s claims because they were speculative, unfounded and hasty.  He further argued that Ajudua’s counsel’s claims lacked merit as he could not prove them. “He has no knowledge of who the prosecution intends to present as first or last witness or the number of witnesses that the prosecution intends to bring to the stand,” he said.

Ogunde also told the court that an application to quash charges can only be moved at the beginning of a case “when no prima facie fact is established and when there is a no-case submission”.  He also added that "apart from the fact that the application is speculative, it is unknown to law, as it will lead to a review of evidence which by law cannot be done until the prosecution closes its case, and will also lead to the court anticipating acquittal which is not under our criminal law for the court to anticipate". On the basis of these, Ogunde moved that Agbaka’s application should be struck out.

 After listening to the submissions, Justice Oyewole adjourned the case to June 25, 2013 for ruling on the application.

Ajudua is presently standing trial for conspiring with one Charles Ovie to defraud one Mr. Remy Cime, a Dutch National up to the tune of $1.69Billion.

It would be recalled that Ajudua was granted bail on medical grounds in 2005, but jumped bail, and all efforts to get him back to court proved abortive, until now. Ajudua's disappearance stalled trial for several years. 

Wilson Uwujaren

Ag. Head, Media & Publicity

24^th June, 2013

Lagos Speaker, Ikuforiji Re-Arraigned

Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, and his Personal Assistant, Oyebode Alade Atoyebi were Monday re-arrianged on a 54-count criminal charge bordering on money laundering.
The re-arraignment was sequel to the retirement of the former judge, Justice Okechukwu Okeke, who was presiding over the case.
In lieu of the retirement of the judge, the case was re-assigned to Justice Ibrahim Buba.
Consequently, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, prosecuting counsel, Chief Godwin Obla amended the former 20-count charge and substituted it with a 54-count charge.
In the new charge, the accused speaker and his personnal assistant were alleged to have transacted business to the tune of N518 million without going through any financial institution between 2010 and 2011, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Money Laundering Act.
The Speaker and his aide pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Their lawyer, Mr. Tayo Oyetibo, SAN, leading two other senior lawyers, Tunde Akinrinmisi and Abiodun Onidare, told the court that they were cautious not to file application for bail because the accused persons were already on bail.
But the presiding judge, Justice Buba, said that he is not bound to the previous bail and therefore asked Oyetibo to move an application for bail.
Oyetibo said the speaker was on bail on self recognition, while the Clerk of Lagos State House of Assembly stood as surety for the second accused person.
In his reaction, Chief Obla said he is not opposing the bail application, but that what he is after is that the trial of the case should continue, therefore, leaving the issue of the bail to the discretion of the court.
In his ruling for the application for bail, Justice Buba granted them bail in the sum of N5 billion with two sureties in like sum.
The two sureties must file affidavit of means while the accused must sign an undertaking of coming to court regularly.
The bail condition must be perfected before 48 hours and the two accused will not be remanded in prison custody.
However, failure to perfect bail conditions before 48 hours will attract a bench warrant being issued against them.
However, Onidare and Akinrinmisi urged the court to vary the bail conditions.
In acceding to their request, Justice Buba reduced the bail from N5 billion to N1 billion.
Thereafter, the case was adjourned till 25 September for trial to commence. Source: SAHARAREPORTERS

APGA faces marginalization in APC

All Progressives Congress (APC), may have sidelined the South-East political zone following the recent alleged arrangement in the sharing of plum positions in the yet to be registered political party.

 Few days ago, the leadership of the so-called mega- party coming together as All Progressives Congress (APC), agreed on the formula to be adopted in sharing key offices in the higher chain of command of the party.

Our source in Lagos said with the ongoing plan on sharing formula in preparation for registration with Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, APGA and south-East group in the APC family has already been marginalized.

 The parties that have agreed to come together under one big family are the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), that predominantly control the South-West political Zone, the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), originally had its base in the North-East, and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), with its base in North-West; and a faction of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), a South-East based political party led by Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha.

APC is intended to have representation of seven persons in the party's National Working Committee (NWC) and the National Executive Committee (NEC).

According to the planned sharing of the big and influential positions, it was learnt that the position of National Chairman has been zoned to the ACN. The National Secretary was allocated to CPC. The National Treasurer was given to the ANPP and National Organising Secretary was left for the fraction of APGA in the APC.

The report said among the persons that will be nominated by the concerned parties, 11 members will control the APC National Working Committee.

A competent source alleged that because of the crises in the APGA, her own representatives would not join the APC as a political party but on individual basis,

It was gathered that APC had submitted the list that contained the names of the three National Chairmen, National Secretaries (3) and National Treasurers (3) of the merging parties because they are the signatories to the accounts of each of the parties, this excludes APGA officials.

These are officials are the authorized persons that can sign legal documents representing their parties, but are also going to be signatories to register the new party because they are legal signatories. With this arrangement, none of APGA officials are included in the signatories to sign any document on behalf of their party, APGA or the yet to be registered APC.

According to source close to APC officials, the party would soon announce the names of the interim officials that would anchor the APC ship with INEC and its eventual take off. Investigation revealed that the party is still consulting on the Board of Trustees (BoT)    chairmanship position of the APC.

It would be recalled that last week, Chief Tom Ikimi, spokesperson for the merger committee of the three political parties spoke after a meeting in Abuja and said the national chairmen, secretaries and treasurers of the three parties  (excluding APGA), had submitted their letters of intent to merge to INEC.

The leadership of the three political parties, which want to infuse into one big party, announced that they had finally approached INEC to merge into one, without announcing interim officers as speculated.

EFCC Press Release : EFCC Arraigns Man for N4.5m Fraud

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, on Friday June 21, 2013 arraigned one Philip Njoku (a.k.a Engineer Ben) before Justice U.N Agomoh of the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt on a 4-count charge bordering on conspiracy and obtaining money by false pretence.

When the charge was read to the accused, he pleaded not guilty.

One of the counts read; “That you Philip Njoku (also known as Engr. Ben ),  Elder James Amadi and Captain Lee Khum (both now at large) on or about the 12th day of June, 2012 at Port Harcourt with intent to defraud did obtain the sum of Two Million Naira (N2,000,000:00) only from one Ahmed B. Aliyu under the pretext of supplying him oil drilling cork, a pretext you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrarily to section 1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act 2006 and punishable under section 1(3) of the same Act.

Another count reads; “That you Philip Njoku (also known as Engr.Ben), Elder James Amadi and Captain Lee Khum (both now at large) on or about the 14th day of June, 2012 at Port Harcourt within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court with intent to defraud did obtain the sum of One Million Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira (N1,350,000:00) only from one Ahmed B. Aliyu under the pretext of supplying him oil drilling cork a pretext you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 1(1)(a) 0f the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act 2006 and punishable under section 1(3) of the sane Act”.

Justice Agomoh granted the accused bail in the sum of one million naira, two sureties in like sum. Sureties must be resident within the jurisdiction of court and must provide evidence of ownership of property within Port Harcourt.

The case was adjourned to October 3, 2013.

Wilson Uwujaren

Ag. Head, Media & Publicity

24^th June, 2013

N25Bn Scam: EFCC Closes Case Against Igbinedion September 23

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, will on September 23, 2013 close its case in the ongoing trial of Michael Igbinedion, younger brother of a former Edo State Governor, Chief Lucky N. Igbinedion.

Igbinedion, Patrick Eboigbodin and four companies:  Gava Corporation Limited; Romrig Nigeria Limited; PML Securities Company Limited and PML Nigeria Limited are facing trial at a Federal High Court sitting in Benin-City, Edo State over a N25billion scam.
At the resumed hearing on Friday, June 21, 2013, EFCC called three witnesses.
The first witness, Mr. Ajoyo Sowale, an Accounts Officer with Guaranty Trust Bank, identified various account statements and account opening documents of the accused persons and confirmed the lodgements made into the various accounts. He also told the court that he printed the various account statements and got them certified.

The EFCC counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, further led the second witness, Mr. Eriyo Amadiayagbon David who was a Personal Assistant to Micheal Igbinedion in evidence. David told the court how the second accused person, Michael Igbinedion instructed him on several occasions to make lodgements into his GTB accounts and those of Romrig Nigeria Limited and Gava Corporation. According to David, he usually received cash from the Accountant at the Government House and paid into the account of the second accused person, “and after paying the government entourage, the remaining cash is usually given to the ADC to the Governor”. The witness further identified his name on the printed account statement of Michael Igbinedion which is part of the exhibits before the court.

During cross-examination, counsel to the first accused, Mike Ozekhome, SAN, asked the witness if he ever stole government money with the first accused person Mr. Patrick Eboigbodin, and the witness told the court that he never did.

Jacobs, before calling the third witness, prayed the court to grant his plea for the charges to be amended. According to him, the testimony of the third witness centred more on the amendments. He also prayed the court for an adjournment to enable the defence study the amended charge. But Ozekhome immediately objected on the grounds that the amendments could not be accommodated as the prosecution was expected to close his case. Ozekhome also added that the defence was yet to read the charge and confer with their clients. Ricky Tafa, SAN, and Mr. Richard Ahonaruogo both adopted the submissions of Ozekhome.

The presiding judge, Justice J. Liman turned down the application and asked the prosecution to go ahead and call its last witness. The third witness, Abdulahi Hamza, an EFCC operative, provided a detailed account of how the investigations were conducted and how it was discovered that state funds were diverted by the accused persons for other personal purposes.
In his testimony, Hamza told the court that some of the personal purposes for which the funds were utilized, include buying of various shares, and several payments made into the account of Ekpenyong and Sons, a company owned by the first accused person, Patrick Eboigbodin.

Justice Liman then adjourned the case to September 23 and 24, 2013.

Wilson Uwujaren

Ag. Head, Media & Publicity

24^th June, 2013

The Rapist Bus Stop Along Lagos Ibadan Exptressway *Scores of women raped and murdered!

The Mowe-Ibafo-Magboro-Warewa stretch of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in Ogun State has for a long time been a nightmare to motorists and those living along the axis due to the operations of armed robbers and sundry criminals.
In January 2013, a family narrated how they were nearly hacked to death by armed robbers who waylaid their vehicle on the expressway.
The PUNCH also published a report in June 2012 about a retired Brigadier-General, Sylvester Iruh, who was stabbed to death by robbers suspected to be Fulani herdsmen at Warewa on the road.
Iruh had stopped to change a bad tyre and the bandits jumped him and the occupants of his vehicle. He lost his life due to the stab wounds he sustained in the hands of the bandits.
However, Saturday PUNCH has learnt that the bus stop opposite the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministry Church at Magboro has been converted into a den of rapists and robbers.
The recent death of a victim, who was raped and murdered by her assailants at the bus stop, has generated an outcry from people living around the area.
The victim, Mrs. Adetoun Egbedeyi, was coming back from work on March 20, 2013 and had gone to park her car in the premises of the MFM church, our correspondent learnt.
Adetoun worked with Insight Communications, Ikeja before her tragic death.
A resident of the area, who identified himself simply as Adeye, who was privy to efforts made to locate her after she went missing, told our correspondent that Adetoun’s husband, Deji, usually picked her after she parked her car.
The road leading to their house is in a poor state, which was why she usually parked her car in the premises of MFM and crossed to the other side of the road to proceed home.
The resident said, “She called Deji that night on the phone around 7pm and told him to meet her at the bus stop as usual to take her home, but he had gone out. So, she told him not to worry, that she would find her way home.
“She went missing between that bus-stop and her house.”
When our correspondent drove through the area on Tuesday, it was noticed that the bus stop is situated beside a ditch thick with grasses.
The stretch of the road leading to the murdered woman’s house is lined with shacks built with planks and tarpaulin by men of Northern extraction. About 50 metres away is the expansive premises of Buildwell Plants and Equipment Industry Limited.
During a visit to the area, our correspondent saw young men of questionable character smoking Indian hemp with reckless abandon while some others washed their clothes at the front of the shacks. They shouted obscenities at our correspondent, when he attempted to take the photographs of the area.
It was clear that that is where they live and sell engine oil and black market petrol and diesel.
Adeye said, “When Deji got home that night and was told his wife was not yet home, he went to the premises of MFM where she had parked her car and was she had left.
“The case was reported that night at Ibafo Police Station but the police told the husband that he would have to wait for 24 hours before they could declare her missing. The following morning, when a search party went to the vicinity of the bus stop again, they found one of her shoes and her body close by. It was obvious she had been raped and strangled. There were marks on her neck.”
When Saturday PUNCH learnt that many other women and men had been attacked in the area, our correspondent went in search of some of the victims.
The residents of the area said bandits operating in the area sometimes throw metal objects or rocks at passing vehicles in order to force them to stop.
“The evil these people perpetrate here is unimaginable. They rob any motorists who slows down around
here and rape women they are able to waylay,” a resident who identified himself as Adebayo, told our correspondent.
When Saturday PUNCH was able to track down a victim who barely escaped being raped, it became clear that the attacks had been going on for a long time.
The woman, a lawyer, reluctantly agreed to tell her story under the condition that her name would not be published.
“I live in this area and I don’t want anybody to come after me please,” she said.
She said she was saved by a hoe she was holding that day in November 2011 when a stranger suddenly grabbed her on the side of the road.
She said, “Earlier in the day, my mother-in-law had told me to buy a hoe she wanted to use to weed some parts of the compound. I was going home that evening and had the hoe in a plastic bag I was holding as I stood on the other side of the road, waiting to cross to the MFM side.
“Suddenly, I felt a hand on my left arm. My initial thought was that it was somebody I knew. But when I turned to look at who it was, I realised that the person could only have an evil intention. I could not see the details of the face of the man and he did not say a word.
“He started dragging me towards the ditch beside the road. I was screaming and shouting ‘help, help.’ “Those on the other side of the road heard my screaming but they were afraid to move closer toward where I was. My bag fell down but I still held on to the hoe.”
The lawyer said her assailant succeeded in dragging her into the ditch but she continued screaming.
As she tried to fight off her attacker, the assailant brought out a machete and inflicted some deep cuts on her hands.
But fear gave power to her arms as she lifted the hoe and hit his assailant on the forehead.
She told Saturday PUNCH, “As I hit him, he reeled backwards and fell down. I continued screaming as I clawed my way out of the ditch and quickly ran to the road. Those standing on the side of the road quickly moved towards me when they saw me come out.”
“I spent a month in hospital treating the wounds on my hand. I still cannot use the hand properly till now.”
Our correspondent also spoke with Judith, who lost her 40-year-old husband, Mayowa, to robbers at the bus stop on February 26, 2013.
When our correspondent tracked her down, she recalled the sad experience with much pain.
 “My husband left his office in Ikorodu late in the night that day. He had called me as he was leaving and told me he had some money with him. I think the money was up to N500,000. He also had some clothing merchandise in his boot.
“We were waiting for him around 11pm that night, when someone called me with his phone and said, ‘madam, come quickly, your husband was in an accident and is lying down bleeding on the road at MFM bus stop.
“It was when we rushed there that we learnt what happened. They threw a tyre rim at his car, a Benz 190, and he crashed.
“By the time we got there, they had taken the phones, money and all other valuables in the car. They only left the merchandise in the boot. I cannot forget the thought that they were robbing my husband as he lay dying.
“There was no blood in his vehicle. I was told he was found outside the vehicle bleeding heavily. What I was able to piece together was that the bandits pulled him out of the vehicle after the crash and hit him with an object in the head,” she said.
Judith said when she got there the person who called her with her husband’s phone was nowhere to be found.
She said policemen from Ibafo put the body of his husband in their van but was angry that they made no attempt to take him to the hospital.
“We have not heard anything about the case since the incident. We have also not heard from the police. The body was released to us since he was pronounced dead in the hospital he was taken to when we got to the scene of the robbery,” Judith told our correspondent.
Another resident, who identified himself as Segun, said he once saw a woman crying at the bus stop after she had been attacked.
“She was taken to the MFM clinic for treatment. I heard many victims have been taken to the clinic for treatment in the past,” he said.
At the clinic, a nurse said attacks in the area were a regular occurrence.
“These criminals even snatched a baby from the back of a woman once. A lot of attacks take place in there. I just hope the police will do something about it because this has been taking place for a long time,” she said.
The bridge before the bus stop was also identified by some residents as a black spot as criminals are said to hide under it to attack people at night.
The road under the bridge is the one leading to Akeran Village and Magboro 2.
Residents of the area have labelled the bus stop a black spot where nobody dares to wait once it is nightfall.
“Those who get attacked in that place are usually those who do not know the history of the place. Those who know about the attacks there avoid the place like a plague. We are certain that it is those men living in those shacks that carry out the attacks,” a respondent told Saturday PUNCH.
When our correspondent contacted the police spokesperson for the Ogun State Police Command, Mr. Muyiwa Adejobi, he said he needed to make some findings from the Ibafo Police Division.
However, on Thursday morning, a day after the police spokesperson promised an action on the area, policemen were seen dismantling shacks and setting them on fire at the bus stop, an action that has attracted praise from residents.
However, those who spoke with our correspondent suggested that the companies around the area should also complement the work of the police by clearing the shacks and surrounding bushes.
“The police have done well by dislodging those living illegally in those shacks. But that is not enough, given the state of that place. There are many companies around the area, they should try to clear the thick bush used as hideout by the criminals as their corporate social responsibility,” a resident told Saturday PUNCH.
SOURCE-------------SATURDAY PUNCH

Jonathan, African Leaders Gather in Cameroun for Piracy Talks

President Goodluck Jonathan will join other Heads of State of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) and the Economic Community of Central Africa States (ECCAS) in the Camerounian capital to deliberate on new proposals and a joint action plan to tackle piracy and maritime criminality in the gulf.

PSN gathered that the African leaders are meeting to co-ordinate efforts against piracy and the rising incidents of piracy in the resource-rich Gulf of Guinea.

The summit of West and Central African Heads of State and Government on Maritime Security in the Gulf of Guinea opens on Monday, June 24, 2013, according to a release obtained from the Presidency.

Documents to be considered and ratified by Heads of State at the Summit include a Memorandum of Agreement among ECOWAS, ECCAS and the Gulf of Guinea Commission on maritime safety and security in West and Central Africa, the policy statements of the Heads of State and Government on maritime safety and security, as well as a Code of Conduct on the fight against piracy, armed robbery and illegal maritime activities.

According to PSN findings, more ships and sailors have falling prey to pirates off West Africa last year than off Somalia\'s coast, according to report there is increased risk posed by the rise in attacks on vessels in the Gulf of Guinea.

The report drawing on data from the International Maritime Bureau said nearly 1,000 seafarers and fishermen were attacked by pirates armed with guns or knives in the Gulf of Guinea last year, and that 800 of them were aboard vessels that were overtaken by pirates. More than 200 were taken hostage.

The Gulf of Guinea has been a haven for frequent commercial ships attack with pirates in the region aided by weak naval and coast guard protection as well as a lack of awareness about the threats they pose.

President Jonathan will be accompanied to the summit by the Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, the Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro, the Minister of Transport, Alhaji Idris Umar, the Minister of State for Defence, Erelu Olusola Obada, the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Joseph Ezeoba and the Director-General of the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Mr. Patrick Akpobolokemi.

The President will also hold bi-lateral talks with President Paul Biya on bilateral issues such as border security and the welfare of Nigerians living in Cameroun.

He will meet with the Nigerian community in Cameroun before returning to Abuja on Tuesday, June 25, 2013. source------Abuja (PSN)

How we were paid N15m to kill a banker-suspect

A 43-year-old suspected assassin, Obinna Onyekulujie, also known as Obaino, has confessed to the police that he was paid N15 million to kill the Deputy General Manager of a new generation bank in Enugu State, Ogbonne Ogeri Nnachi Ibiam.

Although Onyekulujie refused to disclose the name of the person who contracted his gang to kill Ibiam, he however confessed to the police that he was a member of the Enugu-based robbery gang.

Police sources at the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad, FSARS, in Lagos alleged that the suspect claimed he received N1.5 million out of the N15 million paid to his five-man gang to assassinate the bank manager.

According to the sources, Onyekulujie also confessed that he along with others now at large robbed and killed Ibiam on 14 December, 2012.

Ibiam was the Deputy General Manager and Regional Head (Retail) of a bank in Enugu State, when he was killed.

The sources further alleged that the suspect admitted that he carried out the crime with members of his gang whom he identified as Ogechukwu Uzor, a.k.a. Don Whisky, now detained at the Enugu State Police Command SARS Office for other robbery incidents, as well as another suspect, Emmanuel Nwankwo, a.k.a. Nwonovo, Chidi and OG, now at large.

T

he suspect, Obinna-Onyekulujie with of the weapons found in his possession

Weapons recovered from the house of the suspect, according to the police, include one cut-to-size double barrel gun, one English barretta pistol, four brownie pistols, 18 live cartridges and 13 rounds of AK- 47 ammunition.

Police said the suspect was arrested following a written petition from the wife of the late bank manager (name withheld) to the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, that she was not satisfied with the investigation of the murder of her late husband by the Enugu State Police Command and that the murder be investigated by another police formation outside Enugu State for her to get justice.

Following the approval of the petition by the IGP, the Commissioner of Police, FSARS Lagos, CP Mohammed Gana, was directed to send his men to the Enugu State Police Command to bring the case file of the murder and the arrested suspects to Lagos.

In his confessional statement to the police, Obinna allegedly wrote:
“I am a member of a five-man gang that specialised in snatching exotic cars from their owners in Enugu and reselling them to buyers in Onitsha and Nnewi in Anambra State.

“On 12 December, 2012, my partners in crime and gang leader Ogechukwu Uzor, Nwankwo Emmanuel and others now at large contacted me that they have a job to do and as the gang’s driver, I obeyed them and drove them to the place of operation.

“We traced our target on 14 December, 2012 to the Liberty Estate Road in Enugu State and Ogechukwu Uzor shot severally at a man inside a Camry car and we collected two phones in the car. We drove off after we confirmed that he was dead.

“After the operation, Emmanuel gave me N1.5m with the stolen handsets and I gave one to my girlfriend. Emmanuel later told me that someone paid them N15 million to do the job. I don’t know the person that paid the money. It is only Emmanuel Nwankwo that can identify the sponsor, if arrested.”

The suspect added: “I was arrested by the police through my girlfriend with the stolen phone. We have also, prior to the operation, invaded Global filling station and Jezco Oil & Gas on Amaechi Road Enugu to rob and I used my share from the operation to build a house in my village.”

After investigation by Inspector Oluwamimo Banjoko and his team , Obinna was taken back to Enugu State and arraigned before the Enugu Magistrates’ Court on an eight-count charge of felony, to wit, armed robbery, murder and unlawful possession of firearms.

The offences, the prosecutor, ASP Emmanuel Akpa, said contravened sections 6(b) 1(2) (a) of the Robbery and Firearms (special provisions), Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and sections 324 and 319 of the Criminal Code of Enugu State of Nigeria.

The plea of the accused was not taken because the lower court lacks jurisdiction to try the matter.

The presiding magistrate, J. Mbe ordered that the accused be remanded in prison custody pending the advice from the office of the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) on the matter,

Source :PM News