Posted by Samuel on Wed 16th Jun, 2021 - tori.ng
The NYCN on Wednesday in a statement said Bawa should be transparent to state the names of the personalities involved or humbly resign.
Abdulrasheed Bawa
According to SaharaReporters, the Northern Youths Council of Nigeria (NYCN) has asked the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, to name and shame the minister and Managing Director of a bank whom he said were involved in a $37.5 million money laundering.
The NYCN on Wednesday in a statement said Bawa should be transparent to state the names of the personalities involved or humbly resign.
Bawa had in an interview on Channels Television on Tuesday, said, “We investigated a matter in which a bank MD marketed property to a minister and agreed to purchase it at $37.5 million. The bank then sent a vehicle to her house to evacuate $20 million from her house in the first instance.”
The NYCN’s spokesman, Samuel Kure, said it was safe to conclude that EFCC was thorough with its investigation of the matter, adding that “sadly, the said minister and the bank MD are yet to be ducked (sic) in any court of competent jurisdiction.”
He said, “The NYCN has noted this as a deliberate attempt by the EFCC to conceal the identity of the thieves of our commonwealth. If the EFCC can speedily parade suspected Yahoo boys and girls (Internet fraudsters), why is the case of these characters different?
“The inability of the EFCC to disclose their identity shows that either some people are more powerful than the EFCC or there are some powerful individuals who planted the EFCC boss and are teleguiding him on who to parade or not.
“Either way, this amounts to a betrayal of trust of Nigerians and Mr. President that appointed him to handle one of the focal points that led to the election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2015 and its re-election in 2019.
“The Northern Youths Council also noted the concerns raised by the EFCC (chairman) wherein he stated that some people are after his life. We want to assure him that Northern Youths will stand with him and do everything to protect him, even if it means providing a human shield for him in all his outings provided that he puts the interest of over 200 million Nigerians above the microscopic few that have access to our common patrimony.
“In the event that the EFCC feels he can't name and shame the bank MD and the minister involved, we call on him to humbly resign and leave the stage for a more serious and fearless person to take over the wheel.
“Until the identity of the minister is made public, Nigerians will continue to see every female minister serving in the present regime as operator of 'House Vault' that are out for self-aggrandisement.”
SaharaReporters had earlier reported that the National Security Adviser, Babagana Mungono was fingered as one of the high profile Nigerians threatening Bawa.
The action might not be unconnected to the wider probe into the finances of the Office of the NSA by the EFCC.
A source in the EFCC told SaharaReporters that Bawa was referring to Monguno.
“The man he was referring to is Monguno, the current NSA. He is after Bawa’s life because of the investigation of Brigadier-General Jafaru Mohammed, the former Director of Finance and Administration in the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), who oversaw the movement of money seized in Ikoyi and presently being investigated for looting,” the source said.
SaharaReporters had reported how the anti-graft agency on March 11, 2021, obtained an interim forfeiture order from a Federal High Court in Abuja in respect of some properties allegedly belonging to Mungono but held in a proxy.
In her ruling, Justice Folashade Ogunbanjo granted an ex parte application for interim forfeiture of the assets and properties by the chairman of the EFCC, made on March 9.
The court ordered the publication of the interim forfeiture of the assets linked to a former Director of Finance in the Office of the NSA, Brigadier-General Jafaru Mohammed, and invited people “who may have interest in the assets and properties listed in the schedule to show cause, within 14 days of such publication, why a final order of forfeiture to the Federal Government of Nigeria of the said assets and properties should not be made.”
The assets traced to the proxies and associates of the General include House on Plot 7, God's Own Estate, Road 1, Wamna District, Abuja; a fenced plot at No 1 Jubril Aminu Crescent, Katampe Extension, Abuja; plot at Kubwa Express, Directly opposite Abuja Model City Gate, Abuja; and a house on Block SD 22 House 2, Road 5, Kabusa Garden Estate, Abuja.
Others are No 15, 21 Crescent, 2nd Avenue, Gwarinpa Estate, Abuja; No 3 Liverpool Close, Sun City Estate, Abuja; No 52 Mainstreet, Sun City Estate, Abuja; and No 25 Osaka Street, Sun City Estate, Abuja.
A security source had told SaharaReporters that Mohammed as the Director of Finance and Administration in the office of the NSA allegedly carried out many errands on behalf of Monguno.
“It is not a secret that the NSA had a confidante in the Director of Finance, who used proxies on the instruction of his boss to acquire those properties. It was a very close-knitted deal in the sense that it would be difficult to trace any of these properties to them.
“But with this move by the EFCC, it shows they might have some credible information at their disposal,” the source had said.