A former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation, Mr. Andrew Yakubu, has restated his claim that the
$9,772,800 and £74,000 recovered from where he kept them in a house in Kaduna
last month were gifts he got over a period of time.
In an affidavit, which he filed before a Federal High Court
in Abuja on Monday, the ex-NNPC boss however stated that the sums of money,
which amounted to about N3bn, were not gifts he got “as a public servant or
while he was a public servant”.
He explained that the funds were gifts he got through
goodwill, which he enjoyed during various celebrations and ceremonies he hosted
in a period of five years.
Yakubu, who left office as the NNPC GMD in August 2014, did
not disclose the details of the ceremonies in the affidavit, but insisted that
the money came from well-wishers and friends.
But the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has
maintained that the money is part of proceeds of crime, adding that the ex-NNPC
GMD did not declare them as part of his assets when asked to do so as far back
as 2015.
A counter-affidavit by the EFCC, opposing a fundamental
human rights enforcement suit filed by Yakubu, stated, “That investigation into
the allegations against the applicant (Yakubu) is ongoing and the interim
findings reveal that the monies found in his house are not gifts but are monies
suspected to be proceeds of crime.
“That the monies were purportedly given to him as gifts
within 2010 and 2014 during which period he served as the Group Managing
Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
“That he was a public servant as of the time the purported
monies were given to him.
“That in July 2015, the applicant completed an asset
declaration form at the office of the first respondent (EFCC).
“That the money recovered from the Gubbai safe in the sum of
$79,772,800 and another £74,000 was not declared in the aforementioned asset
declaration form.”
On February 13, upon an ex parte application by the EFCC,
Justice Zainab Abubakar of the Federal High Court in Kano granted an order of
interim forfeiture of the money.
Following the recovery of the money from his house on
February 3, Yakubu has since February 8, been on remand in the custody of the
EFCC in Kano.
On February 20, the ex-NNPC GMD filed a N1bn fundamental
human rights enforcement suit before the Federal High Court in Abuja against
the EFCC and the Attorney General of the Federation (first and second
respondents) for allegedly detaining him unlawfully.
Justice Ahmed Mohammed had on Thursday fixed Thursday for
the hearing of the suit.
Through his lead counsel, Mr. Ahmed Raji (SAN), Yakubu, on
March 6, 2017 (Monday), filed “a further and better affidavit” in reply to the
EFCC’s response to the suit.
In the said affidavit, the applicant denied the EFCC’s
allegations, insisting that the money seized from him was not part of proceeds
of crime but received as gifts during celebrations.
A lawyer in Raji’s law firm, Dolapo Kehinde, who deposed to
the affidavit on Yakubu’s behalf, stated, “In specific reply thereto, the
applicant (Yakubu) states that the monies in respect of which the applicant is
being held by the respondents are ‘gifts and goodwill by well-wishers and
friends’ given to him ‘during celebrations and ceremonies’ and not proceeds of
crime’ as alleged’.
“Furthermore, I know that there is no investigation or
‘finding’ whatsoever by the first respondent that has proved contrary.”
The affidavit also stated that the applicant did not receive
the money as a public officer or while serving as a public officer, but saved
over a period of five years.
“In reply thereto, the applicant states that the monies
concerned were not given to him as a public servant or while he was a public
servant.
“The applicant humbly relies on Exhibit B hereof, where he
is quoted as saying: ‘This was periodic savings for over five years’.”
It added that the EFCC, through its counter-affidavit,
failed to justify “the unlawful detention of the applicant”.
In response to Yakubu’s fundamental human rights enforcement
suit, the EFCC had filed a
counter-affidavit, in which it stated that the ex-NNPC GMD was not only being
investigated for the money recovered from him but for other offences such as
money laundering.
The counter-affidavit, deposed to by one of its
investigating officers, Mr. Waziri Nitte, stated that with Yakubu’ description
of the money recovered from him as gifts, he had violated other laws.
“The provision of Section 12 of the Independent Corrupt
Practices and other related offences Act prohibits public officer from
receiving gifts by virtue of his being a public officer,” the counter-affidavit
stated.
The EFCC urged the court to dismiss the suit as “the
applicant is using this application as a disguised attempt to frustrate
investigation into this case.”
In an affidavit accompanying the main suit (the originating
summons), Yakubu’s wife, Mrs. Sarah Yakubu, stated that her husband was
undergoing medical treatment in the United Kingdom when the money was recovered.
She stated that her husband, whom she said was diagnosed of
“a prostrate condition which may be terminal if not properly managed”, had to
suspend his “medical procedure” in the UK in order to honour the EFCC’s
invitation.
Sarah, who described Yakubu as the breadwinner of his family
with many dependants, “has not been able to provide for his family, neither has
he received any medical treatment with respect to the ailment he is suffering
from”.
Mrs. Yakubu said her husband might die if not released from
custody to enable him to attend to his health.
“I have consistently appealed to men and officers of the
first respondent (EFCC) for the release of my husband because he is in
excruciating pains and stands the risk of losing his life,” she stated.
She also accused the EFCC of instigating negative publicity
against his husband on the Internet and through various media outfits.
She stated, “Notwithstanding the act that the respondents
have not filed any charge against the applicant, they have continued to
instigate wide publicity of the matters leading up to his arrest and detention.
“I also know that this negative publicity instigated by the
respondents has adjudged the applicant guilty in the eye of the public without
an opportunity of a fair hearing and in disrespect of the dignity of his
person.”
However, the ex-NNPC boss had sought among other prayers a
declaration that his continued detention, preventing him from travelling to the
UK for the completion of his “medical procedure” was a violation or his rights
to “dignity of his person, personal liberty, freedom of movement, private and
family life as enshrined under sections 34(1), 35(1), (4) and (5); 37 and 41 of
the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
He urged the court to direct his release from the custody of
the EFCC or grant him bail “on liberal terms and allow him to proceed to the
United Kingdom for completion of the
medial procedure which he was undergoing there”.
He also sought an order of perpetual injunction, restraining
the respondents from further detaining him unlawfully “whether on reasons of
suspicion or on on account of any purported investigation with respect to the
allegations” for which he was being detained in breach of his rights.
He sought an order compelling the respondents to “tender
public apology” to him in “two widely published national daily newspapers” and
to pay to him N1bn as general damages for the violation of his rights as
enshrined in the constitution.
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