Former PDP chairman refunds N6m to EFCC

Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Bagoro Local Government Area of Bauchi State, Andrew Adamu, has refunded N5 million out of the N12 million received.

Adamu was said to have received the said amount ahead of the 2015 presidential poll from the office of former petroleum minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke.

The PDP chieftain had earlier refunded N1 million to the anti-graft agency in order to avoid prosecution.

The former chairman reportedly made the refund via bank draft to the EFCC North East Zonal Office in Gombe State.

EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, who confirmed the payment, said embattled Adamu admitted to the zonal office of the commission during an interrogation that he signed and collected the said amount in the presence of Marcus Bulus Makama, a current member of Bauchi State House of Assembly and former caretaker chairman of the local government, Mrs. Hasanna Arkila, who signed as witnesses for the collection of the amount.

Adamu told EFCC operatives that the former Commissioner for Rural Development, Mr. Bukata Bayero Bukar, was the chairman of the stakeholders while Mr. Moses Hankali was the secretary.

SOURCE: Dailypost

Franca Asemota Sentenced To 22 Years In Prison For Trafficking Girls From Nigeria To Europe For Prostitution

In March 2015, Franca Asemota, was arrested by the EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) on the suspicion of money laundering offenses.

It was found that she is wanted in the UK by the National Crime Agency of the UK on charges of child trafficking

She is accused of organizing a thick network that transports young girls, especially teenagers, from villages in Nigeria and sending them to Europe via London. The innocent kids are lured by promises of a better life, jobs and education but are forced to sell their bodies for money when they get into these countries

The judge ordered that Franca Asemota be extradited to the United Kingdom to face trial for the charges filed against her.

The 38-year-old has now been convicted on 3rd August at Isleworth Crown Court of eight counts of conspiracy to traffic persons for sexual exploitation, two counts of trafficking persons outside of the UK for sexual exploitation and two counts of assisting unlawful immigration.

Evidence showed that she facilitated the trafficking of around 40 people, mainly young girls, between August 2011 and May 2012.

She has been sentenced to 22 years in prison.

SOURCE: Womanng

Stella Oduah responds to allegation she stole N2.5billion using maid’s account

Stella Oduah, a former Minister of Aviation and senator (PDP-Anambra North), on Monday denied reports that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was on her trail for allegedly stashing nearly N2.5 billion in a bank account she set up using the identity of her domestic aide.

Ms. Oduah, who said she received the reports while relaxing in her country home in Anambra State, challenged those who published the allegations to publish proofs that substantiate her guilt.

News website, SaharaReporters, had on Sunday reported EFCC sources as revealing to it how Ms. Oduah used the name and pictures of the unnamed maid to set up the account.

“Senator Oduah apparently opened the account with her housemaid’s name, image, and details without the housemaid knowing about it,” Sahara Reporters quoted one of the EFCC sources as saying.

The account, the report said, was still active as at last week.

But in a rebuttal her office sent to PREMIUM TIMES around 9 a.m. Monday, Ms. Oduah said the reports were “totally false, baseless and at best the imagination of the platform.”

In the statement, signed by Francisca Onyeisi, head of communications, Ms. Oduah said that if the reports were true, she would have been arrested long before now, especially at a time when the EFCC is “freezing accounts and going after opposition governors who enjoy same level of immunity as the president.”

The former minister, therefore, urged her supporters and the general public to ignore the reports, saying she had “made a mark in oil and gas and Agricultural businesses before joining politics.”

Ms. Oduah was removed from office in February 2014 after she was found to have received armoured BMW cars, worth N255million, from an agency she supervised.

SOURCE: Premiumtimesng

Ex-gov Goje approved N1bn for dictionaries – EFCC

Former governor of Gombe State, Danjuma Goje, illegally awarded a N1bn contract for the supply of dictionaries to secondary schools while he was governor of the state, according to the EFCC.

A prosecution witness, Salisu Abaji, said this before a Federal High Court in Jos where Goje is being tried for alleged fraud, the spokesman for the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, said in a statement.

According to the witness, the ex-governor awarded a contract for the supply of dictionaries for over N1bn to Gombe State Universal Basic Education Board without following procurement process.

Furthermore, he was alleged to have paid 85 per cent of the contract sum upfront to the supplier, Real and Integrated Hospitality Company, as against the prescribed 15 per cent as contained in the UBEB guideline when he was the governor.

The prosecution witness, who is a former Secretary to UBEB, gave this testimony against his former boss.

He further submitted that one Aliyu el-Naffty, a former UBEB chairman, also an accused person standing trial along with Goje, awarded the contract the same day and ordered the advance payment based on the directive of the ex-governor.

Another prosecution witness and a former storekeeper at the Gombe State Government House, Mr. Mohammed Aliyu, concluded his testimony by tendering receipts of all payments made to the food contractor to the government during the eight-year administration of Goje from 2003 and 2011.

Abaji, however, admitted that he played a role in the award and payment of the said amount as upfront to the contractor. This, he did, under cross-examination by the defence counsel, Mr. Adeniyi Akintola.

The trial has been adjourned till October 4 and 5, 2016 by Justice Quadri.

SOURCE: Todayng