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Report by Punch:
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Tribunal has commenced a clampdown on very wealthy civil servants.
Already, the agency has seized 24 property and several cars from three civil servants with one of them having 18 property.
A document obtained from the Office of
the Chairman of the ICPC, Mr. Ekpo Nta, with the title ‘Notice of
Seizure of Movable and Immovable Properties Pursuant to Section 45 (4) a
– (b) of the Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Ac 2000,
revealed that the commission seized the property from three officials of
the Ministry of Niger Delta.
It stated that the property was seized because they were “excessive of the emoluments of the affected officers.”
Although the document, dated August 11,
2015, is silent on the status of the officials, it was gathered that the
three officials are all principal account officers of the ministry,
which has been one of the focuses of investigations by the ICPC in
recent times.
The Niger Delta ministry officers listed in the document are Poloma Kabiru Nuhu, Mangset Longyl Dickson and Daniel Obah.
The ICPC boss said the decision to seize
the property would be served on the appropriate Land Registries and
Departments in all the states where the property are situated.
He stated, “The commission is
investigating a matter involving some staff (members) of the Niger Delta
Ministry, with certain movable and immovable property owned by the said
staff.
“The commission is of the opinion based
on the aforementioned investigation that these movable and immovable
property owned by these people who are staff of the Ministry of Niger
Delta Affairs are excessive, having regards to their present emoluments
and all other relevant circumstances. The commission hereby notifies the
entire public that all movable and immovable properties owned by these
staff (members) and listed hereunder are seized.”
According to the ICPC boss, one of the
officers, Nuhu, has 10 hectares of land, covered by Right of Occupancy
at Kuje valued at N50m.
It was stated that the same officer has an uncompleted duplex at Diamond Estate, Apo, Abuja, that is worth N90m.
Nta also said Nuhu has 16 plots of land
which are all covered by Certificate of Occupancy in different parts of
Gwagwalada, Abuja.
Another civil servant on the ICPC list,
Dickson, is said to have a plot of land at Kubwa District, Cadastral
Zone, Abuja. The property is valued at N7m.
The third official, Obah, is said to own different plots of land in Abuja and Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Nta said Obah has a four-bedroom duplex at Karsana South District, Abuja, valued at N60m.
He is also said to have a plot of land at Ozuoba, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Other plots of land said to belong to
Obah are located in Umuodili Odubo Community in Rivers that is worth
N16.5m; Olipobo Rumuekini Layout, Obio Akpor Local Government Area
valued at N18m and another plot at Livingstone Estate Umuogodo, Igbo
Etche in Obio Akpor Local Government of the Rivers State.
The Federal Government’s anti-corruption
operatives had been sent after ‘super rich’ public officers who had
multiple property and other assets suspected to have been the rewards of
graft.
According to the report, the searchlight
of the anti-corruption agents was on civil servants that possess
questionable property in the Federal Capital Territory.
It
was also reported that operatives in the Assets Tracing, Recovery and
Management Unit of the ICPC had been asked to haul in suspects for
interrogation and recovery of ill-gotten assets in their possession.
The ICPC was reported to have
strengthened the ATRMU by posting more personnel to the unit to ensure
the success of its campaign.
On Wednesday, the Auditor-General of the
Federation, Mr. Samuel Ukura, had recommended the recovery of about
N183bn being funds meant for the development of Niger Delta but which
was allegedly diverted for other purposes.
Ukura, who stated this in three special
audit reports to the Clerk of the National Assembly, Mr. Salisu
Maikasuwa, explained that the amount was discovered in the periodic
checks carried out by his office on the activities and programmes of the
Niger Delta Development Commission between 2008 and 2012.
According to him, N70.4bn was paid as
mobilisation to various contractors who never reported to site, while
N90.4bn was the extra-budgetary expenditure for heads and sub-heads
without approval by the legal authorities.
He also said N10bn was tax deductions
without evidence of remittance to the Federal Inland Revenue Service;
N5.8bn was payment to contractors for projects not executed, stalled or
abandoned, while N1.2bn was undeducted taxes from contractors.
Ukura added that N3.1bn was transfer
made to unauthorised accounts; N1.7bn was staff outstanding staff
advances which were never accounted for and N785m out of N1.1bn meant
for the supply of furniture to various schools in Delta State was
diverted.
He explained that the funds for the
furniture supply was certified paid whereas inspection carried out by
the Auditor-General’s office revealed that no single chair was
distributed during the period under review.
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