Nigeria: Okauru was Removed from EFCC to Enable Aondokaa/others Move Naira Assets to Dollar

Nigeria: Okauru was Removed from EFCC to Enable Aondokaa/others Move Naira Assets to Dollar

Written by Elombah.com

Thursday, 08 September 2011 22:27

(EFCC has Secret files on Obasanjo's, Goodluck Jonathans, Ibori's, others Corruption and money laundering activities): US Diplomatic Cables as revealed by wikileaks: Nigerian media reported on January 28 that former Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) Director, Ashishana Bayo Okauru (Amcit), has just accepted an appointment as of Director General of the influential Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), chaired by Kwara State Governor, Bukola Saraki.  On November 18, 2008, Okauru resigned from the NFIU Director position when it appeared EFCC Chair Farida Waziri was preparing to suspend him.   In mid-January, Nigerian press reports claimed that Okauru was facing criminal charges for alleged national security violations.  In discussions with PolOff and INLOff in December and January, Okauru (also American citizen) told us he was did not fear imminent arrest and that he chose to stay in Nigeria to seek employment.  On January 27, NGF Chair and Kwara State Governor Abubakar Bukola Saraki told Ambassador that Okauru is not facing any charges, and said he saw Okauru's appointment as an opportunity to "clean the slate" regarding questions about his status. In a January 29 conversation, Presidency economist Sani Musa (strictly protect throughout) gave us a somewhat different take on Okauru's removal from NFIU than that we have heard previously (reftels) from Okauru and others.  Musa said Okauru was not/not removed because Waziri was angry with him over remarks he made to USG officials, but did so on the direct order of Attorney General Aondoakaa.   Musa claimed that Aondoakaa had advance warning that the GON was about to stop using its reserves to shore up the prevailing naira-to-dollar exchange rate (N117/$1), which had persisted for the previous 18 months; the AG and some other insiders wanted time to shift naira denominated assets into hard currencies before the new GON laissez faire policy took effect and without close scrutiny from the NFIU.   Musa noted that Okauru's resignation came only about 10 days before the naira's slide to a rate of about N150/$1. From another US Cable: Michael Kaase Aondoakaa -- Attorney General/Minister of Justice.  Aondoakaa hails from Benue State and received both his B.A. and LL.B. from the University of Maiduguri in ¶1985.  He passed the Bar in 1986 and served as a junior partner with J. Tine Tur and Co. Chambers, Gboko, in 1987. In 1989 he started his own firm, M. K. Aondoakaa and Co.  He played a role in two landmark Supreme Court case which established the right to redress for abuse of human rights and that provocation need not be spontaneous. COMMENT: Aondoakaa is an intelligent, politically savvy lawyer who is reputed to have done some of Yar'Adua's dirty work, including attempts to disgrace Economic and Financial Crimes Commission former chairman Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.  He is considered to be a thug heavily involved in illicit enrichment and cannot be trusted.  Yar'Adua keeping him on belies his commitment to the rule of law. From another US Diplomatic Cable:  INLOff was briefed on the developments relating to NFIU Director A.B. Okauru's resignation by two members of the Nigerian delegation at the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) Plenary in Dakar, Senegal on November 19.  According to the delegation, Okauru's removal is part of a grand scheme by a group of ex-Governors and others who are under investigation for   corruption by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to cover up their past misdeeds and to co-opt the next elections by dismantling the EFCC and NFIU. EFCC Secret Files - - - - - - - On November 19, INLOff met with NFIU External Relations Officer Mr. Tukur Modibbo and NFIU Chief Analyst Mr. Mustapha Mohamed, both of whom are Okauru's trusted lieutenants, and were in Senegal for the GIABA Plenary.  Modibbo and Mohamed disclosed to INLOff that Okauru anticipated his removal from office and surreptitiously gave several financial intelligence (STR) files to them.  Modibbo indicated that he has 100 corruption-related case files with international linkages, approximately 26 of which are on Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs)  (Note:  Modibbo did not indicate the exact location of these files.    End Note.) Modibbo and Mohamed told INLOff they believe no one suspects they are in possession of these files.  They also confided that they will not give files to Okauru's replacement, former Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering (SCUML) Director Norman Wokoma, as they believe he cannot be trusted and would easily be replaced if he does not cooperate with those who put him there.  Modibbo and Mohamed also vowed to do their best to secure these files themselves, and assured INLOff that the Egmont files are secure, while others remain in NFIU,s immediate possession. What is in the Files? When asked for more details on the files, Mohamed told INLOff he is in possession of files on the Ibori and Siemens scandal, Obasanjo's power sector fraud, Obasanjo's daughter Yabo Bello's alleged money laundering activities, and Vice President Goodluck Jonathan's suspected corruption in Bayelsa State.   Other cases in their possession involve the Inspector General of Police, the Attorney General, and EFCC Chair Farida Waziri.  Mohammed then focused the conversation on Waziri, who he claims was strategically appointed by Attorney General (AG) Michael Aondoakaa to prevent investigations of the former governors.  Actions to block the investigations included the redeployment all EFCC personnel that had a hand in their cases.  He also asserted that Waziri demanded loyalty to herself as a condition  of employment.   Okauru's forced resignation, for example, was a direct consequence of the details of his November conversations with USG officials in Washington being relayed to Waziri by Norman Wokoma (reftel).  Wokoma, as a reward, had been made NFIU's Acting Director.  (Note:  As a result of Okauru's forced resignation, Mohammed told INLOff that the NFIU has now been shut out of Egmont systems, and may face other consequences such as being placed again on the Financial Action Task Forces, list of Non-Cooperating States and Territories (NCCT) list.  End Note.) Manipulating Yar'Adua's Health - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - According to Mohamed and Modibbo, the President's health has provided the former governors the opportunity to consolidate control over the country's anti-corruption apparatus and enable them to participate in the next elections.  Modibbo explained to INLOff that the former governors first convinced the President to appoint Aondoakaa as AG on the ground that he would do a good job of defending the President's election case; they then succeeded in arranging the appointment of Mike Okiro as Inspector General of Police.  Second, the former governors placed pressure on the President to undermine the cases against them in the EFCC by replacing Ribadu with Waziri, who would be loyal to the AG and help quash the cases.   However, Mohamed and Modibbo suggested that the President might be beginning to resist at least some of the pressure from the former governors as public criticism of the EFCC under Waziri's leadership continues to grow and the international community's confidence in the EFCC begins to wane. EMBASSY COMMENT:  Much of what Mohamed and Modibbo put forward is consistent with what we have heard elsewhere and it has become increasingly clear that all roads lead to Aondoakaa and the former governors insofar as the undercutting of Nigeria's anti-corruption efforts are concerned.