*Minister admits breaching standard practice
…claims he was deceived by Modibbo to approve fraudulent payment
*He is a fraud, should be charged – Kwara lawyers
*Trial of NBC boss stalled
By Mumini AbdulKareem and Kayode Adeoti
The trial of the Director-General of the Nigerian Broadcasting Cooperation (NBC), Is-haq Kawu Modibbo took a new twist yesterday following report of alleged admittance of the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammad that he approved the controversial fund ignorantly based on the advice of Modibbo.
Towards this end, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) hinted on the possible arraignment of the minister over the issue.
Online news medium, Premium Times, on Wednesday quoted the agency’s spokesperson, Rasheedat Okoduwa that if further revelations emerged during Kawu’s trial that could necessitate arraigning the minister, ICPC will not hesitate to do so.
She added the minister was not initially charged because he claimed he was deceived into signing the payment.
The minister and the NBC D-G are both leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State.
This development is coming just as top lawyers in the state including Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) have called for the prosecution of Lai Mohammed over the issue.
The minister reportedly admitted he breached standard practice and did not do due diligence before signing off on the controversial N2.5 billion payment to a private digital broadcast signal distributor.
Mohammed, the report noted, told the ICPC that he only approved the payment based on the recommendation of Modibbo in May 2017.
Anti-graft detectives at the commission have been investigating the transaction since June 2018 and have already charged Modibbo to court for allegedly deceiving the minister to perpetrate the fraud.
While Modibbo strongly denied the allegations, those who spoke on the issue with National Pilot expressed shock that the minister, who is curiously a lawyer and whose ministry supervises the NBC could feign ignorance that he was deceived to approve such huge amount without due diligence.
The trial of the NBC boss which was supposed to come up yesterday was stalled because of the absence of one the founders of the company he was charged with; Pinnacle Communications Limited, a digital broadcasting firm in court.
Anti-graft officers reportedly quizzed the minister last year as part of their investigation but he was unable to provide any information beyond his claim that he only acted on the documents presented to him.
Mohammed did not let detectives record the session, saying he needed “clearance” from the Secretary to the Government of Federation, Boss Mustafa, Premium Times said documents seen by it showed.
According to the paper quoting an ICPC official, the minister “bullied” those detailed to question him because of his “high role” as the top image maker for the government.
If further reported that documents sighted by the medium showed that Lai Mohammed played more role than just signing documents.
“He signed several documents and also took parts in discussions between Pinnacle Communications and embarked on foreign trips to inspect equipment for Nigeria’s digital switch-over, according to those familiar with the matter”, the paper noted.
It said Modibbo maintained he did no wrong in recommending the payment to the minister, but did not assume responsibility for the minister’s approval. He “explained why the N2.5 billion was paid to Pinnacle, and all the projects the company had executed to fast-track Nigeria’s adoption of digital switch-over.
The N2.5bn was withdrawn from the N10billion that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) seized from the NBC in 2016. Detectives said the money was banked in a manner that violated the treasury single account (TSA) policy.
The anti-graft agency later released the entire N10 billion to the NBC and the minister to carry on with the digital switch-over project.
The minister according to the report declined comments on his submission to the ICPC.
However, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister for Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) had reportedly demanded the corruption case file of the NBC DG in a move that was believed was frustrate the trial and shield the minister.
Premium Times reported that it recently learnt of a March 26 letter in which Mr Malami demanded that the case should be immediately transferred to his office “for further review”.
The attorney general has the legal authority to assume supervision over any criminal case instituted by the Nigerian government.
However, anti-graft detectives are reportedly furious that this might be an attempt to frustrate another high-profile corruption case and vowed to resist it rising the timing of Mr Malami’s request
Meanwhile, an Ilorin-based Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Abeni Muhammed among other lawyers have berated the information minister for claiming that he approved the fund for the NBC Boss, ignorantly.
Abeni while speaking with this medium in a telephone chat yesterday night maintained that the information minister should equally be dragged to court for prosecution.
He noted further that it’s quite unfortunate for Lai Muhammed whom he said is the mouth piece of the campaign against corruption of the Buhari administration to claim he failed to consider the details of the NBC recommendation before approving it.
“…they both acted fraudulently and minister should be charged for the same offence NBC Boss was charged. It looks like a conspiracy between the two of them to misuse or divert government fund.
“It is unfortunate, this is coming from somebody who’s mouth piece against corruption for this government, he cannot be right to say he forgot to follow due process in approving the fund,” he stressed.
Also lending voice on the issue is the immediate past chairman of the Ilorin branch of the Nigerian Bar and Association (NBA), Isaa Manzuma who stressed that security operatives should up their games in order to fish everyone involve in the case.
He said, “anti corruption agencies should carry out discreet investigation into the issue with the view to prosecute whoever is involved, that will be in line with administration of anticorruption fight.”
In the same vein, Barrister Tafa Ahmed also corroborated his colleagues saying the development is a slap on the information minister and on the nation.
“Would Lai Muhammed says he’s serving Nigerians properly by approving such a huge amount of money without the details? As the number one officer in that Ministry, he is supposed to go through the document before him painstakingly before giving any consent.
“Claiming that he’s ignorant of the document he has signed is a big slap on him, on the nation,” Ahmed added.
