Looters’ List: Afenifere, Junaid, Others Slam FG …for Releasing Just Six Names

The pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere; a Second Republic lawmaker, Dr. Junaid Mohammed; and the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, among others, came down heavily on the Federal Government over the release of a looters’ list containing just six names.

They described the list as laughable while accusing the government and the All Progressives Congress of spreading propaganda and lies.

The Federal Government on Friday made good its promise to release to Nigerians the list containing names of alleged treasury looters.

The list which was released by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in Lagos, on Friday, identified the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Prince Uche Secondus; former National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh; and the Chairman of DAAR Communications, Dr. Raymond Dokpesi, as some of the people who looted the treasury.

Also on the list were the names of Dudafa Waripamo-Owei, a former Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan; a cousin of former President Jonathan, Robert Azibaola; and an unnamed former PDP Financial Secretary.

In July 2017, the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), said the Federal Government would publish the names of treasury looters intermittently after it must have met some conditions.

This was after a Federal High Court in Lagos gave a ruling compelling the Federal Government to “immediately release to Nigerians information about the names of high-ranking public officials from whom public funds were recovered and the circumstances under which funds were recovered, as well as the exact amount of funds recovered from each public official.”

The Federal Government, through The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, had on June 4, 2016, disclosed that it had recovered cash sums of N78,325,354,631.82, $185,119,584.61, £3,508,355.46 and €11,250, among others, between May 29, 2015, and May 25, 2016.

Twenty-two months after, the information minister released a list with six names.

The information minister said, “The PDP has challenged us to name the looters under their watch. They said they did not loot the treasury. Well, I am sure they know that the treasury was looted dry under their watch. Yet they decided to grandstand. This shows the hollowness of their apology to Nigerians.

“Let’s just give them a teaser with this list: PDP Chairman, Uche Secondus, (on the 19th of February, 2015, he took N200m only from the office of the then National Security Adviser); the then PDP Financial Secretary (on the 24th of October, 2014, he took N600m only from the office of the then NSA); the then National Publicity Secretary, Olisah Metuh, (on trial for collecting N1.4bn from the office of the then NSA.

“Dr. Raymond Dokpesi, Chairman of DAAR Communications, (on trial for taking N2.1bn from the office of the then NSA); former SSA to President Goodluck Jonathan, Dudafa Waripamo-Owei, (on trial over N830m kept in accounts of four different companies); former President Jonathan’s cousin, Robert Azibaola, (on Thursday, a Federal High Court ruled that he has a case to answer for collecting $40m from the office of the then NSA.)”

Mohammed, who stated that the list was just a tip of the iceberg, said, “We did not make these cases up. Many of these cases are in court and the records are available. Some of the people on this list are seeking plea bargain, and that is a fact.

“We insist that Nigeria was looted blind under the watch of the PDP, and that the starting point in tendering an apology is for them to return the loot.”