ICPC: Absence of Co-Accused stalls Kawu’s arraignment over Alleged N2.5bn Fraud

The scheduled arraignment of the Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Ishaq Moddibo Kawu, by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) could not hold due to the absence of the co-accused, Dipo Onifade, in court.
The drama comes as media reports emerged of plans by the Office of the Attorney-General to scuttle the trial by seeking to take it over.
There have speculations that a serving minister and prominent All Progressives Congress (APC) chief are working strenuously to kill the case.
Premium Times, an online newspaper published an exclusive report of how Information and Culture Minister, Lai Mohammed, approved thr N2.5 billion ‘fraudulent’ payment, but claimed ignorance
Kawu, Lucky Omoluwa and Onifade, Chairman of Pinnacle Communications Limited and the Chief Operating Officer respectively, are facing a 12-count charge bordering on abuse of office, money laundering and misleading a public officer with the intent to defraud the federal government in contravention of Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.
They were to appear before Justice F. O. Giwa, of the Federal High Court, Abuja, over their alleged involvement in the mismanagement of the N2.5 billion seed grant for the Digital Switch-Over programme of the federal government.
Counsel to Onifade, Alex Iziyon (SAN) at the scheduled arraignment Wednesday informed the court of his absence, saying that he was in transit from Kaduna to Abuja, and asked the court to stand down the matter for an hour.
Justice Giwa obliged him, only for Iziyon to later tell the court that his client could not be reached since 6 a.m when they last exchanged messages.
He accordingly sought for an adjournment to enable his client attend while assuring the court of his presence on the next adjourned date.
ICPC counsel, Henry Emore, did not oppose the application for adjournment but urged the court to be ready to proceed with the trial immediately after their arraignment on the next adjourned date.
The trial judge, before her ruling, warned that Onifade should be told to stop traveling on the same day that the court sits, insisting that he should endeavour to be in court before 9 a.m on the next adjourned date of 2nd May 2019.
In its report, Premium Times, Lai Mohammed admitted he did not do due diligence before signing off on the controversial N2.5 billion payment to a private digital broadcast signal distributor.
Mr Mohammed told the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission (ICPC) that he only approved the payment based on the recommendation of the director-general of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) in May 2017, according to those familiar with the investigation.
Anti-graft detectives at the ICPC have been investigating the transaction since June 2018. Already the ICPC has charged Modibbo Kawu, the DG of NBC, for allegedly deceiving Mr Mohammed to perpetrate the fraud.
Mr Kawu strongly denied the allegations, and the ICPC said he would appear in court on Wednesday alongside Lucky Omoluwa, the founder of Pinnacle Communications Limited, a digital broadcasting firm that received the payment in 2017.
Anti-graft officers questioned Mr Mohammed 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.
Mr Mohammed did not let detectives record the session, saying he needed “clearance” from Boss Mustapha, the Nigerian government secretary, documents seen by PREMIUM TIMES showed.
An ICPC official told PREMIUM TIMES Tuesday that Mr Mohammed “bullied” those detailed to question him because of his “high role” as the top image maker for the government.
Even though Mr Mohammed did not cooperate with investigators, the ICPC had been reluctant about charging him for approving the contract.
Rasheedat Okoduwa, the agency’s spokesperson, told PREMIUM TIMES on Monday that Mr Mohammed was not charged because he said he was deceived into signing the payment.
Mrs Okoduwa, however, added that if further revelations emerged during Mr Kawu’s trial that could necessitate arraigning Mr Mohammed, the ICPC will not hesitate to do so.
Documents seen by PREMIUM TIMES showed that Mr 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 switchover, according to those familiar with the matter.
Mr Kawu told PREMIUM TIMES he did no wrong in recommending the payment to Mr Mohammed, 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 executed to fast-track Nigeria’s adoption of digital switchover.
The N2.5 was withdrawn from the N10 billion naira 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 Mr Mohammed to carry on with the digital switchover project. A 2017 memo to the Presidency, seen by PREMIUM TIMES, specifically said the N2.5 billion was to be withdrawn from the NBC account in the TSA system.
The minister declined comments to PREMIUM TIMES on his submission to the ICPC.
Attorney-General Abubakar Malami had already expressed intention to take over the case, but ICPC officials feared it could be politicised and vowed to continue with the prosecution of Mr Kawu and others.
Mr Kawu told PREMIUM TIMES he suspected political forces were out to get him, but not that he had done anything wrong.
“I have been informed from several quarters that there are certain political forces who are determined to use the issue of a court arraignment to force me out of office,” Mr Kawu said. “The plan is to lean on such arraignment to commence a media campaign that will insist I step aside from my position until I have been cleared in the courts.”
Anti-corruption campaigners said they were not convinced by Mr Mohammed’s explanation because it had no legal backing.
“There is no law in Nigeria that says an official could assert ignorance after signing such a humongous amount of money in one of the world’s poorest countries,” Yomi Ogunsanya, a lawyer and an anti-corruption activist. said.
Mr Ogunsanya described Mr Mohammed’s excuse as “pedestrian” and called on the ICPC to charge him alongside others.
“Ignorance does not excuse anybody when it comes to approving public funds,” Mr Ogunsanya said. “Can we say the minister has been approving billions for agencies under his ministry without necessary scrutiny?
“Ordinarily, the minister should have conducted his own due diligence, he has enough officials on public payroll who could do the job for him,” the lawyer added. “The ICPC should immediately charge him as the minister that supervised the payment.”
Mr Ogunsanya said even though the contract was a dent on the administration’s anti-corruption posturing, the trial that had emanated from it should be seen as a bright spot, especially because it has the potential to throw up fresh revelations.
“A lot will probably be revealed in court that will further expose how far the minister was involved,” Mr Ogunsanya said. “But we can also see the ICPC charges against a senior government official as progress.”
Additional reports by Premium Times