{"id":31713,"date":"2021-03-03T10:36:12","date_gmt":"2021-03-03T09:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=31713"},"modified":"2021-03-03T10:36:12","modified_gmt":"2021-03-03T09:36:12","slug":"efcc-goes-after-bola-tinubu-for-corruption-writes-ccb-for-ex-lagos-governors-asset-documents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=31713","title":{"rendered":"EFCC goes after Bola Tinubu for corruption, writes CCB for ex-Lagos governor\u2019s asset documents"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The EFCC has requested Bola Tinubu\u2019s asset declaration documents from the Code of Conduct Bureau, Peoples Gazette can report, in a politically-charged inquiry that could see the former Lagos governor and ruling party chieftain arrested and prosecuted before 2023.<br \/><br \/>The anti-graft office in November 2020 asked the asset fraud investigation office to supply details of Mr. Tinubu\u2019s asset documents as part of an ongoing probe of the politician, according to a copy of the request obtained by the Gazette. The request, dated November 6, was a follow-up to previous demands made with respect to Mr. Tinubu\u2019s asset filings.\u00a0<br \/><br \/>In the letter, the EFCC referred to its previous letter of September 4, 2020, and CCB\u2019s response of October 9, 2020, asking the bureau to supply \u201coutstanding requested information of Bola Ahmed Adekunle Tinubu.\u201d It was not immediately clear whether or not the CCB has obliged the EFCC\u2019s request for additional information ever since, or the nature and scope of information provided if app<br \/><br \/>The EFCC\u2019s November 6 memo also included another high-profile politician and Buhari administration official, but the Gazette\u2019s lawyers advised that his identity should be protected until our reporters and editors have\u00a0established why he was being investigated.<br \/><br \/>Respective spokespersons for the EFCC and CCB did not return requests seeking comments about Mr. Tinubu\u2019s investigation as led by Abdulrasheed Bawa when he was the head of Lagos zonal office. Mr. Bawa was confirmed as the chairman of EFCC last week despite being\u00a0a subject of a smothered corruption probe, and officials said he is now fully in charge of Mr. Tinubu\u2019s case.\u00a0<br \/><br \/>A spokesman for Mr. Tinubu did not return calls and messages seeking comments, but two associates strategising for the former governor told the Gazette he had already learnt of the probe and sent messages to President Muhammadu Buhari for mercy.\u00a0<br \/><br \/>\u201cA\u015fiwaju Tinubu contacted the president some weeks ago to protest that his hands are clean of any dubious practices,\u201d the source said under anonymity to avoid damaging his relationship with the Lagos\u00a0heavyweight.<br \/><br \/>\u201cHe told the president that if the EFCC must proceed with its probe, then it has to do so with compassion and fear of God.\u201d<br \/><br \/>\u201cBut what A\u015fiwaju really wants is for the investigation to stop because we all know it was instigated by Abubakar Malami to harass and persecute the party leader and destabilise\u00a0him before 2023,\u201d the source said.<br \/><br \/>Another source close to Mr. Tinubu said he recently heard the politician complaining about the influence of the attorney-general\u00a0on the Buhari administration.<br \/><br \/>\u201cWe were together and I heard it when he said Malami wanted to become the kingmaker in the APC,\u201d the source said. \u201cHe also said Malami does not have the intellectual strength to direct the affairs of a ruling party and will not be allowed to kill the party.\u201d<br \/><br \/><strong>Tech-driven anti-corruption war<\/strong><br \/><br \/>A senior EFCC official familiar with Mr. Tinubu\u2019s investigation said the agency was aided in part by Nigeria\u2019s adoption of a financial system driven by modern surveillance infrastructure. Mr. Tinubu was already arraigned in 2011 for asset declaration fraud, but the matter was dismissed due to the failure of prosecutors to find enough evidence to substantiate their claim that he operated foreign bank accounts while governor between 1999-2007.\u00a0<br \/><br \/>But the EFCC has now found additional information and believed it would successfully nail Mr. Tinubu using the same set of asset documents but with advanced layers of verification. Nigeria has adopted the bank verification number and strengthened its financial intelligence departments since 2011.<br \/><br \/>\u201cThe EFCC has travelled a long distance from 2011 when Tinubu was first prosecuted,\u201d an anti-graft chief said. \u201cNow we are carrying out a tech-driven anti-corruption war.\u201d\u00a0<br \/><br \/>The official also said Mr. Tinubu\u2019s alleged asset fraud is only an aspect of multiple counts to be instituted against him by the EFCC.\u00a0<br \/><br \/>\u201cWe have petitions from a group in Abuja that we should investigate the source of those bullion vans that were driven into his house in 2019,\u201d the official said. \u201cWe are also investigating his use of several proxies to collude with governors in Lagos and syphon money from the state.\u201d<br \/><br \/>In November, the Gazette published bank documents that showed how\u00a0Mr. Tinubu\u2019 Alpha-Beta was moving the questionable funds\u00a0it received from Lagos State into other companies linked to Mr. Tinubu, including broadcaster TVC and Lagos metro bus providers.\u00a0<br \/><br \/>But EFCC\u2019s ability to prove its case against Mr. Tinubu\u2019s this time could still prove more challenging than officials boasted, especially as he was said to have tucked his deals and assets in complex layers of financial manoeuvring.\u00a0<br \/><br \/>\u2018<strong>Preliminary 2023 politics\u2019<\/strong><br \/><br \/>Officials could not immediately comment on what Mr. Buhari knew about Mr. Tinubu\u2019s probe, but they expressed confidence that the president would be reluctant to stand in the way of a criminal investigation.<br \/><br \/>Mr. Tinubu has long been considered untouchable because of the role he played in bringing Mr. Buhari to power, but his influence has waned since 2015 when Mr. Buhari shut him out of his inner circles after being sworn in as president.\u00a0<br \/><br \/>An arrest and prosecution of Mr. Tinubu could blight his 2023 chances for president. The former Lagos governor\u00a0opened a campaign office in Abuja last year, although he has yet to publicly declared his presidential run.\u00a0<br \/>One of Mr. Tinubu\u2019s associates who spoke with the Gazette said his ambition clashed with some other interests within the ruling APC, especially those of Mr. Malami.<br \/><br \/>\u201cWe know that it is the turn of the south to produce the next president,\u201d Mr. Tinubu\u2019s associate said. \u201cSo we don\u2019t know why they are trying to humiliate him with their preliminary 2023 politics that they want to use to remove him from consideration for our party\u2019s ticket.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u25aa\ufe0e By <strong>Peoples Gazzette<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The EFCC has requested Bola Tinubu\u2019s asset declaration documents from the Code of Conduct Bureau, Peoples Gazette can report, in a politically-charged inquiry that could see the former Lagos governor and ruling party chieftain arrested and prosecuted before 2023. The anti-graft office in November 2020 asked the asset fraud investigation office to supply details of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":29481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[164,733,56],"class_list":["post-31713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-efcc","tag-lagos","tag-tinubu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31713\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}