The arrest and eventual trial of the big names in the Advanced Fee Fraud in
Nigeria by the Ribadu-led Anti-Financial fraud Commission has opened a new
chapter in the Nigerian government efforts to take the bull by the horn. Many
Nigerians did not take the commission serious. At first the arrest to me seemed
like several other ones we have had in the past. These men, Ade Bendel, Fred
Ajudua, Emmanuel Nwude, Maurice Ibekwe and others yet to be arrested have done
so much damage to Nigeria's image in and outside the country.
I have had an encounter with Alhaji Nuhu Ribadu, even before his appearance
at the Justice Oputa-led Human Rights Violation Investigation Commission; and I
know what he has been doing behind the scene as a Police lawyer to fight these
fraudsters, and what he has been able to do and what he can do to fight this
social scourge. I won't say more than that. Ribadu is an officer who believes in
using every means genuine to fight a cause he believes in. He has been very
helpful to journalists, who do not cover crime for handouts but for the purpose
of unearthing crime.
Alhaji Nuhu Ribadu was able to go this far because his commission was not
placed under the Inspector General of Police, because he would have been
subdued. The case of James Ibori, Governor of Delta State and how the Police
handled the investigation speaks volume of the person and character of the
Inspector General of Police, and most recently the Anambra State crisis in which
Tafa Balogun is now playing the Pontius Pilate.
I am writing on this now because I have waited long to see the trial come to
fruition and so far I am expressing my satisfaction in Ribadu's efforts in
ridding our country of these men f the underworld who do not rob with gun but
with pen, Internet and brain. Those who do not know about this scam may not know
or believe that it is in actual fact a Pandora box. It is an octopus. I know
much about the story and also investigated it when I was in Nigeria. One of my
friends in journalism gave me the document running into 300 pages in 2002. It
took me a week to digest the information on how these men led by Emmanuel Nwude
destroyed an investment, the sweat of a family that span over 70 years, within 3
years. The deal started in 1995 and lasted till October 1998, according to the
information at my disposal.
Banco Noroeste had been in existence for over 70 years but the duo of Nwude
and Anajemba, with the help of the gullible and greedy Sagakuchi helped in
getting the sum of $242 Million out in three years. Sagakuchi is a friend of Dr.
Ukeh an ex-convict who brought the 'business' to the duo of Nwude and Anajemba.
I read in the document how Nwude imported marble worth $38 million from
Switzerland to Nigeria. Nwude has 40% shares in Union Bank, owns L'Amour Bottle
water.
I am still wondering why the Ribadu-led Commission has limited its dragnet to
the Advanced Fee Fraudsters leaving other agencies involved in the laundering of
the loot. According to the document, these men for the laundering used about 15
commercial banks from 1995-1998. Notorious among the banks is African
International Bank. On a day, this bank got 184 Million Naira into one account
in April 1996. This was at the time when the National Drug Law Enforcement
Agency issued a directive that no individual can deposit more than 500,000.00
Naira in his account and the maximum a corporate organization can deposit at a
time was put at 3 Million Naira. What was done was that at different times in
one day different cheques were deposited to one account. African International
Bank was formerly known as BCCI, a bank caught and shut down worldwide for money
laundering in the late 80s, but because the then Sultan of Sokoto is a major
share holder in it, the Babangida-led government allowed the change of the
Bank's name to African International Bank. Other banks used are Diamond Bank,
Zenith Bank, Gulf Bank, Union Bank, Equatorial Trust Bank and many others. The
loots were sent to the banks through wire transfer from the Banco Noroeste's
foreign account to a bank in Switzerland, transferred to a bank in New York and
then to these banks. Some of them used some foreign bank as midway. What is
surprising too is the silence of the Central Bank throughout this period.
Apart from banks, some individuals were also used and they have not been
called for questioning. One of them is the Managing Director of a commercial
bank now, he is Frances Atuche. Atuche during this period was the Managing
Director of Finacorp one of the financial institutions used in the laundering of
the money to Nigeria. A certain amount was paid to Atuche through the Finacorp
account and it is also said that Atuche and Naresh Asnani are friends. Until
lately, Asnani was a director of Platinum Bank where Atuche is the Managing
Director and Dr. Pat Utomi, the Chairman.
One of the lessons I learnt in this case is that in the world of 419 trust is
a strange language, no one trust each other. You can also fall victim of your
partner. Advanced fee fraud is not for friends but for business partners who
must keep their eyes open. This deal according to investigation led to the
brutal murder of Ikechukwu Anajemba when he proved smarter than his colleagues
did.
According to findings after the deal had been completed, Anajemba was
expected to turn in some of the loot that came in through his phoney companies,
this he refused to do and the manhunt started. This manhunt ended when he was
caught on his way from his village back to Enugu in October 1998. He ran into an
ambush and was brutally murdered. After his death, they went after his wife, who
refused to recognise her late husband's business partners, as, according to her,
there was no evidence that her husband had dealing with anybody and no record to
show that he owed anybody. This fight was still on until the long arm of the law
caught up with them. This is a case of dog eat dog. Since after her husband's
death, Mrs Anajemba has been living with about 8 Mobile Police who serve as
escorts and guards in her GRA Palatial estate in Enugu.
Before Ribadu and his men, the police had this information but never
investigated, they did but were making money from it. I am aware that Ukeh had
written threat letters to Amaka Anajemba, over the loot. Ukeh, a medical doctor
who once wanted to be Enugu State governor, never practised as a doctor, but was
once jailed in the United Kingdom. The police, according to sources went to
Ukeh's house, though he was not in, but they found gun, he was arrested and
later granted bail.
A letter of petition was sent to the Inspector General of Police who never
bothered to investigate this matter. It is sad that the police has been turned
to the highest bidder takes it. Where people of questionable character like
Otunba Johnson Fasawe, Emeka Offor, Uba and many others use Police trained with
taxpayers' money to protect themselves and their ill-gotten wealth. Otunba
Fasawe is by no means a very rich man, but how did he make his money? Has
anybody ever bothered to question this man? He was arrested with old man Afolabi
over the $214million Sagem S.A. bribe. Offor owns Chrome Airline, Afex bank, and
many other blue chip companies, someone without a sound formal education, and
nobody has ever bothered to ask him for the source of his wealth! These are
people who gain unhindered access to the seat of power where the likes of Yemi
Giwa of Nigerian tribune are denied! They don't enter the villa with pass; they
have automatic access to Baba and the Turaki, including the Uncle Bola Ige's
murder suspect, Senator Omisore. Maurice Ibekwe smuggled himself to the National
Assembly and he became a member of House Committee on Police Affairs. He did not
go to the National Assembly to serve his constituency; he went there to protect
his dubious business and enjoyed the cover under the kleptomaniac Na'Abba. There
was another Alliance for Democracy (AD) member of the House in the last Republic
who also used his office to swindle a Korean businessman; this man is elderly
and no more in AD.
These fraudsters too saw sense in investing where that matters, the media
industry. Ade Bendel, in 1999 established Evening Express, at least to boost his
image, but since the investment was from unclean money, his General manager also
squandered the fund and so evening express went to sleep never to wake up till
today. Ajudua is believed to be the brain behind another magazine in Nigeria.
Let the Ribadu Commission go beyond these guys and go after their friends. Let
the justice be even.
I think there is still one man Alhaji Nuhu Ribadu should lookout for. He has
been very elusive, evasive and slippery. His first name stars with D and his
last name with B. he is a Yoruba man. He is hiding under fish depot business
along the Abeokuta expressway, not too far from Abule-Egba. From findings he is
planning to spring or he has sprung up a local airline in Nigeria.
The story of Nwude and Anajemba has demystified Ajudua, Ade Bendel and the
likes of Maurice Ibekwe. With these new discoveries, Ajudua and his men are like
petty fraudsters. What we want to hear from Ribadu and his men now is: who are
the backers of these men? They have ears and eyes in high places; they have men
in Central Bank, Ministries and even the Presidency. A onetime Police Public
Relations Officer has been fingered as assisting these men in drafting some of
their letters.
What is amusing is the way the Nigerian media is now celebrating this story
and trial. The story is not new neither is the document on the deal new. The
document had been a source of revenue for some media houses in Nigeria since
2001. Some media houses had made so much money from covering up this story. Some
of them made as much as 15 Million Naira to keep mute over this story and yet
they are part of those celebrating this story now.
While they are facing trial, the junior ones are still at it. They still keep
sending emails to people introducing them to business and sending proposals to
foreigners. Who is to blame these men or their preys? Their preys are as guilty
as they are. No sane man would want to do business with someone he has not met
before. It takes a thief to deal with a thief. Sagakuchi had been using his
bank's money to run a deal without the knowledge of the bank; it was also
surprising that the accounting firm that audited the accounts of the Bank for
the period of the fraud did not detect the fraud. According to Karl Marx, nature
has enough for everybody's need but not for everybody's greed. What killed
Sagakuchi were greed and his fellow victims of Advanced Fee Fraud. I have got so
many emails from Nigerian fraudsters; I have been involved in reporting these
men to Cyber cafe owners in Nigeria, whenever I go to cyber cafes to browse back
home. I have also gone as far as forwarding emails sent to me to the then Police
Public Relations without anything positive coming out of it. The Ribadu
commission's step is a welcome one. This is just the beginning and I am sure
many would still be caught.
The Ribadu commission should focus on the cyber cafés, where the Internet has
been colonised and now serves as den of these new generation fraudsters. While
in Nigeria, I visited more than 20 cyber cafés in Lagos and Abuja and only a few
of them do not permit these nefarious activities. The Police who go to raid
cyber cafés are not helping situation. They do not know what to look for, so
they go in to arrest and harass users of the cyber café. At the Festac town,
cyber café owners 'settle' the Police on monthly basis to allow their business
to flow without interruption.
What they do apart from sending letters is also to clone, regenerate and
change credit card information. The Nigerian government alone cannot handle
this, because, we do not have credit card facility but Nigerian government in
cooperation with the United States, Britain can clamp down on this cartel.
More powers to Alhaji Ribadu's elbow.
