Throwback: What Ndudi Elumelu Said On Power Sector Probe In 2017

Former Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Power during the sixth Assembly, Hon Ndudi Godwin Elumelu has revealed that former Economics and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) boss, Ms Waziri Farida was used to frustrate the power sector probe.

Elumelu said that despite attempt to roped him into the alleged N5.6billion Rural Electrification Agency theft, he was able to scaled through the hurdles because of his penchant for due process.

Speaking in an exclusive interview witu the Delta Online Publishers Forum, (DOPF), covered by BigPen Online on Sunday, 24th December, 2017 in his country home at Onicha-Uku, Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State, he gave a graphic details of how his committee uncovered sharp practices which involved highly placed individuals in the country within the Rural Electrification Agency.

He also asserted that his staunch stance to maintain and uphold due process saved him from indictment, when the former Economic and Financial Crime Commission, (EFCC), Chairman, Mrs Farida Waziri,  doing the bidding of some influential individuals, tried to roped him in with the allegation of misappropriating the N5.6 Billion naira.

According to him, what the former EFCC boss failed to do because of her ulterior motive, was her deliberate failure to tell the world that the amount of money in question was indeed an Advance Payment Guarantee domiciled in about ten banks including Zenith Bank, for contract award guarantee by the Agency.

Elumelu, a former House of Representative member who represented Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency, said that his “induced investigation” and subsequent arraignment in court by the EFCC over the N5.6 Billion Advance Payment Guarantee was aimed at punishing him for instituting a comprehensive probe of the power sector in Nigeria.

“Coming to the National Assembly, I took a number of decisions; one, I will never do a letter of recommendation for anybody to be given contract, two I will not also be a part of it. The only thing I cannot swear in my life is about insurance because it is my business.

“If they had said that they gave me insurance of one place and that was what I did, I will probably find it difficult to say that I did or I didn’t. Probably what I will do is to call my people and say please cross check our books and see if we got that job or that insurance business. So that was the first step”, he said.

Elumelu stated further, that the rot as at that time in the power sector was of immense proportion and very many top guns in the country were far deep in the sleaze that led to the rendering of the power sector comatose, hence, his vow not to spare anybody found wanting irrespective of status in the society.

He affirmed that his determination to do a good job for the benefit of the country led him to stepping on very powerful toes of the untouchable in the country and they did everything possible to stop him by all means, for the fact that he was very critical about rural electrification processes in the power sector at that time.

“If you recall, Liyel Imoke was the minister then, his cousin was made the MD of Rural Electrification Agency. So when I did the probe, I found out that in every state, they were duplicating what the state was doing on paper not in reality.

“By duplication, I mean if I put this Electric Pole here, I will put up a sign post and call it Delta State Rural Electrification project. Then the national Rural Electrification team will come there, take cognizance of where these poles are, come for appropriation and include it in the budget of that same spot.

“Thus, by the time the budget is passed, they would award that contract for the same spot, all in a space of one month after doing all the necessary contract award documentation and processes as stipulated by the due process code.

“They will award and say it has been executed and the day auditors will go, the auditors will obviously notify them. They will come to that place and paste Rural Electrification Sticker, so when auditors of the Federal Government leave, they will remove the sticker and leave the state government sticker, which was a clear duplication.

“So what I did, in every state I went, I took the Federal Rural Electrification and the State Rural Electrification heads, I said, Commissioner, you will follow me, MD you will follow me and in each pole, we will ask them, show me your own.

“In the whole federation, we found out that, that was what was happening. So first of all, my recommendation was first; remove the MD of the Rural Electrification back to the ministry to give room for further EFCC investigation of our recommendation for possible prosecution. Of course in so doing, there were hands that had benefited.”

The former federal legislature stated that the power committee recommendation ruffled the feathers of some very power persons and that led to various strategies by them to pull him down, even as he added that the constituency project, solar street lights, which were projects he included in the budget that were his  constituency projects were used against him.

“So after looking at what to use to catch me, they didn’t see anything, they saw those projects and said I was the one who made Rural Electrification to award the contract. By the time they calculated the contract for the whole nation for rural electrification, it was N5.6bn. So the MD, they awarded the job to, they called him and begged him to be a witness, claim that he forced you to award those contracts without due process, they instructed him.

“But unfortunately for the MD, he didn’t know what they were telling him because it means he circumvented the law and the law of Procurement Act has no provision for influence. So he didn’t even read it, and they picked him first,” Elumelu revealed.

While confirming that the MD was made to write a statement indicating that he influenced the award of the contract by the Rural Electrification Agency, Elumelu also disclosed that he equally alleged that even the Solar Light project in Onicha-Uku, his community, were awarded and as at that time it had not even been done.

Continuing, he revealed that the former EFCC Boss Mrs. Farida Waziri, also brought her own intimidation strategy, even employing the influence of family members to sway him, but according to the astute politician, he stood his ground.

He stressed that he was able to convince those employed to dissuade him, which even made his elder brother to take up the matter with the then President of the Country who he noted expressed surprise at the probe.

He quickly added that the action of the president did not however stop them from taking him to Court, even when it was very clear that there was no evidence of fraud to warrant his persecution, for the fact that everything that has to do with the contract followed due process, with an advance payment guarantee  by 10 Banks including Zenith Bank, housing the N5.6billion component which was alleged to be owned by him, stressing that his persecutors, in the cause of what he called media trial, did not tell Nigerian about the Bank guarantees.

“So that was how my lawyer now took them on and now challenged them on the foundation of the arraignment, because to proffer charges on any suspect, you must have reasons to proffer charges and the court ought not to have granted them leave to proffer charges if there are no reasons for that.

“So, we sued them on the wrong foundation for the court to have even abinitio allowed them to proffer charges. So they came and the only way to allege that you have proof to proffer charges is on proof of evidence and they could not defend it.

“All they said was that oh no by the time we open the case you will see evidence, we said this is the evidence. It was then Justice Oniyongi tongue lashed EFCC. He said look, I’m so ashamed in this country, the man did a probe, alleged that they stole $13.8bn and instead of going after those who stole that money, you are talking about N5.6bn. Let us even assume that the man took N5.6bn, you didn’t go after $13.8bn, you are going after N5.6bn.

“It was the same day my lawyer moved the motion, that I was discharged and acquitted”, he concluded.

Written by Joe Ogbodu