There are indications that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences
Commission (ICPC) may declare Jimi Lawal, a former Special Adviser to immediate
past Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai wanted.
Jimi Lawal was one of the most influential officials during El-Rufai’s eight-year administration
in Kaduna.
The ICPC summoned Lawal to appear before its investigators yesterday over an alleged phony Light
Rail Project valued at N11 billion. He failed to show up, and sent no
representation.
The anti-graft agency, it was learnt, requested the Department of State Service
(DSS) and the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) to place the former adviser on
watch list at airports, seaports and land borders, according to a report by The
Nation Newspaper.
The ICPC said Lawal was also being probed in connection with “loans (foreign and
domestic) obtained without following due process.”
The commission said it had discovered that his account domiciled with a major bank
revealed a total sum of N144 million in receipts from four private companies.
A copy of the ICPC’s letter to DSS and NIS reads: “The above-mentioned person (Lawal
Shakiru Olujimi Adebisi), who hails from Ogun State and speaks Yoruba and
English fluently, is being investigated for the offence of criminal conspiracy.
“Credible information at the commission’s disposal suggests that the suspect, who is
under investigation, is most likely to flee the country to evade being
prosecuted.
“You are, therefore, kindly requested to place him on the watch-list and arrest him if
seen in any of the airports, seaports or land border and inform this commission
accordingly.”
Twenty top officials and the Managing Director of a company have also been invited by ICPC
over $350 million loans meant for rehabilitation of schools and strategic
infrastructure.
The affected invitees will undergo interrogation from August 13 to August 16.
They are the Project Coordinator, Kaduna State Transportation Programme, Mariam Sani Dangaji; Project Accountant, Kaduna StateTransportation Programme, Nicolas Hassan Samuel; Project Accountant AGILE, Sani Nalado; Project Coordinator, Kaduna State Reaching Out-of-School Children (ROOSC); Project Accountant, ROOSC Abdulhadi Muhammed Suleiman; Project
Coordinator, Agro Processing Productivity Enhancement and livelihood Improvement
Support (APPEALS), Yahaya Aminu and Project Accountant APPEALS, Nasiru Dahiru.
Others are Project Coordinator, Kaduna State Special Agro Processing Zones (SAPZ), Abbas
Sani and SAPZ Accountant, D. Mark Anthony Chunbi; Project Coordinator Kaduna
State Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project (LPRES), Shittu Salisu and LPRES Accountant, F. Ahmed Suleiman; Project Coordinator, Kaduna State Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP), Zubairu Abubakar and RAAMP Project Accountant, Mercy Emanuel Toro.
Those on the list include: Project
Coordinator, Kaduna State Sustainable Urban and Rural Water Supply, Sanitation
and Hygiene Project (SURWASH), Esau Ambinjah and SURWASH Project Accountant, Tukur Umar Ibrahim; Project Coordinator, Kaduna State Immunisation Plus and Malaria Progress by Accelerating Coverage and Promoting Service (IMPACT), Usman Garba and IMPACT Project Accountant, Idriss Haliru Makama; Project Coordinator, Kaduna State Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria(ANRiN), Dr. Zainab Kwaru
Muhammad and ANRiN Accountant, Dr. Habibu Muhammad Lawan; the Project Coordinator, Kaduna State Agro-climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscape (ACReSAL) Jibrin Dahiru Rufai and ACReSAL Accountant, Ibrahim Tukur Umar; and the
Managing Director-CHAMBERLAYNE LIMITED.
The Nation quoted an ICPC source who said: “We received many petitions on the administration of el-Rufai. All the petitions were fully endorsed to prove that they were not frivolous. Some of the petitions were even sent through law firms.
“We have conducted preliminary investigation
and it has become necessary to interrogate these people base on our findings.”
The latest has been described as a new twist in the ongoing probe of the administration of
El-Rufai in Kaduna State.
In June, the ad-Hoc Committee of the Kaduna House of Assembly allegedly uncovered that about
N423,115,028,072.88 was siphoned from the coffers of the state government from
May 29, 2015 to May 29, 2023.
It also allegedly spotted cumulative withdrawal of $1.4 million from the Kaduna State
Economic Transformation Account.
The committee requested eight people and companies to refund N19, 239,511,099.76
It also
directed 15 contractors to refund N36, 351,126,811.65 as “being monies paid for
work either not done, overpayment or diversion”.
The panel said that although, the value of contracts awarded from 1999 to 2023 by
El-Rufai’s administration was N510,407,166,975.39, it only paid
N198,921,880,169.04 to contractors.
But El-Rufai denied all allegations. He also alleged that the House of Assembly did not give
him a fear hearing.
He has gone to court to challenge the report.