A former comptroller general of the Nigerian Customs Service, Abdullahi Dikko, and an ex accountant general of the federation, Jonah Ogunniyi Otunla, paid N8billion to the Federal Government to avoid prosecution, details from court documents have shown.
Otunla, who was Nigeria’s accountant general between 2011 and 2015, refunded N6.3 billion to the coffers of the Nigerian government as an appeasement against prosecution, while Dikko returned N1.9 billion. Dikko was Customs Comptroller General between 2009 and 2015.
But the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), according to The Nation newspaper, is planning to arraign the duo in court over corruption allegations while they were in office.
The two men have also pushed back by instituting separate cases against the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) for planning to prosecute them on corruption charges.
According to the court papers, Otunla claimed that while Ibrahim Magu was the EFCC chairman, he promised not to prosecute him if he refunds monies traced to him, his companies and his associates.
Otunla quoted Magu as telling him: “refund the monies linked to your companies and nobody will prosecute you.”
He said based on Magu’s promise, he had a reconciliatory meeting with the investigator, where he immediately undertook to make available some funds as refunds.
In line with the agreement, Otunla said one of the companies linked to him – Stellar Vera Development Ltd – refunded N750m; another company – Damaris Mode Coolture Ltd – refunded N550m, while the two firms later made additional joint refund of N2,150,000,000.00.
He added that, at a point, he raised several bank cheques for N10m in favour of the EFCC which he handed to its Economic Governance Section.
Otunla said in all he made a refund of N6,392,000,000.00 to the Federation Account through the EFCC.
Otunla, in the court papers, argued that on the strength of the promise given to him by Magu, which informed his refund of the money, he could no longer be prosecuted for his actions while in office.
For Dikko, he said he entered an agreement with the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami “to return $8m or its equivalent in naira atN197 to a dollar.”
Dikko explained, in one of the court documents, that shortly after he retired, he entered in an agreement on May 25, 2016 with the AGF and the then Director General of the State Security Service, Lawal Daura.
According to the ex-Customs boss, he met with the two Federal Government’s representatives at the International Hotel, Park lane, Mayfair, London, during which Malami directed him to return $8m or its equivalent in naira, at N197 to a dollar so as to prevent the Federal Government of Nigeria from prosecuting him.
Dikko said he fully complied with the directive of the AGF by paying the money in its naira equivalent.
He also claimed that the EFCC or any agency of the federal government should not prosecute him based on the deal he struck with Malami and Daura.
