In our review of high profile corruption trials today, a former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and a former Governor of Bauchi State, Ahmadu Adamu Mu’azu, and a former Inspector General of Police (IGP), Tafa Balogun, broke the country’s safe and made away with several billions of Naira of public funds.
While Adamu Mu’azu was accused of N19.8 billion fraud, Tafa Balogun allegedly stole N13 billion.
Read on:
Adamu Mu’azu – N19.8 billion fraud
Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu is a former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and a former Governor of Bauchi State.
Mu’azu has a pending case with the EFCC. His case borders on alleged mismanagement of N19.8 billion when he was governor between 1999 and 2007.
In November 2013, ex-President Jonathan appointed the former Bauchi governor as chairman of the Nigerian Pension Commission (PENCOM).
He was appointed to the position even though he was still being investigated for graft by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The former governor has consistently denied any wrongdoing but he is yet to be cleared of the allegation.
The civic group, Transition Monitoring Group, protested the appointment at the time, saying it was morally wrong for the president to appoint a man being tried for corruption to such a high office.
Mr. Jonathan and the National Assembly disregarded that position and proceeded to clear the former governor for the position.
Adamu Mu’azu in April, 2017 ‘disowned’ the house where the EFCC officers discovered more than $50 million hidden behind false walls in a swanky apartment tower in the upscale Ikoyi area of Lagos despite that the construction firm that built the house listed his name as a client.
Mu’azu through one Akin Oyegoke who identified himself as the “Media and ICT Personal Assistant” to Mr. Mu’azu denied the ownership of the building.
The case is pending.
Tafa Balogun – N13 billion fraud
On April 4, 2005, Mr. Tafa Balogun was arraigned at the Federal High Court, Abuja, for stealing and laundering over $100 million (N13 billion) in his three years as Inspector General of Police from the Police treasury.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, under Nuhu Ribadu, brought 70 charges against him covering the period from 2002 to 2004 when he was the Inspector General of Police.
Judge Binta Nyako said her sentence reflected that Balogun was a first time offender and had shown remorse.
He was directed by the court to pay N500,000 on each of eight count charges totaling N4 million.
His trial was full of drama. One of such was when he collapsed on his seat on June 29, 2005, at the Abuja High Court.
The former police boss who pleaded guilty to eight of the 56 count-charges directly affecting him was convicted and sentenced to six months imprisonment on each of the charges, which were to run concurrently.
He was released on February 9, 2006, after serving his sentence, part of it at Abuja’s National Hospital.
In February 2009, the then Chairman of the House Committee on Police Affairs, Abdul Ahmed Ningi, asked Inspector General of Police Mike Okiro to provide details of the money recovered from Tafa Balogun.
IGP Okiro passed on the request to the then EFCC Chairperson, Mrs. Farida Waziri.
However, the EFCC stated that they did not have records of the exact properties recovered from Balogun.
It was said that some of the houses had been secretly sold to certain individuals at give-away prices.
In April 2009, the House of Representatives Committee on Police Affair invited Tafa Balogun, Mike Okiro and Mrs. Farida Waziri to explain how the N16 billion allegedly recovered from Balogun went missing.
The EFCC had since cleared itself from the allegation of missing recovered loot.
Read also:
High profile corruption: How Peter Odili set record with N100b fraud in Nigeria’s history
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[This Publication includes part of a compendium by Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA) covering corruption cases as at 22nd of November, 2019.
