|
|
|
Last Updated: Feb 3, 2008 - 10:48:23 AM |
David Mark's Letters
On the 21st of March 2007 while Senator David Mark was the Senate Committee Chairman on Police Affairs, he, wrote two letters; one was addressed to Chief Broderick Bozimo while the other went to the then Inspector General of police, Mr Sunday Ehindero. The letters had one subject in common; the police equipment fund project.
Dr. Godson Ewulum, Mr. Ausbeth Ajagu, Mr. Kenny Martins and Mr. Sunday Ehindero (Fmr IGP) during talks for the Police Equipment Fund Commiitee.
While he tried to plead with the Chairman of the Police Equipment Fund project, Chief Bozimo, to have a meeting with one of the members of the project he raised his fears of what might be the outcome of some complaints he has been getting from some quarters.
His words “the allegation made by chief Ewulum are quite serious I believe the issue involved can be amicably resolved if you intervene. I would suggest that you do this at the earliest possible time to avoid embarrassment.”
The issue later caused and is still causing a hell of embarrassment. But it became surprising that while Mark expressed concern over allegation of fraudulent dealings with the respective officers saddled with the judicious appropriation of the Police Equipment
Fund as an ordinary senator chairing a committee, the senate president has suddenly let sleeping dogs lie now he is leading the upper chamber of the Nigeria Legislature; talk about principles falling like a pack of cards which Nigerians have seen a whole lot in the senate especially.
On June 15th 2004, three friends met after series of brainstorming session to find a sustainable solution to the poor funding of the police, came up with the idea of setting up a Police Equipment Fund. A written agreement signed between Dr Godson Ewulum a businessman, Evangelist Joseph Agharite and Mr Ibrahim Dumuje a business man all based in Lagos started the step to salvaging the poor situation of the police which was becoming embarrassing each day.
They resolved to work under the umbrella of Nigeria States and Local Government Trade and Tourism Fair (NIGERSTALG) to solicit for funds in form of donations and activities that will help in raising funds which will be channelled into acquiring equipment for the Nigeria Police.
As pioneers of the very viable and laudable project, the group prepared proposals in 2005 which was sent to the Mr Broderick Bozimo, the then Minister of Police Affairs and the former Inspector General of Police Mr Sunday Ehindero. Their attempt at making the police helmsmen see reason in their scheme fell through which made them realize they needed more than mere proposals to make the police authority see reasons in their idea; they needed a lobbyist to take their files to the night table.
Help came in the person of Chief Kenny Martin a friend who was incidentally an in-law to the former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. But no sooner had Martins come in that fate dealt the group a heavy blow when one of the pioneer developers of the idea died in the ill fated Bellview crash of October 2005. The great loss paved way for their lobbyist to come fully on board. knowing that he had access to Mr president, Kenny Martins admonished them to increase the target fund required from N1 billion to N100 billion, it was realistic then, he explained that they should put their eyes on the long run; the police needed so many equipment that were not being provided by government. Enwulum and co agreed readily as they saw sense in what Martins was postulating.
They highlighted the rates at which members of the police force were being killed in banks, bullion vans, airports, sea ports, patrol teams etc. because they lacked basic equipment like body amour, helicopters, communication gadgets for distress situation responses and so on.
The fund, they said, would be used for training for community policing, renovation of barracks and other equipment as it would be private sector driven where key responsibilities will be given to the Minister of Police Affairs and NIGERSTALG for coordination.
The presidency bought the idea and had a presidential committee on the Police Equipment Fund (PEF) formed.
The members of the newly formed committee which were drawn from respected individuals known for their integrity included personalities from the corporate sectors, aviation, local government, multinationals, media, embassies, hotels, industrial sector, law enforcement, and so on.
The committee had the minister of police affairs as its Chairman and Prince Ibrahim Dumujie as his Deputy while Horwath Dafinone as treasurer. No sooner had the approval and committee formed that Kenny Martins brought out ace up his sleeve to checkmate the committee with the sole objective of hijacking the project; where the initial developers of the idea saw another avenue to help the police force, Martins saw an avenue to make mega bucks.
He schemed and got the approval to become national coordinator, a position not in the earlier agenda. While the members of the committee felt reluctant to nip the excesses of Kenny Martins in the bud, he technically showed that he is a student of Robert Greene’s 48 Laws of Powers.
To achieve his aim, Martins became a director in NIGERSTALG in a resolution that smells of forgery as the signature of Agharite, the deceased pioneer member, was signed five months after his death, when the deceased corpse was never found in the Bellview crash of 2005. One by one, like in a game of chess, Martins schemed them out. What was behind the motive “An alleged plot to enrich himself” as alleged by Lagos lawyer Festus Keyamo.
In a petition to the presidency on the 30th of January 2007, this was copied to all the relevant offices which include the senate president, the speaker of the House of Representatives, Dr. Enwulum informed the president of the various fraudulent acts invented by Kenny Martins to misappropriate the fund meant for the police.
Some of the allegations include:
* Fraudulently appointing himself as the director in NIGERSTALG.
* Alteration of the Cooperate Affairs Commission documents which was used to open various bank accounts.
* Obtaining a loan of N50million from First Inland Bank and collecting donations of variable sums from 25 banks.
* Collecting monies in the excess of N0.8billion which were used for luxury and unaccounted for.
That began a battle of the titans and was widely covered by the media. To further consolidate his hold on the committee, Martins single-headedly changed the Police Equipment Fund to Police Equipment Foundation thereby making what was started as a government fund initiative to a personal foundation, contravening the police act, section 214 of the constitution which restricts the use of the word police to FG and the force.
Literarily, the Police Equipment Foundation became a pet project of Kenny Martin and having amassed over N50billion, he suddenly became above the law.
Enwulum through his lawyer, Festus Keyamo, wrote a series of petitions to various legislative and law enforcement agencies to no avail because they had become beneficiaries of the foundation’s largesse.
Some of the misappropriations being heaped on Martins by Enwulum include
* N8billion collected from the 776 local governments in the country.
* Foreign loans to the tune of $150 million
* Oceanic Bank guarantee to the tune of N150
* Generating N250 000 daily from sales of tickets printed by Chisco Motors
* Sacking the appointed auditors, Dafinone and Co and bringing a new auditing firm to cover tracks.
* Spending approximately N13billion on cars ranging from luxury BMW cars and jeeps, Mercedes jeeps and Toyota Camry cars purchased from Coscharis Motors. While the true cost of such cars is put at N4m, the price was reportedly inflated to N13m each and many bought were used for the elections.
* Distribution of cars to government and security agencies like the EFCC, the Army, which constitutes a diversion from the original police that the fund was meant for.
The EFCC which is regarded as the most credible law enforcement agency did not care to investigate the petition brought before it on the 2nd of October by Festus Keyamo. With some elements in government on his side, none of the security agencies heard the outcry by Ewulum. Even the revelation that Ibrahim Dumujie, who became Martins right hand man was wanted by the Sheriff Office in the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration, Customs and Enforcement (ICE) Division in San Juan County in the USA.
As he holds sway on the board of the nation’s committee on Police Equipment fund which he was the Deputy Chairman, Dumujie still has a standing arrest warrant on his him in a case of fraud of over $20 000 which has a two counts charge each of 2nd degree felony and another charge of fraud of over $2500 along with another charge of conspiracy. Through the conniving with one Joe Hill to wire a total amount of $547,153 between 2-12-2001 and 5-8-2004. Dumujie has a No Bond warrant for arrest issued on him but he is a free man in Nigeria.
All these irregularities and fraud led Integrity International Nigeria of 5B Johnson Street in Maitama, Abuja to investigate the allegations made by Enwulum and they found out, in a petition to President Umaru Yar Adua on the 29th of October 1007, that,
* Sums ranging from N50million to N100million has been paid by each of the 25 banks
* N10b paid by the Federal Ministry of Finance shortly before the demise of the last administration
* N7.7billion paid by 776 local governments
* $500 donated by governments of Chinese and their organisations, etc.
The fraud they found out was the renaming of the Police Equipment Fund to Police Equipment Foundation and the diversion of the N50billion to Kenny Martins pet project, the purchase of two vessels by Kenny Martins from the funds, inflation to the tune of N13billion on the purchase of about 1000 cars without due process, embezzlement of N202.5Million by Kenny Martins and E.I Dumujie on a dinner held on Monday, 28th August at City Mall, Onikan Lagos when the actual cost was N2.6million. The said money was paid by Spring Bank (N45m); Intercontinental Bank (N12.15m); ETB (N5m); Oceanic Bank (N20m); Zenith Bank (N50m); Wema Bank (N20m); First Inland Bank
(N45); First City Monument Bank (N5m); Sponsoring of Bash Ali Boxing fight in Planet One hotel as well as the extravagant spending of money by Kenny Martins during his son’s wedding. All they called for was an investigation.
With a Foundation that has the powerful Sultan of Sokoto on its board, the matter was almost killed in the floor of the House of Representatives when it was brought into the lower house. Attempts by some members to kill the issue failed as hearing on the matter has been slated to begin on 13th of February 2008.
The federal Lawmakers are poised to dig into the matter and ascertain the alleged fraud at the fund and those behind it.
Nigerians will be waiting to be served another episode of a recurring malaise that seems to have the so called leaders as making up the dramatis personae.
Source:Ocnus.net 2007
Top of Page
|
|
|
|