2019: PDP presidential aspirants whose ambitions are dogged by corruption allegations
Last
week, I in my humble and bias opinion performed an e-screening for PDP
Aspirant, but was ignored by many. However, my selection criteria
attracted happen to be a major issue that a Premium Times writer took
his time to address the issue, backing it with Nigeria Constitution.
For
the TL;DR crew like me, I will just outline the PDP presidential
aspirants whose ambitions are dogged by corruption allegations here, you
can read more in the source.
Atiku Abubakar
On July
21, Mr Abubakar declared his bid to contest on the ticket of the PDP in
Yola, the state capital. Mr Abubakar’s ambition is dogged by allegations
of corruption while he was in office as vice president. In 2006, the
Senate ad hoc committee headed by Victor Ndoma-Egba investigated and
indicted him and his former principal, Olusegun Obasanjo, of
mismanagement of funds belonging to the Petroleum Training Development
Fund (PTDF).
Bukola Saraki
Mr Saraki was governor of
Kwara State between 2003 and 2011. In 2011, he was elected into the
senate and has since been there. Early in the life of the current
federal administration in which he is number three in the hierarchy, Mr
Saraki was charged by the Code of Conduct Tribunal. He faced a 13-count
charge bordering on corruption and false assets declaration. After about
three years of tortuous judicial journey, Mr Saraki was cleared of all
the allegations by the Supreme Court on July 6.
While the CCB
case lasted, findings by PREMIUM TIMES and the International Consortium
of Investigative Journalists (Paradise Papers), in 2017, indicated that
Mr. Saraki sat on the board of an offshore entity while he was governor
and later member of the Nigerian Senate in violation of Nigeria’s code
of conduct law.
Recently, the Nigeria Police linked the senate
president with armed robbery in Offa, Kwara State, that led to the death
of over 30 persons. The police said some of the arrested suspects in
the April Offa robbery confessed that Mr Saraki and Kwara State
Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, were their sponsors.
David Mark
He
was senate president from 2007 to 2015 on the ticket of the PDP. Mr
Mark, who represents Benue South, is the longest serving senator in
Nigeria having been first elected into the chamber in 1999. The former
senate president was first questioned by the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC) in December 2017 and again in January 2018 over
receipt of illegal funds in the days before the 2015 elections.
He
was grilled over alleged payment of N2 billion into the National
Assembly account by the PDP for distribution to senators. Mr Mark has
since denied receiving such fund. PREMIUM TIMES also reported that Mr
Mark had links with eight offshore companies in British Virgin Island as
shown by the Panama Papers.
.....In the documents, Mr. Mark was
repeatedly marked as a politically exposed person, and at a point the
former senate president had to send documents, across to Mossack Fonseca
to prove that he was clean.
Sule Lamido
Mr Lamido is
the immediate past governor of Jigawa State, which he governed between
2007 and 2015. He had been foreign affairs minister between 1999 and
2007. In July 2015, Mr. Lamido and his sons were arraigned by the EFCC
on allegations of money laundering, amongst other charges.
A 28-count
charge bordering on a number of alleged breach of trust was slammed on
Mr Lamido, Aminu Sule Lamido, Mustapha Sule Lamido and one Aminu Wada
Abubakar, in a Kano High Court. They allegedly received N1.35 billion
kickback from a government contractor. The money was allegedly paid into
accounts controlled by the governor and his sons.
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Attahiru Bafarawa
Mr
Bafarawa was the governor of Sokoto State from 1999 to 2007 on the
ticket of the defunct ANPP. He ran for president on DPP platform in 2007
but lost. He joined the PDP in 2014. He was a member of the House of
Representatives in the Second Republic. In 2015, Mr Bafarawa, his son,
Sagir, a former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki, and
others were arraigned in court for alleged money laundering and criminal
breach of trust.
They were accused of diversion,
misappropriation and breach of public trust in respect of N19.4 billion.
Mr Bafarawa’s son, Sagir, allegedly acting as front for his father,
received N4.6 billion from the NSA’s office. They were arraigned on
22-count charge before Justice Peter Affem of the Federal Capital
Territory (FCT) High court. When the charges were read to them, all the
accused persons denied the charges one after the other. Earlier in
2009, the EFFC had preferred N15 billion corruption charge against the
former Sokoto governor.
However, the recent case involving the former NSA is still ongoing.
JONAH DAVID JANG
He
is the immediate past governor of Plateau State and a serving senator
representing Plateau North. Mr Jang, a retired air commodore, was
military governor of Benue and the old Gongola States between 1985 and
1987. Mr Jang, 74, is being prosecuted by the EFCC for alleged
corruption. He and a former cashier in the Office of the Secretary to
the State Government, Yusuf Pam, were fingered in the diversion of N6.3
billion belonging to the Plateau State Government.
In May, the
former governor was incarcerated and later granted bail by the Plateau
State High Court after one week in detention. Mr Jang had earlier
dragged the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, to court
for including his name in a controversial looters’ list published by the
federal government.
According to the list, the former governor stole N12 billion from the state’s treasury while in office.
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Section
137 (1) (d) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) says, a person shall
not be qualified for election to the office of the President if “he is
under a sentence of death imposed by any competent court of law or
tribunal in Nigeria or a sentence of imprisonment or fine for any
offence involving dishonesty or fraud (by whatever name called) or for
any other offence, imposed on him by such a court or tribunal, or
e)
within a period of less than ten years before the date of the election
to the office of the President has been convicted and sentence for an
offence involving dishonesty or he has been found guilty of the
contravention of the of the Code of Conduct;….
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