FORMER COMPTROLLER OF CUSTOMS, ABDULLAHI DIKKO TO BE ARRAIGNED ON VALENTINE’S DAY, 2019

Former Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Abdullahi Dikko, and two others will on Thursday next week, 14^th February, 2019, be arraigned by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for allegedly stealing more than N1 billion. The two others are a former Assistant Comptroller-General of the agency in charge of Finance, Administration and Technical Services, Garba Makarfi, and Umar Hussaini, a lawyer and proprietor of Capital Law Office.

The matter, suit number FHC/ABJ/CR/21/2019-FRN v Abdullahi Inde Dikko & Ors, has been assigned to Justice Lucia Ojukwu of Court 7, Abuja Federal High Court.

According to the charge sheet, the threesome are accused of inducing the Managing Director of Cambial Limited, Yemi Obadeyi, to pay N1.1 billion (N1,100, 952,380.96) into the account of Capital Law Office as a refundable “completion security deposit” for the purchase of 120 units of duplexes as residential accommodation for officers of the Nigeria Customs Service.

The ICPC charge accuses Messrs Dikko and Makarfi of using the bank account of Mr Hussaini’s firm’s to illegally receive the money. Mr Hussaini within the same period between April 6 and December 2010 is accused of sharing the money into various accounts with Mr Makarfi receiving three million dollars between April and December 2010, apparently as part of the proceeds of corruption.

According to the sworn affidavit of ICPC’s legal officer, Ephraim Otti, investigations of the accused persons for alleged violation of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000; Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006, and Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended) disclosed a prima facie case against each of them as such.

This latest charge against Mr Dikko, who was the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service between August 2009 and August 2015, joins several other allegations of fraudulently enriching himself as well as certificate forgery. Specifically, in 2017, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) seized 17 exotic vehicles from Mr Dikko, after Justice S. M. Shuaibu of the Federal High Court in Kaduna gave an interim order for their forfeiture to the federal government. Less than a week after the forfeiture order, the EFCC acting on intelligence report executed a search warrant on a facility belonging to the accused person on February 28 leading to recovery of several items including: 42 brand new customised yellow-coloured tricycles; 16 brand new cargo motorcycles; one brand new white 32-seater Nissan civilian bus; one MAN diesel truck; 515 brand new imported rugs of different colours and sizes; two metal bulletproof safe with N1.565 billion and documents of transactions in different currencies within and outside the country.

In a related prosecution by the EFCCC, the fifth prosecution witness for the EFCC in a matter filed against Mrs Ofili-Ajumogobia (a Federal High Court judge), Omale Ujah, an Assistant Controller of Customs, had narrated to a Lagos State High Court in Ikeja how he was instructed by the Nigeria Customs Service under Mr Dikko sometimes in 2014 to pay N12million into the account of a company, Nigel and Colive Limited, belonging to the judge. Mr Ujah, , told the court that the N12million payment was at the instruction of one Musa Tahir, who was the Deputy Controller-General of Customs. According to him: ‎“In the course of my duty in 2014, the Deputy Controller-General that I was working with, Musa Tahir, came down from the office of the Comptroller-General of Customs and gave me the account number of Nigel and Colive limited, ‎saying that the CGC said we should liaise with 12 commands and they should pay N1m each to my account, and I should transfer the whole sum to Nigel and Colive Limited. “ The instruction, Mr Ujah said, was carried out with the  money paid in three tranches of N4m, N3m and N5m – even though he was not aware of any services rendered by the beneficiary company to the Nigeria Customs Service.

Interestingly,  the name of Dikko, who ICPC told the Court is on the run, was included by the Federal Government in the list of looters released last year by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Muhammed.