Baring any last minute change of plans, a former Governor of
Benue State, Dr. Gabriel Suswam, will, on Tuesday, be arraigned before Justice
Gabriel Kolawole of the Abuja division of the Federal High Court by the Federal
Government over alleged diversion of N9.7 billion.
Already, the case has been listed on the court’s cause list
for arraignment.
Suswam will be arraigned on a 32- counts fresh money
laundering charge alongside Omadachi Oklobia, his former Commissioner of
Finance and Janet Aluga, former Accountant , Benue State Government House
Administration.
According to the prosecution, in the charge marked
FHC/ABJ/CR/48/2017, part of the money was meant for police reform and
Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme.
The prosecution alleged that Suswam and others cornered the
said funds between 2012 and 2015 while Suswam was the governor of Benue State.
Meanwhile, an Abuja based legal practitioner, Mr. Igbatule
Dugwer has accused Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue state of having a hand
in the current predicament of his predecessor, Gabriel Suswam.
In a statement, on Monday, Dugwer said: “It is no longer
news that the former Governor of Benue State Rt. Hon. Gabriel Suswam has
been detained by the DSS upon the active instigation of Governor Dr. Samuel
Ortom on allegation of illegal possession of Arms since 25th February 2017 till
date” Dugwer claimed.
He stated that Suswam’s predicament was due to the
governor’s vow to ensure that the ex governor “remains behind bars until Local
Government elections are concluded in Benue State in June 2017.”
However, he said “What is news is the desperation he is
showing in his recent attempts to keep Rt. Hon. Suswam perpetually in
detention, the legal practitioner said.
He said the governor is disturbed by his dwindling
popularity and that of the APC government in Benue state.
“He is also disturbed that the party is set to loose
woefully in a free and fair election at the forth coming Local Government
elections in June 2017, and is out to strangulate every perceived opposition
before the Local Government elections” the statement said.
According to the fresh charge signed by a counsel in the
Office of the Attorney General of the Federation, Aminu Alilu, and Kehinde
Fagbemi, the three defendants allegedly committed the offences between 2012 and
2015.
It also accused the defendants of conspiracy, conversion of
property derived directly from corruption; collaboration to conceal property
derived from corruption; obtaining by false pretences and accepting cash
payments, exceeding the amount authorised by law.
The offences were said to be contrary to and punishable
under various provisions of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011, and
the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act.
In counts one and two, the prosecution alleged that the
defendants, between August 8 and March 15, 2015, conspired and converted the
sum of N4,135,208,404.90 allegedly “derived directly from corruption”.
The money was said to have been taken “from the Benue State
SURE-P account number 0116099195, domiciled in Guaranty Trust Bank, into various
illegal accounts with the aim of concealing the money.”
The prosecution, in counts three and four, accused the
defendants of committing similar offences by transferring the sum of
N2,975,329,418.88 from SURE-P account to illegal accounts between August 8 and
March 16, 2015.
The amount mentioned between counts one and four amounted to
a total of N7,110,537,823.78.
From count five to nine, the prosecution also accused the
three defendants of conspiracy, collaboration to conceal, obtaining by false
pretences and conversion of a cumulative sum of N7,110,537,823.78, allegedly
derived directly from corruption.
The Federal Government also leveled similar allegations as
well as acceptance of payments unauthorised by law from counts 10 to 14 against
the defendants with respect to a cumulative sum of N1,970,662,130.00.
The defendants allegedly “obtained” the money “from the
Benue State Government for the benefit of yourselves and other unentitled
persons” between June 27, 2014 and April 24, 2015.
Part of the charges read, “That you, Rt. Hon. Gabriel T.
Suswam (m), former Governor of Benue State of No. 1 Rio Negro Street, Maitama,
Abuja; Omadachi Oklobia (m), former Commissioner for Finance of Flat 1 Block
A13, Marathon Avenue, Games Village, Abuja; and Janet Aluga (f), former
Accountant , Benue State Government House Administration of David Mark
Extension, Agber Village, Makurdi, Benue State, between August 8, 2012 and
March 16, 2015 at Makurdi, Benue State, within the jurisdiction of this
honourable court, did conspire among yourselves to transfer a total sum of
about N4,135,208,404.90, from the Benue State SURE-P account number 0116099195,
domiciled in Guaranty Trust Bank, into various illegal accounts with the aim of
concealing the money which you derived directly from corruption.
“That you, Rt. Hon. Gabriel T. Suswam (m), former Governor
of Benue State of No. 1 Rio Negro Street, Maitama, Abuja; Omadachi Oklobia (m),
former Commissioner for Finance of Flat 1 Block A13, Marathon Avenue, Games
Village, Abuja; and Janet Aluga (f), former Accountant , Benue State Government
House Administration of David Mark Extension, Agber Village, Makurdi, Benue
State, between August 8, 2012 and March 16, 2015 at Makurdi, Benue State,
within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, did collaborate to conceal
the genuine nature and origin of a total sum of about N7,110,537,823.78 which
you moved from the Benue State SURE-P account number 1013470079 and account
number 0116099195, domiciled in Zenith Bank Plc and Guaranty Trust Bank
respectively, into various illegal accounts being money you derived from
corruption.
“That you, Rt. Hon. Gabriel T. Suswam (m), former Governor
of Benue State of No. 1 Rio Negro Street, Maitama, Abuja; Omadachi Oklobia (m),
former Commissioner for Finance of Flat 1 Block A13, Marathon Avenue, Games
Village, Abuja; and Janet Aluga (f), former Accountant , Benue State Government
House Administration of David Mark Extension, Agber Village, Makurdi, Benue
State, on or about August 14, 2014, at Makurdi, Benue State, within the
jurisdiction of this honourable court, committed an offence, to wit: by false
pretences and with intent to defraud, obtained the sum of N45,000,000 from
Police Reform Programme Skye Bank account number 1750022970, belonging to the
Nigeria Police and paid into the Benue State Government House First Bank
Account number 2023289293 for your own benefit.”
By Godwin Tsa
