EFCC releases ThisDay boss after he signs agreement to refund N670m in two weeks

THISDAY publisher Prince Nduka Obaigbena has been given two weeks to refund the N670m (£2.33m) he collected from former national security adviser Col Sambo Dasuki to halt further Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) action against him.

 

Earlier this week, Prince Obaigbena was arrested by security agents after it emerged he was a beneficiary of the $2.1bn Dasukigate arms scandal. Following his interrogation, it appears that the publisher was paid the N670m for unexecuted contracts from the Office of the National Security Adviser.

 

According to Prince Obaigbena, the money, however, were damages paid to his newspaper house by the Goodluck administration as compensation for the bombing of ThisDay's offices by Boko Haram and the seizure of copies of many newspapers by the military. He said there was a presidential proclamation by former president Dr Jonathan that ThisDay will be compensated for the loss to Boko Haram after an inspection visit to the newspaper.

 

However, his pleas were rejected by the EFCC who questioned him for two days over the activities of General Hydrocarbons and inflow into the company’s accounts from Col Dasuki's office. According to one EFCC source, Records from the Corporate Affairs Commission indicated that Prince Obaigbena is a director of General Hydrocarbons.

 

“The Office of the National Security Adviser (Onsa) reported that General Hydrocarbons was one of the companies that received payments purportedly for contracts without contract documents or approval. Between December 8, 2014 and May 23, 2015, Obaigbena received N670m from Onsa and the reasons stated on the payment mandates are that the first tranche of N150m was for an environmental security project and the remaining tranches were payment for energy consultancy.

 

“Obaigbena said he was paid compensation of N550m for the bombing of ThisDay office in Abuja but there is no nexus between this payment and the money he collected for contracts. None of the sums shows that what he got from Onsa was compensation and the complaint before us is that the company was given money without contractual agreement," the EFCC source added.

 

Prince Obaigbena has apparently signed an undertaking to refund the money in question and in return, the anti-graft commission has granted him administrative bail. EFCC operatives are still investigating payments made by Col Dasuki's office to the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria.