• The judgment debts are related the payments of a total $418 million, said to be owed six individuals and entities who purportedly offered services to states and their local governments on the payment of Paris Club debts.
• The Fayemi-led NGF had insisted that payments be halted until a forensic audit of the indebtedness is done.

Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami and President Muhammadu Buhari’s Chief of Staff, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, are currently enmeshed in a huge financial malfeasance scandal following accusations that the duo are responsible for forcing Central Bank of Nigeria to pay $350 million (about N133 billion) as judgment debts on behalf of some states and local governments.

As gathered by EKO HOT BLOG, the AGF and Gambari’s move to have the apex bank disburse the funds stands at variance with the position of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum’s, who insisted that the judgment debts should first be subjected to a probe; a recommendation which President Buhari had agreed to.

The judgment debts are related the payments of a total $418 million, said to be owed six individuals and entities who purportedly offered services to states and their local governments on the payment of Paris Club debts.

According to a report by SaharaReporters, Malami and Gambari forced the CBN to speedily disburse an initial $350 million from the sum, which was secretly shared between the entities, including a former House of Representatives’ member and businessman, Prince Ned Nwoko.

In a separate report, Premium Times had on Monday exposed that there was a growing tension between the Nigeria Governors Forum and a ring of powerful presidential aides – referring to Gambari and Malami – over the $418 million judgment debts owed six individuals and entities who rendered services to states and their local governments on the payment of Paris Club debts.

According to the report, while Gambari and other collaborators were trying to expedite the disbursement of the funds, the NGF chaired by Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, had requested a forensic probe to ascertain the veracity of the debts before payments were made.

The backhanded attempt by Gambari and Malami to speed up payments of the judgment debts go against the President’s directive issued in January this year, and in disregard for the alarm raised by the governors about the legitimacy of the indebtedness.

The Fayemi-led NGF insisted that payments be halted until a forensic audit of the indebtedness is done.

But Mr Gambari, who is at the tip of the spear to ensure a speedy disbursement of the funds, has the full support of the AGF as well as that of the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, both of whom promoted the notion that the court judgments which awarded the sums to the creditors must be hurriedly executed.

Top presidency sources disclosed on Wednesday that the CBN had already paid out $350 million of the sum in defiance of the NGF’s and Buhari’s directives, and the money had been shared among Malami, Gambari and some of the conniving entities, including Nwoko.

The source explained, “Malami, Ned Nwoko and Gambari already got the money. The first one was also shared between (former Zamfara Governor Abdulaziz) Yari, who was also former NGF Chairman, and Ned Nwoko. They said the CBN governor did not approve cash and settled for promissory notes because for the last $350 million, the CBN governor was not paid his entitlement.

“So, these people had collected and shared an initial $350 million. It was that money Nwoko shared to ex-NGF Chairman, Yari. But his share was frozen by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and has remained like that till date.

“Nwoko then bought a jet at first and when the jet had an accident, he bought a second one and married that little girl (Regina Daniel). With the rest of the money, he purchased high rise estates in Abuja and then was broke for a while.”

According to Premium Times, a breakdown of the beneficiaries reveals the identities of the six persons and entities being owed a total of $418,953,670.59, about N159 billion.

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“The beneficiaries include a former member of the House of Representatives, politician and lawyer, Ned Nwoko, who is laying claim to $142,028,941 (about N54 billion) via a consent judgment he obtained from the Federal High Court in Abuja in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/148/2017. Three beneficiaries laying claim to $143,463,577.76 (about N54.6 billion) via a judgment of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in the suit marked FCT/HC/CV/2129/2014 are: Riok Nigeria Ltd, Orji Nwafor Orizu, and Olaitan Bello.

“From the total money, Riok Nigeria Limited has a share of $142,028,941.95 (about N54 billion), Mr Nwafor is entitled to $1,219,440.45 (about N464 million), and Mr Bello has a share of $215,159.36 (N81.7 million).

“But despite this, the NGF believes that there are ongoing moves to go ahead with the payments especially as the forum still cannot extract the Chief of Staff’s commitment to abide by the president’s latest directive,” the report stated.

NGF Chairman, Governor Kayode Fayemi had, upon discovery of the backhanded moves of Gambari and his cahoots written to the President’s Chief of Staff on March 8, 2021, stating that the NGF had noticed “that there are attempts to proceed with defraying the purported debts to some consultants who claim to have executed various services to the states in respect of the London Paris Club refunds.”

“Notable among these so-called judgment creditors are Prince Ned Nwoko (Ned Nwoko Solicitors), Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu (Riok Nigeria Limited), Dr Ted Iseghohi Edwards and Dr George Uboh (Panic Alert Security Systems PASS),” the Ekiti governor added.

Governor Fayemi expressed concern about the development, saying “it flies in the face of the meeting convened on February 3, 2021” which was chaired by Mr Gambari.

He reminded the Chief of Staff of “the resolution of the National Economic Council (NEC) authorising an independent forensic audit”.

The governor urged Mr Gambari to advise “all parties to work within the ambit of the NEC resolution in reviewing the purported judgment debts and the approvals of Mr President conveyed in your letter dated February 16, 2021, to the Honourable Minister of Finance, in order to safeguard the integrity of the Nigerian state.”

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