Ewolewoo!!

Sambo Dasuki was arrested again yesterday. Raymond Dokpesi was arrested. Bafarawa(Former Governor of Sokoto state) was arrested.  Others were arrested including some of  Dasuki’s  aides when he was the National security adviser.The arrests were just spreading like wild fire. Why? Because people decided to be ingenious with US$2.9 billion that was supposedly to be used for arms purchase.  From what we all now know, the money flowed from NNPC and CBN.

Are my surprised? I would say No!!  If you have been following the posts on this blog you would notice that we have insinuated this pattern and style of governance in Nigeria. A situation where what makes people billionaires is their ability to be in government or close to government. You have someone who would tell you he is living in opulence but you cannot see the tangible effect of his business savvy in the system.  He says he is a businessman but naahh; he is just a “deal man”.  His ability to be close to the powers that be has made him a “superstar”. That is the reason it is so difficult for real entrepreneurs to grow in Nigeria. They can’t because the “Oga” in government that should create the enabling environment for him is not interested since he has government money to fleece.

I don’t know what Dasuki is spinning or spewing out with the authorities. However, he hasn’t explained how he obtained, packed and transported US$9.3 million dollars in raw cash inside Pastor oritsajafor’s private jet. Ofcourse he cannot convince me that it was the first time that “money packing rendezvous” happened. It must have happened so often until someone somewhere decided to spill the beans and messed up that particular project. With the kind of news coming out now on the US$ 2.9 billion arms deal, I know better..

I don’t need to be told that if you start bringing in hundreds of thousands of raw cash into your home on a frequent basis that you are engaged in unsavoury stuffs. Once big money is not going through the normal traceable financial system, there’s trouble. Additionally, the manner in which Pastor Orisajafor took Jonathan’s project was so “sycophantic” to the point of bootlicking. However, with what I know now, I do not blame oritsajafor. With that kind of money, sanity is for the Gods I tell you.

Raymond Dokpesi is a Billionaire. What does he do? He operates a media Organisation that is crumbling. He operates a media firm where payment of staff salaries and emoluments would need good doses of prayer and fasting. Yet he is a billionaire. Are you surprised?  You shouldn’t be because he was very close to government and being close to Government is big business in Nigeria.

Some years  ago (between 1999-2000), this same man(Dokpesi) couldn’t pay the debt of over 500million naira that he collected from Banks to run AIT. The Banks were about to take over the media organization until Government people came to his rescue. Not with their personal money but with our(government) money to bail out a supposedly “private business concerns”.

In the same vein in 2012, he was ordered to pay about 7.5 billion naira loan he collected from Fidelity bank. All of us know that AIT couldn’t have been in any situation to redeem that loan based on their well-known financial status. It is in this context that you would appreciate why he became so close to President Jonathan. He needed him to use your money to settle his private debt. Yet  he is still a billionaire as we speak.  Nigeria style business mogul you would say..

I have written so much about Saraki than to make the story coming out of this arms issue a surprise. The way he ‘handled’ Lamorde and EFCC should tell you how he operates. The way he is “running circles” around our kobo-kobo judiciary should not be a surprise to any discerning person. This was a person who ran aground Societe Generale bank, yet he still has another bank he is promoting? Is that not crzy? The rumours that he asked for his share of the arms deal money from CBN cannot be explicitly verified. However, knowing who saraki is, I cannot vouch for him in this. With the kind of DNA that he has, anything is possible.

These points to the odious tasks facing Buhari and Nigeria as a nation, that it is just government money that is running the system. Since crude oil money has fallen, so as the fault lines in the business environment in the system. Government, understandably, has tightened control of her money. This has brought everything to a standstill. It shouldn’t be so in the normal economic sense, but this is Nigeria economy where All (especially the banks,so-called billionaires and business monguls) depend on government money. You can see how people just collected money and shared it within them. I know a lot would say they’ve not been tried and convicted but we all know. We know what we know.

However they (I mean Dasuki and his co-accused)  are lucky: they are lucky because Dasuki can sense that Buhari doesn’t want to prosecute Jonathan. Due to this, Dasuki would just be shouting that “Jonathan approved it o”. Since he knows that Jonathan might not be brought to book, then his case would have lots of “loopholes” to be exploited by good lawyers. With the kind of money already in his arsenal, getting good lawyers shouldn’t be a problem.

Making the matter very delicate for the government is our Judiciary. Once the case goes to court, it is dead like fried plantain. The Judiciary, in their characteristic manner, would make sure that the case dies a natural death. Mind you Ayo fayose and late Abubarkar Audu still have cases in court after over 4 years!!

Not to forget, the normal talk of witch-hunt and political persecution.  This would continually surface to derail the case. This should be expected.

Fighting to get stolen money from Nigerians demands some form of “aggression”. The government must start seizing and confiscating the properties and Bank accounts tied to their names or associates. It is very easy to see when someone’s salary cannot support the amount of money in his account or properties he’s got. It is easier to seize and let the court unfreeze if he could prove his case with the court. If the court delays, it is at his disadvantage not government.  You don’t pity mass looters. You face them “massively”.

This case is interesting. We are on it….Until it’s finished, we would continue to be on it..Ewolewooo!!