…. Urges Tinubu to reject appointment of Ahmed Farouk as ED, PEF
KUNLE OLUTAYO
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), from Bauchi State, has concluded arrangements to drag the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to Court to compel the Commission to arrest and prosecute Hadi Sarika, the immediate past Minister of Aviation – for the alleged heist in the procurement of the Air Nigeria aircraft.
Reacting to the revelations from investigations by the Senate Committee on Aviation on Tuesday, at a press conference in Abuja, Dr. Haruna Garus Gololo said: “We are giving the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, two weeks to arrest and investigate the former Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sarika, the Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, Timipre Sylva and other key participants in the former President Mohammadu Buhari’s administration.”
“This call becomes necessary because if the EFCC can go after Yahoo boys for alleged scam, the anti-graft agency could as well go after the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, for the monumental fraud in the CBN, because it is in the public domain and we have sufficient prima facie documents to tender that Emefiele, for years since his appointment has been running the apex bank on the wheel of fraud, which culminated in the recent currency swap.
“If we may ask, where are the redesigned currencies?
“Only yesterday, the Senate Committee on Aviation confirmed the fears and suspicion of many Nigerians, when it unearthed the heist in the Aviation sector by the immediate past Minister, Hadi Sirika, that the procurement of the Air Nigeria was a scam which gulped billions of tax payers’ funds.”
The threat by Gololo, Coordinator of the Tinubu/Shetima Supporters Group in the just-concluded general elections, is coming on the heels of the reaction from the Senate Committee on Aviation on Tuesday.
“The Senate Committee on Aviation on Tuesday took a swipe at what it described as unnecessary controversy generated by the last minute unveiling of the Boeing 737-800 series aircraft, which the Federal Government flew into Abuja from Ethiopia.
Specifically, Chairman of the Committee, Abiodun Olujimi, expressed disgust of the Committee when she said that the entire arrangement of the Air Nigeria was shrouded in suspicion, as the immediate past Minister, Sirika, told Nigerians to expect four other aircrafts in the fleet.
Answering questions from the Committee, the Managing Director of Air Nigeria, Dapo Olumide, collaborated Gololo’s allegations as he told the Committee that “the Aircraft was a chartered one from Ethiopia, for few days and to show what an aircraft looks like in Nigeria’s flag.”
Olumide told the Committee that Air Nigeria was launched in 2018 and that his own responsibility was to secure operating certificate for the Airline.
Reacting to the statement, Gololo told newsmen that, “This is just one of the isolated cases of the alleged fraud by Buhari’s Ministers.
“What happened to the N11.3 trillion spent on the Turn Around Maintenance (TAM), of the Kaduna, Warri and Port Harcourt refineries? Today Timipre Silva, the Minister of State, who awarded the contracts has gone to run for governorship election in Bayelsa State to seek immunity.
“There are several other Ministries and parastatals that were looted under Buhari, because as it appears, he was not in charge.”
He described the appointment of Ahmed Farouk as the Executive Director, Nigeria Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), by the dying administration as another booby trap for the new administration.
“Ahmed Farouk, was in NNPC. He was part and parcel of why the refineries are not working. Why appointing him as the Executive Director of Nigeria Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA)”?
“I call on Tinubu to reject this appointment because they are landmines to derail his government.”
